Can anyone recommend a good guide book

[nesser1981]

for Universal/Islands of Adventure?

I'm struggling with figuring out how to plan our days for these parks & Seaworld. I must plan, even if we throw the plan out the window, I need to have an idea of what our day will be like.

[seatrout]

Haven't got any ideas for guide books but know just how you feel about planning things out. When we go on holiday to visit the grandkids, I'm not so bothered as we have to fit in with all their commitments, but when we go on our own - I have to have a whole pile of ideas of things we can do, places to see etc. I always think that if we don't have a plan we'll waste valuable time deciding what we are going to do and have less time to actually do it !
Like you - I don't care if something happens out of the blue and the plan changes - as long as there is a plan !! Good job DH feels the same way (or maybe he just says he does to keep the peace!!)

[BrattyMeg]

we just got back and honestly..there's no real way IMO to plan those 2..they don't have a good fast pass system like WDW does (they do have this one..but it's $$)

my plan would be get there when IOA opens and head to Harry Potter first..expect to wait 2 hours unless y'all get special treatment with Keira's trip.

After that I'd either spend the whole day @ IOA and just go around in the circle (I expect you to spend most time in Seussville or whatever it's called..it's so cute) otherwise i'd go to Universal, hit the rides and shows, then come back to IOA that evening

do you have 2 park tix or just 2 day/1park tix? We did both parks in 1 day and I wish we''d had another day just to see the shows @ universal

Undercover Tourist has a free universal studios/ioa app with wait times. That's really all I used. You can check disboards. There's a universal/ioa forum as well as Sea World there

[nanienamou]

http://www.amazon.ca/Unofficial-Guid...6395962&sr=8-9

Even though it's a guide for Disney World, at the end, there is a step-by-step plan for Universal and IoA (as well as for all Disney Parks). We followed it, and it was fabulous. We were staying on site (Royal Pacific Resort), so we had Express Pass for free and never waited for more than 5 minutes. Honestly, I much preferred their express system to the Disney Fastpasses.

[BrattyMeg]

Originally Posted by nanienamou

http://www.amazon.ca/Unofficial-Guid...6395962&sr=8-9

Even though it's a guide for Disney World, at the end, there is a step-by-step plan for Universal and IoA (as well as for all Disney Parks). We followed it, and it was fabulous. We were staying on site (Royal Pacific Resort), so we had Express Pass for free and never waited for more than 5 minutes. Honestly, I much preferred their express system to the Disney Fastpasses.

i think there's benefits of universals..b/c there's not specific times and it's on almost all the rides (of course not Harry Potter)

We weren't staying onsite @ Universal (we did stay onsite @ WDW) and for us the pass was like 21 bucks a person (and it included a meal) just wasn't in the budget that day for us. I will say if we do universal again we'll just either start or end our Orlando trip with 2 days onsite at universal/IOA instead of driving from WDW (although it's a short drive) that way we can take our time, enjoy 2 days there, and get the perks of staying onsite

[nesser1981]

I bought a book for the nook online that was $8 bucks, I downloaded it on my ipad. I'll read through it tomorrow.

Yes Megan, we will be allowed to go to the front of the line for all the rides and such. At least that's what I've been told.

We have have 2 days of tickets, but we will probably end of doing both of them in one day.

My best friend from home is going to meet us half way between where we're from & Orlando, so that'll cut down one evening for doing stuff.