Would on-site be better?

[100%Disney]

I am planning to squeeze in a Universal trip during our trip to see my mom. I have a few questions. Will 3 nights be enough or do we need 4? And will we do better staying on-site? My available dates are 6/14/07-6/18/07.

I've never done Universal before, so I don't know what to expect as far as crowds and lines for the rides during those dates. Any advice will be appreciated. The reason I was looking at off-site was to save money, but I need to know if that's a good idea based on park over-crowding.

 

[bubba's mom]

It will busy those dates, and you will only need 2 days if you stay onsite. You may save money staying offsite, but you will be standing in lines....anywhere from 30, 60, even 90+ minutes You don't want to do that in the heat! Stay onsite, walk to the parks, see and do what you want with your room key EP....you will breeze through the parks in a couple of days. If stay onsite, you should be able to do everything in 2-3 days. (You get FOTL privledge on day of check-in and check out...so 2 nights gives you 3 days of FOTL, 3 nites gives you 4 days....) My theroy is: I'm not going on vacation to relax and have fun and spend a ton of money to spend the whole time standing in line.... HTH

 

[100%Disney]

Thanks, I really need all the advice I can get on Universal. As I said, we've only done Disney and Seaworld, so I'm not familiar with the things I need to know.

Could you tell me how long you usually wait with the front of the line passes?

 

[KelleyGirl]

I agree. If you can afford it, stay onsite and avoid the lines. We went in July last year and never waited in line more than 10, maybe 15 minutes. Regular waits were on average 60 minutes for the popular attractions!

You might want to consider the cost of staying offsite and purchasing the express pass which used to be about $40/day/per person. We are a family of 6, so its clearly cheaper for us to stay onsite than purchase that add-on for the convenience!

 

[bubba's mom]

Thanks, I really need all the advice I can get on Universal. As I said, we've only done Disney and Seaworld, so I'm not familiar with the things I need to know.

Could you tell me how long you usually wait with the front of the line passes?

like KelleyGirl said...appx. 5-15 min. waits....not bad! I remember riding Jimmy Neutron 4x in a row and passing the same people in the standby line 4 times....and let me tell ya....they were not making fast progress

Don't forget to read the FAQ's sticky at the top of the page!

 

[100%Disney]

Thanks, I think you're right about staying onsite. My seven year old may not want to ride some things and it will be easier to only wait 10-15 to switch off staying with her.

 

[bubba's mom]

UO does offer child swap...don't forget to use it! (after all....it is YOUR vacation too )

happy planning and happy trip....be sure to report back to us!

 

[100%Disney]

UO does offer child swap...don't forget to use it! (after all....it is YOUR vacation too )

happy planning and happy trip....be sure to report back to us!

I appreciate all your advice and I'll report on my trip upon my return.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You will love the FOTL privileges. That room key is worth its weight in gold. We stayed onsite last fall for the 1st time and it was awesome. Even though the lines weren't too bad 20-45 mins., we walked on every ride like we owned the place. Ds10 and I rode the Hulk 4x in a row and each time walked thru the queue and right into a seat!
We will never go unless were onsite now.

 

[disneyag]

STAY ONSITE!!! We just returned from a 3 night, 4 day trip. That was plenty of time to do everything multiple times. The Express Pass access with an onsite stay is so worth it! Lines that had 45 minute to 1 hour waits took us less than 10 minutes.

 

[keilley]

We have stayed onsite and offsite several times and will never ever stay off site again. Our vacations were definitely less stressful and we were able to go back to the hotel and enjoy the wonderful pools because we spent less time in line.

 

[Holly Goheavy]

Thanks, I think you're right about staying onsite. My seven year old may not want to ride some things and it will be easier to only wait 10-15 to switch off staying with her.

If I recall correctly, the USO child swap is far better than Disney's. It seems to me that we all waited in the same line together and only swapped at the actual ride and the person waiting with the baby waited there, then the first parent got off the ride, took the baby and the waiting parent rode that very next car (or whatever). We never had to get back in line like we do at Disney.

 

[cbdmhgp]

i havent even read what everyone else has said to you b/c i just want to say that you mustttt stay onsite if it is remotely possible...in the end, you will not regret spending a little more...that is all i have to say