Best Day of Week to visit Universal (Harry POtter!)

[Iheoma]

Just bring your wallet! We were there a couple of weeks ago on a Monday. There were no lines, granted this was January. But it was so expensive! Our 11 DD, my husband & I were $120 EACH for admission for one day for both parks. Our 8 year old DS was $114! Nearly $500 to get in for one day and one park closed at 6 and one at 7. Some rides & eateries were closed. And they actually offered us the "fast pass" you can buy to make admission even more expensive. They should be ashamed to even offer that option that time of year when there are NO lines. Unbelievable. Not to mention the expensive transportation there and back. I felt ripped off and called & complained when we returned home. I suppose I could have gotten a discount online, but I hesitated to do that in case the kids changed their minds once at Disney. We went for the sole purpose of seeing Harry Potter World, which was fabulous. But we would never go back. I thought the rides in both parks were rough and crazy. It's just not for us, it's not Disney & there's no magic. Good luck with your day there and bring lots of $$$.

I'm glad for this thread because I've had the same questions about regarding the best days to vist. Thanks everyone!! I am curious about this post though. Am I missing something about prices? Undercover Tourist website has 3 day park-to-park Universal tickets for $147.95 and Disney 3 day MYW ticket is $247 and Disney Park hopper is $299. Seems to me like Disney is much more expensive per day that Universal - but are there additional add-one that are required that I'm missing for Universal (I don't want to be surprised when we go in May)? TIA

 

[damo]

I'm glad for this thread because I've had the same questions about regarding the best days to vist. Thanks everyone!! I am curious about this post though. Am I missing something about prices? Undercover Tourist website has 3 day park-to-park Universal tickets for $147.95 and Disney 3 day MYW ticket is $247 and Disney Park hopper is $299. Seems to me like Disney is much more expensive per day that Universal - but are there additional add-one that are required that I'm missing for Universal (I don't want to be surprised when we go in May)? TIA

You're not missing anything.

 

[Anal Annie]

I'm glad for this thread because I've had the same questions about regarding the best days to vist. Thanks everyone!! I am curious about this post though. Am I missing something about prices? Undercover Tourist website has 3 day park-to-park Universal tickets for $147.95 and Disney 3 day MYW ticket is $247 and Disney Park hopper is $299. Seems to me like Disney is much more expensive per day that Universal - but are there additional add-one that are required that I'm missing for Universal (I don't want to be surprised when we go in May)? TIA

Well one major difference is that Disney is actually 4 parks while Universal is only 2 parks so it's double the size. Disney's park prices drop dramatically the longer you stay. Universal's does too but I don't know if it's the same percentage or not. OH, and then there's that mouse named Mickey that runs the place. He's a pretty famous celebrity over there and has a whole entourage of supporting characters....and there's a few princesses that draw a following. Might be just a few differences that would create the price difference.

We are branching out from Disney for the first time this summer for a 1 night / 2 day adventure to Universal. It's killing me that we'll be leaving our DVC villa empty for 1 night but the advantages of staying onsite at Universal seem to be worth the points we'll be wasting (we added 2 extra days to do this). We arrive in FL on a Sun. and our DVC season changes (drops to a lower season) on Thurs. so I've decided that will be our day to go over to Universal. I figured the weekend would get busy with local traffic and I'd like to avoid that. Disney will be busier on the weekend as well but we know the parks well and we'll feel more comfortable there when it's busy - I'd rather do Universal on a weekday I think. This way we'll break up our trip right in the middle with 4 days before and 4 days after at Disney.

 

[macraven]

I have searched and found completely conflicting advice on this...We are traveling Sept. 27- Oct.4. Some say Sat. are best, as most arrive on weekends and head to Disney first. Others argue that locals make weekends more crowded. Any help appreciated!

