Advice for 2 days at Universal - 1 epic and 1 UIA/US

[mlggator22]

We are going to be in Orlando in early October and are planning to do 2 days at Universal--1 day at Epic and 1 day at UIA/US. It will be a Friday and a Saturday.

First, which day would you do Epic and which day UIA/US?
Second, trying to decide if I should fork over $1500 for express passes. I do have a disability card, but with that there is still the wait between rides, so somewhat limiting. Also there are a few rides I can't go on, and some people in my group may want to ride those.

I am more worried about Epic. We are coming over from CA and probably won't get back to Orlando for a few years. One person in our group has never been to Florida or any of the Florida parks.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? Are the waits at Epic such that we can get everything in?

 

[hardcorestitch]

We are going to be in Orlando in early October and are planning to do 2 days at Universal--1 day at Epic and 1 day at UIA/US. It will be a Friday and a Saturday.

First, which day would you do Epic and which day UIA/US?
Second, trying to decide if I should fork over $1500 for express passes. I do have a disability card, but with that there is still the wait between rides, so somewhat limiting. Also there are a few rides I can't go on, and some people in my group may want to ride those.

I am more worried about Epic. We are coming over from CA and probably won't get back to Orlando for a few years. One person in our group has never been to Florida or any of the Florida parks.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? Are the waits at Epic such that we can get everything in?

If you have to pick an Epic date, Friday is slightly better. Most locals still in school. Now, it may not rid of crowds completely but it won’t be as hectic as a weekend or holiday.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Weekends have been least crowded at Epic (since there are no APs). Weekends, especially Saturdays, are most crowded at IoA/US. I would absolutely do Epic on Sat.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Does your weekend trip fall into the Federal Holiday for Monday October 13 ?
Also remember Universal is very popular with their Haunted Nights .
Do you have resort reservations and tickets already ?
EPIC ticket reservation dates could be unavailable .
I wouldn’t wait too long …
I would probably get the Express Passes .
I’ll check back with more helpful info .
EPIC is beautiful Get your tickets!

 

[mlggator22]

Buying tickets today.

My trip does fall on that weekend.

 

[mlggator22]

Also, if it is a federal holiday and it is going to be busy, should we consider the express passes even with my disability card?

 

[Minnie1222]

I would get Express at Epic, especially with Donkey Kong and Ministry included. Even with EP, you may still have to wait 45-60 minutes on certain rides. The long waits at Epic are due to delays and closures, not high crowds. If a ride shuts down, everyone in the queue automatically gets a recovery pass to enter the express line later. Some rides can close for hours, and people flock to them as soon as they reopen, causing congestion in both standby and express lanes.

If all rides operated smoothly like Monsters Unchained, the standby times would all be under 30 minutes.