question about IOA/Universal Studios trip planning

[shorty123]

We have never been to IOA nor Universal Studios. Can IOA (with park-to-park pass) and Universal Studios be covered in 2 days if we go 11/18-11/19 or do I need to go 11/18-11/20? I was looking at the crowd prediction calendar at UT. I would probably do Universal Studios on 11/18 based on the crowd prediction calendar. Since those are not heavy crowd days, do I still need early admission/express passes? That affects whether or not I book Royal Pacific with express pass/early admission, or if I just stay at Wyndham at Bonnet Creek (for the entire trip) since we are visiting MK/Epcot Center for part of the trip. Thanks for any advice.

 

[2Gma]

We had our 1st visit to Universal in May and found one day in each park was sufficient to cover everything we wanted to do (and we didn't even stay all day, about 6-7 hours each day) We stayed offsite and did NOT have express passes. Crowds were predicted to be "low" during our visit in May and found lines really only got long at mid day at the most popular rides (Hulk, Transformers, etc.) otherwise pretty manageable (better than Disney mid-day, I dare to say I kept reading on the boards NOT to book express passes but wait until you see how crowds will be and I would recommend the same. We did arrive early for rope drop and crowds were pretty light for the first 1 hour or so, especially at the back of the park.

 

[nkereina]

If you can arrive at rope drop on both 11/18 and 11/19, I think it's enough time. You'll want to get there early so you can hit the headliner first, or else you'll spend a large part of the day waiting in line. We found Universal took us longer to do than IOA - with no kids, we did IOA in about a half a day last November, and used the afternoon to hop back to Universal.

 

[shorty123]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I really wanted to stay offsite at Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort the whole time. I might go with that. I prefer to have a 2 room suite and have separate beds for the kids. The cost would be really high to have an on-site suite.