Advice, please!!

[mpaulam]

2-week trip to WDW followed by a week at the Daytona 500. There is a possibility of spending 1 day at Universal during the Daytona week.
4 adults who like rides. (The other 3 don't care about Harry Potter) I doubt they would agree to spending the extra cash for Express Pass.
Which park for us? I am assuming that attendance (allowance) will be up by then, so figuring for decent crowds and no Express Pass, I am thinking that we can only do one park? Since we are only doing 1 day, I know they will agree to park open to close (driving over from Daytona), but 2 of them have never been to a big theme park before, so I know I'll have to take it a bit easy on them .
Thanks for your help!!

 

[JT3000]

Doesn't the Daytona 500 only last one day? I'm not a NASCAR person, so I may be mistaken. I can't say anything about crowds either since I don't know when this tip is occurring, but if you can only do one park, and it's rides you want, IOA is the one with a larger variety of rides. So long as you're all okay with rides that trend on the more thrilling side of things, I would go there.

 

[mpaulam]

Doesn't the Daytona 500 only last one day?

Yes, the 500 is only one day, but there are other races and events during the week leading up to it.

 

[Figgy1]

If just going to one park for rides I'd say IOA

 

[Rob562]

When asked, my Google Home says Daytona is Feb 20th in 2022. That's Presidents Day weekend, so that weekend and then into the following week will be very busy. (Some northern schools are out for a winter break that week, I think) If you can, I'd go midweek the week *before* Daytona.

If you're with a group looking for rides and want to limit yourself to one park, then I agree with Figgy above, Islands of Adventure is your best bet.

With low mid-week crowds, you likely won't need Express Passes, just a good gameplan on how to tour the park. (I suggest checking out Touring Plans and/or their Lines app for Universal) Just be prepared for lines on the two newest coasters: Hagrid's Motorbikes and VelociCoaster.

If you find for some reason that lines are far worse than you expected, you can always buy Express Passes after you're there.

-Rob

 

[Figgy1]

When asked, my Google Home says Daytona is Feb 20th in 2022. That's Presidents Day weekend, so that weekend and then into the following week will be very busy. (Some northern schools are out for a winter break that week, I think) If you can, I'd go midweek the week *before* Daytona.

If you're with a group looking for rides and want to limit yourself to one park, then I agree with Figgy above, Islands of Adventure is your best bet.

With low mid-week crowds, you likely won't need Express Passes, just a good gameplan on how to tour the park. (I suggest checking out Touring Plans and/or their Lines app for Universal) Just be prepared for lines on the two newest coasters: Hagrid's Motorbikes and VelociCoaster.

If you find for some reason that lines are far worse than you expected, you can always buy Express Passes after you're there.

-Rob

It may be cheaper to pay for one night at a deluxe than pay for EP for 3 or 4 people not to mention early entry if it's the park they pick

 

[lazyboy97o]

It may be cheaper to pay for one night at a deluxe than pay for EP for 3 or 4 people not to mention early entry if it's the park they pick

This. I’d say look at doing Universal as a night between Disney and Daytona instead of driving back and forth to Orlando from Daytona for a day.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I know it's an individual taste thing about which park.
My husband and I did one day at one park the first time at Universal. Didn't know if we'd like it or not.
We picked Studios side because of the awesome HP area and the new (then) HP ride. It turned out to be the best attraction we have ever been on at any park.
Even if 3 out of 4 is not a HP fan, the land is fascinating to see. It's so authentic. Knockturn alley is really dark fun.
We like MIB, Minions, Shrek, RRR, The Mummy (which we think is second to the HP ride), the simpson area, and the New York area. I c an't remember if Kong is at studios or not, but that is a fun attraction.
We thought IOA was more for children with their Suessel land. We didn't care for the cartoonish areas at IOA, but again that's subjective. Whatever you do will be great at Universal, our favorite place right now O f course there's Hagrids motor bike ride to consider too

 

[jeanericuser001]

Doesn't the Daytona 500 only last one day? I'm not a NASCAR person, so I may be mistaken. I can't say anything about crowds either since I don't know when this tip is occurring, but if you can only do one park, and it's rides you want, IOA is the one with a larger variety of rides. So long as you're all okay with rides that trend on the more thrilling side of things, I would go there.

Its actually a series of weeks known as speed weeks which go from the second week of February to the final big hurrah that is the end of bikeweek. During this time there are races at multiple tracks throughout the region as well as smaller events at a number of places. Just about every kind of racing is present from motorcycles to custom vehicles. Add in bike week at the end and its quite common for things to get pretty busy. How many events inbetween is often random so you never entirely know just how many events could be happening.