So technically this is my pre trip report but will add to it as we go along. We leave Saturday evening and will be 3 days park to park with 3 days EP on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Staying at Cabana Bay. This is our 4th trip to Orlando. Two to Disney and one prior to USF/IOA. First time with EP at USF/IOA and first time on universal property as last time we were in an Airbnb. Trip will be me and DD13 who loves rides and is very excited to go on VC and stardust racers. She has not done this level of coasters before and is pumped. I’ve got my research done and am excited to focus on Epic and theming. Unfortunately the one caveat to this trip is it’s going to be soooo cold. Like as cold as New England where we are coming from. When we were there last time in Jan we still managed a VB trip. We will be hitting 30’s overnight. We’re packing base layers and Thin insulated jackets and hoping we will be ok. Any suggestions for managing the cold? Will it effect ride opening? Looking forward to sharing our trip!
Exciting! Hope you have a great time!
Yikes, that is pretty cold. I would just make sure you bring a warm coat, a scarf, and a hood / hat / cap. You will want to be able to shed layers for when it’s a little warmer, and make sure you are prepared for precipitation.
Very few rides are impacted by cold, but obviously the water rides will not be fun. I have still enjoyed rides like Tiana’s when it’s cold with a poncho and warm clothing, even when riding at night. But it’s better in the sunshine.
Be aware of wind! Especially next to bodies of water. It can be extra chilly.
Maybe plan more indoor things in the morning and coasters in the afternoon when it’s warmer? Maybe USF on the coldest day since it doesn’t have as many outdoor attractions?
I do think the rollercoasters are affected by cold weather and could have a delayed opening. It was surpassingly cold last winter when we went as well. Warm butter beer is great! Layers are key. Even though it’s cold, it was still really humid so felt colder. Gloves/hats/ the works! Just dress like you do at home
Have a great trip! Looking forward to following along - we’re also going with two tween girls for 3 park days and staying at Cabana Bay, so am sure I’ll learn from your experience. It’ll be our first time at UOR!
I’ve done WDW in the cold once, in December 2022, though I’ll say it was totally manageable once the sun came out. That said, I’ve also been in DLP in December 2023 where temperatures when below freezing. Layers and beanies were key, and my kids loved the pocket handwarmers that I’d brought along. In the mornings we had to alternate between indoor and outdoor attractions to keep everyone warm (on one particularly cold day we did two shows back to back), and there were lots of hot chocolate breaks. We also had more TS meals than we usually do in warmer weather - it was nice to take longer and more leisurely meals to warm up.
In the past, here are the temperatures when these coasters started operating for the day during a cold spell. (Newer coasters are designed better for the cold).
VC at 37°
Hagrid’s around 41°
Hulk around 52°
You all reminded me that a) I own handwarmers that are super old but still should work and b) we bought a Ravenclaw beanie when we were there before. I totally forgot about both of those and will be packing them.
I meant to look this am to see if there were delays but got tied up with work. Just checked now and Startdust and BatM were both delayed so who knows what that means. The other rides were back to long wait times. But it’s also 50 degrees now.
I’ve been struggling to figure out our first day (sunday) at epic morning. I suppose the weather may end up deciding for us how we start and how we tour. Last night the waits in the parks were really short. So most likely we will aim to get re-rides in the evenings when it’s cold and other people leave.
Because we will bring more stuff with us (layers, hats, poncho etc), I’m planning on getting a locker for epic. Mybe not every day but the likely the first day. We also plan to potentially park hop mid day and come back to epic for the evening. Can we leave stuff in our locker and go to another park then come back later? I assume the risk is forgetting or plans going side ways but wanted to check about that possibility.
Oh, perhaps the most important part of all of this….Mummy closing got delayed and it will be open while we are there!!! We were so sad to be missing it and are now soooo excited to ride it. We have so many great memories from last time riding it. So many people do not understand what kind of ride it is (including us - wait what this is an actual coaster???) that it was just comedy gold each time.
Just finished putting in an extra Target delivery for an extra poncho for sunday. We had one and I was hoping we wouldn’t need it. Now it’s 50% chance of showers.
We are packed and waiting to head to airport. I cannot believe how many baselayers I just packed for Florida.
