Is it worth it???

[Flair]

I am planning on a Disney trip the weekend of Mar 17--22ish
anyway was wonder is US/IOA worth going to if you arent staying on site??
This is during Peak time and i wouldnt have FOTL privelage. Would the lines be too long to bother?? I have never been and didnt want the 1st time to be a bad experince.
I can always plan another trip next year or so US/IOA onsite if its worth the wait..

 

[robvia]

Yes, you can visit. The most busy time is the first two weeks of April.
This can be proven from the park calendar, because they stay open until 10pm the first two weeks of April.
The thing I tell everyone, is to show up early. That means arriving the parking garage at 8am. You need to leave Disney at 07:15am, because you'll probably forget something and have to go back to the room. The drive from Disney to Universal is 20 minutes.
When you get to the garage at 8am, you park and you can be first to the gate. That gives you 2 hours of walk on rides in what ever park you visit.
At 11am the crowds arrive and it's time to leave. You go back to your Disney hotel, rest, and visit a Disney park for the evening.

This plan works out the best, because you can visit both worlds. A good idea is to plan a couple days to visit the Universal parks in the morning, rest, then visit a Disney park at night.

Staying onsite a Universal would make it "feel" like you are part of the action, but if you arrive early each morning, at least you'll have short waits for a couple hours. The Universal hotels have great pools, and the walk to/from the parks is short, along with the FOTL, so the extra money is worth it.

The big problem happens when people drive up from Disney and arrive at 11am. Don't do that, you'll run into huge crowds.

Wake up early and leave Disney at 07:15am.

 

[Flair]

Thanks Robvia for the help.
I wanted to check out these parks but know i cant wait in 90+ minute lines for every ride.
Have no problem getting there early (used to it for Disney parks).
Is there a best order of things (touring plan) anyone would suggest??
Can you have a good time in mid-March w/o FOTL and the added expense??
It would be me and 2 thrill seeking daughters (11, 14)
We are staying at the POP and really dont want to have to switch hotels if not REALLY neccessary.

 

[englishteacha]

I had a similar question. We can rent a condo for a week for the cost of 2 nights at a UO onsite hotel. The express pass to purchase isn't available for any of the time we're looking at going (mid to late June, depending on when school gets out--snow days can still affect my schedule). So if we arrive early, we should be OK? We NEVER go to theme parks on weekend days if we can avoid it, so are certain midweek days better than others?
Thanks!

 

[damo]

I had a similar question. We can rent a condo for a week for the cost of 2 nights at a UO onsite hotel. The express pass to purchase isn't available for any of the time we're looking at going (mid to late June, depending on when school gets out--snow days can still affect my schedule). So if we arrive early, we should be OK? We NEVER go to theme parks on weekend days if we can avoid it, so are certain midweek days better than others?
Thanks!

The universal website shows express pass is available to purchase for all of June, just at different prices depending on when you are going. Scroll down to check out the four different charts. The first three are for June dates.

http://secure.universalstudios.com/...goryGroup=UOMain&SalesCategory=UO2ParkUEPLive

 

[seadd67]

we will be down at wdw and will be taxi our way over from the all star music,for two maybe three days(at the most) during the week.Now we are only going to be there in the morinings open to about 12 or 1pm.Now is this a good plan or i'am not giving us enough time there.I know about the people there around that time ,but can i still get away with out buy the express pass??

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Tough decision! I will honestly tell you what I'd tell one of my close friends or relatives, if they asked me the same question. For a 1st visit to UO, I would recommend they wait until they can stay onsite. I'm a huge UO fan, & have seen way too many people form a negative opinion of the parks, when they've driven over. This happens more, when people stay onsite at WDW, & drive to UO for a day trip. Those staying offsite at both, don't seem to have such a skewed view of the 2 resorts (parks). Staying onsite immerses you in the atmosphere. Stay onsite at WDW, & you'll be in a Disney mood. The same is true for staying onsite at UO. You'll find yourself not wanting to drive to Disney. If it's not a 1st time visit & you know what a great experience UO is, then by all means drive over for a day of fun, if that's your only option. I just wouldn't suggest anyone do it for their 1st visit. JMO

 

[Mainebound]

The universal website shows express pass is available to purchase for all of June, just at different prices depending on when you are going. Scroll down to check out the four different charts. The first three are for June dates.

http://secure.universalstudios.com/...goryGroup=UOMain&SalesCategory=UO2ParkUEPLive

thanks for the link.

I just noticed Epress passes are only available for a few days in March. why is that?

I remember buying them last year and it seemed like you could get them almost any day, although prices ranged over the month.

 

[damo]

thanks for the link.

I just noticed Epress passes are only available for a few days in March. why is that?

I remember buying them last year and it seemed like you could get them almost any day, although prices ranged over the month.

You are just looking at the first chart. Scroll down the page and you will find all the dates.

 

[Mainebound]

You are just looking at the first chart. Scroll down the page and you will find all the dates.

d'oh!!!

 

[damo]

That's what the cold weather does to you!!!

 

[sha_lyn]

At one time I could have said no way, but last summer DD and I had to travel to Orlando the end of June. We decided to add a night so we could use our PAP one more time before they expired the following week.
We arrived at the IOA gate 30 before opening. The place was empty until 11 or so. We then headed over to US for lunch and hit our favs over there (jimmy nuetron, shrek, mummy, ET and MIB). After that we went back over to IOA and hung out in Camp Jurrasic and SeussLanding for awhile. Even had time to hit US again for a little while.

 

[robvia]

Right, you can do the early morning thing and still have a great time, even if you aren't staying onsite. You won't "feel" all the magic from being onsite, but you can still have a good time for 2 hours until 11am. The biggest thing is that the parking garage opens at 8am. You want to leave Disney at 07:30am. Waking up early will pay off as you have walk on rides. You can take a lap around IOA and go on the major thrill rides.

The touring plan is to ride Hulk in the front, Hulk in the back. Dr. Doom, Spiderman, Pteranondon Flyers before the kid rule, JPRA, Dueling Dragons (front seat of each side. Flying unicorn if you want, High in the Sky Suess Trolley Ride. You're basically going clockwise. This will bring you back to the front of the park, and by now it will be 11am and the "herd" of people will be flowing in. The wait time for Hulk and Spiderman will now be an hour, but you missed that wait, yeah.

At this point you can go back to Posiden's fury, have lunch at Mythos at 11:30am, and go to the Sinbad Show. That would take you into the afternoon and by then you'd be tired and ready to leave.