We were at IOA on Saturday 18th and it was very difficult to do anything without Express and/or early entry! The trouble with IOA is Forbidden Journey - first of all, the resort guests get in before the regular folks, so no matter how early you get there you are behind the crowds. Then, it takes a long time to do Forbidden Journey because the wait times are over 30 minutes at regular park opening (because of resort early entry crowds). We weren't finished with FJ until almost 10, at which time the crowds were heavy everywhere. Unfortunately we were not able to do evening at IOA - we had another event in Kissimmee we had to be at by 6 p.m. Our shortest wait was 30 minutes, but most rides (at least the popular ones) were 60 - 75 minutes by 11.30, and by 2 p.m. we were fed up. We then lost part of our crew and had to beg for help from Universal team members (dead cell phone - couldn't contact them ourselves). It was nuts! We even resorted to doing the Barges and getting soaked because it was one of the only rides with a short wait time! My shorts were wet for hours, even after springing $5 for the people dryer.
We did Universal on President's Day, and it was a bit better. There was no early entry, and when we got there around 8.30 the turnstiles weren't even open yet. The minute we arrived I started looking for turnstiles without lines, and I saw one that had team members walking towards it, so I left the others in a regular line and went up and asked them if they were going to be opening that one too and they said yes! So we jumped in and were first in line for that one! Being at the front of the crowd made all the difference. By 9.45 we had ridden RRR and Mummy twice and were headed for Simpsons. From there we started to encounter 30 minute lines, but we didn't mind so much because we only had a few other things planned for the day. We left around 2 p.m. having only managed to do RRR, Mummy, Simpsons, Men in Black, Disaster and Shrek. Luckily that was all we really felt the need to do - well, we would have done Terminator if we'd been in the mood, but we were ready to leave.
Last time we did the Universal parks was in october 2010, and we stayed onsite. That experience was so different. I am not in a hurry to go back to Universal at a high crwod time without Express! This trip was a budget trip, which was why we didn't buy Express either.
I think that staying onsite is what we should try to plan for next President's weekend!
