WDW diehards considering Universal

[DISzy]

We love going to WDW in September because of the low crowds. We are thinking about doing Universal on a separate trip, maybe the first week in January. What are the crowds like, compared to Disney?

 

[macraven]

first week in january will have some crowds.
many schools do not start back from winter break until the end of that first week or monday of second week of january.


have no idea of crowd levels at the motherland for the same time period.



if you are asking about the hotels onsite, they won't be booked up.
since you are booking in the hotel portion forum, not sure if you are inquiring about hotel rooms or park crowd levels.

 

[Metro West]

Moving to the main board for more responses.

 

[DISzy]

Moving to the main board for more responses.

Thanks!!! Sorry about that!!!

 

[RMulieri]

because of the way the holidays fall this year, MOST schools are not back in session till Monday, Jan 6th.It will be very busy till then

 

[glocon]

We also love WDW, and I must say, it is such fun to have a second park like USO to love. Making US a trip by itself is a great idea, especially if you do choose to stay onsite. The perks are phenomenal and the resorts are gorgeous. You will find that you can be diehard fans of two theme parks now!

 

[Planogirl]

We also love WDW, and I must say, it is such fun to have a second park like USO to love. Making US a trip by itself is a great idea, especially if you do choose to stay onsite. The perks are phenomenal and the resorts are gorgeous. You will find that you can be diehard fans of two theme parks now!

Exactly.

 

[CerysG]

In our case I think my kids love Universal more than WDW, though they like it there but not as much. This trip they asked to have more days at Universal so we are doing 4 days and staying on resort to take advantage of the express lines. If your family likes rides they should like it here. Also if you think its going to be busy then maybe stay on resort or spend the money and get the express passes as I think they are worth it. My sister took her grown kids to Disney and Universal last Christmas and I made her get the express passes and they said it was so worth it as they got to ride way more then they would have with out it. I'm sure you'll love Universal.

 

[hermionesnape]

We love going to WDW in September because of the low crowds. We are thinking about doing Universal on a separate trip, maybe the first week in January. What are the crowds like, compared to Disney?

If you stay on site the crowds won't be that much of an issue no matter when you visit. Crowd levels depend on which week you are talking about.

The first full week in January starts Sunday Jan 5th 2014. If you are talking about that week the crowds will be at a low level.

If you are talking about the week before starting on December 29th the park will be fuller for sure. My family goes to US/IOA every year the week of new years. The days leading up to NYE are rather crowded but not unmanageable especially if you are an onsite guest with the front of line pass. Jan 1st onward the crowds start to thin out as people start to head home to get ready to go back to school.

Bottom line if you staying onsite neither week would be terrible. And if you going the second week I mentioned then staying off site you shouldn't have terrible lines either.

*for reference I went the second week of June in '08 and stayed onsite. Crowds are at their peak then. The longest I waited in the fastpass line was 10-15 minutes. Most lines were 5 minutes or less*