Here's what I had to say on the "best day of the week" topic in the latest edition of my Universal orlando guidebook:
A fair bit of advice has been written about the best days of the week to visit the various Orlando area theme parks and IâÂÂve written my share of it. In the fullness of time, however, I have come to believe that such guidance is of limited use, for a number of reasons. First, as IâÂÂve already mentioned, if youâÂÂre anywhere near normal, theme park crowds are going to seem overwhelming most of the time anyway. Second, thereâÂÂs a problem with averages. You could well arrive on the âÂÂslowestâ day of the week only to find that thereâÂÂs been an atypical blip in attendance.
One reason for attendance being unpredictable is the frequent special events and corporate promotions that can flood the parks with an extra several thousand people or even close them altogether. To cite just one example, I was visiting Islands of Adventure on a day when a major car manufacturer was hosting thousands of its customers as part of a special promotion. Not only did these lucky folks get early admission to the park, so that when the rest of us mere mortals were allowed in the place was packed, but the park closed early so that the favored few could have the place to themselves until late into the night.
Note: In theory, you can get advance warning about these park-flooding events by calling Guest Services, but only 48 hours prior to the actual date of the event.
That being said, one popular view has it that Saturday and Sunday are good days to visit Universal Studios Florida on the theory that most folks start their vacations on the weekend and that most of those who come to Orlando go to Disney first. Following this theory, Monday through Wednesday become the âÂÂbusyâ days. However, my recent experience suggests just the opposite. I found fewer people in the parks on weekdays and bigger crowds on the weekends. Go figure.
It is also more than likely that Universal Orlando will attract still larger crowds now that it has two on-site resort hotels open. Therefore, it will be a good while before anyone will be able to hazard an educated guess as to which are the busiest days of the week at the parks. And even then, it will only be âÂÂon average.âÂÂ
Finally, there is no reason to cram a visit into a day or two (although many people insist on doing just that). If you decide to make Universal Orlando your primary (or only) Orlando destination, you can get seven- and ten-day tickets (see The Price of Admission, below) that offer unlimited admission to both Universal Orlando parks, as well as some others nearby. The per-day cost of these tickets is quite reasonable and they remove the insane pressure that can come with a park-a-day touring schedule.
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I think Barry Hom said not so long ago on this board that Monday and Tuesday are the "slow" days and that's been my experience too.
Hope this helps.
Kelly Monaghan
Author of "Universal Orlando: The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate Theme Park Adventure" and
"The Other Orlando: What To Do When You've Done Disney & Universal"
<img height=100 src=http://www.theotherorlando.com/images/use.jpg> <img height=100 src=http://www.theotherorlando.com/images/orl3.jpg>>
