Universal week before Presidents Day- Crowds?

[tukkerlove]

Sorry, I'm sure this has been asked but my search skills aren't bringing up a ton of answers. For anyone who's been the week before President's Day in the last few years- what are the crowds/wait times like? Looks like 'moderate' crowds can be expected, just not sure how that translates into wait times on the popular rides. We are planning for 3 full days to enjoy (arriving Tuesday evening, departing Sat morning). Not sure if moderate crowds would warrant paying to 'skip the line'.

I'm also trying to determine if 1 full day of each park gives us enough time to hit everything worthwhile, with a 3rd day with a parkhopper to relive things we enjoyed, or if we should use Day 3 to check out Sea World. Opinions? We've never been to any of the parks.

We are not staying on site so early access is not an option.

Thanks!

 

[JaxDad]

We went for Presidents Day WEEKEND a couple years ago, and we did well at the Universal parks even without EPs. I think you would be fine the week prior. I think you could do the two parks in two days and head to SeaWorld. If you are into roller coasters, SeaWorld has some nice ones (in addition to the fun shows and attractions).

 

[TommyJK]

Have a look at this site/page: https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/wait_times.php?a=history (you need to create a login to use it.

It shows historical crowd levels as well as ride wait times, per every ride, every hour throughout the day.

Looking at last years week leading up to presidents day, it indeed seemed pretty moderate crowd levels. Tuesday and Wednesday prior to Presidents Day weekend seemed to be the "slowest" with the majority of headlining attractions having peak wait times around the 30ish minute mark, but Thursday and beyond had longer waits.

As you're not staying on-site, I'd recommend doing 3 days. Also, I'd recommend having park to park tickets for all 3 days. Often you'll find crowds shifting quite a bit throughout the day from one park to the next so at times you could get large crowds in one park while low crowds in the other, and then vice-versa. I always love having the flexibility to hop to the other side if the current side is much busier. You'd hate being stuck in one park while it's more crowded while looking at the app and seeing lower wait times at the other but not being able to hop over and take advantage of it.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I thought it was quite busy this year that week. The Mon before President's day weekend was the most crowded, more crowded than President's day itself (I did not go Sat/Sun of President's day weekend).

The weather was fantastic though, and with single rider lines and proper morning planning (Minions) we were able to do quite a lot.

You could get 2 day passes, and decide at the end of day two if you want to upgrade to the third day, or get SeaWorld tickets instead.

 

[keishashadow]

It’s been a few years but we found the week leading up to Friday prior to President’s day very slow @ U, same as with most minor US holidays when we’ve visited. Seems to run the same at WDW too with crowds even lower the tuesday following.

Look for tix specials that time of year on UT as to buy 2, get one day free for park hoppers. There is a thread here that can walk you thru how to upgrade their tix at the u gate to bridge the prices & often save some substantial $.

Be careful, some tix have expiration/use by dates.