Can you universal pros help this newbie out

The difference in the experience for the 2 weeks you have suggested will be stark. It will feel like a totally different park in February vs Christmas. If the areas that cater to younger kids stay closed, it will be hard to find ways to get your “money’s worth” for the 3 and 6 year old. February will be much less crowded with exception of the actual weekend and early on President’s Day. I think weekends will continue to be busy due to lots of annual passes appearing in stockings and under the tree. However the Tues-Fri after Pres Day will be pretty low crowds and no need for EP. Drury has free parking, a shuttle that goes to USO, and free food although don’t know what that looks like during covid. I’d wager that the parks will hit capacity many days after Christmas. If you or your hubs aren’t big “riders” and one if you will be chilling with young ones, you may have a great time. Your 13 year old will love it, good stuff in Seuss Land for littles, but hands-on things that would normally keep them occupied are hands-off. I recommend taking a look at the maps and current kids activities/rides that are open during normal operating hours.
 
The difference in the experience for the 2 weeks you have suggested will be stark. It will feel like a totally different park in February vs Christmas. If the areas that cater to younger kids stay closed, it will be hard to find ways to get your “money’s worth” for the 3 and 6 year old. February will be much less crowded with exception of the actual weekend and early on President’s Day. I think weekends will continue to be busy due to lots of annual passes appearing in stockings and under the tree. However the Tues-Fri after Pres Day will be pretty low crowds and no need for EP. Drury has free parking, a shuttle that goes to USO, and free food although don’t know what that looks like during covid. I’d wager that the parks will hit capacity many days after Christmas. If you or your hubs aren’t big “riders” and one if you will be chilling with young ones, you may have a great time. Your 13 year old will love it, good stuff in Seuss Land for littles, but hands-on things that would normally keep them occupied are hands-off. I recommend taking a look at the maps and current kids activities/rides that are open during normal operating hours.

good things to consider..... We had originally planned on doing the buy 2 get 3 free and going after Christmas but now it is changing to Presidents week so I think we would just end up getting those season passes....... Which means we can really go to 5,6,7 days depending on how many days in a hotel we want to pay for...... we were thinking about arriving on Sunday and going to the parks Presidents’ Day and then that Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday leaving Saturday.........The reason why we have not ever been to Universal is because we kept putting it off because our kids were too young, Or we were getting the free dining deal from Disney so we just spent all our time there....... we have five kids(2 are on their own now) and there always seem like every time we would think we were about to go visit the next year or two I would get pregnant again lol......... So I think we’re just done waiting ;) my husband and I and our 13-year-old all love love Love roller coasters!

This actually is kind of a trip too for my mother-in-law who has it on her bucket list to see Harry Potter world and the older she gets the harder it’s getting for her to get around and just other age related things, so that has a big factor in us going..... We already know this trip isn’t going to be gung ho get everything and see everything but perhaps since we’re getting the season passes we can make another trip or two down at least one other trip
 
We will be going for at least five days..... And possibly even getting an AP........ Do you think wait times will be bad As bad if they’re still limiting capacity.
In short, yes.
The social distancing of the rides means longer wait times. The queues stretch on forever with markers the whole way through, and leaving a lane open in between so you don't walk directly past other people. They've been loading less passengers on the rides as well, to keep you with your family... and not sitting with others.
They've also been running rides empty for cleanings every so often.

But, anything can change by February so who knows??
 
I have another question ? I thank everyone for their help

if we stay at a universal partner hotel (like Drury)but we buy our tickets or season pass online separately how do they know that we are at that hotel so we can benefit from the one hour early entry

and this is probably a really dumb question but there’s two separate parks Islands of adventures and Universal Studios, with any of the season annual passes you can go from one Park to the other correct? But with just a regular ticket you would have to make sure you have the park to park?
if you just have a regular ticket then I guess you could only go to part of Harry Potter world because aren’t they separated one in us and one ia
 


We will be going for at least five days..... And possibly even getting an AP........ Do you think wait times will be bad As bad if they’re still limiting capacity.
All I know is, I was there last week on a weekday, and it wasn’t at capacity and many rides had 1+ hour waits. You have to remember, that even though there is reduced park capacity, many of the rides also have reduced capacity for spacing purposes. For example, the Hogwarts express is only allowing one family per carriage now. Men in Black only allowed one family per cart, etc.

