Just back, where was everyone?

[J'aime Paris]

Went to FL from May 7-13. Stayed at HRH May 7-9. We went to IOA on Thursday May 8th and it was a ghost town!!! No kidding, the park was practically deserted. We had FOTL access, but didn't need it.
We were able to ride everything so quickly, we went over to the Studios park. It was empty as well. The only ride we used FOTL was for Simpsons, and the other line was posted as 20 minute wait.

We were able to do both parks in one day, and still left before 6pm. Anyone else at US/IOA on May 8th? I think we had the parks to ourselves

We had a terrific time, and love,love,llove HRH!!!

 

[LilMommyBug]

We were there on May 8th & found it pretty much empty too.

The 9th & 10th were a diff story. TONS of (annoying. sorry.) middle schoolers.

 

[J'aime Paris]

We were there on May 8th & found it pretty much empty too.

The 9th & 10th were a diff story. TONS of (annoying. sorry.) middle schoolers.

Sorry to hear about the 9th and 10th. Maybe we checked out just in time. Hope you were able to have a fun time anyway!!

 

[Metro West]

We're still in the slow period before Memorial Day weekend but in a few weeks, it will be very busy. Enjoy the weekdays now...once schools start getting out and vacations begin...look out!

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Went to FL from May 7-13. Stayed at HRH May 7-9. We went to IOA on Thursday May 8th and it was a ghost town!!! No kidding, the park was practically deserted. We had FOTL access, but didn't need it.
We were able to ride everything so quickly, we went over to the Studios park. It was empty as well. The only ride we used FOTL was for Simpsons, and the other line was posted as 20 minute wait.

We were able to do both parks in one day, and still left before 6pm. Anyone else at US/IOA on May 8th? I think we had the parks to ourselves

We had a terrific time, and love,love,llove HRH!!!

Glad you had fun!

If you don't mind my asking....I noticed your other post on the Poly thread too. If I am reading correctly...You were at Universal May 7-9 and then Poly for May 9-13? How did you like going from Universal and then to Disney? Do you wish you had done Disney first? How was your time at each ...meaning do you wish you had stayed longer at Universal or Disney ...or was your split time just right?

Sorry I am a nosy nelly but we are planning our first split trip for next year end of April/beg of May. I was planning on 5 nites Poly then 4 nites PBH in that order. Sound about right, backwards, or lop-sided

Most people on the Universal threads say to do Disney first so I would love to hear your experience

 

[Metro West]

Most people on the Universal threads say to do Disney first so I would love to hear your experience

I'll give you some insight on why they say that. If you're staying onsite at Disney & Universal, do Disney first. Since Disney doesn't offer Express access with the room, you will get spoiled if you do Universal first and then have to go to Disney and wait in the lines. If you aren't staying onsite, it doesn't really matter.

 

[J'aime Paris]

Glad you had fun!

If you don't mind my asking....I noticed your other post on the Poly thread too. If I am reading correctly...You were at Universal May 7-9 and then Poly for May 9-13? How did you like going from Universal and then to Disney? Do you wish you had done Disney first? How was your time at each ...meaning do you wish you had stayed longer at Universal or Disney ...or was your split time just right?

Sorry I am a nosy nelly but we are planning our first split trip for next year end of April/beg of May. I was planning on 5 nites Poly then 4 nites PBH in that order. Sound about right, backwards, or lop-sided

Most people on the Universal threads say to do Disney first so I would love to hear your experience

I'm busted! You are very observant! We did go to Universal and WDW.

As far as your questions, it's really a matter of preference. FOTL access does blow Fastpass out of the water IMHO. So I can see why some people "save" Universal for after Disney. I think it would be a good strategy to have your Universal days be during the week. They seem to get big weekend crowds.
To your question on amount of nights, we stayed 2 at universal and 4 at disney. In a perfect world, we would have stayed 3 at universal and 6/7 at disney. But unfortunately, we didn't have that many days for vacation.
We were able to see all of universal/IOA in one day, but I would have enjoyed one more day at the HRH pool. It was fantastic! And WDW is just so huge, we had to push fairly hard to get it all in this time. A few more nights would have allowed us to slow our pace a little, and take an entire day off from the parks.
I hope that I answered all of your questions. If you have any others or need clarification, please ask!

 

[jlima]

Glad you had fun!

If you don't mind my asking....I noticed your other post on the Poly thread too. If I am reading correctly...You were at Universal May 7-9 and then Poly for May 9-13? How did you like going from Universal and then to Disney? Do you wish you had done Disney first? How was your time at each ...meaning do you wish you had stayed longer at Universal or Disney ...or was your split time just right?

Sorry I am a nosy nelly but we are planning our first split trip for next year end of April/beg of May. I was planning on 5 nites Poly then 4 nites PBH in that order. Sound about right, backwards, or lop-sided

Most people on the Universal threads say to do Disney first so I would love to hear your experience

Yes, do Disney first. Universal will be a much slower pace with FOTL.

 

[MinnieForMe]

We did Universal the week before you did. April 28th and 29th were absolutely quiet. We had Seuss Landing to ourselves!

We did Disney the 1st week of May and also had very manageable crowds. I would say almost the same level as Universal but not quite.