Just checked waits and Forbidden journey is at 120 minutes. Hahahahaha. Monsters is at 65 minutes. I was checking times and things were really mellow all week. We will see what this holiday weekend brings. Cross fingers.
Today the wait times are even high at Epic! Strange for a Saturday. But I’m thinking that is partially due to long weekend and partially due to low temperatures the last couple of days. Fingers crossed for lower crowds soon!
Hello from cabana bay. We had a very easy flight yesterday and will be missing the snow storm in New England this weekend. No shoveling!
We ended up getting an upgrade - no idea why but I clocked it at the check in and then clocked them trying to switch it and put on the charm to try and keep it. The suites are very nice! A little mini kitchen (with a very loud fridge - honestly not sure that’s normal), living area and a great partition to the bedroom and large bathroom. Stuffs a little broken/ dated (not intentionally) but nice. I’m gonna have to ask if they have different pillows cause these are so high that they are painful for side sleepers.
DD13 decided we are doing VC as her first ever ride. So we are not starting with Epic. We will start with IOA at a reasonable hour (EP=no rope drops) and hopefully get a few things in before going to epic for likely a late lunch. There’s possible rain around lunch so hopefully we will time that for travel/lunch/indoor stuff.
In other news while we were making the line to check in there were folks behind us who had just realized their hotel reservations were for 2027. That’s legit one of my anxiety dreams. I’m sure they figured it out but so very stressful.
Great start to the trip!
DD sounds like a thrill seeker! VC looks pretty terrifying to me, but I’m determined to try it once. My kids can’t wait.
I can’t believe they were even able to book that far in advance!
Have a great first day!
A few months back, I booked rooms for two potential trips in January 2027. These were at the APH rate too. It wouldn’t cost me much to hold the reservations, and I didn’t want to risk paying more later.
Oh my! I hope so!!!
First day done. Well we were supposed to start at epic per my plan but DD13 begged to start on VC. This was great and this came back to bite us in the you know what.
Woke up early with lots of energy and went to IOA. Went on VC first with EP as a walk on and DD13 loved it and would literally never stop talking about it the rest of the day. We then did Hagrids which was 255 standby and about 30-40 with EP. Always such a fun ride. Then Journey which DD13 loved two years ago and was fine on this time. Then Kong which was fine. DD13 then did Hulk alone cause I like my brain. She liked it but not as much as VC. Tried to go to Wimpys for lunch but it was closed. Then walked to USF and had to rush before the storm started to Mummy. Love that ride. Came out to crazy winds and rain. Those winds and rain caused Epic to literally fall apart!
Went over to Gringotts while it was still raining then Simpsom’s (her request). That rise is so ridiculous that it’s good. We then left for Epic around 1:30/2.
Ah Epic. We were already seeing that most of the park looked “cooked” and boy is it that. Stardust racers valleyed and will likely not be back up before our trip is done. Parts of Rally and Hiccups blew into each other. I don’t know if it will be cleared by tomorrow. Mine cart was down most of the day and it finally opened and we were in in EP line for about 30 min before it went down again and we left.
We did ride werewolf which was very short but fun. DD13 was so so on Monsters unchained. It was technically a very cool ride and I enjoyed it but it I can see her point about it not being too thrilling. Both pre shows worked well and all the animatronics were great. I can’t see looping it mostly because it does take a lot of time. We then did BatM which EP ran very fast and we actually really loved. The scale of everything was massive. We then did Mario Kart and we both got over 100 so the Mario team won. This ride is chaotic but I really enjoyed it. You have to look, shoot and drive and that can be some serious hyperfocus. I also didn’t actually see any backgrounds because I was so focused on shooting. We then tried to ride Minecart when it finally reopened after being delayed most of the day and it immediately went back down.
We ended up going to guest services because epic was such a disaster today. They immediately gave us a return ticket for epic for sometime in the future and a few extra EPs for IOA/USF. Don’t know when we will come back but will def use them.
A few thoughts. we did see the fantastic Beasts show which we thought was great. No delays or issues thankfully. Pizza moon was solid and not too cheesy. Taters at Suess landing are always good. Epic is beautiful and I really would like to spend a full day just looking at it. DD13 is fighting me about even slowing down to do spells. We’re gonna have to have a talk soon…
Oh Wow! What a day. Were you planning for only the one day at Epic or do you feel like it’s not worth a return this trip? Is it damaged?