Universal Crowds week of March 4th

[DisneyFan1979]

We're thinking of taking 1 day out of our Disney trip to go to Universal on Mar 6th or 7th (a Thurs or Fri) - anybody have any sense of the crowds? Are there any good guidebooks that cover Universal that you'd recommend? We haven't been there in over 6 years. Do the crowd patterns differ there greatly from Disney? We use the crowd level guide associated with the Unofficial Guide to WDW and it's showing low-moderate crowds that week in Disney during the weekdays (Mar 4-7)and higher crowds that weekend (Mar 8 and 9),

Thanks in advance!

[murphy1]

I think that will be some of the Spring Break time. We're going this month and I bought the one day express passes for Universal day. When I lived down there and went, there were always lines, I just don't want to deal with it that day, so it will be nice to be more leisurely. Also going to IOA, but won't be there as long, there isn't as much to do at that park for littler kids. We wanted to see where they were going to put the Harry Potter stuff and kind of get a feel for the park so we will be ready for it when it comes next year.

[jwildflower1981]

I recommend you getting the express pass. You get to bypass the lines. I think it's about $50.00 but well worth it. You go through a diffrent entrance which brings you to the front of the line for every ride except for Pteranodon Flyers at Islands of Adventure. It was the best $50.00 we spent on out whole trip. If only Disney would do this too.........:secret:

[Rockstar Boyfriends]

I can usually judge the crowd size at Universal by looking at two things:
1.) The cost of the Universal Express pass
2.) The hours of operation

The Universal Express pass can cost as little as $26 for a 1 day/2 park pass to a high of $51. If the parks are open unitl 6 pm, crowd sizes are usually low. If the parks are open until 10 pm, crowd sizes are usually large.

During your visit times, the Express pass costs $26 for a 1 day/2 park pass. The park is open from 9 am to 7 pm. Thus, crowd sizes will probably be low. You can probably survive the day without the Express passes, but if you need them, I'm sure you can buy them at the parks.

[DisneyFan1979]

Thank you for all your responses :mickey:

[CaraMiaO3]

The Universal Orlando resorts give all their guests the Express pass at no extra charge. The resort rates are often high but having those passes included is almost worth the extra cost (depending on exactly how high the rate is). And the pass you get from the resort is unlimited ride use. Cant tell you how many times we did Dr Seuss rides one time after another. I think some of the express passes you buy only allow you to use the pass once per ride or something like that. We went last summer, first weekend in June. There is no way we could have done the parks without those passes with a 5 yr old. It was hot and crowded and it would have been horrible standing in long lines. I think we paid like $189 or something like that per night. An offsite resort was $105 per night without the passes. It was DEFINITELY worth the extra $ to have those passes and stay at a resort walking distance to the park.

[Roger Rabbit 89]

I went almost to the day about two years ago, and the crowds were manageable. We did almost all the major rides in both parks in one day (we had the express pass through our hotel.) The only rides that were long lines were Spiderman and The Mummy ride. Other than that most rides were maybe 10-15 minutes.

Michael