I would, at the very least, get express pass for the first day that you go, or possibly the first two days if you stay somewhere like Royal Pacific for at least one night. That way, you can do most of the things in the park and then if you go back the next few days without express pass, then you’ll know what rides are worth standing in line for.

Trust the veterans on this board when they say that the week of Christmas is the busiest time of the year. If you don’t believe us, Google “Orlando crowd calendar.” I would post a link but this board doesn’t allow links to the crowd calendars. All the week after Christmas is an 8 or 9 out of 10. I went on a “4” day last week.
 
While there is nothing like the parks decorated for the holidays-if first time and not staying deluxe for the EP-It is probably better for President week. Check out Endless summer resorts-technically on Universal property so get the perks of early entry, but are further away. Or Cabana Bay family suite.
Can also check Hyatt House (not Hyatt Place-Hyatt House is newer and nicer) right across the street from Universal-they have suites with kitchens, free parking if hyatt loyalty member (free) and with kitchen can probably save on a few meals.
We have done Universal at Christmas and stayed offsite (at Hyatt House actually as onsite prices were bonkers)-but we had the premiere annual passes that had built in Express-and even with those some waits were still long.

One thing about the kid swap at Universal is Uni has areas to wait inside the attraction usually close to load station, -they used to have toys in some child swap areas too but not sure how that is in era of covid now. But it is nice to be able to wait in designated area without having to traverse a queue again, or go looking for the other parent etc.
 


Lots of good suggestions there. You might also consider getting a condo or rental house.

Our extended family owns loads of time share points at Wyndham, so we always stay offsite at Bonnet Creek. The option to go back to 2-3 bedrooms, a living room, full kitchen and two full baths is amazing. There are 2 lazy rivers, 5 pools, putt putt, volleyball, movie rentals, puzzles and games to borrow - perfect for kids of any age. We often leave the parks at dinner time and eat cheaper outside the theme parks. We can watch movies, work a puzzle or relax in the pool (ok, maybe not in Feb or Dec). And we can get away from each other in the condo, which is worth its weight in gold sometimes with kids.

I believe you can rent from owners or directly from the resort if you want to have more room for a similar price to the hotels, and there are plenty of rental homes with great amenities too.

We do have to pay for parking (or did until I got a Preferred Pass), and we don't get any perks, but we generally manage to go in shoulder season or off season, and are able to ride whatever we want over the course of our stay, usually 4-5 days.
 
Re: APs and tickets.

Yes, they sell 2 park APs that cover Islands and Studios or 3 park AP, which includes entry to Volcano Bay water park. If you are not FLA residents, make sure you get the other than Fla resident pass. And yes, passes are park hoppers every day, not counting blockout days, from first day of use, for one year later. If you pay in full to renew, then generally, 20 percent less in price.

Yes, to park hop, you must get a park to park ticket. A regular park ticket means entry to one park a day, and no train. With a park to park ticket or AP, can hop back and forth between the parks, and ride the train that day.

I have an AP and one day, have been to early entry to Islands, then took train to Studios, then, since Islands tends to be open later than the Studios, I walked back to Islands for end of day fun.
 
Oh, and for early entry, you show your hotel key. So I guess Drury will give you a card to show when early entering.
 
We're going to be in Orlando from 12/25 - 1/3 and we're doing Universal 12/31 & 1/1, so yeah it's going to be busy when we go. We're staying offsite, but also knew that having Express Passes was going to be a must. I about died when I saw the price of the EPs though. So I worked through a travel agent (Marvelous Mouse Travels) for no cost, and she booked us one night at the Royal Pacific. With that we get Early Entry and unlimited EPs for both our arrival day (12/31) and departure day (1/1). It saved me around $1000 to do it with the room/tickets/EPs vs just buying the park tickets and EPs on my own. At first we weren't even going to use the room, but now my son and his GF are going to stay there that night. So check your options (I was VERY skeptical until I saw the numbers).

ETA: Regarding Christmas vs Presidents week, I would bet that parks will reach (the limited) capacity at both times, so crowds will be the same. You even run the risk of them actually increasing said capacity by Presidents week vs what it will be for Christmas time.
smart girl!!
We did that a few years back, we did stay at the hotel but even not staying you make out ahead!!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top