Duration at the parks - US/IoA?

[Locomigo]

Hello there,

We are coming down in about 6 weeks to stay at Disney, but I do have two days scheduled for these parks, my son (the trip is for celebrating his 14th bday) has turned into quite the coaster freak like me.

So, what we are curious of is this...
Can you see both parks in one day, and return the second for a "highlight day"?

OR

Is it better to reserve one day for each park and take our time, allowing for repetition of the best rides of the day towards the end of day?

The first day, we planned to hit the Pirate Dinner Show (understand that they have two showings a night), and second night have a 6:30 ADR in Downtown Disney.
That being the case, we should have ability to make the first day longer. If I go with option B, we will probably hit IoA first.

Any suggestions?
THANKS!

 

[ChrisFL]

Hello there,

We are coming down in about 6 weeks to stay at Disney, but I do have two days scheduled for these parks, my son (the trip is for celebrating his 14th bday) has turned into quite the coaster freak like me.

So, what we are curious of is this...
Can you see both parks in one day, and return the second for a "highlight day"?

OR

Is it better to reserve one day for each park and take our time, allowing for repetition of the best rides of the day towards the end of day?

The first day, we planned to hit the Pirate Dinner Show (understand that they have two showings a night), and second night have a 6:30 ADR in Downtown Disney.
That being the case, we should have ability to make the first day longer. If I go with option B, we will probably hit IoA first.

Any suggestions?
THANKS!

IMO these parks have more must see attractions than either MGM or AK and 1 day each would be better to experience it all. It's possible to do highlights of both in one day, but IOA especially has so much detail and little surprises everywhere.

 

[Spidey7]

With 2 days as for me personally, I would probably just start out at IOA for the first day, 2nd day to the old park, and if time is left on the 2nd day you could go back and hit some more at IOA if you wanted too.

 

[Locomigo]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

We went to the parks 8 years ago and my son wasnt tall enough for the coasters, and now that he is, that is the main attraction. So that being the case, we will be focused on those areas.

I do think that the IoA first day, US second and time allows for a return to IoA is a good idea.

Thanks!

 

[scoobysmom]

Well, we went for 5 days/4 nights at the end of July. Stayed on-site at RPR and used EP. I would say, do 2 days. You can fit the major, must-sees at both parks in one day for sure, and use the second day to do highlights or anything that you might have missed. I am with everyone else, IoA has great theme-ing, more so than USO IMO. There are great little spots and secret places there! But yes, 2 days is definately my verdict.

MUST SEES AT IoA:
Hulk, Spidey, Dr. Doom, Popeye, Dudley, JPRA, DD, maybe others...
MUST SEES AT USO:
ROTM, MIB, Jimmy Neutron, Jaws (for a laugh), Twister, Shrek, Horror Make-Up Show

with these, you'll be fine. Use day 2 to do repeats and any other attraction you missed that you may want to do.

It only takes a little magic!

 

[Darcy03231]

We just got back and I would think you'd need a minimum of two days to do both parks justice. Depending on the crowd level, the bigger rides can have pretty long wait time unless you have an express pass. My kids waited in line for a hour to ride Hulk.

 

[Spidey7]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

We went to the parks 8 years ago and my son wasnt tall enough for the coasters, and now that he is, that is the main attraction. So that being the case, we will be focused on those areas.

I do think that the IoA first day, US second and time allows for a return to IoA is a good idea.

Thanks!

I love coasters too, but although Uni has some great coasters, the theme rides are actually my favorites. Although the Mummy is kinda both, and is probably my favoritie overall or 2nd under Spiderman. But Spiderman, Jurassic Park, MIB and several others are not coasters but are terrific rides. Hulk is a great coaster, but it is not very tall. I don't really consider Universal to be a coaster park, that to me is more like some of the bigger 6-Flags and Cedar Point. What I love about U so much is the great theme rides.

 

[Locomigo]

You betcha, I had a good time last time we were there and plan to have fun this time too.

For the coasters, I totally plan to make a road trip to Cedar Point, Kings Island, Great America next year, I figure we could do it in about 10 days, and go to the parks during the week (minimizing wait times).