universal yesterday was a walk on everything!

[kg66]

This is our first trip to "the dark side" and it was a walk on for everything. We got to the park at 9 and my DD who is the HP nut had to go in every shop along the way...and we still walked on every ride we went on.....I will have to say we didn't hit all the rides but that was our choice purely.....I got terrible motion sickness after forbidden Journey....and was done for rides after that...for those of you likened who thought it was just like Soaring at Epcot, it is NOT at all like Soaring! ..much more motion, up, down and sideways. I love soaring and thought it would be the same...so be warned lol. It was so hot, no breeze until the storm moved in around 6, so we ducked into margaritaville for Nachos on our way out. We are there again Thursday and will finish up what we missed.

 

[Bete]

Sounds like you had a very productive day. Yeah!

 

[Ametista]

Wow. Just a bit of envy here LOL. I have never been to either Universal park with walk on anything! Have a great rest of your trip. Is Disney walk on also or just the Uni parks?

FYI I always take a bonine (non-drowsy dramamine) in the morning before an amusement park. You don't feel anything, you just don't get sick. Its like 3 bucks at walgreens for 8 pills and it at least guarantees your precious vacation days won't be ruined by motion sickness.

 

[kg66]

We did Disney Tuesday night for mickeys not so scary Halloween party and again it was a walk on for everything. Today we are back for our final park day at Universal. Hoping it's much the same as Monday was for crowds. Will post later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[shalom]

This is our first trip to "the dark side" and it was a walk on for everything. We got to the park at 9 and my DD who is the HP nut had to go in every shop along the way...

I've heard that Universal is much more reasonable offseason than the Disney parks -- although I've also heard that this is less true since the HP additions! Glad you had such a lovely experience first time there. (Well, at least for me the mere fact of light crowds would by definition make it lovely. )

How hot is it? We're thinking about going to Universal for the first time our next trip to Orlando, but probably early October in hopes that it's a tad cooler. Crowds and heat are about equally unwanted.

FYI I always take a bonine (non-drowsy dramamine) in the morning before an amusement park.

I'm debating about doing that and riding Forbidden Journey when we're out, but just kg66's description of it is making me a bit ill. While there's definitely a physical component to it, not sure bonine will work on the part that's all in my head!

 

[kg66]

Yesterday was much the same with crowds, only slight waits, saw nothing more than 30 mins. Hulk was down for a bit due to lightning and rain, but that was the only one. I read the OP about trying Bonine but that wouldn't even get me to try it again...lol. Just not the ride for me. I kept my eyes and yap shut the whole time, couldn't even scream for how much I hated it. It is VERY HOT here right now. It's been mid 90's all week and with the humidity it's been 104-108 !! It's been kicking our butts in the parks. It's a great time to visit for low crowds and discounts on the condo, but if the heat bothers you, I'd wait closer to October. I know I will for the next trip.

 

[Ametista]

How hot is it? We're thinking about going to Universal for the first time our next trip to Orlando, but probably early October in hopes that it's a tad cooler. Crowds and heat are about equally unwanted.

October is our favorite month to go! Its still warm enough to enjoy a water park or Discovery Cove or a day at the beach, but not too hot for the parks. Crowds are low if you pick the right week to go. I would check crowd calendars and choose the slowest week you can. Plus there is MNSSHP, which is so fun!

 

[shalom]

It's a great time to visit for low crowds and discounts on the condo, but if the heat bothers you, I'd wait closer to October.

I always thought the heat bothered me -- but compared to all my kids but one, apparently I do pretty well! But I also take it easier than they do in the middle of the day; I'm fine with hanging out in the resorts or somewhere else air conditioned once it gets really warmed up, while they want to go all day. We went in January last time, and although it was in the mid to upper eighties nearly the whole time, it wasn't that humid, which makes a real difference with my crew, so although they weren't thrilled about the heat, it didn't slow them down much. But the upper eighties with dry heat is nothing like a heat index of 104-108!

Crowds are low if you pick the right week to go.

I will definitely be checking the crowd calendars. Most of us will likely do only two days in Universal and one MNSSHP, and we'll have ten or eleven days to play with with the Universal days, which will help. Not sure if I'll buy the MNSSHP tickets ahead of time or not, since I hate to commit to dated tickets without knowing what the weather will be, but I would guess the best time for low crowds in general is also a good time for being able to pick up the tickets at the door.

Outside of the F&W festival, which we won't be doing, October crowds and October weather look to be on par with late May/early June, which we've done and were fine with, with the potential added benefit of some fall color going down or back!

Thanks for the info, everyone.

 

[greentea]

Wow. Just a bit of envy here LOL. I have never been to either Universal park with walk on anything! Have a great rest of your trip. Is Disney walk on also or just the Uni parks?

Wasn't at Universal, but just got back from Disney and pretty much everything was walk on. We made FPs, but hardly needed them. The only real lines were 7DMT (usually around 45 min), TSMM (around 60 min), Peter Pan was always at least 30 min. TT and Soarin (both of these were often at ~20-30 min waits when we passed by). Super nice time to go (too bad next year I have to schedule our trip in August).

We couldn't make it over to Universal this trip, but sounds like it would have been a great time to go there, too! Definitely want to see the Harry Potter stuff at some point.

 

[kg66]

Not sure if I'll buy the MNSSHP tickets ahead of time or not, since I hate to commit to dated tickets without knowing what the weather will be, but I would guess the best time for low crowds in general is also a good time for being able to pick up the tickets at the door.

We waited until the day before the MNSSHP to purchase our tickets because the weather was calling for storms before we left home. Once I was pretty sure we were safe we went to DTD to purchase our tix. If you buy them prior to the day of the event you save about $7 a ticket.... food for thought