Should we do two days for IOA?

[PeterPan&Wendy1970]

Hi All,
I've been lurking on this board trying to figure out if we should buy tickets for two days for IOA, or just one. We are a family of 5, the kids are 11, 9 & 7. We are mainly going for Harry Potter, but my daughter and I want to see all the Dr. Suess stuff as well My question is, can I see all of IOA in one day (well, we'll probably arrive first thing and leave @ 4) or is that pushing it? We aren't going to do the Hulk ride but would like to try other stuff. Any advice is appreciated! oh, and we'll be going the first week of May, so hopefully not too crowded
Jendh ds 11 ds 9 dd 7

 

[Metro West]

Hi All,
I've been lurking on this board trying to figure out if we should buy tickets for two days for IOA, or just one. We are a family of 5, the kids are 11, 9 & 7. We are mainly going for Harry Potter, but my daughter and I want to see all the Dr. Suess stuff as well My question is, can I see all of IOA in one day (well, we'll probably arrive first thing and leave @ 4) or is that pushing it? We aren't going to do the Hulk ride but would like to try other stuff. Any advice is appreciated! oh, and we'll be going the first week of May, so hopefully not too crowded

You should be OK to do everything at IOA in a single day provided the lines for HP aren't too bad. You can always upgrade your ticket before you leave if you wanted to come back for a second day.

 

[Harry Potter]

As long as you get there when the park opens at 9am, then you will have 9 hours until closing. Get WWoHP out of the way early, take as long as you like in that section of the park, because later in the day the queues will be TWICE AS LONG. Water rides usually open at 10am (or at least Bluto's Barges does for some reason, sometimes Jurassic Park River Adventure opens for the hotel guests at 8am), so get them out of the way when you know the sun will be coming out. You will completely dry off within the hour! But do all 3 water rides at once. Then finish off your day in Marvel Super Hero Island, of course riding the second best ride in the world, Spiderman!

If I did what I just suggested from 8am onwards as a hotel guest, it would take me less than 2 hours. In fact, I would probably hang around longer than I would want to just to wait for Bluto's Barges to open lol (in fact I could also ride Hulk a few times in the mean time).

However, without early entry or Universal Express, I appreciate the lines will be much longer for you. Yet my itinery will still be doable in 5-6 hours. Maybe you could also throw in a look around Seuss Landing if your kids aren't too old.

Whatever you do, you do NOT need to pay for 2 days at IOA. If you have the money to burn, just do one day in the park AND buy Universal Express for the whole family (not valid on Forbidden Journey).

Personally, though, I find IOA so magical that I would happily walk around the park re-riding everything so many times that I lose count. Last summer, I spent 14 hours in the park one day on my own. Oh the blisters...

 

[cv1990]

Personally, though, I find IOA so magical that I would happily walk around the park re-riding everything so many times that I lose count. Last summer, I spent 14 hours in the park one day on my own. Oh the blisters...

I totally agree. I could easily spend 14 hours in there 2 or 3 days in a row and never get bored

Being from London though, I could do the same at Seaworld and not get bored as I only get to go to Orlando about once every 2 years

 

[PeterPan&Wendy1970]

Thanks everyone
I didn't realize you could just upgrade your pass if you decide to stay another day. I thought you had to buy the two day pass ahead of time to get the better rate. Good to know!
The park closes at 7 the week we are there (1st week in May) and I'm figuring we'll make it to about 3 or 4 due to the 7 year old. We'll evaluate at that point and see if we should get another pass for later in the week, or spend another day at Disney. It's the first time we're doing something non-disney and we are sacrificing Animal Kingdom and DHS if we do two Universal Studios (and I'm fine with that). We are staying off property and renting a car, so I'm not feeling too guilty.
Thanks Disboarders!
Jen: dh ds 11 ds 9 dd 7