New Year's Day - How crowded?

[Poohsmommi]

How crowded is it on new year's day? Trying to decide between US/IOA and Disney.

Thanks!

 

[Poohsmommi]

No one has been to Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios on New Year's Day???

 

[MIB999999]

i went one year on New Years Day and was amazed at how small the crowd was. Went the following year and it was a whole different ball game.

My bet on this year. CROWDS, CROWDS, CROWDS

 

[Figment22]

I've actually been wondering about this myself. We were thinking of heading over to Busch Gardens Tampa on New Year's Day, arriving when the gates open. (We're not planning on staying up for NYE.) I'm thinking the morning actually might not be very crowded as lots of people will be sleeping in after partying the night before, right? I'm trying to decide if we'd be better off going to BGT on New Year's Day (1/1) or on Monday, 1/2, which is still technically a holiday. I'm thinking it might be more crowded on Monday than on Sunday.

Any opinions?

 

[robvia]

For BGT, if you show up early before the gate opens, it doesn't matter. Parking lot opens around 8:30am. They may open a little early if they think it will be crowded. The first ride you want to go on is Sheikra, which is in the back of the park. Go left after you enter. Then come back and ride Gwazi, and head over to Montu. Eat lunch early at 11am to avoid the lines. Kumba has short waits. In the afternoon, you can watch a show, and walk thru the zoo area.

 

[Figment22]

Kumba has short waits. In the afternoon, you can watch a show, and walk thru the zoo area.

This is actually good to know about Kumba. We went to BGT in November (and enjoyed it so much we upgraded to annual passes) and hit Sheikra first but then went to Kumba, as it's in the same neighborhood. We rode Sheikra three times and Kumba twice, headed to Rhino Rally and finally over to Montu, which was already fairly crowded by that time. This time we'll skip Kumba in the a.m. based on your short wait advice. Montu was my favorite and I'd like to ride it more than once. I'll work Gwazi into that plan too. I love wooden coasters and it's a good one. In November only the Tiger side was open so I'm hoping the Lion is also open this time.

Any idea on crowd size for 1/1 or 1/2?

 

[phamton]

Jan. 1st will still be busy but not early in the morning. I'm basing my guess by looking at the 9:00 PM closing and also the fact that express pass will still be $35 on that day. On Jan. 2nd the price goes back down on express and so I expect the 2nd to be a rather slow day.

I can prety much tell you though that if Universal is crowded on the 1st that Disney will be more crowded.

 

[momof3disneyholics]

There is no way I would anywhere near Universal this weekend. I went there last year on New Years day later in the afternoon and it was very crowded.

 

[Figment22]

Resurrecting this thread to give some New Year's info. I can't speak for USF/IOA, but we decided to head for Busch Gardens Tampa on New Year's Day and it was the best! We had the whole park to ourselves for several hours and even in the afternoon, it was never ridiculously busy. At 2:00 p.m. the wait for Sheikra was 20 minutes. (Rhino Rally was 30-40, but it doesn't take much to have a long wait there.) The longest we waited was a little less than 10 minutes for Kumba at around 2:00 p.m. The morning was so light it was comical. We arrived in the parking lot just before 8:30 a.m and there were a total of 11 cars!!! I'm really glad we went on New Year's Day.

OTOH, we went to USF on Monday, Jan. 2nd and it was a ZOO!