We were at Universal 12/26 and IOA 12/27 and 12/30 and are definitely thinking the cold weather helped us. We arrived 12/26 around 8:30am and pretty much had the park to ourselves. Of course we were bundled up with coats, hats, and gloves, but it was worth it! By the afternoon the crowds picked up and we had to wait about 40 min for Jimmy Neutron. We were able to do just about everything by the time we left at 5pm.
12/27 we arrived at WWOHP at 8am, looked around a bit, bought some butterbeer (no line since it's cold, had it been served warm it would have been a big hit), then got into the 90min line for FJ. Did the child swap (helped a bit so we could skip the locker line) and rode twice- wow! 9yo LOVED it and 7yo was totally disappointed that she wasn't tall enough. She did love the castle, though. By 10:30 the bathroom line was huge so we started to head to another section of the park but learned that the wait just to get back in was 90min. So I braved the bathroom line and we did Dragons (5min wait) and Hippogriff (20min wait). We didn't even attempt Olivander's or any shops. We figured we'd try again 12/30.
So 12/30 we headed straight to WWOHP at 8am and discovered a HUGE line just to get tickets to get in. They were giving out tickets to get in around 11:30, but we figured by the time we even got to the front of that line, it would be more like 2pm. Plus then there was the 90 min wait for FJ once you got in. So we rode Spiderman (walked right on) and all of the rides in Seuss Landing (0-20 min waits). The ride for the Pteranadon Flyers was 90min- 90 min for an 80sec little kid ride. It was insane! The play area was empty and the kids loved it. By around 1pm when we left, we could hardly walk through the crowd. IOA was closed and the crowds coming in as we were leaving meant that ALL of those people were going to US. Poor people. You HAVE to be there at park opening during peak times to be able to do anything.
So thank goodness for cold weather and the few nice days that followed that allowed us to thaw!!
12/27 we arrived at WWOHP at 8am, looked around a bit, bought some butterbeer (no line since it's cold, had it been served warm it would have been a big hit), then got into the 90min line for FJ. Did the child swap (helped a bit so we could skip the locker line) and rode twice- wow! 9yo LOVED it and 7yo was totally disappointed that she wasn't tall enough. She did love the castle, though. By 10:30 the bathroom line was huge so we started to head to another section of the park but learned that the wait just to get back in was 90min. So I braved the bathroom line and we did Dragons (5min wait) and Hippogriff (20min wait). We didn't even attempt Olivander's or any shops. We figured we'd try again 12/30.
So 12/30 we headed straight to WWOHP at 8am and discovered a HUGE line just to get tickets to get in. They were giving out tickets to get in around 11:30, but we figured by the time we even got to the front of that line, it would be more like 2pm. Plus then there was the 90 min wait for FJ once you got in. So we rode Spiderman (walked right on) and all of the rides in Seuss Landing (0-20 min waits). The ride for the Pteranadon Flyers was 90min- 90 min for an 80sec little kid ride. It was insane! The play area was empty and the kids loved it. By around 1pm when we left, we could hardly walk through the crowd. IOA was closed and the crowds coming in as we were leaving meant that ALL of those people were going to US. Poor people. You HAVE to be there at park opening during peak times to be able to do anything.
So thank goodness for cold weather and the few nice days that followed that allowed us to thaw!!
It would be so nice if the cold was over for this year!!!
