One Park or Two?

[verticalchaos]

I'm one of the zillions stranded outside of the Northeast right now. Luckily I'm traveling solo, so I was able to get on a flight on New Year's Day. And more luckily my sister lives here (she's a Disney CM), so I've got a (free) place to stay. However, she's working all week and they're blocked from using their maingate pass so she can't get me into the Disney parks free. (She does have a couple of free water park passes, so assuming the forecast holds and it warms up, I'll probably go to Blizzard Beach Thursday or Friday).

I'm thinking tomorrow I may just go to the Universal area - I definitely want to see WWoHP, so I know I'll at least need a ticket for IoA. I'm trying to decide if it would be worth it to buy the two-park pass...I've been to Universal in California - several years ago where Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and ET were stand-alone rides, and the other things like Jaws, King Kong, the disaster thing, etc. were combined into one ride. So I'm leaning towards just the one park ticket...but am open to any advice.

Thanks!!

 

[ducky_love]

You know, in this weather I don't think there is enough to do at IOA to fill an entire day. Three of the big rides are water rides. I would spring for the 2 park pass.

 

[atricks]

I'm one of the zillions stranded outside of the Northeast right now. Luckily I'm traveling solo, so I was able to get on a flight on New Year's Day. And more luckily my sister lives here (she's a Disney CM), so I've got a (free) place to stay. However, she's working all week and they're blocked from using their maingate pass so she can't get me into the Disney parks free. (She does have a couple of free water park passes, so assuming the forecast holds and it warms up, I'll probably go to Blizzard Beach Thursday or Friday).

I'm thinking tomorrow I may just go to the Universal area - I definitely want to see WWoHP, so I know I'll at least need a ticket for IoA. I'm trying to decide if it would be worth it to buy the two-park pass...I've been to Universal in California - several years ago where Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and ET were stand-alone rides, and the other things like Jaws, King Kong, the disaster thing, etc. were combined into one ride. So I'm leaning towards just the one park ticket...but am open to any advice.

Thanks!!

Both parks are open late (although IOA is later) this week, so I'd get both. Harry Potter will be wildly crowded.

I've been to both coast Universal parks (Hollywood and Orlando, I live in orlando) I was in CA this past May. Things that are virtually identical in both are Shrek, Animal Actors, Simpsons, and T2:3D (Orlando is a larger theater, though). Jurassic Park River adventure at IOA is very similar to the one at Universal Hollywood, but still different enough. Revenge of the Mummy is very different, and better, at Florida.

Disaster is very different from the earthquake portion at Hollywood, Jaws is very different. Hollywood has Waterworld, which USF does not. Everything else is unique to USF. (Although ET was very similar at Hollywood before it was shut down for Mummy)

Twister and Backdraft were somewhat similar--Backdraft was better, but now that Backdraft is closed for Transformers construction, Twister is all that's left.

In short, they are very different parks and only share a very few things. The cold weather makes 2 rides at IOA basically undoable (Bluto's and Ripsaw Falls), and makes River adventure a gamble. In short get the two park pass.

 

[Metro West]

You could always purchase the one park ticket and upgrade depending on how much time you had left and the desire to visit the other park.

The wildcard is WWoHP and how long you would have to wait to see everything. The crowds should be crazy for that section of IOA...the rest shouldn't be too bad if the weather stays cool. Once the temps go up, the crowds will return and since we're looking at the 70's this weekend, expect the crowds to be wild!

 

[bumbershoot]

We were at Universal from 12/10-13, a rather cold time, and one day we did the water rides. Changes of clothes, good ponchos, we were good to go! We did wish that we had budgeted about $20 more, though, to get into the body dryers ($5) a few times....

 

[the Dark Marauder]

I've been to both coast Universal parks (Hollywood and Orlando, I live in orlando) I was in CA this past May. Things that are virtually identical in both are Shrek, Animal Actors, Simpsons, and T2:3D (Orlando is a larger theater, though). Jurassic Park River adventure at IOA is very similar to the one at Universal Hollywood, but still different enough. Revenge of the Mummy is very different, and better, at Florida.

Disaster is very different from the earthquake portion at Hollywood, Jaws is very different. Hollywood has Waterworld, which USF does not. Everything else is unique to USF. (Although ET was very similar at Hollywood before it was shut down for Mummy)

Twister and Backdraft were somewhat similar--Backdraft was better, but now that Backdraft is closed for Transformers construction, Twister is all that's left.

In short, they are very different parks and only share a very few things. The cold weather makes 2 rides at IOA basically undoable (Bluto's and Ripsaw Falls), and makes River adventure a gamble. In short get the two park pass.

Jurassic Park in CA is better and wetter than IOA, imho. I was in CA this July, fwiw. Also, the USH has the tram tour, which USF does not.

USF also has MIB, which is a very fun ride/game. Just keep shooting and hope for the high score!