Best park to do without express pass?

[kohlby]

Our first US/IoA day of our trip is the Sunday after t-giving, so I would guess crowds to be a little higher than the days to follow. We will not have express pass until the following Wednesday - so we're fine skipping rides for lower crowds and express pass. (There is a slight chance we might feel compelled to go the Sat after t-giving for a few hours too). Knowing this, which park is best to do that weekend? (We won't have express pass until Wed and won't hit rope drop those off-site days).

 

[HM]

There are more rides/attractions at US, so I'd choose to go there.

 

[johde]

If you have Park to Park passes, I wouldn't hesitate to park hop. The parks are extremely close together. I agree with HM about at least starting at US. On the non-express days, you can probably do a few headliner attractions but focus on shows and second tier attractions. T2-3D, Monster Makeup show, Shrek, Beetlejuice, Animal Actors Show, E.T, MIB. Then towards evening, you should be able to hit Simpsons, Mummy, Transformers.

That Saturday, you've got a decent shot at hitting a couple of headliners from 8:00 - 9:00 with minimal wait. I would take the chance of heading over to Hogsmead for Forbidden Journey or Diagon Alley for Gringotts. Most of the sit down restaurants close early at Universal so the crowds thing out earlier than they do at Disney (They head out to City walk for dinner).

 

[kohlby]

Thanks! Two of my kids can't handle staying up late too often and need time to relax before bed, so we won't likely be out at even 7pm unless finishing up eating. (Plus, not counting the Saturday after t-giving, we have 6 days planned for IOA/US, so no need to stay until they close). We do have park-to-park since we have AP's so that's a good idea to do both. Does Hogwarts Express get crowded? We haven't been to US/IOA for two years so we're used to walking between the parks but want to make sure to take Hogwarts Express at least once in each direction.

We're planning on hitting Disney Springs Saturday as soon as they open - so we would likely be hitting US/IOA during the busiest time if we decided to go over there after. It depends on how the kids are holding up after dealing with crowds there. (I have have couple quirky kids so I don't want to decide a park vs relaxing Saturday afternoon until I see how they're doing).