Worried about Universal in November

[1st_trip4us]

This will be our 3rd trip with the kids (ages 12, 10, 8 & 2). We stayed onsite the other 2 trips and didn't really have a chance to venture to any other parks than Disney. This time we are staying offsite and really were wanting to do the 2 Universal parks. We will be there 2nd week of November which we planned because we hear that is a great time to go crowd-wise & weather-wise. But now with Harry Potter I am worried that Universal will be insanely crowded and we will be hitting exactly what we were trying to avoid. We could care less about Harry Potter and wouldn't wait in any long lines just to see it. To go to Universal we are going to wind up paying about $700 for our party to go. Whereas we could just add 2 more days to our Disney park tickets for just a few dollars per day. Is it worth still going to Universal? I don't really know much about the 2 parks anyway (for instance I thought it was just 1 park til someone corrected me LOL).
What I'd like advice on is: If you hadn't done Universal and you have 4 kids and Grandma with, would you spend the $700 to go to Universal for 2 days or just spend those 2 days at WDW? I know there's no way to tell but I have to think the crowds for HP would have died down by November, right?

 

[jakezmom]

We own a timeshare in orlando and have been going to Disney with my 9 year old son since he was 2 years old. Since my hussband and I are both teachers in NJ, we always go the first week in November (Jersey Week).

Two years ago we took our son (he was 7) to universal during our week long stay in november. We made the mistake of going right in the middle of the week because he didn't want to go back to Disney!! We had 7 day Disney passes and only single day universal passes and he was so bummed we only did Universal one day.

Last year when he was 8, we split our November week between Universal and Disney.

We are going again this November and my son can't wait to go back. He could care less about Harry Potter park.We will do half Universal/half Disney again.

The wait times in Universal and IOA when we go the first week of November we very short.

I would say to bring your family to Universal for sure!!! Your kids will love it even if they don't do the Harry Potter part.

I am curious too on what the wait times will be in Movember now that Harry Potter is open.

 

[j9000]

I would check heights your kids heights for rides, If they are tall enough to do most, then i would go for it.
I wouldnt compare the two, Universal just is different, a little bit more grown up feeling than Disneyworld, and has some amazing rides.

Im going solo for the first time in november, and even if Potterworld hadnt of been built, i still would be going to Universal as well as Disney.

 

[361DP]

We went to IOA/US last November and loved it again. We stayed at Royal Pacific and the parks were empty. It was great, a ghost town in most parts of the park. We had the FOTL pass with our room key and never waited more than ten minutes for anything. Rode every ride multiple times. Opened the parks up and closed them down. Walked back to the room to put on long sleeves and walked back to City Walk to eat. Would like to know what the crowd will be like with Harry Potter now open but it was a great time to go.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that your two older kids are good ages for Universal but the younger one is more questionable. There are things to do for little kids but a lot depends on what your child enjoys.

I'll just say otherwise that my son talked me into going to Universal some years ago and it cost extra of course so I was unsure. I had a marvelous time and haven't stopped going. YMMV.

 

[gailanncreates]

Planning Nov. disney trip, possibly ten nights so that we could do Universal for first time. I was there back in the day (only one park) and wasn't impressed. Concerned that the rides will be too much/too scary for DD10 and DH 9. Seems like many have "darker" themes, even if the ride itself is fun. DD really gets freaked out and has nightmares, sleepwalking episodes. Wondering if it just wouldn't be better to plan the whole trip at Disney and do a TL day, resort day, etc.
Is it REALLY going to be worth the extra $$ involved to do Universal? Is it really worth staying on prop to get those FOTL passes??