POssible to do IOA and a Disney Park in one day?

marriedmarylander

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Feb 11, 2005
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I did ask on the IOA boards awhile about how long it took to go through IOA on a weekday in May and generally they said from about 9-3 everything can be done. I know the travel time between Disney and IOA is about 20 minutes give or take. We might take the Mears shuttle but I understand they run those often back and forth. Would it be possible to do IOA and a Disney park in one day? This would be in addition to another full day at the park, not the only time we are going. It would just be an addition type of thing.

Has anyone tried or done this? I'm thinking it might be tiring... but if we had enough time in between for a quick break?

We are two 25 year olds and don't really get tired easily :)
 
Yes, we've done it several times (actually, we did USF before IOA opened). A car helped a lot though.

We got to USF at opening and stayed until 2-ish, then went back to the room, swam, and went back out at night to a WDW park and dinner.

Larklynn, IOA is Islands of Adventure.



Bob
 

Islands Of Adventure...... and to the original I say no, to go from IOA to one of WDW parks in 20 minutes is TOO good to be true especially with Interstate 4. I live in the Orlando area so take it from me. It is not only tiring but you wont get to see everything, you might have to sacrifice some rides.... but if you dont mind skipping most of the rides I say its possible to do it.
 
I would find it very difficult to do both in one day. I think you underestimate the travel time by a lot. Mears shuttles do travel back and forth often but they also make a lot of stops. Add on to that traffic in the middle of the day or close to rush hour you are looking to 1 to 1 1/2 travel time. Unless both parks are open late and you have you're own transportation, I don't see how it could be possible. The only way of doing IOA (Islands of Adventure) in a couple of hours is with front of the line passes and you won't have that either. I always go to USO when at Disney but I stay onsite there. When I'm not staying onsite I put the day aside and do USO all day. Maybe someone else has a different perspective on this. Good luck. :cool1:
 
I guess I stated it wrong. I wasn't planning to go straight from IOA to a disney park in 20 minutes. I just was saying go from IOA back to hotel, rest up and then go to a Disney Park after a couple hours.

I would only do this if the park had evening EMH that day until midnight or so (that's the time it would open until while we are there). I wouldn't attempt it if the park closed at 8PM or something.
 
marriedmarylander,
Yes, it's possible. We have always rented a car when we are doing US/IOA and Disney. We usually hit US/IOA early when they open. Be sure to use the Express Pass machines for the popular rides. We have never seen IOA open much later than 7 or 8pm which is still early if there is an EMH park that night at Disney. Since we have gone to US/IOA a lot, we now enjoy what we like best (like Mummy and MIB at US and Spider Man at IOA) and "fill in" with the others until our teen children are ready to head back to the hotel and change for Disney.
By the way, we never take I-4 to Universal. We find taking 536 over to International Drive North and veering off to Universal Blvd. which takes you right to the park lot entrance at US/IOA much easier because we never have to deal with stop and go rush traffic on I-4.

Have a GREAT TRIP!! When in May are you going? If it's not near Memorial day, you should have light/moderate crowds I would think.
 
You should have a great time. I don't remember the crowds really hitting until the first full week in June, except for Memorial Day weekend which is busy.

Be ready to walk a LOT and have a blast!!.....oh to be 25 again!!! Enjoy these days!!
 












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