Three days in January - is this enough time?

[Psu620]

Hello! We (myself, husband, and 9 year old son) are thinking about booking a short trip to Florida around MLK Day. My son has 3 days off school at this time so we would arrive late Saturday night and have Sun, Mon, Tues for the parks. I was not planning on getting express pass at all and was going to make it a cheap trip and stay at Cabana Bay. We are coming from PA so I am just wondering if this amount of time in the parks is worth it. We have been to Disney many times but never to Universal. I realize we won't see everything but thought this could be a nice winter break. I can't make it any longer because of work/school. We could also put the trip off til June and come then for about 9 days, but I really kind of wanted to come sooner. Any thoughts/opinions would be much appreciated. THank you!

 

[DoryGirl1963]

I think you could hit pretty much most of the highlights in that time. Your biggest challenge will be no express pass at a VERY crowded time, especially Sunday. If you stay at one of the 3 Premier resorts, all of you would have express passes both check in & check out day. If you were only staying 2 nights ( Sun & Mon), you'd have EP for all 3 of your days.

Having said that, I totally understand budget constraints, so as long as you realize it will be very high crowds & long lines, you'll be fine . Also, the bus service to & from the parks is fantastic from Cabana Bay!

 

[bchbetha]

Ditto pp!
note that park hours might be reduced (closed by 9) but that’s nice to have some down time.

 

[Breezy2]

You can certainly cover it all in that time frame but if you can find it in your budget to stay at a Deluxe Hotel to get the Express Passes you'll have much more fun and less line time. It's a holiday weekend and will be crowded. You could also hotel hop-Deluxe Hotel during high crowd days to get Express Passes which are good for the day you check in and OUT, then stay at Cabana Bay for Tuesday. An option to consider.

 

[AJA]

You can do a LOT at Universal in 3 days. If you’ve never been to Universal it’s a perfect amount of time to get you hooked.

Avoid the headliner rides during midday. Sure Sunday and Monday are going to be crowded but Tuesday should be manageable.

Watch some YouTube vids of MLK weekend touring from this year to get a good estimate of what to expect.

Hagrids Coaster will need planning if it is a must do! But it doesn’t have an express option right now anyway.

Would having Express be ideal, sure, but IMO not having express is not a make it or break it for that time. Especially since you have 3 days.
In fact “not getting to everything” is the perfect excuse to plan a future trip

(Keep in mind Universal has a ton of single rider lines if either mom or dad want to go on one of the big coasters, but not everyone in family is tall enough/ready.)

Cabana Bay is awesome! Your family will have a great time.