How many days do you really need for US/IOA?

[pinkxray]

I am currently planning our trip for May. I am thinking about cutting off one day to save some money. We have 2 days to see everything at Universal. I think that should be more than enough. Our daughter is only 5 so we can't go on many of the bigger, exciting rides. I am thinking half a day will most likely be enough on the regular Universal side. I haven't been since 2003, but remember loving IOA and being BORED on the other side.

 

[damo]

With a little one, you may want to spend more time at the Kiddie area in Universal than you did pre-kids. It is a very well done area with the Barney show.

There are also lots of great new things (like the Mummy and Rip Ride Rocket and Shrek) at Universal now that make it a great park.

Two days should be plenty.

 

[Coach81]

You should easily be able to do both parks and see everything that you and her want to see in two days. Have a great time!

 

[diskids2]

Just a quick hijack Is two days enough if you have thrill seeking adults?

 

[Metro West]

Is two days enough if you have thrill seeking adults?

 

[ThemeParkGuy]

We spent 4 days right before thanksgiving and that was the perfect amount of time for a relaxed vacation spending about 5 hours a day in the parks. We sill did not see everthing but had a perfect balance.

 

[nate4three]

my family has made several long weekend trips to universal. I like to fly in early on friday and leave around 5 on sunday. We stay onsite and with the express pass perk we can do both parks on friday and saturday..then on sunday we do our favorites one more time before we head off to the the airport.

 

[Darcy03231]

Ok, I'll be the voice of dissent. I can spend a week at US/IOA and still feel like its not enough time.

OP, you'd be surprised at how much there is to see/do for your 5 y.o. We took my niece when she was 3½ and spent 7 days between US/IOA and she had a blast. She's now 6 and still talks about it.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

2-4 days is considered sufficient. It depends on how much time is spent in play areas, seeing shows, meeting characters, etc.

 

[U2_rocks!]

We're only going to have 2 days, so we'll have to be a little bit commando. I think 3 would be perfect if you wanted to take it a little bit slow, and if you were doing most things. We will be doing thrill rides, Harry Potter etc., but we can skip Barney and some of the real kiddie stuff, as our youngest will be almost 8 and will consider herself way too old for that stuff!

 

[Chelley00]

We did Universal/IOA in 2 days, and that's with thrill seeking teens and little ones.

 

[Laurabearz]

I have to say I agree that 4 days is a nice amount of time...

But yes, 2 days and you can do a lot at both parks, which will leave you wanting more, and coming back to the 3 or 4 day trips that really kick!!

 

[Borgar]

I'm glad I found this thread -- right on the front page.

We're planning our first trip to US/IOA this summer, particularly because of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We have two girls, ages 8 and 6 at the time, so we probably won't be doing the big thrill rides.

Sounds like 2 days would be adequate, but I'm thinking 3 sounds good - especially if we wanted to enjoy HP at a leisurely pace! I'm trying to plan an exact number of days, so (a) we can book a UO resort to gain FOTL access, and (b) we can plan the remainder of our vacation week at WDW!

 

[kohlby]

We do 2 days due to visiting Disney the same week. 2 days is enough if that's all you have. We could have easily spent 4+ days there and that's without character meetings since we skip those. We went with a baby and barely 3 year old and then again with baby and 3.5 year old. I was surprised how much there was to do. I had remembered going three times without kids and spending most of our time at IOA and not noticing that there was stuff for the little ones.

As for rides, Men in Black was my oldest's absolutlely favorite ride of any park at 3.5 years old. The height requirement is 42" so keep that in mind. He must have rode that ride 10 times in a row. (Luckily, it was low crowds!)

*We have just two days there planned for our next trip since we have 4 disney parks in 4 days and a sea world day planned as well. (And I had 3 free 2 day 2 park tickets with credit card points, making 2 days make sense). We need a longer time down there! I went ahead and bought the 7 day IOA/US tickets for our visit after this one already. That trip won't likely be until 2013 but I'd love to spend more than 2 days in US/IOA for that trip.

Just a quick hijack Is two days enough if you have thrill seeking adults?

Maybe. Again, it's enough if that's all you have. And it's enough if you're the type who doesn't like to ride over and over again! My best 2 day IOA/US trip included new year's eve without kids. We got there at rope drop and didn't leave until after midnight. I rode dueling dragons at least 20 times total that day. I think spiderman was only about 12 times and hulk was about 10 times. We did US in the middle of the day to calm down our spinning a bit! I'm not sure if there are lot of single rider lines still but that's how we managed to ride over and over and over again during the busiest time of the year. (Plus, we found that people didn't like to make the hike up to DD).

 

[U2_rocks!]

I'm thinking of adding another night to my Universal trip, and taking a night off of WDW. The kids have done WDW before, but never Universal, and we're big HP fans, so I know we will want to spend some time over there and not feel rushed. The kids will be big enough to do some thrill rides, and I'll definitely be doing them too! We want to do wet rides and have pool time. We can't get 3 whole days, but adding a night will add another half day, giving us 2.5 days instead of almost 2 days park time. It means tough choices at WDW, but we can plan our strategy such that we only do the favourites from last time, as well as any thrill rides that our youngest was too short for last time. DH requires 1.5 days at Seaworld, and our last half day is set aside for something non-theme park that DH wants to do.

So, original plan is 1.75 days Universal, 5.5 days WDW. Revised plan would be 2.5 days Universal and 4.5 days WDW, with a possible nip into a park for a couple of hours on another day, so maybe 4.75 days. How does that balance sound for kids aged 7 - 10 who went to WDW at 4 - 7 and have never been to Universal?

 

[macraven]

I'm thinking of adding another night to my Universal trip, and taking a night off of WDW. The kids have done WDW before, but never Universal, and we're big HP fans, so I know we will want to spend some time over there and not feel rushed. The kids will be big enough to do some thrill rides, and I'll definitely be doing them too! We want to do wet rides and have pool time. We can't get 3 whole days, but adding a night will add another half day, giving us 2.5 days instead of almost 2 days park time. It means tough choices at WDW, but we can plan our strategy such that we only do the favourites from last time, as well as any thrill rides that our youngest was too short for last time. DH requires 1.5 days at Seaworld, and our last half day is set aside for something non-theme park that DH wants to do.

So, original plan is 1.75 days Universal, 5.5 days WDW. Revised plan would be 2.5 days Universal and 4.5 days WDW, with a possible nip into a park for a couple of hours on another day, so maybe 4.75 days. How does that balance sound for kids aged 7 - 10 who went to WDW at 4 - 7 and have never been to Universal?

the plan sounds logical to me.



the only thing will be is the kids will want to stay longer and do repeat rides once they get hooked...

spend a day at each park and use the 1/2 day for the shows or repeat rides that are your groups favorite.


i must be weird.
my next trip is 6 nights/7 full days onsite at universal and i'm wondering if i will have time to do everything i plan to.