The Best Day to Visit Islands of Adventure & Universal Studios Florida

Over the past few weeks we’ve looked at the best days of the week to visit Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios. And we’ve looked at the best days to visit Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

Today we’re headed back to Orlando to find the best days of the week to visit Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando Resort. (We’ll cover Epic Universe on its own next week.)

Like we’ve been doing, our analysis focuses on:

• Posted wait times shown on the ride entrances
• For popular attractions
• During the busiest time of day
• Taking into account things like seasonal parties such as Halloween Horror Nights, and other operational details at Universal Orlando.

One of the results from Walt Disney World was that Wednesday was a great day to visit all the parks other than the Magic Kingdom. We’ll check to see if that’s true for Universal as well.

The Best Days of the Week to Visit Universal Studios Florida Throughout the Year

Let’s start by looking at wait times for the entire year. Here’s a chart showing the average posted wait times by day of week from January through December:

And here’s a matrix that compares every day of week with every other:

The best and worst days of the week for visiting Universal Studios Florida look a lot like EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios:

• Wednesday is the day of week with the lowest average waits, about 31 minutes per ride
• Thursday is next at just under 34 minutes
• Tuesday and Sunday are tied at around 35 minutes in line
• Friday has waits just over 36 minutes on average
• Monday’s average waits are just over 38 minutes
• And Saturday has the longest average waits at just over 42 minutes

There are around 11 major attractions in Universal Studios Florida, and there’s an 11-minute difference in average wait times per ride between Wednesday and Saturday. So if your plans are flexible you could save two hours in line by visiting Universal Studios Florida on Wednesday instead of Sunday.

Best Days of the Week to Visit Universal Studios Florida from January through July and November and December

USF hosts the popular and thrilling Halloween Horror Nights from August through October, and that party schedule may affect the day of week that guests choose to visit the park. Here’s a look at wait times from January through July and November and December, when the parties aren’t running, as a baseline for comparison:

And the matrix:

Those rankings from shortest to longest lines are almost identical to the full-year analysis:

• Wednesday has the lowest waits
• Thursday
• Sunday and Tuesday
• Friday
• Monday
• Saturday has the longest waits

It’s good to see consistency because it makes it easier to plan. Next let’s look at late summer and fall, when the park hosts Halloween Horror Nights.

Best Days of the Week to Visit Universal Studios Florida from August through October

Here’s the chart of average posted wait times by day of week for USF from August through October:

 

And here’s the matrix:

 

Talk about consistency! Wednesday is still the day with the lowest waits, followed by Thursday. Saturday’s got the highest waits. So the advice we’ll give is the same across weeks: Go to USF on Wednesday if you can, and avoid Saturday.

Let’s see if the same day-of-week pattern holds for Islands of Adventure. We’ll start with a look at the full year.

The Best Days of the Week to Visit Islands of Adventure Throughout the Year

Here’s the chart showing the average posted wait time at Islands of Adventure’s popular attractions by day of week:

And here’s the matrix that compares each day to every other:

Look at that! Wednesday’s got the lowest waits and Saturday’s got the highest. Like Universal Studios Florida, Tuesday and Thursday are also good days to visit the parks.

At this point it looks like visitor patterns to Universal Orlando are close to those for Animal Kingdom. To put it another way: Magic Kingdom has one set of rules, and every other park in Orlando has another.

Next let’s examine IOA when there’s no Halloween Horror Nights running at Universal Studios Florida.

Best Days of the Week to Visit Islands of Adventure from January through July and November and December

The big question here is whether the park operating schedule at Universal Studios Florida affects Islands of Adventure. Here’s the chart:

Here’s the matrix:

Wednesday’s still the day to go, with Tuesday and Thursday good options too. And respectfully to the wonderful R&B singer Cherrelle, Saturday’s not a day to love.

Let’s wrap up this post by checking IOA from August through October. My money’s on Wednesday.

Best Days of the Week to Visit Islands of Adventure in August through October

Here’s the chart:

 

Here’s the matrix:

 

I guess the most surprising thing in this data is the consistency: Wednesday’s the best day of week and Saturday’s the worst day to visit Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida, in any month and regardless of Halloween Horror Nights schedules.

Wrapping Up

Here’s a chart summarizing what we’ve found:

Next week we’ll look at Universal Orlando’s newest theme park, Epic Universe. Let me know in the comments below if there’s something specific you’d like to check.

Thanks for reading!