Need help deciding WHEN to visit Universal/Disney

[AcidPop]

What a unique question, eh? :rofl:

Now, I’ve done some research on my end, but given how frequently some people here visit the parks, I figured it can’t hurt to ask. I’d like input from multiple sources.

My family is eager to plan a trip to both Disney and Universal. The main draw is The Wizarding World, which we haven’t visited yet. I am an ENORMOUS Harry Potter fan. Like, enormous. My father has been to Universal before many years ago, but the rest of us have only visited Disney.

Our trip to Disney took place during the summer when I was in elementary school. I don’t remember exactly when, but it had to be June, July, or August. And baby, it was HOT and HUMID. We’ve all decided we don’t want to go to Florida again when it’s going to be 90 degrees or higher. None of us are fond of heat and humidity. So we’re thinking we might go some time in the spring/fall when it’s (hopefully) warm enough to do the water rides but not so hot that you’re pretty much melting. That kind of weather just makes me feel sick.

We also want to be careful not to pick a month when it’s known to rain a lot or have any extreme weather. Who wants storms on their vacation, right? We’ll also be avoiding all holidays and any time periods when children have off of school. You couldn't pay me to go to these parks during Spring Break. I know that things will probably be busy given the upcoming HP expansion, but we’re hoping to avoid any ridiculously insane crowds. The type of crowds where you can't move and it's just not even worth it. That’s the one thing that makes me a bit nervous about going to Universal too soon after the expansion – will it be wall-to-wall people nonstop even after the summer ends? Because if it's just going to be awful, I may try to talk my family into holding off a bit.

Based on all of the above, does anyone have suggestions or tips? My family is kind of counting on me to figure out the timing. You guys are the experts, so here I am! :ears: In the meantime, I'll keep doing my own homework on the matter, but anything you can tell me would be much appreciated.

 

[Frogki]

I'd say anytime in very early November is a good time. It's just starting to cool down, so it's relatively bearable outside, and the crowds have just gotten done with Halloween Horror Nights. You could also try for mid to late January, I've experienced light crowds during that time as well. Just definitely avoid all of the holiday stuff and summer and you shouldn't have to deal with the nightmare crowds...

 

[UniTard]

Our normal time is late October, early November and usually the temps are decent, not blazing hot or humid. And the crowds aren't insane. Later in November I'd imagine would improve both, with Halloween Horror Nights being over. We got to Harry Potter around 10am and got on Forbidden Journey in 15 minutes, for example. Revenge of the Mummy was literally walk-on early in the morning. If you're going next year, Daigon Alley will be the hot new draw, so I'd imagine wait times early-morning will be relatively low for most older rides.

 

[TylerDurden]

The best times to go crowd-wise are non-holiday weekends in mid- to late-January, February, early March, late April, early May, September, most of October (bearable during the day despite Halloween Horror Nights), and early November as well as early December.

These months all have weather miles better than June, July, or August, but May, September, and October can still be pretty hot. Last year we had a pretty cool March and April, but January and February were actually freezing. That leaves you with (like everyone else has been saying) early November or early December. I personally like early December better because all of the holiday events have started and the weather is cool, yet crowds haven't started coming in heavy yet because winter break doesn't start until mid-December for most schools.

 

[Jakemeister]

My favorite time is September-November. For the most part, sans a few weeks and days it's going to be really slow, at times steady, but never over whelmingly busy. February is good too. Not a lot of schools have Spring breaks in February so it tends to be manageable. That's just me though. Everyone has been nailing it with all the slow times of the year. Late December, late June to mid-August, and April tend to be the worst times to come. Make sure your trip doesn't coencede with any holidays. Everyone local will be on vacation.

 

[GAcoaster]

First two weeks of December are a great time to visit. You get all of Christmas in the parks but without the crowds (those two weeks are some of the lightest crowds of the year).

 

[AcidPop]

Thanks for the comments and advice, guys! Much appreciated. I missed a lot of these because my computer crashed and I was stuck using just an iPhone for 4+ months. Just got a shiny new desktop, though, so I'm trying to catch up with everything!

We're leaning toward November - maybe heading out sometime during the second week. I want to avoid Halloween Horror Nights and Thanksgiving week, obviously. My only fear is that even during what's typically a slow time, Diagon Alley could potentially be so crowded it's not even worth it. Some people are saying that probably won't be the case, though.

Second choice would probably be those first two weeks in December, although I do know there's a day or two at Disney then when they're filming the parade. Doesn't sound like there's a big crowd difference between the first few weeks in November and the ones in December, though. Correct me if I'm wrong.