How long on a Universal Vacation?

[Zooey72]

I have never been there and am not really sure how many parks there are and how many days would be good for each park. We would be going on the Tuesday after Labor Day. I loathe to pay extra to cut in line so if it can be avoided (being one of the slowest times of the year) that would be great.

Thanks!

 

[pattyw]

Universal has two parks and a water park. I would say for a first time visit, at least three days is advisable. Are you planning on staying onsite? if so, is it at one of the deluxes offering free express pass? The days after Labor Day will be low crowds so you shouldn't encounter long lines and wouldn't require express passes if you're staying off site.

Universal vacations don't require much advance planning, but check out the website and read the boards here for many great helps and hints.

You will have an amazing time!

 

[davper]

I say 3 to 4 park days.
1 day for the water park, 1 day for IOA, and 1 for US. Then 1 day to see what you missed or go back to your favorites.

 

[BigredNole]

US is not like a Disney vacation. There is so much more relaxing leading up to the trip. As someone else stated, crowd levels play an importance on when to go. There are huge benefits staying onsite at one of their deluxe resorts. You get in the park early for HP, you get free unlimited Express Pass which alone is worth staying. Yes, you can purchase an Express Pass, but it is only good for 1 trip on the ride. Staying onsite, it is unlimited. I have not been in about 5 years. But walking past all the masses in line right up to the ride is great. At the time, my DD loved Cat in the Hat. We walked around on that ride about 6x in a row. We passed the same people many times getting on while they waited in about an hour long line.

I would say 3 days if you are just doing the parks. I would say an addition day if you do the waterpark.

 

[nighttowll]

For a first time visit, plan one day per each park you want to see. Then one extra day to go back and hit whatever you missed or want to do a second time. Depending on crowds, you need 1 to 1.5 days per park if you want to do everything there is to do. If you only want to see HP, one day is enough to see both HP lands.

 

[Squidgyness]

Agree with all the posters that you need at minimum 4 days to do most things. Universal is definitely more relaxing and we loved that aspect of it on our last trip, not to mention the Universal Express pass onsite hotels are great quality for the money without even including the passes, with them it's a no brainer. Crowds would obviously impact this, during very quiet times of the year you could get away with 3 days if you rushed. But we like to kick back and take it all in as we want over a decent period of time.

That being said, it's a bit of a how long is a piece of string question as you can really spend whatever time you want there, we spent 6 days in the Universal parks last trip and we were still seeing new things by the end of it - the little shows they put on for example. We loved the flying fish one and the construction worker drummers. So I wouldn't be afraid to book 5 or more days - particularly if staying at an onsite Express pass hotel as that gives you the ability to spend an afternoon by the pool for example.

 

[bumbershoot]

Our first trip to Orlando had us at Universal 4 total days. We stayed at royal pacific and hated leaving to go back to clunky FPs and fewer on-site perks at Disney.

Our max is 8 nights, which I’d love to say was amazing, but my son and I had been sick for two long weeks over at Disney and Daytona before that, so we mainly just slept. My then 9 year old felt so lousy he watched all of Life of Pi while lazing in our Portofono room one day. Sigh. (We have done he same length at Disneyland, and had a terrific time)

I loathe to pay extra to cut in line so if it can be avoided (being one of the slowest times of the year) that would be great.

It’s a different line. Not cutting. Unless you think FPs over at Disney mean you’re cutting.

Stay onsite deluxe (royal pacific, hard rock, and portofino) and you get unlimited express pass included.

 

[bchbetha]

If doing VB, 4 days min., if skipping VB then 3 days min.

Agree with staying onsite- you get EPs at the 3 hotels listed, early entry (at any of them) and you're so close that you can really take advantage of relaxing by the pool, taking a break in your room mid-day...really just relax vs powering through. Even if you're at Cabana Bay (no EPs), it will only take 15-20 minutes to get back to your hotel. You can be back at the other hotels much faster. And, you can pool hop so you really can make it a nifty vacation!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Also, willingness to use single rider lines impacts importance of EPs. I'd think at a slower time with 4 days/3 parks (or 3 days/2 parks) you're fine without EPs and still being able to do most stuff. Esp. with copious use of the single rider lines. And esp. if you're arriving for park opening.

 

[shanew21]

2.5 days without the waterpark, 3.5 days with, minimum. We go with express passes (without Volcano Bay) and find the parks start to get redundant around the end of day 3 or midway through day 4, but you can always explore the Citywalk too.

