Spring break! First trip onsite. Any suggestions?

[Minnie824]

With less than 3 months to go, I figure its time to start fine tuning my planning. This is our first trip onsite (went 1 day in 2011). We're staying at Portofino bay, me, DH, DD12 & DD9. We have the 2 park hopper passes and then the express pass for resort guests. How crowded will it be, and will that matter as much w/the EP? Any suggestions on restaurants or other fun things to do around the resort? Anyone else going then? Thanks!


As I'm researching...2 more questions.
1) mardi gras..is the parade/concert every night? or at least every sat? And do the rides in US close at a certain time (early?) those nights?
2) Does anyone have March 2013 park hours? I saw the Mar 2014, and wonder if they'll change, or if it will most likely stay as is.

 

[Metro West]

The main thing to remember when staying onsite and having unlimited Express access is...lines? What lines? You will hardly notice queue lines with Express but other areas of the parks will be very crowded...such as restaurants, shops and yes...restrooms. Express can't help you there.

The Mardi Gras parade/concert is only staged on Saturday and Sunday nights. In the past there have been a few Friday night concerts but the complete schedule will be released before you go. You will have ample time to decide if you wanted to see the concert. You should definitely plan on watching the parade...you can't miss it! Once the park closes at 8pm, most everything shuts down. There are several restaurants and shops open but the main attractions are the parade and concert.

Park hours should be the same as last year. Check this link but you'll have to go back to the month you want to see: https://www.universalorlando.com/Resort-Information/Theme-Park-Hours.aspx

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

 

[KorbensMomma]

How many nights are you staying? Also how many park days are you planning?

 

[Minnie824]

We're staying Sat - Wed -> 4 nights and have a 4 day pass. Have nothing else planned to do other than go to the pool, IoA and US. We normally do Disney every year and I am a planner so we are rope drop people and get a lot of things done. With the EP I'm assuming we may end up with some free time even after doing the rides a few times, so I'm open to any other suggestions of things to do as well. Thanks.

 

[Sandy321]

We also went during dd Spring Break, 2 years ago now, but I know I too was a good WDW planner -

read old threads here! There are such helpful posts, and I so appreciated the time they took to answer the same questions, or my questions!

We got in after 3 or 4 one night - we checked in to a "cheaper" hotel, then went to Universal to "scan the lay of the land" It was my intention to just "see" everything - how to get to "Hogwarts" I read here that you can take the line "just to view" the inside - and we did that! It was Awesome, we were able to get a feel for the lockers - (and I can't tell you how that messed me up more than once, we took a picture of our locker - and I still lost the thing! lol)

It was nice to view the castle without any pressure - to just see and hear things, and take pictures!

We made a dinner reservation for Mythos - so again, figuring out where things were was helpful to me...

and the most important thing is to get there at rope drop! DD and I were able to get there - Mom came later, so dd and I intended to get to see the wand show, and mom was going to meet us there - then on to the castle! I could not believe how the crowds kept coming and coming while we waited for that rope drop!

but, like others have posted, it really does help to have the express pass. Everything worked fine, we were able to do everything, and relax back at the pool!