Universal questions

[ncmomof2]

We are going to DL in May. Our plan is also to go to Universal. Is it a one day or a two day park? The trip is 10 days total with five days at DL. What do we need to know about Universal? Thanks

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

We did this last month, 5 days at DL and one at Universal. I checked crowd calendars to choose which day to go to Universal. Went on a Friday when it was a slow day. I think 1 day is doable but it depends on if you want to see everything and take your time. Even though it was a slow day and lines were short, we didn't make it on all rides. We ended up seeing all the shows and DD wanted to spend a lot of time in the Harry Potter section. So we were in that part for hours. They closed at 6 that day, not sure if that's normal or not, but with short hours, couldn't fit in rides on lower level. HTH!

 

[Geemo]

We are going to DL in May. Our plan is also to go to Universal. Is it a one day or a two day park? The trip is 10 days total with five days at DL. What do we need to know about Universal? Thanks

I feel it's a one day park. Look at their calendar and pick a day with the longest hours. They do tend to close early though.

The traffic from DLR to UHS can be most challenging... Good Luck

Geemo

 

[ncmomof2]

I feel it's a one day park. Look at their calendar and pick a day with the longest hours. They do tend to close early though.

The traffic from DLR to UHS can be most challenging... Good Luck

Geemo

We are going to stay up by Universal for a few days, from arrival day on Thursday until Sunday when we will move to a hotel right next to DL. Our plan was to do UHS on Friday and Saturday. We would explore the area in with our extra time.

 

[Niltiac]

I went to Universal on a Saturday in early December, and one day was enough at that time because it wasn't very crowded and lines were short. I don't think we had to wait more than 5 minutes for any ride on that trip. We didn't arrive at opening but we stayed until close, and the only thing we didn't have time for was the animal show and browsing all the shops in the Harry Potter area (we did shop, but would have liked to have a bit more time for it).

Then again, we went again this past Saturday, and it was a holiday weekend. Arriving at about the same time we did in December, lines had already built and we didn't get anywhere near every ride before we called it quits because the crowds were getting to be too much. We had to come back the next day to see everything. So I think it really depends how crowded it is that day, and whether you're willing to make it a full day rather than sleep in and/or leave at dinner time. One tip, on both trips the crowds really started to diminish after sunset (that might be because it was cold, so you might not get the same effect in May), and by an hour before closing time the Wizarding World was a ghost town with both rides being walk-on. So my advice would be to stick it out until closing time if your group has the stamina for it.

 

[alisonleigh21]

I think it's for sure a one day park. I LOVED the Harry Potter part of the park, as well as the Studio Tour, but I don't care for screen rides so I was done by about 3:30pm.

 

[bumbershoot]

For superduper fun, I would stay at the Hilton right there, and then book the VIP tour for a day. It's an early start, with a form of breakfast, then touring, then lunch made to order, and then you get a TRUE front of the line pass for the rest of the day. It's not cheap. It's downright expensive. But everyone I met who was doing it said it was 100% worth it and they were having a blast.

Or skip the VIP tour and just buy the front of the line pass. You get FOTL once for each ride/show that day. It's cheaper than VIP (I think for us it was just under $100 for each of us, and perhaps wasn't worth it for us on that day, but it made DH and DS feel like superstars, and that's worth something) and gives you one ride through the FOTL line per attraction.

While we have happily visited 3 days, they weren't in a row. So while it can be re-done, maybe re-doing it multiples times in a row isn't necessarily, especially if you have a great touring plan OR you get one of the FOTL passes in one way or the other and use it wisely.

 

[eschmeling]

We went to Universal this past October for a Friday / Saturday visit, 1.5 days (we had to leave the park early afternoon for the ride home). I felt it was really nice to have more than one day in order to revisit favorites and we also did not get everything done (but park hours were short due to an after hours Halloween event). We arrived pretty close to opening time and Friday was really great to have those early empty hours in HP land. Saturday filled up really quick. Despite that, the FOTL passes didn't seem worth it - we didn't wait that long for anything (except the studio tour. That was tough). HP also has a single rider line that the older kids (10, 11, 12, 13) happily used.
Things to know:
You have to lock up your purses/bags for the Harry Potter ride (forbidden journey). This can create lines/gridlock. Lockers are free for 2 hours (I think). I found that pretty annoying.
It's easy to eat lunch outside of the park because there are restaurants right outside the park entrance - it was nice to get away from the heat and crowds for a lunch hour, and the food was much more affordable. The place right across the exit serves a crazy portion of cotton candy that the kids went gaga over (we had 5 kids with us on this trip).
It's very easy to meet characters/do photographs with them - it's not as much of a thing in Universal, it seems.

In 1.5 days, we did not make every ride and show, but we doubled and tripled (quadrupled!) on our favorites (HP Forbidden Journey, Simpsons, Transformers, Jurassic Park were our top rides).
One show we saw was really cool (Water world), the other pretty lame (Animal Actors).
The water play area is pretty good for most ages - and in May, you might have pretty hot weather.

 

[sheetz]

Some of the more popular rides rides (including Forbidden Journey and Transformers) have a single rider option which can be a huge time saver.

 

[Darkbeer1]

The biggest issue with Universal is the show times, and forces folks to take one full day and miss some things, usually shows. And while the FOTL pass helps, you still had the show times problem.

So IMHO, it is 1.5 day park, maybe 2 full days depending on how much shopping and hanging around the Wizardly World and if you bought a wand, etc.

And that is just inside the park, add Universal Citywalk, and you can make it a third day.

So I would plan 2 full days, and if you can afford it, get a FOTL and focus on the rides and using it. Then on day 2, work on the shows, and do the shopping and minor stuff in between, since those can be flexible in time, unlike a wait in a regular queue where you commit to it, and not 100% sure when you will exit. For example, the tram tour is planned to be just under an hour, but due to actual filming that day, it can be shorter or longer, and there are other issues that can make a tram tour longer. I think my longest was over a hour and half from driving away from loading, to getting to the unloading area. (I am not counting the extra time it takes to open the fences/gate doors and then walking to the exit. That can be delayed for safety reasons)

 

[wongck]

We did that last month (Dec) and did a 2 days in USH, since a 2 days tickets was less than $10 more.
It's a one day park as the 2nd day turns out to be very slow (and boring) even as we did FJ 3 times in a row in the last 30 mins before the park closes.
The 2nd day, the park opened 9am and closed 6pm ( we purchased online so we can get in 1 hour early... FJ was a walk on as well in the morning).
We did not need FOTL pass as there was plenty of time.
With 2 days, you can experience the backlot tour once in the day and once at night.