This. I voted for Halloween because once if it will truly be a once in a lifetime, ya gotta see all of that. USH/HHN and the DLR w/ OBB. Knott’s is excellent too (although I haven’t been in now almost 25 years but I’ve only heard great or better things about it since I did go).
Would it help to think of it as having one of your 2026 Epic trips slightly deferred into early 2027?? If that makes you more sad though, then do the February with 3 parks.
Or consider that first week of January. Most times the last day of Christmas (and Haunted Mansion Holiday) is Three Kings Day which is Mon Jan 6 2025. The weekend before might be slightly busier BUT they will block all but the highest pass level on that Saturday and then the week after should be a very quiet week. So if want a tiny slice of Halloween, it’s an option.
Thanks for weighing in on this. I haven’t been to USH since the one time in 2001 so my opinion on it is a very, very old one. But I was bored stiff & have a hard time wanting to pay for my kids to be there and potentially also be bored. Granted now it has so much more to it and Nintendo AND HP being there now does make me want to actually make a trip to it work. But every time I look at the cost for a day or two & think about how much I’d rather just put it towards UOR and WWoHP and so much else better on the east coast.
I just don’t think a one time only trip to DLR should be in February. Weather could be really rainy/yucky, rides will be down for refurb, and worst of all is they are now selling cheap So Cal resident tickets for the slower months, making them much more crowded while still staffing like it’s slow season (this happened to us 2/29 and 3/1 this year). If it had been my first trip I would have left disappointed. September is DLR at its finest.
Good point on the So Cal resident tickets. While they’ve always sold them during slow season, if there are less APs/Magic Keys that stopped renewing because of the increasing prices/decreasing benefits, the So Cal ticket is a way for locals at least to get in X many visits (that they can spread over a much more generous timeframe than regular day tickets) and still get to go for a tiny bit at a price that they can afford/stand to pay.
And then the staffing is a whole other conversation. They really have pushed the extreme on a ‘pay-to-play’ type of ticket where if you didn’t pay the highest ticket or annual pass prices, they don’t want you to get the same experience & make the operations a lot more sluggish on days where the attendance is in their words ‘an unfavorable mix’.
That’s my concern too! I don’t really want to repeat the attractions that UOR does better
I’ve had to ask myself, “Why do I want to go to USH?”
There are about 5 things. They are really neat things, but I don’t know if that would be enough to justify the logistics of adding it on for a single day. I do like the idea of making it a day combo with HHN…
Wow! This may have really sold me on September. No joke! My DW really can’t take the heat, so I chose February based on her. I know it would be a very long wait, but it is how I’ve always envisioned going to DLR!
I just renewed my DLR TP subscription, so I can play with plans for a mock Sept. 2024 trip.
I do not think you will be disappointed if you go in September. It may be hot, but the humidity is not like Florida and everything else will be DLR at its best.
One note about TPs for DLR. I love TP and have done over 200 personalized plans on my trips over the years. I tried for this last trip to do a set of them because it had been 6 months since we went and I had a humongous priority list for us and didn’t want to criss-cross.
I had prepared plans for 2 for our 5 days, one plan for each park and my intention was to pick up whatever was left from the plans for days 3-5 and move more freely where we wanted. (I always leave the last half of the trip unplanned except for a starting ride or two and sometimes will plan a night show).
The plans were so grossly inadequate for any time of day that I gave up. I also don’t like the new interface at all (where are all my notes that I added for myself???), that I just made to do a list on my notes in my phone separated out into sections of musts’s, like to’s and if there’s time to’s and on the ground used the DL app to look at wait times & then if I felt like it might be inflated or under-estimated, compared against what TP’s list of times expected it to actually be. And made decisions from there.
So definitely still play with plans now because it’s fun to do that aspect, but know that it will have weird inaccuracies. For instance, my DCA plans in the morning almost all the rides had an 8 minute wait for the first hour or so (Racers and Guardians, maybe Webslingers were the exception). And true many rides are very low waits/walk-ons early on, but TSMM & Incredicoaster are not 8 minutes 50 minutes into park opening after an EE. No way.
USH is so far below UOR, I’m not sure it’s worth it. I worry that going in February things will be closed that you will regret not seeing. I’m not a super fan of Halloween at DL (or anywhere) even though it’s my birthday season. I actually love Christmas and would advocate for going then. You sitll get the overlay on HM! And the lights on IASW are so beautiful. But if you love Halloween, that’s the more popular choice.
I too love Christmas at DLR, it’s so special.
A one time trip would just be so hard, it’s a good thing you and I go every season so we get to see all the things.
I’ve told DW that Memorial Day was the deadline to let me know if she wants to go to DLR…
As of right now, if she doesn’t want to go then I am going to plan on Sept. 2025. I know that wait is going to be sooooo long because I’m, basically, doing it right now. (Dec. 2023 - Sept. 2024)
However, you are all correct about why that time of year is the best to visit.
I don’t think I’d be able to hold out that long. What’s sad is that I share a birthday with Walt - Dec. 5!
It would be cool to do it as a birthday trip, but of the two holidays I love “spooky season” more! (I have done my birthday at WDW. I did it just last December!)
I was considering this when I spoke up about alternative times for you to go since if it really will be a once-in-lifetime trip it would be perfection in timing BUT Halloween is really, really cool and in following along on how much you love it at UOR, I figured Halloween would be your preference. And DCA is just so so so so good all done for Halloween. I do love it at Christmas though too.
I think it is worth a visit once in your life at least, but you should wait for F&F.
The studio backlot tour, Jurassic World, Nintendo World, and The Mummy (a little different from Florida) are all current distinctions that make USH worth visiting for those who have been to UOR. But Nintendo will soon be matched and exceeded by Epic, so …
Two major things about UHS is Water World and the studio backlot tour! Both are phenomenal and the backlot tour is THE reason Universal is even in the theme park game, the OG ride. We saw Water World many years ago and it is second only to Indy for us, possibly tied. It is a true stunt show. That’s my 2 cents and why I vote for whatever gets you to do those as soon as possible.
This is really good! The only reason I didn’t mention it is because I thought it was replaced by a Fall Guy stunt show, and I just saw that the Fall Guy bit is just a limited time opener to the regular Water World show. Definitely worth seeing Water World when you go.
@darkmite2 We went in January princely for reasons you mentioned…Weather was for us perfect.
That said - if you’re on your own or just you and DW
Grab the VIP ticket option & the early entry. We found it pretty well priced for us- we hit every ride in the park, completed all the Nintendo games, toadstool cafe tram tour and still had time to go back and re-ride because the pass gives VIP access/express all day
This is soooooo true. I’ve been killing time at my desk today. I keep getting RotR is only 8 minutes all morning!! I’m not even bothering to input G+ just to keep it simple…
Can you even truly use TP for DLR?? I joke about how you don’t “need” at TP for Universal, but at least that program actually works!
Historically TP for DLR has been better than it is now. And that’s kind of funny to say because while it wasn’t so obviously wrong as it is now, it was usually only good for the first few attractions of the day.
Definitely worth seeing Water World when you go.