Trip in February, need advice

[MrsB1228]

Hi everyone!

DH and I are planning a trip to WDW and Universal for early next year. We will be driving from Ontario, so we'll have our own car. We plan to be in Disney for the last two weeks in January and will be leaving the house of the mouse on February 2nd. We plan to spend another week in Orlando, visiting Universal and other Orlando attractions. We've been to Universal once before, but that was many, many years ago (before HP) and I need some advice from the Universal pros.

We're not planning to stay onsite for the second portion of our trip, but will be booking a hotel that's close to US/IOA. We'll be purchasing a two or three day park-to-park ticket. We have no interest in riding the more intense rides and our major focus will be on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter since that will be completely new to us. My question is, should we also purchase the unlimited Express Pass? It adds another $155 to the price and I don't know as it would be necessary in the early part of February? From what I've read, it isn't applicable to most of the HP attractions either so I'm thinking it's probably not necessary. Your thoughts? I have total confidence planning the WDW portion of our trip, but when it comes to US/IOA, I'm a complete newb.

Any advice, ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

 

[macraven]

mardi gras event begins in february.
weekends will be crowded.


what days of the week do you plan to be at the darkside?

 

[MrsB1228]

Plans aren't solid yet, but probably Tuesday, Thursday and the following Monday. February 2nd, 4th & 8th.

 

[MrsB1228]

Do you think we'll need 3 days, or is 2 enough?

 

[HM]

I would not buy the Express Passes as the rides in the Harry Potter area mostly don't take them. So if you aren't really interested in many thrills (though the rest of the two parks have some great rides/attractions you should try).
I think two days will be plenty if you're skipping some things.

 

[MrsB1228]

That's what I was thinking HM. Both DH and I can have queasiness issues with motion simulator type rides. The last time we went to US, we all rode Spiderman, then Back To The Future and my husband had to go sit down for an hour afterward as it was just too much. We no longer enjoy being flung around on a roller coaster so I think those two things probably exclude a lot of rides/attractions at the two parks. My thought was that we would tour the WWoHP the first day and maybe dip our toe in by trying a couple of rides to see how we get on. If we're fine, we may consider purchasing Express Pass for our other park day, if that's allowed?

 

[macraven]

you can buy a park express pass in any of the shops/stores in the park.
so if you decide after you have done a few rides and need the ep, buy it then.

you can be in one park and buy the ep for the other park.

 

[MrsB1228]

Thanks for the help macraven and HM!

 

[macraven]

always glad to help