Universal Studios for a day?

[TanaQ]

Noob cruiser here. My 10 yr old and I will leave on AOS 2/15/19. First port we arrive is Port Canaveral. I already bought the express transportation to Universal. I will buy the tickets next and definitely splurging for the express line extra. But should we stick to one park for the 6/7 hours or try the 2 park which is universal and island of adventure? 

I’m thinking one park but then how to choose? Any help please?

[martincath]

Unless you have both parks, you cannot take the train between the two parts of 'Harry Potter-world' - so if that would be a priority, you need a two-park pass. Other than that, best advice I can give is to sign up for Touring Plans as their research and up-to-the-minute data on ride queues makes for a HUGE boost in efficiency on any park visit, but ESPECIALLY a ridiculously short one like this. We've been using them for years and they have always been of enormous benefit to minimize wasted time, and considering how much you're dropping on the tickets & transportation the $8 fee (for a whole year of access!) is totally negligible. Assuming you have a WiFi-enabled device or your cellphone with you, they can even handle an on-the-spot rejig of your plans when a ride breaks down.

 

Frankly though I wouldn't take a day excursion to Universal or Disney even if it was free - and I love both to bits. It's a horribly-inefficient day, and you would actually be able to spend a whole day in the park with a hotel for less than the cost of these trips. If there's any way to rejig your travel plans so that you hit the park either before or after your cruise, you really should - that way you can actually get the FULL day in the park that you're paying for (and as a bonus, especially post-cruise you would be back to the typical low levels of crowds in Feb but away from Valentine's Day - there are lots of people who take 'romantic' breaks to theme parks during the week Feb 14 falls in so crowd levels and variable costs like Express passes increase, so your Friday Feb 15 visit will be a hassle compared to the week after).

[Sauer-kraut]

Be prepared to not see/do much.  Your waiting times could really reduce what you get to do.  It will be a run run run kind of day. 

For example, we did Walt Disney World in November. Off season and we still waited in line for almost an hour....which turned into a 9 ride day.  Disappointing and exhausting.

[TanaQ]

Pertinent details, we are sailyfrom Bayonne on 2/15 and will hit Canaveral on 2/18. 

In Florida from 7a-7p. 

I know it’s an hour each way adding shortened park hours I was hoping for 6-10 rides depending on how busy it is and how well the express works. I’ve seen completely opposite experiences posted with those complaining about done days and those saying with express passes they easily got a lot of rides in. 

 

If if it’s really only going to get us like 3-4 rides I’d rather prepare my son now. Harry Potter world is not important in this equation. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

19 minutes ago, martincath said:

..........Frankly though I wouldn't take a day excursion to Universal or Disney even if it was free..............

Absolutely the best advice.

[martincath]

20 minutes ago, TanaQ said:

Pertinent details, we are sailyfrom Bayonne on 2/15 and will hit Canaveral on 2/18.

Ah, OK, I  misunderstood your date above. So the park day would be the Monday after the post-Valentine's weekend, which probably means close to normal 'off season' crowds (there may be some folks taking a long weekend, but most of them will be heading home on the Monday rather than visiting the park). I'd still sign up for Touring Plans as they have superb research - with only a couple of weeks until your visit their predictions should be very accurate so you can set your expectations accordingly.

 

The only better deal than Touring Plans we've ever found is our NEXUS card - even in the off-season, our preferred time for any theme park, we reliably save an hour or more in queue times just by following TPs suggested routing of which rides to do in which order; on the handful of occasions we've been forced to visit at busier times (including July 4th in Magic Kingdom) we have personally experienced time savings of 3+ hours per day; all those trips involve other people we love enough to be willing to go to Florida in summer, and every single one of those people signed up for Touring Plans after we have pointed out how many more rides we got on than they did by going "where the kids wanted to go" - we love nobody enough to actually walk around a theme park with them and their spawn;-)

[SRF]

Hey everyone, he said he was going to pay for the express pass.  No lines.

 

You can do a lot in one day.  But you will still not see all of one park.

 

But, as mentioned, to ride Hogwarts Express, you have to have a 2 park pass.

 

And I do agree with the others, that one part day is not enough.  We had two parks, for 4 FULL days, with express pass, and it was barely enough.

[TanaQ]

I didn’t want to be lengthy in my OP. But I’ll add that we already know we won’t see close to everything. I know about 1 park vs 2 park. Just from other forums some made it seem like it was doable to get some rides in for a partial day. It’s mom and don and we walk fast. 

 

Realustic expectations were minimum of 6 rides with hopes of 10-12. With express pass. 

 

We will not be doing a Florida vacation for a long time. My son actually prefers more adultish places than theme park centered vacations. But for the day we figured it might be nice after cruising for 2  1/2 days.  Just gathering opinions and experiences. I understand many would not do this. Anyone that did and liked it?

 

[1025cruise]

2/18 is President's Day. Also I believe that is school vacation week for the northeast. I'd skip Universal and head to NASA instead.

[cb at sea]

You will barely have time to do part of ONE park...no way you can do 2.  I would save the theme parks for a land vacation....you are seriously underestimating the time it will take, even with "express" passes.

[TanaQ]

I understand and will schedule the space center visit instead. 

Between the holiday and different views I’ve read I’d rather go with a safe choice. 

Thank you all!

[angie7911922]

You won't have enough time to do both. You won't have enough time to finish one. The wait times slow everything down, so you won't get in near as much of the park as you are expecting to get in. 

[martincath]

8 hours ago, TanaQ said:

I understand and will schedule the space center visit instead. 

