Planning on going to universal in Florida this December. We can either go for two days to buniversal studios and island of adventure or one day to the epic park. We have never been to any of them. It's the wife and I plus our two kids. The kids are 7 and 10.

Which would you choose/recommend?

Shoot me a message at csmith@travelwithontheroad.com and I can assist you with your planning.

You could probably do most of Universal Studios/Islands of Adventures in 1 day (get the park to park pass), then 1 full day for Epic. Check your kids height, because a lot of the coasters have a good height requirement.

Wife and I are going for 2 days in November. 1 to Epic and 1 to Islands of Adventure.

Don't miss Epic Park. We went in May and the 9 year old grandson had a blast.

Just got back. Had a great day at Epic. Spent two days at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios and it was so crowded that we barely got to ride anything.

We just went over fall break. spent one day at Epic Universe and 3 days at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We stayed at Hard Rock as get Express Pass, but you have to buy Express pass for Epic if you want it.

We used express pass on certain things depending on wait time, and also the once you use Express pass on a ride in epic you can not use it again.

We spent our first day between Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.

Tuesday we went to Epic Universe went to Super Nintendo world to ride Bowsers challenge first since we get in 1 hour early with staying at Hard Rock, the Ministry of magic is not open yet. went to Dark universe next to rid e a few rides there without express pass, then went to Ministry of Magic to ride there but used express pass. went to Isle of Berk and back to others how we felt. Had good food at Isle of Birk.

Next two days back at Island and Universal.

We had park hopping as well for the Islands and Universal.

Get a water bottles and just refill them if you do not want to by the freestyle cups. We did this and then got other specialized drinks when we felt like it.

This is just a bit of the info from when we went. If you have specific questions, please ask and I can see what I remember or my daughter can tell me as she was the main researcher

We liked all the parks. I specifically like all the Harry Potter themed areas, they do a very good job of recreating what you may have seen in the movies. Epic does not have a lot of shade but in December that may not be an issue.

We did Epic yesterday. Ton of small. Surprisingly small park so easy to get around.

Rides were a ton of fun. Stardust Chasers was the highlight for me.

We had early entry at 9AM and went straight for HP which they technically don't open till normal hours but they had it up and running. So we only waited about 15 minutes. By the time we got off, the line was up to 3 hours. We did frustratingly wait in line for the Dragons coaster and it went down right when we got to the front after 90 minutes. Had to come back later and wait another 50 minutes to ride it.

They had multiple rides down for hours throughout the day. Monsters was down for the first 6 hours and then went down for 20 minutes while we were in line for it. Nintendo had DK and Bowsers go down multiple times and we never ended up riding those which was a bummer.

Still a fun day. Pizza at Pizza Moon was awesome as was the food at Das Stakehouse

How much do you enjoy Harry Potter? That should be a major deciding factor in which parks you choose and how long.

We went towards the end of August, and Harry Potter world was AMAZING!!!! The transition in Universal to Diagon Alley was done SO well. The rest of Universal was blah to me. Then taking the train to Hogsmeade (Islands of Adventure) made it feel like you were stepping into another world. I would have loved more time to explore IoA, but, Harry Potter.

We could have spent 2 days doing mostly Harry Potter, exploring the interactive wand stations and doing the rides.

On the flip side, Epic has the Nintendo area, which might be more to your kids liking. We didn't go to that park, but we were absolutely blown away with Harry Potter.

I'm having this same internal debate.

Have one day allocated for Universal. Kids love Harry Potter and Nintendo.

I've heard Epic is the nicest, newest shiny toy but IOA has more coasters + you can the train when you get tickets to both US and IOA.

Anyone been lately?

Do the "experiences" still go down constantly at Epic or has that improved?

Do I need the "fast pass" or whatever the equivalent name is for Epic (this will be late April)?

These theme parks exhaust me before I even get there.

We just got back from Universal Orlando (kids 11 and 13, oldest just finished the HP books). It was our first visit. We had done Disney a couple of times when they were younger. We decided to skip Epic for several reasons: we only had two days, Epic is still having startup pains and crowds, limited Express Pass based on my research.

Two days were plenty. Though with less crowds, we would have been happy to spend a bit more time in the Wizarding World because it is really well done.

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel which comes with an Express Pass Unlimited for each guest. I wouldn't visit these parks without it. Buy a ticket with US + IOA access for each day, and you hop back and forth between parks via Hogwarts Express.


Hagrids Magical Motorbike ride was our favorite. It was really well done. With Express Pass during spring break our longest wait was 45 minutes for the ride. We road it a couple of time in 20. Guests without express pass were waiting about 3 hours average during all park hours. No other rides had much of a wait with Express Pass.

The Velocicoaster was great. It made me feel like a teenager again with my love for rollercoasters. Definitely my new favorite. The Hulk was fun too.

When I was shopping, staying at a premium hotel with the express pass included was less expensive than booking subpremium and purchasing separately. But I didn't look at off property hotels.

I went to Epic in early October and man that thing had so many issues. If it rains, the one Donkey Kong ride won't run and takes a while to make it run.

Harry Potter broke down often. In the morning I only waited around 35 mins in single rider. In the afternoon I was there for a little over 2 hours.

At least the Monsters Ride had a short 15 min wait (or walk in with single rider) but the Phantom of the Opera wasnt even working lol

Thanks everyone. I think I've successfully talked my wife out of Epic in favored of US/IOA

We loved Epic when we went in November. We stayed at the park so had early entry. Did Harry Potter first thing so only had to wait for like 30 minutes.

I love the Stardust coaster. One of my favorite coasters out there.

We didn't ride the Donkey Kong ride because it never was shorter than 3 hours. Its honestly a bad design because the carts only hold a few people at a time. Whereas the other rides hold 15-20+.

Hiccups coaster was also a ton of fun. The Dark ride for Frankenstein's Castle is great. The werewolf ride is okay.

thanks, but only looking to strengthen my confirmation bias at this point