Arriving in a month!

[catatonico]

So... my family (13 year old son, hubby, and me) will be arriving for our long awaited vacation in a month and I'm trying to make sure that I have everything that I need and look for any last minute tips/answers.

I bought a package from Universal's website. I know... not the cheapest, but it was the easiest for me and since I financed the vacation short term, it was the best way to do it. Nov 15 - 20, 2019 HRH Club Level 2 queen room for full stay (so... unlimited Express passes). 3 park 2-day/3-day free park-to-park tickets. Photo package, but NO dining plan + $1500 gift certificates.

We're coming from Georgia, so no flights or anything to worry about. Our plan is to arrive around 8:00 a.m. Nov 15, but, after that, I'm kinda lost as to what needs to be done.

1. We need to pick up our tickets. Where do we get those from and are they waterproof? We plan on using lanyards, but I'm still concerned about them getting damaged.

2. We need to get our Express Passes. Those are still our room keys, right? Will I have any trouble getting those from the hotel before actual Check-in time?

3. Since I purchased the 5-day photo package, I need to pick up the card for that, too. Where do I get that and is IT waterproof?

4. And finally, the gift cards. Where do I pick those up from and can they be used to cover our charge-to-the-room purchases at the parks? My plan was to either carry the gift cards with us to use for our purchases, but if we can use our room keys to pay for things in the park and then simply cover that balance with the gift cards (it is only 3 $500 cards) once we get back to the hotel, that would be a few less things I have to worry about keeping up with.

5. The vacation is fully paid for, so if we don't use all of the gift cards, what do we do with the rest of the money on them? Can I apply them to the hotel stay instead and have some money refunded back to my original method of payment? Since I DID finance it short-term (using a 3rd party loan) and the loan has been completely paid off, that might be a little difficult.

6. Hotel Snacks/Drinks... Are the mini-fridges in the hotel rooms mini-bars or are they empty? My son and hubby tend to drink a lot so it would be easiest if we could just keep some drinks/light snacks in our room for those times that the lounge isn't open.

7. Do we HAVE to ride a bus over to Volcano Bay or can it be walked to from HRH (an easy walk)? For some reason, every time I think of riding a bus there, I flashback to middle school when we used to take field trips to theme parks/water parks and the SMELL on the bus on the way home... and it was a LONG ride.

Finally... any suggestions on things that we MUST DO? We're already planning on exploring the Wizarding World, since that's the main reason we're going, but what else do you recommend as far as restaurants/shops/experiences?

Thank you for any tips you can give. This will be our first REAL family vacation (ever!!), so we're really excited.

 

[soniam]

1. Tickets will probably be paper. They will be fine inside a closeable plastic sleeve attached to the lanyard. I don't know where to get the tickets from a package, possibly the ticket desk at the hotel. I think that desk is to the right of the bell services desk in the lobby at HRH.

2. Still room keys. I got mine at noon on my check-in day. They are good for check-in and check-out day.

3. I think you would pick that up at the photo services office in the park. They are near the front. At Studios, it's to the right as you enter, before the Today Cafe. The card is laminated, and they will give you a lanyard(s).

6. Fridges are empty, but I don't know if they stay cold enough for dairy. Drinks will be fine though.

7. Bus to Volcano Bay. You can't walk it without walking into Cabana Bay. There is no walking access except from the Cabana Bay Hotel. Everyone else has to take a bus, because the parking is the main parking garage. The walk from HRH to Cabana Bay is a hike. Plus, they sometimes check your hotel key at Cabana Bay to enter Volcano Bay, because that entrance is technically reserved for them. The buses are very nice, and it's only a 10 minute or less bus ride. HRH shares a bus with Portofino. I believe HRH gets picked up first and dropped off first. The buses come every 15 minutes.

 

[catatonico]

Thanks for the reply, Soniam. As we're getting closer, I'm starting to get a little frantic and am probably WAY overthinking this (that would be typical of me). Since this is the first REAL family vacation we've actually ever been on, I want things to go smoothly.

 

[RamblingMad]

I suggest riding some rides more than once. My significant other loves Gringotts, so we single rider lined it twice after going through the normal line once. It was still early in the morning, so the single rider was essentially a walk on.

Get some butter beer. It’s expensive, but it really hits the spot. I get it with lunch.

Also, get the flu shot if you can. When we did a Disney Cruise the first week of December, we both caught the flu by the end of our cruise. You’re going in the beginning of flu season, so keep yourselves heathy.

Finally, bring umbrellas or rain coats and warm jackets just in case. The weather can turn on you, so be prepared. You’ll have a much better trip.

 

[martikus]

The best part about a hotel with express pass is no real plan needed. Just go where you want and when you want. And you are close enough to come back for a rest if needed.

if your lanyard doesn’t come with waterproof sleeve you can order easily on amazon.

Don’t sweat the volcano bay bus. It’s easy and doesn’t smell. Take towels with you as they don’t have them there unless you rent and we liked having a towel for bus ride back.

 

[catatonico]

Thank you RamblingMad and Martikus!

Yeah... the main reason we opted to stay so close is so that it was easy to come back to the hotel as needed.

Definitely looking forward to some butterbeer. We're planning on shorts most days and pants during the evening. And I didn't think about wanting a towel for the bus ride back... I'll definitely have to get a few beach towels. I didn't think about us going during flu season, but we got our flu shots last week, so we should be set.

 

[only hope]

Be prepared with a variety of clothing options. Temp could be anywhere from 50 at night to 90 in mid-afternoon, and forecasts are notoriously inaccurate. Probably it’ll
be in the 80’s during the day and 70’s at night but all it takes is a hot or cold front coming through to drastically change that.

Since you have express, you don’t need to plan a whole lot. The new Hagrid coaster does not have express, so for the shortest wait during park hours arrive at least an hour before opening and do that first.

On nearly every attraction, the express queue skips some or most of the immersive queues (for those rides that have one). Gringotts is the exception- that’s parallel to standby except for the extended queue which has almost nothing to see. So any attraction where someone is a huge fan of that ip, it’s worth doing standby if there’s a short wait. I strongly recommend doing MiB as standby the first time...don’t want to spoil anything but the preshow that express skips is awesome and sets up the ride.

If ya’ll are going to buy an interactive wand (or wands) and cast spells, I suggest doing that your first morning at Diagon Alley first thing. At that time most are going to the ride and very few are casting spells. There shouldn’t be a long wait for the Ollivander show first thing. It will also be more fun to cast spells when you haven’t watched others do it first.

 

[catatonico]

Yeah.... I was wondering what the best way to do the Hagrid ride would be. I knew it didn't gave Express and it has had it's own share of problems.

My son wants to try to do the wand choosing ceremony... I had to tell him that there's no guarantee that he'll get chosen to participate, so he needs to prioritize what's more important.... getting the wand right away or the ceremony.

 

[RamblingMad]

Yeah.... I was wondering what the best way to do the Hagrid ride would be. I knew it didn't gave Express and it has had it's own share of problems.

My son wants to try to do the wand choosing ceremony... I had to tell him that there's no guarantee that he'll get chosen to participate, so he needs to prioritize what's more important.... getting the wand right away or the ceremony.

The show is still super fun to experience.

 

[bchbetha]

The ceremony is short. We went through twice hoping for a kid to get picked. Only took up like 10 minutes of our day.