Is it possible to do both parks in one day?!

[gluvsmickey]

Could it be possible to do both universal parks in one day with two kids (10 & 8)?!

 

[gluvsmickey]

Help quickly please!

 

[SweetJesus]

Yeah it is very possible depending on how much time you have.

First off getting to 1 park as early as it opens.
Planning, plan ahead have list of rides you want to go on and stick to the list.

How fit are you. As walking around parks standing in the queues becomes alot of the legs.

Weather, heat factor also dont help depending on when you are going.


Yeah id say it is possible, but you must have a plan of attack.

When me and the wife go she has a set route and we must follow this down to the T.

Hope this helps

 

[gluvsmickey]

Thank you!

 

[2girlsmom]

I would say you can get the highlights of both parks in one day, but certainly NOT do everything at both parks in one day, in fact we still have things we haven't managed to work in to our schedule and have been many times now. And a lot depends on the time of year, crowd levels, whether you have express, etc as to how much you get done. That said, if you aren't going to see any shows, and you have express, you can definitely ride all the major rides on both sides in one day. Without express and if during a higher crowd season, you would probably not accomplish that.

 

[schumigirl]

If you haven't been before I would never recommend trying to do both in one day.

You would see the highlights maybe but you don't really get the full experience of the parks which are just wonderful.

Depending on time of year would affect that also and whether or not you were onsite or not.

But generally I wouldn't especially with kids.......it's supposed to be fun not commando.

Have fun whatever you decide

 

[RMulieri]

You can see the HIGHLIGHTS of both in one day, but not both in entirety.It would be like trying to cram MK and AK in one day..ESPECIALLY at the studios..1) the attractions there are longer..Things like Disaster are over 2o mins long to experience, and that is without waiting in line.Shrek, Despicable Me are theater 4d shows ..Shows also run on an abbreviated schedule and often at the same time( example the Animal actors show and Beetlejuice).We have been there for 4 park days and still havent managed to see absolutely everything

 

[macraven]

I couldn't do both parks highlights in one day.

UO for me is a vacation and more than just doing certain rides on a short time frame.

A family could easily knock off some of the major rides in the parks depending on the date, time frame, weather and crowd level.
If you plan to go to the dark side for specific, select rides, plan your UO day in advance.
Give it your best shot and have fun on the rides!

 

[Selina]

In all honesty why would anyone want to do the Universal Parks in one day? We are from England and book 2 weeks usually at RPR though have also had a go in Hard Rock twice and Portofino - but the Royal Pacific is our favourite. We do easily do Magic Kingdom and Epcot in one day - just do the best bits of Magic Kingdom in the morning and spend the afternoon and evening at Epcot getting a fast pass for Soaring as soon as you get there . But I digress.....to go back on topic.....never try to do Universal/Islands of Adventure in one day!!

 

[Princess Nancy]

It is all about what you enjoy.
We did universal Dec 16-17. We did not arrive early to the studios, did everything we wanted and left at 7

We heard crazy things about Harry Potter area being crowded so we arrived early. We spent all morning back there and are lunch at 3 broomsticks. We walked around the rest of the park, saw the grinch show. ( is fear factor there or the studios? I forget, but we saw that). We rode the big kid rides, a few Seuss rides and skipped the water rides( it was a bit chilly to get wet). We met Spider-man and left by 3:30.

We had a 3 rd day on our tickets but didn't use it. Quite honestly, too any motion simulators for my family. My kids are 14, 18 & 20 and love thrill rides but were over these rides.

We found Disney and the variety they offer much more interesting.

To answer your question... With careful planning, you could definitely do universal in one day with low crowds.

 

[2girlsmom]

We spent 3 days there in early december, and spent the Saturday at IOA, Sunday at USF side, and Monday at IOA again. We did see the Grinchmas show on Saturday and the parade and Mannheim Steamroller at USF on Sunday. We did NOT see any other shows at all, though. This trip was just my dh and I, so we walked THROUGH Seuss Landing, but did not ride anything (usually my daughters insist on Cat in the Hat for sure, and sometimes also the Caroseussical and the Sneetch Train) in that area. However, we did spend 3 very full days riding pretty much everything else in the park. We both love coasters and simulators so that is never a concern for us, but I do understand why it would be for some. We were staying at RPH so had express passes for everything, but did wait for the front & back rows on some of the coasters, even with that, crowd levels were so awesome, we never waited longer than 20 minutes for even front row. Posted standby times were short for everything too, the one exception was on Saturday at FJ, which was 40 minutes,

 

[helenb]

I would agree with the others: 2 days, or even 3 days, are better, if you can swing it.

However, if your schedule is so limited that you can't swing more than 1 day, you can still have fun. Here's how I would do it.

Stay onsite at RPH the night before. Make sure to print out your Universal Express passes. Get up for early entry to WWoHP at IoA. Run to WWoHP, see Ollivander's Show, then go to Forbidden Journey and Dragon's Challenge. Flight of the Hippogriff if you just want to be complete (it's not that exciting a ride). Grab a butterbeer at the Hog's Head if your'e so inclined. Move into Jurassic Park and do the water ride. The go down into Superhero Island and hit Spiderman and the Hulk Coaster. Circle around into the Seuss land and go on Cat in the Hat. Circle back to Mythos for lunch. Yes, I know this seems like a lot of rides before lunch, but with Universal Express it is doable.

After lunch, head over to USO. Ride Rip Ride Rockitt, Transformers and the Mummy. Then head around to Men In Black, the Simpsons Ride and (if it interests you) Kodos & Kang. Check the daily schedule, and go to Despicable Me and Shrek 4-D, ensuring that you make a Terminator 2D/3D show.

After this, depending on how tired you are, you could try to fit in Disaster or Twister, or (my preferred choice) the Horror Makeup show. If you want to head back to IoA, the Jurassic Park 'Exhibitor's Center is a fun place to hang out.

The key to all of this is being there early and having Universal Express for everything but Forbidden Journey/Ollivander's. Universal Express isn't a walk-on, but it will significantly shorten your waits. Even in the busiest summer times, we have never waited more than a few minutes for anything with Universal Express.