We are usually Disney exclusive- feel like a cheating spouse!!

i do both the motherland and the darkside on each annual trip.
have done both parks since 1993.

i stay at the motherland for 7 nights then switch to the darkside for 9 nights.

i enjoy them both for what they have to offer their guests.

when you do a one or two day visit to the other park, it will be costing you money. i can understand when peeps first start to explore the other Land and gasp over prices.

it goes the same way for the homies that stay the entire time at the darkside hotels and do day trips to the motherland.

you arrive on a thursday, 9/27.
that would be a great day to do the darkside but i'm thinking you might not want to venture to a new park on the day you arrive.

next best dates would be Tuesday 10/2, followed by Monday 10/1.

the last weekend of sept could have HHN happening as the opening weekend.
dates are not out yet but in the past, it has started then.

if you are wanting to do the parks on sunday, 9/30, do the studios side first.
crowds for hhn won't begin until around 3ish that day.

skip over to ioa around noon and you should not have much on crowds there.
that park should close at 7. (studios closes at 5 when hhn happens)
crowds are usually very thin an hour before park closing at parry hotter ville.

i would avoid saturday at the darkside if you are a day guest.
crowds could be large and then they could turn out to be moderate at the begining of the day until late afternoon.

if weather is nice, locals do turn out for it.

for the die hard HHN fans, they will be in the parks way before hhn begins.
they do the rides and shows then, the houses and scare zones at night.

i'll be at the motherland about the same time you are it looks like.
and then my stay at the darkside is due to my devotion of hhn.
i am completely and totally addicted to it.....



hope this helps with your question.

 

[Iheoma]

Well one major difference is that Disney is actually 4 parks while Universal is only 2 parks so it's double the size. Disney's park prices drop dramatically the longer you stay. Universal's does too but I don't know if it's the same percentage or not. OH, and then there's that mouse named Mickey that runs the place. He's a pretty famous celebrity over there and has a whole entourage of supporting characters....and there's a few princesses that draw a following. Might be just a few differences that would create the price difference.


As you can tell from my signature line, I've been to WDW a couple of times... What's up with the sarcasm?

One of the previous posters made remarks about ONE day park ticket costs at Universal vs. ONE day park ticket price at WDW. According to at least two ticket sources, a price to price comparison shows that Universal is approx. $100 cheaper per day than WDW. I'm not saying one is better than the other - neither company needs me to advertise and/or defend them. I'm just curious so that I can plan for my family - if there were additional costs that I was missing for Universal tickets, I wanted to know.

 

[macraven]

getting back to the original subject on the thread, op, i thought of something to tell you.

on opening weekend of hhn, the event is only held on friday and saturday.
no sunday.

all other weekends do include the sundays and thursday nights.

if hhn begins that last weekend, Sunday, sept 30th will be a good day for you to hit the darkside.

at this point, the dates have not been released and will not until summer time.

 

[Brian Noble]

Whatever.

I used exactly your own language (including punctuation and capitalization) to point out that a single day at Disney is just as expensive.

And, this should hardly be a surprise to anyone who has spent even a little bit of time planning an Orlando vacation. *None* of the attractions are cheap if you visit them only once. *All* of them are more affordable if you commit to a longer visit. Universal, Disney, or the-parks-formerly-owned-by-Busch.

Universal's does too but I don't know if it's the same percentage or not.

It drops more quickly. That's unsurprising, because you don't need as much time to see all of the two Universal parks as you do to see the four Disney gates. At Disney, you don't start getting much of a break until the third or fourth day. At Universal, you get a halfway decent break on the second day, and subsequent days are very cheap.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I'm surprised by the recommendations for best days to visit and would like to hear more. We'll be taking our first visit to see Harry Potter in IOA this summer and I'm trying to pick the best day. Touring Plans.com, which I have always trusted 100%, says the best days to visit Universal are, in order, Sunday, Monday, and Saturday. It says Saturday crowds are 5% lower than an average day, in fact.

So what's the deal? Everybody here says weekdays are better. Is my beloved Touring Plans wrong?

 

[mesaboy2]

I'm surprised by the recommendations for best days to visit and would like to hear more. We'll be taking our first visit to see Harry Potter in IOA this summer and I'm trying to pick the best day. Touring Plans.com, which I have always trusted 100%, says the best days to visit Universal are, in order, Sunday, Monday, and Saturday. It says Saturday crowds are 5% lower than an average day, in fact.

So what's the deal? Everybody here says weekdays are better. Is my beloved Touring Plans wrong?

I assume you are discussing these days as they pertain to your particular visit. If so, then I can't argue with them.

