Theme Park Insider

Get News by E-mail

Universal at Christmas

Universal Orlando: can you do each park in a day?

From georgana grinstead
Posted November 2, 2009 at 1:18 PM
How crowded will universal be the week before christmas? We are going to be down there for 2 days...can you do each park in a day?


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From dylan k
Posted November 2, 2009 at 2:49 PM
Its not that crowded, and YES you can do both parks in one day. I suggest that you arrive at the parks early though with Islands of Adventure being your first stop since the fantastic Grinchmas show is in the morning/early afternoon, and the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade is later in the day at Universal.

From steve lee
Posted November 2, 2009 at 3:06 PM
It helps a lot that you're probably not going to be eager to hit the water rides (Jurassic Park possibly notwithstanding). It's a wee bit too nippy to want to get drenched on Popeye or Dudley. Based on that, you can easily rip through Islands in very little time (though if it is your first visit, rushing through any of the Florida parks is missing a lot of what makes them special).

From Rob P
Posted November 3, 2009 at 3:47 AM
When we stayed at Universal at Xmas we found that our fastpass was largely redundant because the lines were so light.
I think it depends on how close to Christmas you visit. We were there from 12th December to 18th before moving on to Disney for a couple of weeks. It did get busier day by day after the 21st December but that might be because it was Disney.
Grinchmas is a must and Macy's Parade is very festive too.
Steve's probably right about the water rides..........but we did them anyway and got soaked and cold. So we popped back to the RP and changed. If you're not staying onsite then take a change of clothes with you and leave them in the car or in the lockers.

From georgana grinstead
Posted November 4, 2009 at 5:37 AM
Thanks so much for the responses. Now I have to decide whether to stay on property or not :)!

From Nick Markham
Posted November 4, 2009 at 6:14 AM
ABSOLUTLY stay on property! Not only are their hotels to the level of WDW hotel but you can use the Express PAss lanes in each park for free just using your Universal Hotel Room Card to get in. If you can tell us a little more about your group we could help you out a lot more.


Search Theme Park Insider

Reader Reviews, by Theme Park

United States/Canada Top 20 *

Other U.S. parks

International parks

Water parks

Theme Park Insider on Twitter

@ThemePark

New HD video of Cedar Point's Millennium Force: http://bit.ly/5u8iiI That'll fire up your Friday!
2009-11-20 18:02 Link

By the way, @HolidayWorld. We're demanding cranberry sauce on the turkey next time! :-) http://bit.ly/6zDSup
2009-11-20 17:34 Link

Our vote of the week: Holiday traditions and cranberry sauce: http://bit.ly/6zDSup
2009-11-20 17:32 Link

Five Disney legends recall Walt's management style: http://bit.ly/uhv5B #IAAPA2009
2009-11-20 00:00 Link

Theme Park Reviews, Features, Advice

Theme Park News Archive

2009

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov.

2008

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.

2007

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.

2006

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.

2005

Dec.

2004-2005

Staff column archive