Crowds 1st full week in March

[ohiomom28]

I am hoping that since school is still in and it is not Spring Break yet, that Universal/IOA shouldn't be very busy...am I correct? We went to Disney last year end of april and it was a madhouse.

 

[Mainebound]

We have been to the Universal parks the last two years the first week of March and the crowds were pretty low. In fact, if you get there when the parks open you have them to yourselves for at least an hour. Of course, some rides are going to form lines very quickly (Hulk, Mumy etc.), but we found that we can wing it much more at the Universal parks than at, say the MK, where we need a precise plan to avoid crowds.

Last year we did buy the express pass booklets, but I'm not sure we really needed them since the only really popular thrill ride we did was the Mummy. (we don't ride coasters).

We have two young boys and our park touring is focused on them, so other people who tour the parks differently may have differing opinions.

 

[slap-happy]

About 1 million college kids will be on spring break from Feb 27 - Mar. 10.
ww(dot)tripsmarter(dot)com/panamacity/springbreak/sbcalendar(dot)htm
We went to the Orlando area parks in March a few years ago and they were crawling w/ college kids!

 

[ohiomom28]

The soonest Spring Break I have seen starts March 10th. Including the one on that Link. Panama City;s Spring Break '06 is from Mar 10-17.

 

[slap-happy]

The soonest Spring Break I have seen starts March 10th. Including the one on that Link. Panama City;s Spring Break '06 is from Mar 10-17.

You must not be looking at the same webpage I linked to. It shows the first week of "college" spring break being Feb. 27 - Mar. 3 (approx. 250k students) and the second week being Mar. 6 - 10 (an additional 700k students).

 

[jcooperdj]

I will be one in the crowd Mar 1 - 3 but way past spring break age LOL Look for the guy in the Red Cardinals shirt. I guess I should go ride the Mummy ride first thing then back track.

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

Hey....

The MAJOR crowds will start around March 10th. It might be a bit busier when you are there but nothing like the mid to last part of March.

My advice to people is to go to the parks early. You've probably read other people saying that many times and they are correct! Universal has a tendency to open the park a little early and it usually takes an hour or so for the crowds to really build up. After that - do the park "backwards". For example, Shrek tends to be insanely busy in the morning and early afternoon because it's one of the first rides you see when you enter the park. If I were coming as a guest I'd go to the back of the park FIRST.