But, in my experience and in general, I have found that in a typical week, the best days to visit are Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The days to avoid are generally Monday, Friday, and Saturday.

 

[damo]

I'm surprised by the recommendations for best days to visit and would like to hear more. We'll be taking our first visit to see Harry Potter in IOA this summer and I'm trying to pick the best day. Touring Plans.com, which I have always trusted 100%, says the best days to visit Universal are, in order, Sunday, Monday, and Saturday. It says Saturday crowds are 5% lower than an average day, in fact.

So what's the deal? Everybody here says weekdays are better. Is my beloved Touring Plans wrong?

I always say Sundays are best. That seems to be the consensus on the crowd report threads.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I assume you are discussing these days as they pertain to your particular visit. If so, then I can't argue with them.

Actually, this advice appears on the Touring Plans blog section and isn't supposed to be for any particular time over another. It's the general advice, not date-specific. So you can argue! I'd love to hear your perspective.

 

[mesaboy2]

Actually, this advice appears on the Touring Plans blog section and isn't supposed to be for any particular time over another. It's the general advice, not date-specific. So you can argue! I'd love to hear your perspective.

Then I argue!

I can't speak for all of them, but many of the Universal regulars here have come to a similar conclusion. Sunday is fairly light (see below for reasoning) as is mid-week. Fridays and Saturdays heavier, presumably because of the upcoming weekend. Mondays tend to be bad supposedly because many out-of-towners vacation Sunday-to-Sunday, and are hot to get into a park the first full day.

I would think the above pattern would be more noticeable during off-seasons, and less so during times like spring break, summer, and holidays. But I haven't been around enough of those times to confirm a pattern. Most of my UO visits were over weekends, and it certainly seemed to me that Sundays were better than Fridays or Saturdays. I've been a couple of times mid-week as well when it was pretty dead.

Just know no matter what, WWoHP itself will always at least feel crowded because it is so popular and relatively small.

 

[macraven]

I'm surprised by the recommendations for best days to visit and would like to hear more. We'll be taking our first visit to see Harry Potter in IOA this summer and I'm trying to pick the best day. Touring Plans.com, which I have always trusted 100%, says the best days to visit Universal are, in order, Sunday, Monday, and Saturday. It says Saturday crowds are 5% lower than an average day, in fact.

So what's the deal? Everybody here says weekdays are better. Is my beloved Touring Plans wrong?

you can go with the tour site or you can read what peeps say here.
the ones that have talked about avoiding saturdays are the ones that have been there on a saturday.

peeps share that info so others can make a better decision on what day of the week to go to the darkside.

anytime you have a three day weekend, sunday and monday are not the best days for low crowds in the parks.

 

[disneygrandma]

We'll be at Disney in mid Sept, and want to go to IOA for 1 day to see WWOHP. The day that works the best for our Disney schedule would be Sat. Mon would be the 2nd best. Of these 2 days....in mid Sept, which would be the best for IOA?

Thanks!

 

[macraven]

monday

 

[mesaboy2]

We'll be at Disney in mid Sept, and want to go to IOA for 1 day to see WWOHP. The day that works the best for our Disney schedule would be Sat. Mon would be the 2nd best. Of these 2 days....in mid Sept, which would be the best for IOA?

Thanks!

monday

I agree. That time of year is pretty quiet anyway.

 

[stephensmum]

We started going to Orlando in 2005 & in our last 5 visits have stayed at Disney. We have twice stayed at RPR for 1 night & last time for 2 nights. We actually find it cheaper, but I suppose it depends on the individual families. I am very much a Disney fan, probably why it took me so long to visit US, but I don't tend to compare, that way I have grown to love both equally. This year we are staying at SSR, Disney for 11 nights & RPR, Universal for 5 nights. Unfortunately, we arrive at RPR on a Monday (8/20) which looks like a busy day but will just plan accordingley.

 

[disneygrandma]

Thanks for the info. I was kind of hoping that a Sat would be doable in mid Sept.

 

[mesaboy2]

Thanks for the info. I was kind of hoping that a Sat would be doable in mid Sept.

It still should be. You asked above which was best. Monday is, but neither should be bad.