 

[macraven]

Limited crowds day after Labor Day
You should be good for less peeps in the parks

Count on 3 days if this is your first time and if you only plan on rides and park entertainment this trip

Read up on trip reports and check out the uo park maps so you know what will interest you the most
Hit those things first and do your secondary selections of things in the parks later

Sometimes rides go down but hopefully not when you are there

For me, I do much longer stays onsite
I used to rush from ride to ride and time the shows so I could take them in also

When I changed my vacation style
of doing the darkside, I realized all the threads I read in the past, widen my interest in UO

For staying longer, the parks have a lot to explore

I now no longer rush for rides but go at a slower pace and hit sections of the parks that entertain led me also

Character shows, street entertainment, exploring different sections in the Park was fun for me

Hope your trip will be fun and entertaining
Try to hit city walk for entertainment and food
Stay on site?
Check out the hotels and their pools

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

We've done 3 days and and are doing it again next month. We like staying on site and the express passes. Nice perk, when Skull Island opened we were on it 3 times on the same day. The again my wife and oldest son were on an HP ride that malfunctioned and youngest son and I took advantage of it and went on the flight of the hippogriff at least 7 or 8 times. I stopped counting. We had planned on spending 1 day at each park and the third day as a floater. Ya that worked out for maybe the first 2 hours. One thing you might notice is UO is more relaxed. There's a lot more theater rides so the park is smaller and easier to navigate. If the line is too big or you decide to go on another ride you just go. The afternoon sun was too hot so we left and went back to the resort to hang by the pool for a few hours to cool off before heading back. It's only a 10 minute walk. And the park to park is a must if you want to ride the express but we used it as a transfer point between the parks And the third day was the day that we used to go back on all our favorite rides.
And city walk, we were there each and every night. Love the food choices, just walk around and enjoy the sites, play mini golf and get some frozen yogurt at Menchies.

 

[schumigirl]

Don’t do less than 3 days for both parks.........4 would be ideal.

We have never had the desire to run around and do the highlights in a short time.........both parks have places to pass some time that are so pretty........taking smile to smell the roses so to speak!

 

[robl45]

We are going for 8 days first full week in August. I'm thinking probably 2 days in each park potentially including volcano bay. The plan is to relax, check out all the characters, the shows etc. All the stuff we never get to do at Disney because we are just running ride to ride. My daughter also loves to swim so we will probably try to hit the different pools while we are there.

 

[DreamIsaWish]

I'm going to be a counter voice and say three days is plenty. We had nearly 5 days and it was way too much. By the 4th day we were all more excited to go to the movies than to go into the parks all day. Lines were OK for most rides (Kong was always really long so never made it there, but family members told us it wasn't worth the wait) and with good planning we were able to walk on to Forbidden Journey multiple times. No Express Pass for us, but I don't feel at all that it would have changed much for us. We didn't wait excessively for anything (except when the ride broke, but EP wouldn't help with that) but just didn't have much other than simulators for doing/riding between the simulators. And it rained a LOT.

I think if we had reallocated our time to have fewer days at Universal we would have left wanting slightly more (you know, leave 'em wanting more) instead of leaving feeling like we wasted some of our precious vacation time.

 

[chiisai]

Three full days (non travel) is good enough for us for IOA and US (haven’t done VB). However, I prefer four to feel like we can sleep enough/wake up refreshed, really relax, enjoy pool, re- ride favorites, soak up/explore HP lands and dedicate a specific large chunk of time to get drenched on the water rides - and it’s also helpful in case of bad weather, too-long lines, and ride breakdowns.

 

[Cuchman]

I have never been there and am not really sure how many parks there are and how many days would be good for each park. We would be going on the Tuesday after Labor Day. I loathe to pay extra to cut in line so if it can be avoided (being one of the slowest times of the year) that would be great.

Thanks!

We have gone that same time period a few years....and our doing so again this year (at least for the tail end of our trip). I would say you don't need express passes unless you are super line-averse. Especially if you can be in the parks early, you will have no trouble getting on everything with short waits.
I like the other posters' thoughts of a full day for each park and one more to cover more or redo things. So, basically, 3 without the water park or 4 with.
That being said, we are staying for 7 on our next trip and I know we'll be busy the whole time.
We love reriding favorites.

 

[skylock]

We usually do 4 never less than 3. We have the express pass so we can make a day short if we have something else we want to squeeze in.

Otherwise, we take the parks slow and really look around. They have put so much detail in some of the areas that you just miss if you are hopping from ride to ride.

 

[hertamaniac]

I have never been there and am not really sure how many parks there are and how many days would be good for each park. We would be going on the Tuesday after Labor Day. I loathe to pay extra to cut in line so if it can be avoided (being one of the slowest times of the year) that would be great.

Thanks!

Based on what Universal announced today, they want to have guests for ~1 week, onsite. Therefore, it looks like they are going to add another theme park.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

If they add another park I can picture spending a week there. UO is situated perfectly with the hotels so we can do the afternoon swim and go back. I found it's a more relaxed holiday than WDW.