Universal Studios Orlando-How many days to do it?

[Mantooth]

Started planning the spring break family vaca for next year and was thinking of taking them to Universal Studios, Lego Land and then Cape Canaveral. My question is: how many days do I need to plan for Universal?

I've done some research on the place but I'm hoping for some first hand input. My initial thoughts were to spend 2-3 days there, do a day at a water park (maybe one at Disney), go to Lego Land for a day and then drive over to Titusville and hit up the Kennedy Space Center. Also thought about doing Sea World but my wife went full hippie on me and said she doesn't want to support a business keeping animals in captivity. Yet she has no problem taking the kids to our local zoo

, but I digress.

We are looking at arriving on a Saturday and leaving the following Saturday. We'll be driving. Kids will be 6 & 9 at that time.

 

[Greggy_D]

A few years ago, I took my daughter to Universal. She was 9 at the time and 2 days was plenty to hit both of the parks. We did go during the week so the crowds were a bit lighter.

 

[supton]

Dunno about Universal, I think we went there. About spent the day in the Harry Potter area, as the family are big fans. It's a bit of a sham: one park has a very cool ride, the other park has all the stores and features that you want to walk through. So you're stuck buying two tickets.

FWIW, you can't find coffee in the food shops inside that park. It's located though right outside of it. Spent a miserable afternoon, and didn't realize I just had to walk out the other gate (we came in on the ride side, so I didn't know there was a Starbucks at the other entrance). Disney has coffee all over the place. You've been warned.

Disney is about a day in each of their parks, I'd say.

I think I liked Disney more; I'm not into the rides, neither are our kids; but I enjoyed watching my kids enjoy themselves. Me, I also enjoyed wearing shorts & t-shirt in the middle of February.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I'd say that two days at Universal should be fine.
One thing that made our stay much more enjoyable was being able to get into the Harry Potter stuff earlier than the bulk of the crowd due to staying on site (Hard Rock). We would hustle over and do laps on the Potter rides while the crowd was light and then stay away when they were jam packed with the general admission crowd.
My daughter and I liked the Hulk roller coaster much more than the Rockit, our heads got ping ponged between the rather widely spaced pads on the seats of the latter during the initial descent and we both had headaches for a while. We held our heads tight to one side on the Rockit after that, but we still preferred the Hulk.

 

[JTK]

My family along with the inlaws went to Disney Orlando for a week this past May. It all depends on how many attractions at Universal Studios you want to do, how big the crowds are and how many fast passes you can or want to use there. We probably spent the equivalent of a full ~10hr day there. We stayed at the Polynesian Resort and Animal Kingdom. Wish the full week was at the Polynesian given it's proximity.

 

[JustinH]

If you are renting a car, I would say check out Busch Gardens in the Tampa area. That is about an hour west of Orlando.

As an adult I found it much more enjoyable than Universal. Spotless park, nice attractions, even the Budweiser horses live there. The stables are nicer than most folks houses.

I'm not a big fan of Budweiser beer at all, but they had a bunch of unique ones that were OK.

Also, you can check out the beaches on the Gulf. I like St. Pete Beach best.

 

[Cujet]

2 days at Universal is enough. Due to long lines. Otherwise, one day is fine.

I now avoid wet-n-wild. My opinion only, but every time I've been, the water smells like pee. And I've seen "locals" behaving badly at the wet-n-wild (it certainly was) , with more than a bit of inappropriate physical "touching". Remember, this is my opinion only, and you may have an excellent experience.

The more structured parks are always fun.

If you go to NASA, make sure to take the tour bus. As that's the only way to view the Saturn V rocket, the pinnacle of the visitors center!!! I'm a nerd, but I could easily spend 2 days at NASA. With the various AWESOME movies they have, along with the shuttle and Sat V, all of which, individually, take quite a bit of time.

Anyway, have a blast.

 

[29662]

One full day is enough at Universal. Islands of adventure is one of my favorite parks...

And SeaWorld rocks. Its great for both kids and adults. If you're going to central Florida and don't make it to SeaWorld you're definitely missing something.