Four days in May - which park which day?

[nigel-bigel]

One thing I am looking forward to about my upcoming trip to US/IOA is the need to not obsessively plan every move of every day a la Disney. However, I do want to make sure we do go the right parks on less-crowded days. What has got me concerned is reading about crowds in May on Fridays due to Grad nights.

Please help me out! We are staying on-site and arriving late Wednesday, May 11. So we have...

Thursday, May 12
Friday, May 13 (DDs 16th birthday)
Saturday, May 14
Sunday, May 15 (our flight home is on Sunday evening, so we would leave parks around 3 pm.)

We would like to spend one day at Sea World, and Harry Potter is a big priority. I would love your advice about what to do when!

Nicole

 

[Metro West]

Because the parks close early on 5/13 due to hard ticket events, I would do IOA on Thursday and SeaWorld on Friday. The Studios would be good either Saturday or Sunday.

 

[walk23]

I was curious about this as well. We are planning to go to IOA on Friday, May 20th but I see the park closes at 5:00 pm. Anyone know if the crowds are usually lighter on a day the parks close earlier?

 

[momabaarjo]

Since you are HP fans and staying on site...I would take advantage of early entry EVERY morning of your trip, even on the day you do Sea World. I know it is hard to get up early, but trust me if the crowds continue like they have been...you will thank me for the advice. That early entry lets you in and enjoy before the wall to wall crowds the rest of the day.

Since you are staying on site and will have express pass...the other 2 parks can easily be done after HP each morning in 2 days...I would use the 3rd day to park hop back and forth hitting your favorite rides in both parks!

Since ISO has a hard/early close...I would do USO that day after I had done HP...

 

[xApril]

I was curious about this as well. We are planning to go to IOA on Friday, May 20th but I see the park closes at 5:00 pm. Anyone know if the crowds are usually lighter on a day the parks close earlier?

This is sometimes true (depends on the time of year), but the park is closing early the 20th because of Gradventure (like Grad Bash for seniors, but for 8th graders).