How many days per park?

[mommy2paisley]

Those of you who go to Universal a lot, what would you recommend as far as how many days to plan per park, if we wanted to be able to take our time and do as close to everything as possible?

About us/our trip plans.....we plan to go first week of December, which I saw should be decent crowd-wise. We will be staying at Loews Royal Pacific and plan to take advantage of being able to get into a park each morning an hour early, as well as the Universal Express to skip what lines we can. There are 6 of us, 2 adults and kids 13, 8, 2 (twins) at time of travel. One adult and 13 yo will want to ride the big rides as well as the smaller rides. Me and the 8 yo and twins will want to do what small rides the twins can do, the play areas, any characters we possibly can see. We all enjoy the nicer dining and would hope to at least have a nice sit-down dinner, as well as lunch or breakfast sit-down when possible. Even with the small kids, we will probably do the parks open-close, as the twins nap easily in their strollers and I usually take them to walk around and relax in the park while the big kids and husband do some of the bigger rides (at least that is what we did for 8 days at Disney in July and it worked well).

With that info, would you think 3 days per park would be enough to see/do most things? We are a Disney family, and I love planning those trips and feel like I have learned so much, planning is easy and fun! We have never been to Universal and this may be the only time we go for many, many years, so we want to go and stay long enough to truly enjoy the trip and not try to cram too much into a couple days. I am just feeling so overwhelmed as I try to begin to plan!

 

[Squirlz]

That would be a good amount of time to really take everything in. We'll be there at the same time for 12 nights. It's great not to be rushed. There's really no planning necessary; often we didn't decide which park to go to first until we stepped off the boat!

 

[skylock]

With 6 days and expresspass, you will have plenty of time to do the parks in a take it slow mode and you should be able to do everything many times.

Be sure to pop into Diagon Alley. The entrance is pretty well hidden and some people don't even know it is there. But oh what a surprise once you get through the brick walls.

 

[mommy2paisley]

That would be a good amount of time to really take everything in. We'll be there at the same time for 12 nights. It's great not to be rushed. There's really no planning necessary; often we didn't decide which park to go to first until we stepped off the boat!

Do you do dining? I just assumed I would need dining reservations, but haven’t made it that far with planning at all!

 

[Catvondita]

For a first time trip I'd say 2 days per park and thats being generous

 

[schumigirl]

For a first visit, 4 or 5 days days would be fabulous!

There really is so much to see and do in both parks, and you can easily fill those days up before you can blink......

Have you checked out the park maps and get an idea of exactly what’s there and what your family would enjoy.....

Even the amount of times we have gone, I couldn't do the parks justice in less than 4 days.......we spend a lot of time in the parks and NEVER get bored.......

We’ll be there for 11 nights first week in December again too......it’s a fabulous time to go and you can really take your time and enjoy everything Universal has to offer......as well as all the holiday stuff too.......we have loved visiting the last two years at this time........

RPR is an amazing resort too.....and you’ll be able to enjoy some resort time too.......

 

[iona]

I’m going to echo what others have said - six days and express passes will give you plenty of time to do everything, repeat favourites and spend some time out of the parks (perhaps swimming or visiting other hotels).

If there’s somewhere you definitely want to eat I would make a reservation (particularly if it’s at the weekend) but there’s no need to do so at 180 days out like for WDW.

 

[sandam1]

Just a quick thought - for Universal, try not to think about how many days per park. The parks are side by side and it is easy peasy (assuming you have a park to park pass) to move between them. We bounce back and forth ALL of the time - because we want to see a specific show, eat at a specific restaurant, etc.

One question - are you planning on doing Volcano Bay? If you are, I would maybe add a day on to your trip for that. (Note: We usually do a couple of partial days at VB - usually as part of our mid-day break). If not, you can always pool hop at Universal and Cabana Bay has a lazy river to enjoy.

Six days is probably the sweet spot for a "relaxed" vacation, but five full days would probably be adequate with EP. The holiday season at Universal is fabulous. Definitely plan on seeing the Grinchmas show at least once, the Macy's parade, the castle light show, and if you are there over a weekend, the Manheim Steamroller concert.

For restaurant reservations, as another hotel perk, you also received priority seating at some of the table service restaurants (note: sadly, Toothsome Chocolate Emporium does not participate in this and does not take reservations). Combine that with a slower time and you really don't need to worry. We've done a ton of trips and the only time we have ever had a problem is when we try to find a place to eat in City Walk at park close. Leave an hour early or wait an hour and you're fine.

Universal is running a buy 2 days, get 3 free promotion, which fits quite nicely with a five-day vacation. Note that these tickets have to purchased before mid-June, but are good through December. You can get these in a 2 park or 3 park variety.

 

[Squirlz]

Do you do dining? I just assumed I would need dining reservations, but haven’t made it that far with planning at all!

I don't do dining and I've never made reservations. And I don't starve, believe me!

 

[iona]

Just a quick thought - for Universal, try not to think about how many days per park. The parks are side by side and it is easy peasy (assuming you have a park to park pass) to move between them. We bounce back and forth ALL of the time - because we want to see a specific show, eat at a specific restaurant, etc.

This is a very good point

 

[bchbetha]

We think 3 days (4 with Volcano Bay) is enough. We hop between vs park/ day. Now, that leaves no down time. Add a day or 2 if you’d like partial Park/ pool days instead of just park.

 

[elfling8]

We just got back from a 4 night (3 1/2 park days) trip with two teenagers. 3 days with the express pass is plenty of time to do all the rides you want and wander around aimlessly. We would go in for early entry, do HP rides, sit down for a nice breakfast at Leaky Cauldron (one morning did Three Broomsticks - preferred Leaky Cauldron both food and atmosphere), more HP world, other park rides for awhile, then lunch at city walk (or hotel) and back to RPR for a swim or rest in the room for a couple hours. Dinner at hotel or citywalk, then back to the parks. RPR is so close you can back and forth multiple times. We also park hopped daily, sometimes more than once to go back and do our favorites. Oh - and food wise, we found that Citywalk mid day was not crowded at all, and hotel restaurants at dinner time also were not crowded (except for the day it rained, then hotel was slammed and citywalk empty). We had no reservations and were there during Easter week - had no problem getting seated.