A Journey to Hogwarts and other Exotic Places: Fall Dates 10/9/19 - 10/13/19

hjeick

BettyBo
Joined
Feb 28, 2015
Hi All!

First time trip reporter long time reader here! I am headed to Universal Orlando in October. I am more of a Disney gal but the budget and time off work only allowed for UO. I will be traveling with my two boys (8 & 9), a bestie, and her daughter who is 14. This is my second trip to Universal Studios and my friend's first. Nothing like seeing the parks through the eyes of a newbie! We are staying at Royal Pacific mostly so we have the express pass. We will have park-to-park tickets and plan to visit all 3 parks. My must do while at Universal...Voodoo Doughnut! Who has been to Voodoo before? What did ya get?
 
So here it the game plan for our arrival day. We have any eeearrrrllllyyyy flight and should arrive at MCO around 9am. Tony will be picking us from the airport and we plan to stop at the grocery to pick up snacks, breakfast items, maybe a few options for lunch. What snacks do you like to keep in the room? Any must have snacks to take to the park? I like trail mix, nuts, granola bars to ward off attacks of the hangry children.

We then plan to arrive at Royal Pacific and stow the luggage with luggage hold. We want to hit CityWalk for lunch and then on to the pool for the rest of day. I suspect we will be ready for bed early since we will have to leave town around 3:30am to make it to the airport on time.
 
Our second day we plan to hit up WWHP and all things Hogwarts. We plan to make good use of the Park to Park ticket and express pass. We have interactive wands from our previous trip. Both wands are well loved and as a result are in numerous pieces. I have heard the wands can be "repaired." Does anyone know the process for this? Must do for this day...get a butterbeer. I would also like to eat at the Leaky Caldron. I have not decided on my plan of attack yet for tackling Hagrid's. I have been stalking the Universal App to try and figure out the ride times but all I have been able to decipher is the is frequently "delayed" or "at capacity." Hopefully things improve before October.
 
Sounds like a fun trip, and I'll be at RPR at that same time, though leaving on the 11th, after checking in on the 3rd. Also bet there's Potter fans in the group.

Follow on.
 


Our second day we plan to hit up WWHP and all things Hogwarts. We plan to make good use of the Park to Park ticket and express pass. We have interactive wands from our previous trip. Both wands are well loved and as a result are in numerous pieces. I have heard the wands can be "repaired." Does anyone know the process for this? Must do for this day...get a butterbeer. I would also like to eat at the Leaky Caldron. I have not decided on my plan of attack yet for tackling Hagrid's. I have been stalking the Universal App to try and figure out the ride times but all I have been able to decipher is the is frequently "delayed" or "at capacity." Hopefully things improve before October.

To repair your wand just take it to any TM in either wand shop and they will repair it free of charge
 
Your trip is similar to mine - fall trip, early arrival, RPR stay, and hoping Hagrids settles down by the time of our trip!
 
So the our plans may have changed....We are considering going to MNSSHP on Thursday night. I feel like we may be cramming too much in but we will see. So we would land on Wednesday at 9am. Go straight to hotel to collect express passes and drop luggage. Collect tickets and then move on to the parks. I think IoA closes at 8pm, so we would close down the park. Sleep in Thursday and maybe hit Disney Springs before going to MNSSHP. Then US on Friday and Volcano Park / Parks on Saturday. We would may a visit to City Walk before we had to leave for the airport. It seems like a lot! My friends who we are going with us have never been to Disney so they really want to make it to the party. It all sounds exhausting to me!!

For those who do go from Universal to Disney...how do you do it? Uber, shuttle, rental car?? I went ahead and reserved a car to pick up at Royal Pacific. I think this would be fastest way to go to MK and back to the hotel. I worry Uber will do the surge pricing for our way home after the party. The rental car is around $45 so I would have to pay for parking at Disney too. I would also have to pay for parking at RP if I cannot drop the car off late at night.
 


Following along! We're not headed to the World or our first visit to UO until January, but I'm looking forward to adding some must-do's to my list as you share with us.

I've been to the Voodoo out West, and was so excited to see that they have one in Florida too. I've got my heart set on a Memphis Mafia.

Sounds like you've got a crazy couple days ahead of you! Sorry, I can't be of any help with travel info between park and hotel. Up until this next trip, we've always been in the bubble.
 

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