need help for February weekend from the pros..

[calkidsatheart]

been to Universal several times but never in Feb and never offsite. Considering the weekend of the 12th as the person I'm travelling with has never been so thought it would be great to show him why I love it so much! Ok - so my concerns are:
a) crowd levels without FOL (been very spoiled staying onsite)
b) WWHP - will we even manage a ride without sacrificing everything else in the part due to lines?
c) Mardi Gras - two adults only (first time travelling without kids) fun night? Do you need a separate ticket like HHN?
d) can't seem to find any good discounts on tickets? (last time I bought was the $99 unlimited tix.
e) worst case is that we buy a room for the night - best I can find if RPR for just under $200 AAA rate - would likely do club for $287 - any ideas on how to get anything better?

Thanks as always to everyone for their help! Spent tons of time of these boards under a different ID but now life has morphed and that ID no longer works for me.

 

[Metro West]

been to Universal several times but never in Feb and never offsite. Considering the weekend of the 12th as the person I'm travelling with has never been so thought it would be great to show him why I love it so much! Ok - so my concerns are:
a) crowd levels without FOL (been very spoiled staying onsite)
b) WWHP - will we even manage a ride without sacrificing everything else in the part due to lines?
c) Mardi Gras - two adults only (first time travelling without kids) fun night? Do you need a separate ticket like HHN?
d) can't seem to find any good discounts on tickets? (last time I bought was the $99 unlimited tix.
e) worst case is that we buy a room for the night - best I can find if RPR for just under $200 AAA rate - would likely do club for $287 - any ideas on how to get anything better?

Thanks as always to everyone for their help! Spent tons of time of these boards under a different ID but now life has morphed and that ID no longer works for me.

Here are my responses to your questions:

a) Crowd level shouldn't be too bad except for WWoHP. No one can predict the levels at this point.
b) There's no way to gauge how bad the lines will be for WWoHP...it's too unpredictable right now.
c) If you're going to be here for that Saturday, you should definitely see the Mardi Gras parade and concert. The lineup has not been fully established yet but it will be anncounced before the end of the month. The Mardi Gras concert and parade is included with your park admission...no additional ticket needed.
d) I haven't seen many discounts on tickets either. There doesn't seem to be a need to discount tickets when so many people are coming w/o discounts.
e) I really don't think you'll need to stay onsite since the lines at the Studios and other parts of IOA shouldn't be bad. Again...WWoHP is the wild card.

 

[Planogirl]

We have been staying offsite and going during busy times. My advice is to get to the park early and head straight for WWoHP. We managed to see most of it if we just showed up very early. Also you might have success going back in the evening just before closing.

It really doesn't take long to see HP even when it's crowded if you do it right or at least that was the case for us. We had plenty of time to tour the rest of IOA.

 

[IdesOmarch]

I have only been 1 time in February and it was before WWHP opened. I would say about 90% chance the lines should be small, very low crowds. At least in all of the other areas besides HP. As the other poster mentioned, hard to guess on the HP area at this time, because it is new and still could have crowds. But the main Universal park and rest of IOA should be light enough to where you don't have to worry about the fast passes. At least when we went in February everything was 10 minute wait tops, most was walk right on the rides with no wait.