Tell me how you conquer U.S. & I.O.A~Whats your park action plan (Newbies inquiring)

[vacation_junkie]

We are Disney Experts. We have those parks down to a Science.

We are Sea World & Universal Newbies & We are looking for advice on our first Universal Studio's & I.O.A Visit from all you experts.

Our family will be staying at an on-site hotel and will have Express Pass.
We want to experience the park to its fullest..rides and shows!

We will be visiting in January & will be purchasing the Orlando Flex pass.

We are splitting our 8 night stay between HRH & either Residence Inn or SpringHill Suites) So we will be able to take advantage of the On-site hotel perks we get with both Hotels.

(Yes, I am an early over planner )

Please share your tips and tricks

 

[vacation_junkie]

We are Disney Experts. We have those parks down to a Science.

We are Sea World & Universal Newbies & We are looking for advice on our first to I.O.A from all you experts.

Our family will be staying at an on-site hotel and will have Express Pass.
We want to experience the park to its fullest..rides and shows!

We will be visiting in January & will be purchasing the Orlando Flex pass.

We are splitting our 8 night stay between HRH & either Residence Inn or SpringHill Suites) So we will be able to take advantage of the On-site hotel perks we get with both Hotels.

(Yes, I am an early over planner )

Please share your tips and tricks

 

[wookiebeck]

Well, to start, you are doing right by staying onsite. The express passes are great and really make touring easy.

I did all the hand wringing last year in advance. Made out the tourplan, listing all attractions in a certain order. And kind of found we didn't need it. Even in August. I let the kids decide where they wanted to go and when we got there, bam, front of the line.

The only thing for IOA is to do rope drop for Harry Potter-land. That is all the info you'll need. So have fun!!!!

 

[wookiebeck]

We did three nights in the onsite hotel (4 days of parks). I think the kids did every ride 5 or more times. We hit rope drop, express pass whatever we wanted. Back to hotel for food & swim. Back to parks. Dinner at Bubba Gumps. Back to parks.

It really is easy to get around and do what you want without needing the crazy tour plans like we do in WDW. It was a nice change of pace.

 

[Metro West]

The other thread was deleted since it was a duplicate of this one.

 

[RMulieri]

Our usual plan-WE stay onsite club level at Portofino Bay for 5-7 nights.We get 4 day park to park hoppers.We get up ,go down to the club lounge and have breakfast ( PBH lounge opens at 7am -obviously this plan wouldnt work when IOA has early entry at 7am).We hit Early entry or rope drop and other than making sure we do Forbidden Journey at Harry Potter first ( we didnt care for Ollivanders, but if the show is a MUST for your family, do it first than Forbidden Journey).Other than that we use our express passes and hit whatever we want ..When we do the Studios , we plan our day around the shows and go from there.We tend to leave the parks for the day about 2pmish and go back to the resort and swim etc

 

[rowan555]

Our usual plan-WE stay onsite club level at Portofino Bay for 5-7 nights.We get 4 day park to park hoppers.We get up ,go down to the club lounge and have breakfast ( PBH lounge opens at 7am -obviously this plan wouldnt work when IOA has early entry at 7am).We hit Early entry or rope drop and other than making sure we do Forbidden Journey at Harry Potter first ( we didnt care for Ollivanders, but if the show is a MUST for your family, do it first than Forbidden Journey).Other than that we use our express passes and hit whatever we want ..When we do the Studios , we plan our day around the shows and go from there.We tend to leave the parks for the day about 2pmish and go back to the resort and swim etc

I'm just curious why you stay on site for 5 to 7 days but only get the 4 day pass. We're actually only staying on site 4 nights, then at a Sea World hotel for 5 nights, but I was worried 4 day passes would not be enough - I thought we might end up wanting to return at some point during the Sea World portion of our stay. Do you find 4 days (with express passes) are more than enough?

 

[RMulieri]

I'm just curious why you stay on site for 5 to 7 days but only get the 4 day pass. We're actually only staying on site 4 nights, then at a Sea World hotel for 5 nights, but I was worried 4 day passes would not be enough - I thought we might end up wanting to return at some point during the Sea World portion of our stay. Do you find 4 days (with express passes) are more than enough?

We do a resort/sleep/spa ( the portofino Spa is DIVINE- Dh goes to the pool with DD) day, day at Seaworld ( which we get discounted tickets thru an employee) and we don't do anything on arrival/departure days.This time we MIGHT add a side trip to MK..We find 2 days per each Universal park more than enough.

 

[bumbershoot]

Our family will be staying at an on-site hotel and will have Express Pass.

That's our first, middle, and last step. OK and getting to Wizarding World for early entrance.

 

[rowan555]

That's our first, middle, and last step. OK and getting to Wizarding World for early entrance.

