Best Day to go to Universal Studios Orlando – What You Need to Know

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It is really possible to choose the best day to go to Universal Studios Orlando?

We always love to find those vacation hacks that will save us money or buy us more time.

Planning the ultimate Universal Studios trip is so rewarding when you get to see up close and experience all the things you’ve looked forward to.

Beating the crowds in order to get more bang for your buck is something every Universal fan wants, but can it be attained?

One question on everybody’s mind is what’s the best day to visit Universal Studios Orlando?

Is there some kind of pattern to who visits the park and when is the best time to go?

Well, the short answer is yes, but it turns out that it’s a lot more complicated than that!

The best day to visit Universal Orlando is unpredictable, theoretical, and ultimately a bit of a gamble.

I’ll explain why, but let’s also stay positive There are good reasons to visit at certain times of the year and even on certain days.

Deciding When to Go To Universal Orlando

There are several ways to break down when is the best time to Visit Universal Orlando.

Among them are seasonal conditions such as weather, temperature, and humidity.

These factors alone can be quite significant despite Florida’s reputation for fair weather.

The state also has a dark and gloomy side, often leading to major storm conditions.

So much so that there is an official Hurricane Season. That “season” just happens to cover roughly half of the year.

We’ll cover the weather at Universal Orlando in a little bit, but there are other factors at play in deciding when you should visit.

Two of these seem to have more of a correlation with each other. Those are ticket price and attendance.

The Universal Orlando Ticket Price/Attendance Correlation Fallacy

The common sense approach to deciding when you should visit Universal Orlando would be to
go when you can save money and go when it is less crowded.

When you go to buy tickets, Universal (like Disney) reduces ticket prices for the days that are projected to be the least busy.

The days projected to have high attendance cost more. It’s basic supply and demand.

The prevailing theory here is that because these things are related cheap tickets are equal to fewer crowds.

Unfortunately, this is not automatically true.

The purpose of the cheaper tickets is to entice more visitors and to displace the traditional concept of an off-season.

In truth, virtually any time you go to the Universal parks, they will be fairly busy. Cheaper tickets may be your best bet for low attendance, but you should not count on it.

There is better data to help you decide what the least busy days at Universal Orlando will be.

Busiest Times to Visit Universal Orlando

First off, let’s narrow down and zero in on when you do want to go to Universal Orlando by
eliminating the obviously bad ideas.

These are any breaks from school and major Holidays.

The Holidays in question are:

• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• Memorial Day

Also, very busy times are:

• Veterans Day
• Martin Luther King Day
• Presidents Day

Now, Mardis Gras and Halloween are huge events at Universal and you may want to be where the people are for those types of hyped-up events.

On the other hand, if you want fewer people to contend with, shorter lines, and an easier time getting around the resort, you should shoot for less popular times to go.

There are two reasons Universal Orlando might be either more or less busy than average.

One as we already mentioned is the school year.

Just as spring, summer, and winter breaks become very crowded, the months when school is in session are relatively light.

Especially on weekdays.

The other reason is the weather.

Both of these factors determine interest which in turn impacts ticket prices, which as I’ve already said is more of an equalizer than a sign of what to expect.

The Best Time of Year for a Less Busy Day at Universal Orlando

Obviously, we all want that perfect fair weather day with light crowds and a low cost of admission.

Such a day would make up the perfect trip. If such a trifecta exists, it will not be easy to predict.

If it were predictable, the number crunchers at Universal Orlando would certainly be on top of it.

What we can do is narrow down the most likely candidates for such an experience and let the chips fall where they may.

The first thing we’ll want to look at is late winter.

January and February, particularly the last couple of weeks in these months, are good candidates.

They are a little chillier at night and there is a mild chance of some showers, but the weather is overall fair.

If you don’t mind the heat and the chance of thunderstorms, but really don’t like crowds, June is a good month to visit Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure.

But summer crowds soon dominate the parks until things mellow out again in September and October, which remain hot despite their place in the height of hurricane season.

Although November and December have the two busiest Holidays, the first two weeks of those months tend to have very light attendance, but you’ll want to prepare for rain and keep watch of the forecast on an app like Accuweather.

The Best Day of the Week to Visit Universal Orlando

Obviously, weekends are busy, although Sunday is the better option.

Friday and Saturday tend to be the busiest days at Universal Orlando in General.

Midweek is predictably the best time to go to the Universal Resort theme parks.

However, people generally visit the resort on longer trips spanning multiple days.

These vacationers often choose to visit the original park first and then go and see what Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay are all about.

This has some impact on crowds.

However, Park to Park passes are very popular.

This may have something to do with Hogwarts Express connecting the two Wizarding Worlds of the separate parks together.

For this reason, there is a slight distinction in which days are best to visit each park.

The least busy day of the week at Universal Orlando theme parks are as follows:

Best Day to Visit Universal Orlando Parks:
Universal Studios Florida: Tuesday
Islands of Adventure: Wednesday
Volcano Bay: Wednesday

Want to Know More About Universal Orlando?

We have many guides to help you have the very best experience at the Universal Orlando Resort:

• Can you Bring Food to Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure?
• Which are the Best Harry Potter Rides at Universal?
• What You Need to Know About the Harry Potter Gringotts Ride
• Disney World vs Universal Studios