Between the holiday and different views I’ve read I’d rather go with a safe choice. 

Thank you all!

Excellent choice - Kennedy would definitely be my pick for an excursion from Port Canaveral! Glad you were able to rejig your plans, especially since it's a Holiday for some (we just changed our local 'Family Day' in BC to match the other provinces' dates, so now it also matches Pres Day, but even last year it was a week earlier so I'll use that as my excuse for why I forgot to mention it!)

[mjkacmom]

On 2/3/2019 at 3:12 PM, martincath said:

Ah, OK, I  misunderstood your date above. So the park day would be the Monday after the post-Valentine's weekend, which probably means close to normal 'off season' crowds (there may be some folks taking a long weekend, but most of them will be heading home on the Monday rather than visiting the park). I'd still sign up for Touring Plans as they have superb research - with only a couple of weeks until your visit their predictions should be very accurate so you can set your expectations accordingly.

 

The only better deal than Touring Plans we've ever found is our NEXUS card - even in the off-season, our preferred time for any theme park, we reliably save an hour or more in queue times just by following TPs suggested routing of which rides to do in which order; on the handful of occasions we've been forced to visit at busier times (including July 4th in Magic Kingdom) we have personally experienced time savings of 3+ hours per day; all those trips involve other people we love enough to be willing to go to Florida in summer, and every single one of those people signed up for Touring Plans after we have pointed out how many more rides we got on than they did by going "where the kids wanted to go" - we love nobody enough to actually walk around a theme park with them and their spawn;-)

It’s Presidents Day, parks will be packed with the kids off either for a three day weekend, or from the northeast where they are off the entire week. It’s one of the busiest days of the year.

[SRF]

3 hours ago, angie7911922 said:

You won't have enough time to do both. You won't have enough time to finish one. The wait times slow everything down, so you won't get in near as much of the park as you are expecting to get in. 

 

EXPRESS PASS.  OP stated he was going to spring for Express Pass.  No lines

[6rugrats]

OP also said they had changed plans and were going to the space center.

[sparks1093]

OP we'll be doing Universal for our April cruise. We plan on just doing 1 park and seeing as much of the park as we can in the time available. We won't be doing any of the rides. We'll see what we see and be happy with that.

[SRF]

30 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

OP we'll be doing Universal for our April cruise. We plan on just doing 1 park and seeing as much of the park as we can in the time available. We won't be doing any of the rides. We'll see what we see and be happy with that.

 

Why would you spend the money for the park and not do the rides?

 

Just wondering.

 

 

[sparks1093]

Just now, SRF said:

 

Why would you spend the money for the park and not do the rides?

 

Just wondering.

 

 

Aren't there things to see and do without doing the rides? I've never liked them much and DW can't do them because of her multiple back surgeries. We didn't do any of the rides at Euro Disney but still had a great time.

[SRF]

4 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Aren't there things to see and do without doing the rides? I've never liked them much and DW can't do them because of her multiple back surgeries. We didn't do any of the rides at Euro Disney but still had a great time.

 

OK, that makes sense.

 

There are some shows, and some attractions that are not rides.  Also some rides that anyone can ride (aimed at small kids, like in the Dr. Suess area).

 

And the Harry Potter areas (and the train between them) are fun.

 

It is just not THAT much to do without riding rides.  I would say to get a 2 park pass.  One, so you ride the Hogwarts Express train between the two Harry Potter areas.  And second, as you can probably do more than one park in a day.

Edited February 7, 2019 by SRF

[sparks1093]

39 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

OK, that makes sense.

 

There are some shows, and some attractions that are not rides.  Also some rides that anyone can ride (aimed at small kids, like in the Dr. Suess area).

 

And the Harry Potter areas (and the train between them) are fun.

 

It is just not THAT much to do without riding rides.  I would say to get a 2 park pass.  One, so you ride the Hogwarts Express train between the two Harry Potter areas.  And second, as you can probably do more than one park in a day.

We did think about it but with the limited time available and with the amount of walking involved we figured one park would suffice. 

[SRF]

On 2/7/2019 at 12:00 PM, sparks1093 said:

We did think about it but with the limited time available and with the amount of walking involved we figured one park would suffice. 

 

Understand, but WHICH ONE? 😄
 

And again, with a single park pass, you cannot ride the Hogwarts Express, and see the two Harry Potter areas.  If you not that much of a Harry Potter fan, that is fine.

 

 

[sparks1093]

32 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Understand, but WHICH ONE? 😄
 

And again, with a single park pass, you cannot ride the Hogwarts Express, and see the two Harry Potter areas.  If you not that much of a Harry Potter fan, that is fine.

 

 

We'll be deciding which one using the interactive map. Riding a train is riding a train and I've done plenty of that in my day, so riding one that is decorated a certain way isn't much of a draw. I've read the books multiple times and seen the movies multiple times so I'm a fan, but I also recognize the limitations presented by only having 7 hours to do something.

[hallux]

Keep an eye on SpaceX launch schedule.  There's a launch scheduled for "mid Feb".  If they pick Feb. 18 (though they might know by now if that's the date) expect a long wait to get to KSC.

[sparks1093]

18 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

We'll be deciding which one using the interactive map. Riding a train is riding a train and I've done plenty of that in my day, so riding one that is decorated a certain way isn't much of a draw. I've read the books multiple times and seen the movies multiple times so I'm a fan, but I also recognize the limitations presented by only having 7 hours to do something.

For what it's worth we've decided on Islands of Adventure.