Any advice for touring the parks next weekend without Express ?

[mill4023]

How have the crowds been recently?
We'll be staying off-site but we could buy Express Plus passes if the lines are going to be really long. We've been to USF before, but not IOA. We're doing 2 days at IOA so we can focus on the younger kid's rides one day and the big thrillers on the second day (of course, we'd like to do everything both days if we have time).
Here's the days we have planned at Universal:

Saturday, 3/25 - IOA - this day will be DW, myself, and our 4 kids (2, 5, 8, 11) and the main focus this day will be on the younger kid's rides like Cat in the Hat, Flying Unicorn, etc.

Sunday, 3/26 - USF - this day will be all of the above, plus my mom and 14 yr old sister. Must-do's are Mummy, Shrek, MIB, Barney, and Terminator. We'd also like to do Jimmy Neutron, maybe ET, and some of the other shows. We'll be skipping Twister and Back to the Future(we all thought they were both lame) and will only do Earthquake if it's like a 10 minute wait or less.

Monday, 3/27 - IOA - this day will be all of us. The focus today will be on hitting Hulk, Spiderman and Dueling Dragons before the lines get too long.

Do you guys think this makes sense to do it this way? We need to have the USF day be on Sunday or Monday because my mom and sister don't get into Orlando until Saturday night and they want to see both parks. Since there are more attractions we want to see at IOA, I figured we'd be better off making that on Monday since I've heard weekdays are less crowded.

Do you think it makes sense to break up the IOA days the way I did? I want to make sure the younger kids have fun too and I was afraid if we started off both days at the big thrill rides, then the lines would be really long by the time we made it to Seuss landing.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[coasterswim]

I don't really have any advice for you, but might I say that your family is adorable.

Also, I'll be at USF on Sunday, too, probably.

 

[robvia]

The week you are going is in between spring break for Orlando and South Florida schools, so while there will be crowds, it won't be that bad.
Orange county had their spring break 03/13/06-03/18/06, and Osceola county has their spring break 03/21/06 - 03/24/06. Anyone reporting from the parks today will say it's crowded, because the kids are on spring break as I type this.
http://www.fldoe.org/districtcalendar/

I don't think you need to have "one day for kid rides" and "one day for thrill rides." The idea is to make both groups happy. What you can do, is split up. Have one parent take the kids to Hulk, Spiderman, and Dr. Doom, while the other parent takes the kids to Suess Landing. As you enter IOA, one group can go right for the kiddie stuff, the other can go left for the thrill rides. Then you meet each other a couple hours later. You can stay in touch with cell phones.

The biggest piece of advice I have is arrive early. Since it's spring break, the park will probably open early, at 08:45am. You want to arrive the parking garage at 8am, walk to the gate of IOA, and get in line. You'll see a crowd of people already forming, they know the secret is to arrive early. If you do this each morning, you won't need the express passes.

 

[Jason71]

Just FYI, if you hit US Saturday night, you can still catch the Mardi Gras parade.

 

[mill4023]

The week you are going is in between spring break for Orlando and South Florida schools, so while there will be crowds, it won't be that bad.
Orange county had their spring break 03/13/06-03/18/06, and Osceola county has their spring break 03/21/06 - 03/24/06. Anyone reporting from the parks today will say it's crowded, because the kids are on spring break as I type this.
http://www.fldoe.org/districtcalendar/

I don't think you need to have "one day for kid rides" and "one day for thrill rides." The idea is to make both groups happy. What you can do, is split up. Have one parent take the kids to Hulk, Spiderman, and Dr. Doom, while the other parent takes the kids to Suess Landing. As you enter IOA, one group can go right for the kiddie stuff, the other can go left for the thrill rides. Then you meet each other a couple hours later. You can stay in touch with cell phones.

The biggest piece of advice I have is arrive early. Since it's spring break, the park will probably open early, at 08:45am. You want to arrive the parking garage at 8am, walk to the gate of IOA, and get in line. You'll see a crowd of people already forming, they know the secret is to arrive early. If you do this each morning, you won't need the express passes.

I've thought about splitting up. The problem is that both of us parents want to do all the thrill rides. Plus, our 8 yr old is not quite tall enough for Hulk and Dueling Dragons, but she definitely wants to do rides like Spiderman and Jurassic River Adventure. So we need both parents on that side so our 11 yr old can ride while she waits.

 

[robvia]

Well, the first time you go, you can stick together, and do the rides in order. The little kids will have to wait in baby swap while the adults and big kids go on the thrill rides.

The thing about the little kids, is once they go into a play ground area, they'll want to stay for hours. For example, next to Suess landing, is a little Suess play gound area with some tunnels, and water. If you let the 2 year old go in there, they won't want to come out, and the 11 year will be frustrated waiting around.

The early morning is the best time to do the thrill rides, so you may want to hit the thrill rides first using baby swap.

Once you know how the parks work, and where everything is, you can probably split up and set meeting times.

11 is not old enough to let them go alone. When the oldest turns 13, then he and 2nd oldest (10 years) could tour the parks together staying in touch with cell phones, but not this time. A parent will have to stay with them as they beg to go on the thrill rides.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

I don't think it's a bad plan at all. Saturday will give you a chance to keep the little ones entertained, while giving you a chance to get familiar with IOA. take the kids to Camp Jurassic and the Discovery Center to play, and that'll give the bigger ones a chance to ride JPRA if you want. you've got a good weekend coming up, mid-70's.