FOTL in Nov? + Other ?'s

[peimikes]

Hi I've read the stickies but still need help.

The last time we were at Universal was in 1997. Soooo it's been a while .

I'm in the process of coming up with a budget for universal to see if it's doable for us this year. We're thinking Nov 10-19 (the date is flexible but would like to be mid to late Nov). How are the crowds normally at that time of year? Should we be looking at staying at a universal resort for FOTL? Off site is much more budget friendly! But we're considering staying onsite if it is really going to impact our experience.

We normally go to Disney in Sept but went in Nov last year and found it much busier than Sept. Of course we were there during Food & Wine. Once that was over it seemed much more manageable. I'm trying to imagine how the first part of the trip would be without FP and I wouldn't want to do it and I feel like I know all the ins and outs of Disney and I know I don't for Universal.

We normally spend 10 full park days at Disney every year and find it's good & relaxing and we don't have to rush to do everything we'd like to do. Is 9 days to much for universal? We are considering taking 1 or 2 days out of that to go to seaworld too (but haven't made up our mind). With arrival and departure and possibly going to seaworld it would be more like 6 or 7 days at universal. Would the Orlando Flex Ticket be the best way to go for tickets? My other thought was one of the adults getting the preferred annual pass (I think there is a room discount for on-site?) and buying the other tickets but not sure how this would work out, the biggest ticket seems to be a 4 day on Universal's site?

If it makes a difference there are 2 adult in the party and 1 child who will be 7 at the time of the trip.

thanks for any help

 

[mrsabbott]

I tried to link a site, but it won't let me. I am guessing that Disboards has an issue with the sight I was looking at. Hmm.. Well, google crowd calendar and there is a site called the Orlando Informer and I looked at their calendar to get an idea of crowd levels. There might be other sites that are better, I don't know.

The month of November is pretty slow, with the exception of Thanksgiving week. HHN is over and it isn't the Christmas season, so I'd say you wouldn't have to worry much about crowds and needing a Fast Pass.

We stayed offsite during Spring Break (although, our stay was during the early part of the Spring Break season) and we went on a Sunday and a Tuesday. Tuesday wasn't crowded at all! The longest wait we had for anything was Minion Mayhem (about 30 min) and the rest of the rides were walk on or maybe 5 minutes max.. We also walked right in with no reservation at Mythos right at lunchtime! Sunday was more crowded and the wait times were longer but not at all unreasonable. So, plan to go midweek instead of weekends and your crowd levels should go down even more!

 

[macraven]

Is 9 days to much for universal? We are considering taking 1 or 2 days out of that to go to seaworld too (but haven't made up our mind). With arrival and departure and possibly going to seaworld it would be more like 6 or 7 days at universal.
If it makes a difference there are 2 adult in the party and 1 child who will be 7 at the time of the trip.

thanks for any help

i'm not the best person to give you advice on that question.
people don't understand the length of my onsite stays.

i usually stay 10 nights onsite but this fall it will be for 12 days.

i take my time and do the parks, citywalk and its activities, pool, hotel time in the lobby and room, meet up with friends, do a picture taking day, go to the hard ticket events, etc.

my schedule varies each visit.
i don't rush and do my activities as i feel like it.
i totally de stress and relax at my pace.
i sleep late on some days other days i don't.

this is my time to have a vacation and get away from home and not be responsible for anyone but myself.

i go solo and never get bored at the darkside.

since you said you could end up with 6 UO park days as SW, etc is also being considered, you can keep busy at the darkside.
if you spend afternoons doing park/city walk entertainment, you could do pool time in the afternoons.
what 7 year old doesn't love pool time!

 

[RMulieri]

Novmebr is USUALLY pretty slow with the exception of Thanksgiving weekend, however, with Diagon Alley I would expect it to busier than in previous years .At this point no one is completely sure how it will impact crowds, but my guess is that it won't be insanely busy but it isn't going to be dead slow either.As for staying onsite, we have found even in slower times it is well worth the added expense