Help please. which days are better?

[kkgordon02]

Surprising my huge Harry Potter fan with a combined trip to Disney and Universal/Islands of Adventure for his 9th bday. Will be in town June 5-12.

Sundays seem to be the best day for Islands but I'm not sure he will want to wait. Would Thurs June 6 or Sunday June 9 be a better day? Express Pass is cheaper on the Sunday, but I think kids could still be in school on the Thursday before??

Staying at Bonnet Creek by Disney so we would have to purchase express pass if needed. Any advice would be great, thanks!

 

[Metro West]

Sundays seem to be the best day for Islands but I'm not sure he will want to wait. Would Thurs June 6 or Sunday June 9 be a better day? Express Pass is cheaper on the Sunday, but I think kids could still be in school on the Thursday before??

Sundays are usually slower than other days at IoA so that's your best day. Early June isn't crowded since most family vacations haven't started yet so you will be coming at a good time.

Do not purchase Express Plus passes ahead of time...wait until you arrive to see if they are needed.

 

[PrincessJo]

We just did a combined Universal/Disney trip for Thanksgiving 2012, Nov. 17-25.

We flew into Orlando on the 17th (Saturday) and spent that evening exploring the Hard Rock Hotel and City Walk. We also saw Blue Man Group that night.

We got up bright and early Sunday morning and went to Wizarding World. We stayed on property, so we were able to enter the park an hour before everyone else, which was TOTALLY worth it. We arrived about 7:30 to enter the park at 8am and there was already a line, but not too bad. As soon as they opened the gates it was a mad dash to the Wizarding World.

We went straight to Ollivander's and saw the quick show and picked up some wands. Our wait in line was about 10 minutes. We did this first as I've heard the lines for Ollivander's grow FAST.

From there we went straight to Forbidden Journey and rode right away with NO wait. It took us a few minutes to walk thru Hogwart's and that was it. From 8am until 9am, it was delightful. No wait times and hardly any lines anywhere. We were able to explore easily and takes lots of pics. We also had breakfast at Three Broomsticks with no wait.

We spent about an hour in the Wizarding World that Sunday morning until the park opened for regular visitors (9am). After that it was PACKED within minutes. And I mean PACKED... no room for another single human being in any of the shops. Wall to wall people.

Later on Sunday afternoon we went back and stood in line for over an hour for butterbeers and waited 2 hours in line to ride Forbidden Journey one more time. We ran thru Hogwart's the first time and missed seeing the inside of the caste, a MUST do.

Long story short... if you can stay on property at a Universal Hotel to get the extra hour before the regular park opening... TOTALLY worth it. I can't stress that enough!!

I hope that helps.

 

[macraven]

I'd follow Metro West's advice.

Sundays are good days for the spring time.


peeps usually travel on the weekends for their vacations.
with those leaving on a Sunday to return home, less peeps in the parks then.



june 6 is good, early in the month and avoiding soon to be summer crowds by the middle of that month.

 

[luvgoing2disney]

To piggy back on this thread, we arrive Friday May 17th staying at Disney but will be at Universal on Tuesday. Any idea on what crowds to expect that time of year and on that day of the week?

 

[Metro West]

To piggy back on this thread, we arrive Friday May 17th staying at Disney but will be at Universal on Tuesday. Any idea on what crowds to expect that time of year and on that day of the week?

Crowds shouldn't be too bad that time of year. Tuesday is a good day since its not a weekend day.

 

[disneyfreak7]

Surprising my huge Harry Potter fan with a combined trip to Disney and Universal/Islands of Adventure for his 9th bday. Will be in town June 5-12.

Sundays seem to be the best day for Islands but I'm not sure he will want to wait. Would Thurs June 6 or Sunday June 9 be a better day? Express Pass is cheaper on the Sunday, but I think kids could still be in school on the Thursday before??

Staying at Bonnet Creek by Disney so we would have to purchase express pass if needed. Any advice would be great, thanks!

We will be at Bonnet Creek too, June 5-15! WE are going to do 2 days at Universal on Thur June 6 and Fri June 7. Our first time to Universal. I am so used to following crowd calendar for WDW, is there one for Universal?

 

[Metro West]

We will be at Bonnet Creek too, June 5-15! WE are going to do 2 days at Universal on Thur June 6 and Fri June 7. Our first time to Universal. I am so used to following crowd calendar for WDW, is there one for Universal?

You can use the EP pricing chart to get an idea of the crowds. The higher the cost of the EP for a particular day, the higher the anticipated crowds. For your days, the two park EP is $69.99 per person which would indicate moderate to higher crowds. You can check out the chart from this link:

https://www.universalorlando.com/Ticket-Store/PurchaseTickets.aspx?ExpressPlus

 

[archmack]

i think macraven is right.