Universal Orlando during February break: what kind of crowds should we expect?

[Weather_Lady]

Park hours for our February break visit (2/18-22) are short, with the parks closing around 7pm (and as early as 6pm) almost every night., and the last hour at USF being useless anyway (since - or so I'm told - everything in that park shuts down for the Mardi Gras parade).

For those who've visited Universal during February break before, does it just not have a spike in crowds like WDW does? Or will we be fighting larger crowds, but with fewer hours to tour? They've priced the hotels at peak rates as if they're expecting large numbers, so the shortened park hours have me confused. (When we visited last year during a non-peak week in early May, the parks were open until at least 9pm nightly.) Any insights would be appreciated. I want to adjust my expectations accordingly.

 

[lebeau]

Park hours for our February break visit (2/18-22) are short, with the parks closing around 7pm (and as early as 6pm) almost every night., and the last hour at USF being useless anyway (since - or so I'm told - everything in that park shuts down for the Mardi Gras parade).

For those who've visited Universal during February break before, does it just not have a spike in crowds like WDW does? Or will we be fighting larger crowds, but with fewer hours to tour? They've priced the hotels at peak rates as if they're expecting large numbers, so the shortened park hours have me confused. (When we visited last year during a non-peak week in early May, the parks were open until at least 9pm nightly.) Any insights would be appreciated. I want to adjust my expectations accordingly.

We haven't been in February. Mardi Gras should be going on at that time. The early closing dates could be when concerts are scheduled.

I am trying to check Orlando Informer's crowd calendar but it is taking forever to load! I will update this if it ever does. Here's a link so you can check it out yourself:

https://orlandoinformer.com/universal/crowd-calendar/?month=feb&yr=2019#crowdCalendar

Edit: The one crowd calendar I could get to load indicated it would be busy that Saturday and moderate the rest of the week.

https://unitedthrills.com/universal-orlando-crowd-calendar/

 

[Weather_Lady]

We haven't been in February. Mardi Gras should be going on at that time. The early closing dates could be when concerts are scheduled.

I am trying to check Orlando Informer's crowd calendar but it is taking forever to load! I will update this if it ever does. Here's a link so you can check it out yourself:

https://orlandoinformer.com/universal/crowd-calendar/?month=feb&yr=2019#crowdCalendar

Edit: The one crowd calendar I could get to load indicated it would be busy that Saturday and moderate the rest of the week.

https://unitedthrills.com/universal-orlando-crowd-calendar/

Thanks for the links! Our visit is Monday-Friday (leaving early Friday morning) so we shouldn't be impacted by any concerts -- just the parade. It's strange that the hours would be shorter on a school vacation week in February (with "busy" crowds per the Orlando Informer calendar) than in late spring with school in session (when we visited last year and business was "slow"), but with 3.5 days to tour (we also have Unlimited Express Pass), I suppose we shouldn't have trouble getting everything in even with fewer hours to do it.

 

[lebeau]

Thanks for the links! Our visit is Monday-Friday (leaving early Friday morning) so we shouldn't be impacted by any concerts -- just the parade. It's strange that the hours would be shorter on a school vacation week in February (with "busy" crowds per the Orlando Informer calendar) than in late spring with school in session (when we visited last year and business was "slow"), but with 3.5 days to tour (we also have Unlimited Express Pass), I suppose we shouldn't have trouble getting everything in even with fewer hours to do it.

Have fun!

We're looking to go in early April when Mardi Gras is winding down and the place will be jam packed!

 

[Seeshark]

I went last February break, but took a few days before the break to start the trip, so we left the day before Prez Day. It was noticeably and expectedly more crowded once we hit Saturday, but since we had been there the previous 2 or 3 days it didn't hamper the trip. But despite the heavier crowds, it didn't strike me as overly crushing. If you want to walk around and do the magic wands in the Potter lands, that likely will be a bust. Even on the not-as-crowded days when I was there, it was tough to do that enjoyably, especially when you've watched the five kids in front of you already trigger the magic trick. I would think even being there first thing for stuff like that over the weekend will be difficult. Probably best thing you can do is be there as early as possible. The early closings also struck me as odd.