Crowd Levels?

[HannaBelle]

We have never done Universal before and I am interested in doing some research on crowd levels in early to mid June.

We are considering doing 3 or 4 days at Universal plus a 3 or 4 night Disney Cruise. We will stay onsite at Universal and have the express pass.

Choosing a 3 night cruise would allow us to visit Universal during the week before departing on the cruise on Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon.

A 4 night cruise would force us to visit the parks over the weekend since the 4 night is Mon/Tues/Wed/Thur/Fri. So, we would probably fly to Orlando on Thursday, visit Universal on Fri/Sat/Sun, drive to Port Canaveral on Mon then get on the ship.

I want to do the 4 night cruise, but I don't want to sacrifice lower crowds at "Harry Potter World". My kiddos have literately grown up with Harry and are jazzed about going.

What is a better option?

After typing this all out, I am pretty sure I know what I should do, but I am hoping someone will tell me that weekend crowds in the summer at not any heavier than week day crowds.

My daughter gets out of school on Friday, June 5th so I would like to travel that next week. I am hoping for cooler weather and lighter crowds in early June.

 

[DPCummerbund]

Have you checked out any of the crowd calendars on the internet? Here are a few:

Orlando Informer Crowd Calendar lists almost all of June as "Moderate"

Undercover Tourist rates about 7-8 out of 10.

I know there are several others as well, but you can see that they're expected to be between Moderate and the low end of High. I've never been to UO, but my experiences at WDW in mid June have basically matched the predictions - sometimes moderate, sometimes high.

Another thing to consider - park hours are in flux in June. Officially, UO is saying that the parks will be open 9:00 am - 9:00 pm. However, by the end of the next week the parks will be open until 10:0 pm, and the week after that they'll start opening at 8:00 am.

Overall, though, if you look at the day-by-day crowd levels, the weekends are actually less crowded than the weekdays. The reason that is usually given for this is that most people arrive in Orlando on Friday or Saturday and do WDW first. So, UO tends to be less busy on the weekends, and gets increasingly busy as the week goes on, with the busiest day being Thursday.

Strangely enough, though, the UO hotels charge a lot more on weekends. It's possible that they get more weekend visitors who stay onsite.

Finally, I've often heard that the best predictor of crowd levels is to look at UO's pricing for the Express Passes for those particular days.

 

[macraven]

many locals go to the parks on the weekend, especially if it is nice weather.
that can add to crowds depending on dates.

 

[JoC-UK]

Sounds a really hard choice- is this your first cruise? Last year we did our first cruise ever and found the 11 night transatlantic too short but we also love the universal parks.

As you are staying onsite the queus will have less of an affect apart from in HP areas.

Also have you been to the Bahamas before as a day on the ship on a port day can be great as everything is much quieter and queues are shorter. Another factor is whether the cruises are on the same ship if not this may affect your choice. We loved the disney Magic and would like to try the new ships at some point but would prefer to avoid the dream until it has been refurbished as it seems to be getting to the stage where a refurb wouldn't hu but also storage of luggage (if you do lots of shopping) as I don't think the beds on the dream are raised so you can't fit the cases underneath.
Any chance you can get an extra day and 4 days at each - I thi that's wh I wo try and do.

Either way you will have a great time.

 

[HannaBelle]

Thank you for all of the replies, I appreciate it! Four days at Universal and the four night cruise sound great, I'm just not sure we have enough vacation time.

Which crowd predictors are best?

 

[johde]

I'm not sure there is a "best". What I put the most faith in is the price of express passes on Universal's website. I normally use the 2 park/1 trip per ride. But I also look at Touring plans and Orlando Informer.

 

[HannaBelle]

This is not our 1st cruise, it will be our 3rd.

We have decided to go to Universal from the 8th to the 12th and then do the 3 night cruise. I am VERY excited! TY for all of the comments.