Two Universal Parks in one saturday? YES IT CAN BE DONE!!!!!

I%26#39;m back and I had a great time, I just wanted to share some tips...some people advised me against trying to do both Universal Parks on one saturday, but I wish I had!!! Here%26#39;s how. We went on May 12. We got to the Islands of Adventure at 8:45, and walked right in. There was NO ONE there, My boyfriend walked right onto The Hulk - I waited, that ride was a little to intimidating for me. Then we went right to Spiderman walked right onto that as well, Dr Doom%26#39;s Fear fall, then hightailed it over to Dueling Dragons, basically we rode all the big dry rides with no waits. Then we went on Poseideon%26#39;s Fury HUGE WASTE OF TIME...its like a stunt show...BORING.

By 11:00 all we had were the wet rides and kiddie rides left,and could have easily gone to the other park, but since people told us that it was going to be so crowded because it was a saturday we didnt get the two park ticket, and we had bought Express passes for Islands of adventure just in case 20 dollars for the day. so since we had the whole day left with just this one park and the wet rides and children rides left, we decided to slow down, we ate at Mythos got there right when it opened at 11:30. It was ok, I didnt see the big deal. Then we went on the rides in Seuss land with our express passes because by 12 the park got full. then we did the wet rides - Dudley Do right, Bilge raft thing and Jurassic Park, with our express pass, and then we rode the big rides again with our express pass.

The next time what I will do is just do the two park ticket, its 10 dollars more...worth it. Get to your first park at 8:30, they will let you in and no one will be there, go on all the rides, and then leave the park at 1, and go to the second park....GET AN EXPRESS PASS for the second park, that way you dont have to wait on thel ong lines that will have formed by then. and THATS how you get to do both parks in one day....we werent even rushing...we were seriously bored by 1 pm, so we just walked around teh discovery center at Jurrasic Park, and looked at the shops.

If you dont want to do the express pass, you can just split up and go in the single rider line...that worked as well, once we used up our one ride with the express pass. you just wont sit next to each other. I also have to mention that we are both in our 20%26#39; s no kids so nothing to slow us down. Im sure though if you had older children 12 and up you could do it too. So you only need to get ONE express pass for the second park you visit. No need for an express pass for the first park, IF you get to the park early. have fun and dont listen to people who said you cant do both...I wish I had not.

Two Universal Parks in one saturday? YES IT CAN BE DONE!!!!!

Hi Shelly

I agree with everything you said. We%26#39;ve visited in May/June/October and December and everytime it has been possible to do both parks in one day. You MUST get to the parks when they open though!

Two Universal Parks in one saturday? YES IT CAN BE DONE!!!!!

I presume the people who said it wasn%26#39;t probably had the thought that if you go with kids? They can slow you down and you won%26#39;t be able to do both in one day.

Yes if you do all the rides in IOA only once then you will finish by 1 or 2pm. However I think that would be a waste of money as that%26#39;s what your there for. If you don%26#39;t do your favourites at least 3 times then it hasn%26#39;t been worth it!

No I said that I didnt have kids but everyone kept saying it was impossible on a Saturday. I think twice on each ride is enough when you only have a day.

We just got back Saturday and yes, we did the two parks in one day with a 4 year old. Although, I do expect that the summer months will be busier with the kids out of school.

After just getting back from out trip in orlando a couple of weeks ago, I would have to agree with your thinking. We had no problem doing any of the parks in one day. Universal we split into two days because we bought the 7 day two park pass.

Magic Kingdom and Epcot was easily done in one day. Most days we were finished at 3:00pm looking for something else to see. We conquered Epcot by 3pm - and did Soarin and Test Track twice. We didn%26#39;t see Ellens Universe at Epcot though, as it was closed for technical difficulties.

We found that being early is your best bet. We were at the gate each morning waiting for it to open. You can easily complete 4 -5 rides without any wait at all early in the morning. During the days we visited US and WDW, the lines didn%26#39;t really start forming until 11am or so.

EARLY IS THE KEY!!

We always do both Universal parks in one day but that%26#39;s just because we have been to both many times and know exactly what we want to see and do. When we were at Disney a couple of weeks ago, we visited all four parks in one day but again, we knew exactly what we wanted to go on (and we even managed to do a few rides 2 or 3 times). If you want to ride everything and see every show especially on a weekend and with children, then it may be quite difficult.

It sounds like you had done your research and knew what you wanted to see. We would never visit on a weekend unless we had no choice as there are usually parties of schoolkids on trips (never had those sort of trips when I was a school, they were always to boring places!)

I%26#39;m not really into the shows but I like Poseidoen%26#39;s Fury (I agree that the narrative is a bit dull, but where you walk through the tidal wave makes up for that and the finale is excellent). People like different things, which is the beauty of these parks.

We always go on certain rides more than once - they tend to be the thrill rides which are our favourites. Even early in the morning (or later, nearer closing time) once you%26#39;ve been on a couple or three times they start to fill up.

The best time we ever had at IOA was on a press day when it first opened - we rode everything several times as there was no wait whatsoever. We went on Duelling Dragons (which is my personal favourite) 13 times in a row (or maybe it was 16, I forget). Happy days! You%26#39;d be hard pushed to do that now. Roll on the time when another whole new park is built - something like Six Flags would be great if anyone%26#39;s listening...