Universal Orlando in September

February 26, 2016, 12:59 PM

Hello everyone,

So every year me and my gf make a trip to USO for Halloween Horror Nights. We typically go in October. This year I found that rooms are considerably less in the middle to late September, and considering that HHN starts on the 16th or 19th I think, I figured we would take advantage of this price decrease.

My one question to everyone is, what is the park like during this time? Does anyone know how busy it is? I checked a website that rates the parks traffic based on month and it showed that it was slower than October. Not dead but less crowded. This is good but I always like to get multiple opinions.

So if anyone has been to USO in September and can shed some light on the crowd at that time I would appreciate it.

also quick note, we might be spending 1 or 2 days at Disney so thoughts on their crowds during the same time would help.

Thank you in advance.

Replies (5)

Edited: February 26, 2016, 2:41 PM

I was there for two weeks in mid Sept. 2014 right after Diagon opened. The crowd levels were a just a tad less than my regular May or October Universal vacations. You can get by without Express, except for Despicable Me, Transformers, Dudley & Spider Man. The parks never had an empty feeling, it was more like a comfortable crowd. But the weather was uncomfortable. Hot, humid, and rain just about every day in the afternoon. We've never been to Disney in September. According to Touring Plans it's usually real slow, except for last year (2015). They had October level crowds all month. Lots of people were complaining on Touring Plans because the crowds were so much busier than the projections.

February 27, 2016, 8:39 AM

Yea the only thing I heard about going in September is that it is still subject to those afternoon rains. But I appreciate the feedback. I guess it's a good thing most of the ride queues are indoor. But correct me if I am wrong. But aren't the showers quick ?

Edited: February 27, 2016, 1:21 PM

Yeah, the showers were generally of short duration, an hour or two. Heck, they were so regular you could set your watch to them. What we did to work around them was to change our normal Universal schedule a bit. We stay on site so usually we escape the afternoon heat and relax at the resort pools. But what was happening was the sun was always out in the morning but the afternoons would cloud up and rain around 3 or 4 o'clock. So we started going to the pools in late morning so we could still enjoy the sun and made a point to be in the Studios in the afternoons since, as you said, just about all the attractions are indoors anyway. Or we would do the water rides at IOA when the rains come, since you're getting wet anyway. They only shut them down if there's lightening, and we rarely saw that. Note: HHN early start this year with more Sept. dates than before.Sept. 16,17,18,22.23,24,25,29,30. Sapphire Falls is running a special HHN package.....Myself, I'm tentatively going Sept. 24 through Oct. 6th. I'm avoiding that Columbus Day week. It got crazy busy last year. Lots of schools are taking a fall break at that time of year now since so many have pushed the start of their school year to late August. All the touring plan sites were big time wrong for WDW & Universal last year. They weren't even close.

Edited: February 28, 2016, 6:23 PM

We covered opening day last year and it was super crazy. Although it was opening day, it only gets busier up until Halloween. So earlier the better. During the week is obviously the least crowded time to go. If you want to go on the weekend, get an express pass if you want to have the chance to see all the houses. They also offer private and group tours.

Disney in September isn't that busy as in the months upcoming. Epcot is a tad more busier than normal because of Food & Wine.

Edited: February 29, 2016, 10:12 AM

For my wife and I, September was a great time. It is warm and you do get those showers in the afternoon but the lines weren't all that long. We use the single rider lines and still generally get on the ride at the same time. Also you can take advantage of the rain, as I stated in an other convo, we rode the HP ride in IOA about 5 times in a row because people were just standing around waiting on the rain to stop. Also they kept running the coasters as long as the rain wasn't very hard or lightning was in the area.

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