US/IOA or Sea World

[palpluto]

Do you think a family would want to spend more time at Sea World or US/IOA? I'm trying to decide what to do on a shorter day. We will go to US/IOA another day also. Kids are 4, 11, 19. They do like rides. We will be on a MAW trip so lines will probably not be a consideration. Thanks for any input.

 

[zdesiree]

When you will be going?

I'm asking because of that depends the recommendation. For example if you are going low season, my experience is that Universal is practically empty, but in a point that it looks like the park is closed. Universal is all rides versus Sea World that runs more on a scheduled because of the shows. Sea World it doesn't matter if is low or high season, they will always run on scheduled shows.

That's why when my family went; we had to spend more time in Sea World. When we went to Universal, we did the whole park (without IOA) by 5pm and we arrived at 11am.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

IOA or US most definitely!! Much more to see and do. I am a huge dolphin/whale lover, but really, there's only so much Sea World had to offer...

 

[jlovesee]

All the parks you mentioned are nice parks, but for ride lovers I would definitly recommend IOA. You might want to try to stay on property too, the resorts are nice (especially if you can float Portofino!) and staying onsite gives you front of the line access to all the Universal rides.

Another park to consider which is a wonderful combination of the two is Busch Gardens Tampa in welll....Tampa. Great thrill rides, Kumba, Montu, SheiKra... and lots of animal exhibits. Its only about an hour away from Orlando.

Jennifer

 

[ntsammy5]

US & IOA are both 1-day parks IMO and both are fun, but SeaWorld is not bad. It's a calmer more sedate park. The shows are good and there is beer for free! It all depends on what you want to do.

 

[palpluto]

We are going mid December.
Thanks for the advice so far.

 

[Darcy03231]

We just got back from a 2 week stay in Orlando. There were 9 of us and the kids are 16, 14, 12, 9, and 3.5. While they enjoyed Seaworld, they loved US/IOA. Out of the 16 days we were there we spent one full day and one evening at Seaworld. In contrast we spent 6 days and two evenings at US/IOA. The kids had a ball. We did everything in both parks and then just kept doing our favorites over and over again (I think my kids rode the Revenge of the Mummy at least 20 times). Since this was a kids vacation we pretty much let them pick where we were going each day and overall they kept picking US/IOA.

 

[sha_lyn]

Universal is all rides versus Sea World that runs more on a scheduled because of the shows.

Universal Studios has several shows. It usually takes us a whole day to just see all the show. Heck it took us 3 trips before we could even fit in Beetle Juice and Horror Make-up.

As for the OP..... I love US/IOA and SW. IMHO to see everything SW is an all day park, IOA/US takes 21/2-3 days to see and do everything.

 

[zdesiree]

Universal Studios has several shows. It usually takes us a whole day to just see all the show. Heck it took us 3 trips before we could even fit in Beetle Juice and Horror Make-up.

As for the OP..... I love US/IOA and SW. IMHO to see everything SW is an all day park, IOA/US takes 21/2-3 days to see and do everything.

Universal Studios

shows:

1. Universal Horror Make-up Show
2. The Blues Brothers
3. Lucy a Tribute
4. Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue

Rides = 13


Island of Adventure:

Shows = NONE
Rides = 16

Sea World shows:

1. Shamu
2. Mistify
3. Odyssea
4. Blue Horizons
5. Pets Ahoy!
6. Clyde and Seamore

Rides = 3 (Kraken, Journey to Atlantis and Wild Arctic)
Animal Attractions = 10 (not counting shows)

What I'm saying is that if you are looking for a place to decide where to go in a shorter time as the OP is asking, I will select the one that has more rides than shows, because in that way you can spend your short time in a better way taking more rides versus going to a place that is mostly about shows and that maybe 2 shows can take half day.

 

[sha_lyn]

US also has Animal Actors, Fear Factor and T-3,which would make 7 shows compared to SW's 6


ETA: Lucy a Tribute isn't a show.
So SW and US both have 6 shows.


I'm not picking on your or trying ti single you out. I just really get tired of the ol'
"don't bother with US/IOA with kids, it's only thirll rides for teenagers" bit that tend to go on here on the DIS.
I know that isn't what you said. It's just when you said that there aren't any shows, it feeds. Then we get all these people who never been start saying how they would never go because "everyone" on the DIS says"__________"

 

[sha_lyn]

US & IOA are both 1-day parks IMO and both are fun, but SeaWorld is not bad. It's a calmer more sedate park. The shows are good and there is beer for free! It all depends on what you want to do.

When did they start back up with the free beer? Last I knew they had done away with it.