Is their a best way to 'do' US and IOA?

[peanut]

I see lots of day trip plans for WDW but what about Us and ioa....we are staying in one of the hotels for 1 night so 2 days wont be a problem...but if we decide to pop back for some more time whats the best plan of attack?

[sueandco]

We have always gone at a quiet time of year and have found that getting there for when it opens and then working our way round anti-clockwise at US and clockwise at IoA (because they don't open parts of the park till an hour later) works well. Last time we went to US it was pouring with rain and for the first couple of hours just about the only people we saw were staff!

Sue

[Stu]

We always do both parks on the same day,

on the first day we go to USF early and do the main attractions then after lunch we park hop to IOA where we will do the lesser attractions and shows.

The following day we do the opposite, IOA first doing the main attractions then after lunch over to USF for the shows.

It may not be the best method, but it's always worked for us.

[Scotty]

We do the same as Stu. It helps if you are staying on site with fotl of course. We have done this system from onsite and off site.

[Earthbound]

Ang - if you're staying in a Universal hotel then I'm sure by showing your room key at the rides you get FOTL access!! If the parks are reasonably quiet then you can get round each one in a day, if necessary make use of the Express passes (like Fastpass). :thumb:

[bengunn]

At IOA, get there before opening and then grab Express passes for Spiderman before heading for Duelling Dragons and the back of the park. Most people go to the JHulk and Spiderman first and the back of the park is supposed to be quiet early on.

[peanut]

I really cant wait. When I last went Terminater 3D had just opened...so IOA was not even a twinkle in its Daddys eye:)

[ulsterscot]

One pointer about Universal:

Despite the fact the The Mummy had just opened, the queues at Shrek were by far the worst of ANY that we saw during our whole trip - they never got below 90 minutes.

It is certainly worth doing, so put it into your schedule first or prepare to queue!

[Elainehols]

What is FOTL access? My guess is' front of the line' but want to check. Do you get this perk with all universal hotels. I read somewhere that you can pay to have a book of fast pass tickets is this true / We are going at xmas so it will be really busy

[Stu]

Originally posted by Elainehols
What is FOTL access? My guess is' front of the line' but want to check. Do you get this perk with all universal hotels. I read somewhere that you can pay to have a book of fast pass tickets is this true / We are going at xmas so it will be really busy

If you stay at any of the Universal onsite hotels then you can use your room key card as an express pass for the rides and attractions at USF and IOA.
The official line is that you can only use the key card once per hour per attraction, in otherwords you can't just come off the ride and re-enter again, you need to wait an hour. They tend to only enforce this when the lines are getting long.

If you do one attraction then a different attraction you'd probably be ok to return to the first attraction again.

If you are not staying onsite then yes you can purchase a book of passes called Express Plus, the price changes with the season but they are around $20 each. These give you one ticket for each of the main attractions/rides. You can only use the ticket once per attraction. The idea is that this will allow you to use express on every main attraction once.

[martyboy]

AGREE WITH ULSTERSCOTT,
WENT LAST AUGUST DIDN'T GET NEAR SHREK 4D EVEN AT 9AM FASTPASS WAS FOR 19.00 HRS,SPIDERMAN WAS JUST AS BAD MISSED BOTH RIDES LAST TIME ROUND,SO WERE GOING TO TOUGH IT OUT AND QUE FOR BOTH FIRST THING,AS I DOUBT WE COULD AFFORD TO GO BACK THREE TIMES ON THE TROT.!!

MAYBE,WITH THE MUMMY UP AND RUNNING,QUE'S MAYBE EASIER THIS YEAR BUT WERE DEFINATLY DOING IT THIS YEAR SO THERE?!

HAVE BOUGHT 5 PARK FLEX TICKETS JUST IN CASE,SO CAN GO NEAR ENOUGH EVERY DAY OF OUR 16 DAYS.

ALSO HAVE 10 DAY WORLD PASSES,SO WILL NEED A WEEK OF WHEN WE GET BACK,AS IT SURE WILL BE A BUSY HOLIDAY.!

PHEW?!"?!

[Earthbound]

Ang - if you're at the hotel then just show your room key for FOTL access!! If not then maybe consider getting the Universal Express + from the guest services area - basically FOTL but you have tickets - that's what I aim to grab when there!! :thumb; Then just go to each ride & enjoy!!

[Elainehols]

Thanks for the info, can you but express plus tickets before you go or included in the ticket price