Haha, yep, that pretty much sums it up for us. We took the kids to Disney for 4 days when they were 5 and 6, and my husband doesn't realize how much planning it took for that trip to go smoothly. I paid for one of those touring plan things, printed out extensive itineraries for each day, I guided us from one attraction to another, I served at the fast pass runner, etc. When I look back on the trip, I just remember feeling more like a tour guide than a tourist. We haven't been to a theme park in seven years, since that trip. What I LOVE about the idea of Universal is the ability to just stay on site, walk to the parks and City Walk, and NOT have a detailed itinerary that will make me want to pull my hair out.

 

[vacation_junkie]

The other thread was deleted since it was a duplicate of this one.

My other Thread was about Islands of Adventure...this one is about Universal Studios? Different parks.....

 

[vacation_junkie]

Haha, yep, that pretty much sums it up for us. We took the kids to Disney for 4 days when they were 5 and 6, and my husband doesn't realize how much planning it took for that trip to go smoothly. I paid for one of those touring plan things, printed out extensive itineraries for each day, I guided us from one attraction to another, I served at the fast pass runner, etc. When I look back on the trip, I just remember feeling more like a tour guide than a tourist. We haven't been to a theme park in seven years, since that trip. What I LOVE about the idea of Universal is the ability to just stay on site, walk to the parks and City Walk, and NOT have a detailed itinerary that will make me want to pull my hair out.

We do Disney Every year and I have every single day planned out...morning until night!
I think thats why I'm having problems with planning this one. I feel I need to have the same routine.

I want to have an action plan. This is our first trip to U.S & IOA ...Sea world etc.. I want to make sure everyone has a good time and not hear the dreaded I'm bored

 

[rowan555]

We do Disney Every year and I have every single day planned out...morning until night!
I think thats why I'm having problems with planning this one. I feel I need to have the same routine.

I want to have an action plan. This is our first trip to U.S & IOA ...Sea world etc.. I want to make sure everyone has a good time and not hear the dreaded I'm bored

Fortunately for me, instead of all 4 of us, it's just me and my 12 year old daughter going. She and I have had a bit of a strained relationship, and I thought some mom/daughter fun bonding time would be in order. So we're going to fly by the seat of our pants, plan NOTHING, and I'll basically follow her lead on what to do, where to go, etc. It will be really nice not having to balance two kids' always-divergent wants and needs. And if she utters the words "I'm bored", that will mean it's time for a nap, lol!

 

[MDer2FL]

If you're Disney junkies, the hardest thing to believe is that you DON'T need "an action plan" for Universal. Esp. since you're going off-season.

You won't. Just accept and enjoy it.

 

[Metro West]

My other Thread was about Islands of Adventure...this one is about Universal Studios? Different parks.....

Both threads have been combined.

 

[schumigirl]

plan NOTHING

That`s the way we do Universal......we don`t plan anything........ we wake up and decide what to do.

We only plan if we`re meeting up with people and this year we have a birthday meal, so will choose that ahead of time, if I must!!!

We are just not into planning at all and staying onsite at Universal you don`t need to

 

[vacation_junkie]

If you're Disney junkies, the hardest thing to believe is that you DON'T need "an action plan" for Universal. Esp. since you're going off-season.

You won't. Just accept and enjoy it.

It just seems wayyyyyyyy too easy....
-Book flights
-Reserve hotels
-Reserve Rental car
-buy Flex Pass

Thats it?
again...it just seems like I'm missing something because thats way too easy to plan!

 

[RMulieri]

It just seems wayyyyyyyy too easy....
-Book flights
-Reserve hotels
-Reserve Rental car
-buy Flex Pass

Thats it?
again...it just seems like I'm missing something because thats way too easy to plan!

Nope that's it really..I also book dining ressies, but old Disney habits die hard.
The only plans we have is to be in the club lounge at 7am for breakfast..Other than that we fly by the seat of our pants till afternoon when we go back to the resort and chill by the pool

 

[wookiebeck]

It just seems wayyyyyyyy too easy....
-Book flights
-Reserve hotels
-Reserve Rental car
-buy Flex Pass

Thats it?
again...it just seems like I'm missing something because thats way too easy to plan!

You got it. I'm glad everyone is mirroring what I said in my earlier posts. It is different than WDW. The planning is greatly reduced.

Rope drop for the rides that don't take FOTL tix. That's all.

We also 'planned' on being in the club lounge for each breakfast and snack period, but we had teenagers and paid the extra $$ for club level. And leaving the parks to go back to the hotel takes only 15 minutes. Try that in WDW.

HAVE FUN!!

 

[Metro West]

You got it. I'm glad everyone is mirroring what I said in my earlier posts. It is different than WDW. The planning is greatly reduced.