Islands of Adventure in March - do I need express pass

[Guest]

Hi,

I'm going to Disney in March and really want to go to IOA but I know it's a busy time of year. Can I get away without express passes and if so what's the best way to do it ? I'm not staying on site and have been advised to do Harry Potter first in one guide book, but then is there a good order to do rides such as Kong, Spiderman and Jurassic Park river ride ?

Thanks

[Jollymon]

If you go through the Universal website and do a dummy purchase for an express pass you should be able to tell how busy they think it will be based on the prices that date.

The best piece of advice I ever got and can pass on, although this is your holiday, you need to get up early. If you are visiting at a busy time of year and you want to ride the big coasters and attractions, then aim to be at the park gates, not the car park gates, like 20-30 minutes before the scheduled opening. If you can get ahead of the crowds, then you can usually ride the main rides within the first hour, with minimal waiting

[Guest]

That's great thanks.

[Ninnybobs]

We go to IOA a couple of times in early March every year and have never felt the need for a fast pass. Other than Harry Potter, waiting times for rides are normally no more than 10 minutes.

[DIBBadmin]

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[HEMANCLOFTY]

What dates in March will you be there?

This year we were there from 25th Feb - 8th March and, although we had planned to spend a night at Royal Pacific Resort in our 2nd week to get the Express Passes, we actually decided to go for Cabana Bay instead, as we didn't feel that the fairly low queue times from our first couple of visits warranted the extra £££s (but we still got to enjoy early entry to Diagon Alley).

The only rides that we found big queues for across both parks were Minion Mahem (1 hour), and Transformers (30 mins) - pretty much everything else was 20 minutes or less, and we visited on Friday morning, Saturday night, Tuesday afternoon & evening, Wednesday early entry and Thursday morning. Even Forbidden Journey was only 25 mins at lunchtime on Thurs 9th.

The one thing to consider though is that Saturday nights in March are Mardis Gras at Universal Studios, so the park is busier (but lots of fun) at night - especially around the free concert area, which gets to full capacity quite early if it's a popular act 😀