First Trip Impressions

[xmas16]

I was expecting crowds since I went on the Sat/Sun before MLK day. Wow, were the crowds big. I don't know how anyone can tour these parks without getting the perks, i.e. early admission and Express Pass. I did not stay onsite but did secure early park admission by booking my hotel through Universal. I did not get the Express Pass. My advice to anyone going is to try to save enough to stay on the onsite hotels. That gives you early admission to Harry Potter. The crowds build up incredibly fast there. Also you get the unlimited front of the line Express Pass. I witnessed these people with this pass move right to the front. Not having it I felt like a second class citizen. I really feel in order to tour these parks efficiently you NEED to have these perks. At least when the parks are busy. I went back later in the week and it was better. especially when i came back during the evening. I stayed until closing and had no problems. i loved lingering in Three Broomsticks having a beer and late dinner with the family just loking around and listening to the Harry Potter music and recordings of a busy kitchen like in the movie and looking up into the rafters and seeing shadows of various characters moving around. it was neat. On the Universal side I noticed everyone heads to the first attraction they see.ike the new Minion show. So the line gets big there quickly but the rest of the Unversal side slowly builds. Either be the first to be at the Minions or save it for later and go towards the back attractions and work your way back. If I go again I'm staying onsite. To me it seems the January crowds seem to be much bigger.

 

[Metro West]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[angela3676]

Thanks for sharing. My family and i went on Sunday, Jan 20th the day before MLK. You're right is was very busy. We knew it would be busy when we decided to go but it was a little "extra" crazy. We were only able to do 4 rides total as a group of 3 (both parks) and my daughter did Jurassic River Ride by her self. We have power pass' and they will expire Feb. 11th. so my daughter and i plan to go back this Sunday and try to do everything we missed on the 20th. It's suppose to be slow so I think we'll be able to really enjoy ourselves.
These are the rides we were able to do and we got there at 9:15am(parks opened at 9am)
Hulk
Spiderman
The Mummy
The Simpson
Jurassic river ride (daughter only)