Will this touring plan work?

[bedogged]

I have finally talked my husband into a day at US/IOA during our WDW visit in early August. I know it is difficult to do both parks, even one, in a single day, but that is our time frame. We are both in our fifties and will not be doing any of the large coasters. It is our first visit to the Orlando area. I have been reading here and found the information very helpful. My question is if we bought the one day, two park pass AND the booklet of express passes for Universal only, would that be feasible? There are only two rides in IOA that are musts on our list, Spiderman and Jurassic Park. We would like to ride all or most of the headliners in US. I thought we could be at the park before opening, purchase our tickets as early as possible and then hot foot it over to IOA and ride the two rides we are interested in there. We would then use our express pass booklet to finish in US. Do you think we could see most of what we wanted with this plan or do you have a better idea?

 

[hockey mom]

I think if those are the only 2 rides you care about in IOA you will be fine.

 

[highlander447]

Be at the gates about 30 minutes before opening and u will be in and out in 30 minutes of park opening we rode front of row hulk twice in 10 minutes last week by 9.00am

 

[Slacking]

If those are the only two rides you plan to ride at IOA, and you plan on arriving at the gates around 8:30, Express Plus Booklets may not be necessary for USF, you should have no problem hitting everything throughout the day, but thats just me.

 

[bedogged]

Originally posted by Slacking
If those are the only two rides you plan to ride at IOA, and you plan on arriving at the gates around 8:30, Express Plus Booklets may not be necessary for USF, you should have no problem hitting everything throughout the day, but thats just me.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply to my question! I'm sure that we will be at US/IOA at the crack of dawn as we are early risers and on Mountain Standard time as well. We know the advantages of being the first people at the parks. The reason that I thought we would need the express plus booklets for US is because we are going in early August, probably on a Monday. Are the crowds really bad at that time of year? It sounds like WDW will be horribly crowded and I just figured that US/IOA would be the same. Are US/IOA less crowded? Or maybe they just manage the crowds better?

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Later in August wouldn't be bad, but I think it is bad in early August. I would get the express booklets so you don't spend so much time in line at Universal Studios. Have fun!

T&B

 

[robvia]

The first two weeks of August are the most busy time of the year, the 3rd week starts to clam down, and the 4th is a ghost town as everyone is back in school. Just look at the park hours here.
http://themeparks.universalstudios....o_park_hours.html&year=2004&month=8&year=2004

Your plan will work. If you're at the IOA gate first, you could actually do Hulk, Spiderman, Dr. Doom, Rip Saw Falls, JPRA, then head over to USF. Get the express booklet. The crowd really hits at 11am. You booklet tickets will help you in the afternoon. At USF, the first thing you'd do is walk to the Mummy and see if any express pass tickets are available from the machines. If so, get them, they would probably be good for later that afternoon. Then use your book ticket and ride.

 

[bedogged]

Originally posted by robvia
The first two weeks of August are the most busy time of the year, the 3rd week starts to clam down, and the 4th is a ghost town as everyone is back in school. Just look at the park hours here.
http://themeparks.universalstudios....o_park_hours.html&year=2004&month=8&year=2004

Your plan will work. If you're at the IOA gate first, you could actually do Hulk, Spiderman, Dr. Doom, Rip Saw Falls, JPRA, then head over to USF. Get the express booklet. The crowd really hits at 11am. You booklet tickets will help you in the afternoon. At USF, the first thing you'd do is walk to the Mummy and see if any express pass tickets are available from the machines. If so, get them, they would probably be good for later that afternoon. Then use your book ticket and ride.

Unfortunately, we did not have a choice of the date of our visit so it will be hot and crowded no doubt. Thank you so much for your advice. Do you think that they will have a coupon to ride the Mummy in the express booklet?

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Mummy will accept Express after the Grand Opening, so I'll say yes.