WWoHP in January?

[nboicepardee]

Hi everyone!
We are heading to Disney end of December through January 6 and plan on spending a day (or two) at Universal (at the end of the trip). Biggest reason for going is WWoHP. My girls are HUGE fans (as am I)! My question...will the crowds be crazy January 4th and 5th and should we plan on staying at one of the Universal hotels for the on-site benefits? I hate the idea of switching hotels, but I love the idea of all of the benefits. Should we do a 2-day ticket? If the experts could help me out, that would be great! Thank you!

 

[caroli]

Hi everyone!
We are heading to Disney end of December through January 6 and plan on spending a day (or two) at Universal (at the end of the trip). Biggest reason for going is WWoHP. My girls are HUGE fans (as am I)! My question...will the crowds be crazy January 4th and 5th and should we plan on staying at one of the Universal hotels for the on-site benefits? I hate the idea of switching hotels, but I love the idea of all of the benefits. Should we do a 2-day ticket? If the experts could help me out, that would be great! Thank you!

Hi
I was there on 01/06/2011. It was soo cold and there were large crowds. We ride Forbidden Journey 3 times: twice early morning (we were staying off site but arrived early) and once before leaving the park. At noon there wait for that ride was about 2 hours (if I remember correctly).

 

[Yoshi]

I was also there on 1/5 and 1/6 2011. It was way more crowded than I was expecting. Around 4:00 on 1/5, Forbidden Journey was 2 hours, Dragons was 20 minutes, Hippogriff was posted 30 minutes (but looked longer than that). On 1/6, Olivanders had a 90 minute wait around 12:00.

 

[macraven]

i have read in other threads that the parks were crowded up to the 7th.
think the main reason for the crowds was that school vacation still going on.

once school started for the term, crowds dropped the second week in january.

 

[nboicepardee]

It sounds like we are in for some heavy crowds that weekend. Do you recommend we stay in a Universal Hotel to get the benefits? This is our first time at Universal. I am thinking that maybe we want to do a 2 (or 3) day pass based on the crowds, so we don't have the pressure of trying to do everything in one day. I want to be really able to browse and enjoy Hogsmeade as well.

Thank you for your thoughts everyone!

 

[RMulieri]

ALOT of schools are not back in session till Jan 7th again this year..I wouldn't plan on the crowds dying down until then.If you can stay onsite I absolutely would.It is so worth the money.The resorts are BEAUTIFUL,early entry gives you a jump on the crowds and the Express pass for resort guests can't be beat

 

[nboicepardee]

ALOT of schools are not back in session till Jan 7th again this year..I wouldn't plan on the crowds dying down until then.If you can stay onsite I absolutely would.It is so worth the money.The resorts are BEAUTIFUL,early entry gives you a jump on the crowds and the Express pass for resort guests can't be beat

Thanks RMulieri! Would you recommend we stay 2 nights? And that we do a 2 or 3 day pass vs. a one day?

 

[RMulieri]

Thanks RMulieri! Would you recommend we stay 2 nights? And that we do a 2 or 3 day pass vs. a one day?

I would stay 2 nights( or even more).We stayed 5 , but we only did Unviersal.3 parks days allowed for 1 day each park and a 3rd day to do our favorites.At least 2 Full park days will allow you to see it all.

 

[nboicepardee]

I would stay 2 nights( or even more).We stayed 5 , but we only did Unviersal.3 parks days allowed for 1 day each park and a 3rd day to do our favorites.At least 2 Full park days will allow you to see it all.

We will be vacationing a total of 8 nights (and we own DVC so our hotel is covered). I don't want to do more than 2 nights at Universal, but I thought if we buy a 3 day pass, we could do 2 1/2 days of parks. Do you recommend the park-to-park for the extra money?

 

[nboicepardee]

Bump

 

[macraven]

you have 2 different ways to do that.

buy the 3 day park tickets.
do ioa one day, the studios another day.
on the 3rd day, go to the park you want to do repeats


or

buy a 3 day hopper and switch parks when it gets crowded or if you want to return for the night time show or parade at the studios.

switching parks during the day can be helpful.
if lines are long for all the rides you plan to do at one park, just wait for a couple of them.
switch to the other park but return to the first one hour or so before park closing.
parks tend to thin out near closing time.

if you are in a line to do a ride and the park closes, you are allowed to stay in the line until your ride is completed.

 

[olive]

I haven't been to Universal in - literally - decades, and have never been to IOA. We are tacking some days in early January (starting the second week) to a Disney trip to visit. We decided it was worth it to stay on site for the early entry and front of line (for most attractions) access. We ended up getting 3 day tickets (park to park) through undercover tourist. I don't remember the exact price, but i do recall that the difference for a 3 vs 2 day ticket was less than $5. We also ended up booking 3 nights instead of 2, although you could definitely use the 3 day ticket with a 2 night stay, too. For your reference,with tax, the rack rate at Royal Pacific came to about $250/night, and the person I spoke to when I reserved said she thinks there will be discounts/AAA rates released to bring that down further. Not sure how the pricing differs for your dates.

Good luck!