Help me plan my July 3, 2009 trip

[twitch]

Here's the deal:

My wife and I are at a convention at the Orange County Convention Center from June 24-July 2. We don't fly out until July 4th, giving us one day "off." There's a possibility that the business would be all done by noon on July 2, giving us the potential of a day and a half in the parks.

I won one of the Superbowl tickets, so we only have to buy one ticket. We're staying at the Extended Stay Deluxe on Westwood Blvd., and are NOT (currently) planning on renting a car. My ticket is an unlimited-2-park ticket. I'm not sure what our best value is for her ticket.

We plan to make another trip to US/IOA after the HP theme park is opened, so this doesn't have to be a "do-everything-see-everything-commando-style" trip. This is our first visit to US/IOA. (Well... my wife went 15 years ago in HS with her HS band... but doesn't remember a lot, and a lot has probably changed since then.)

We are willing to get up early and do what it takes to get to the park early... we're also willing to stay most of the day and tour pretty hard. However, we'd like to save as much money as possible. We like coasters... but when we went to Disney, we also enjoyed the dark rides and theater shows and such that they offer.

So... I'm looking for your ideas. Should we do one park? Or try to do them both? Will we need to rent a car to get up there? Or can we use a taxi or bus?

I'm sure it will be pretty crowded that close to July 4... what are the tips/strategies that I need to be thinking about?

 

[macraven]

google the area and the hotel where you will be staying.
that will give you an idea on how far away the park will be.

some hotels provide free or for a small fee shuttle transportation from their hotel to the parks. call them and inquire.
taxis might be best if you don't have an early shuttle to the park from the hotel. time is money here......
if you are not at the park very early, you will not be able to do as much as you want to.

do both parks. heck, you have that ticket so go for it.
buy the 2 park ticket for your wife.
go to the http://www.universalorlando.com and check out ticket prices.
the 7 day 2 -park pass might be the best to buy.

read the stickies to get ideas of the park and what it has to offer you for this short trip.

one thing you must do, be at the park before opening.
on the ioa side, more rides are open before the official opening time of 9:00.
if the lines are long at the ticket stile, it is very possible for the gates to open at 8:30 ish.
you can get a lot done by going early and avoiding crowds and long lines.
crowds generally really start to grow around 11ish in the day.
since you are going the day before a big holiday, i would think you will see crowds there.
the option to buy the express pass plus is something you might want to consider once you are in the park. make that decision if the wait lines are greater than 25 minutes.

take advantage of the single rider lines for the rides.
don't worry if you two are not sitting together.
you can't make conversations very easily on the coasters or some other rides.

go and have fun.
scream your heads off