jbrinkm
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2015
My family has 3 full days allotted to Universal at the end of August. This will be our first time visiting. I've been reading guides and posts and still can't seem to figure out how to best handle arranging our days, given that the Hogwarts Express takes you to a different park than the one you started from... We enjoy Harry Potter and want to do the full H.P. experience - and also everything else in the parks. My kids are 12 and 14 and we really enjoy everything - roller coasters, shows, food, experiences, simple rides, etc. We're staying at Hard Rock so we'll have the early admission and express passes. I'm also using Touring Plans* to help streamline our trip so we can try to have a little down time (pool/rest) in the afternoons since it will be so hot. If we have an extra half day, I'd also love to pop over to Volcano Bay but not at the expense of missing something in the parks.
So given that background, here are my questions:
1. Do people with park-to-park passes typically do the whole Harry Potter experience all together, across both parks? Or do they typically do Harry Potter early as part of one park, do other stuff in that same park for a while, and then take the Hogwarts Express later in the day? And then back again right away? This sounds cool - but maybe doesn't take advantage of the perks we'll have? Should we try to ride the train just before our afternoon break when we're heading back to the hotel for a bit? Or at the end of the day? When is the best time to do the Hogwarts Express? Also, we'll want to do it both ways to get both experiences...
2. For those who stick mostly with one park for a full day, which one did you do first? Were you happy you did that one first?
3. Which rides are most important to do first/early in each park (long lines and/or no EP)? Will we need three mornings to avoid long lines by doing those rides early or would two mornings cover most of those rides?
*Touring Plans will help me figure out the best order to do things in one park, but I need to know which rides/experiences to enter into each day. So for day one, I have to state which park and which rides, same for day two and three.
Thanks for any help!
So given that background, here are my questions:
1. Do people with park-to-park passes typically do the whole Harry Potter experience all together, across both parks? Or do they typically do Harry Potter early as part of one park, do other stuff in that same park for a while, and then take the Hogwarts Express later in the day? And then back again right away? This sounds cool - but maybe doesn't take advantage of the perks we'll have? Should we try to ride the train just before our afternoon break when we're heading back to the hotel for a bit? Or at the end of the day? When is the best time to do the Hogwarts Express? Also, we'll want to do it both ways to get both experiences...
2. For those who stick mostly with one park for a full day, which one did you do first? Were you happy you did that one first?
3. Which rides are most important to do first/early in each park (long lines and/or no EP)? Will we need three mornings to avoid long lines by doing those rides early or would two mornings cover most of those rides?
*Touring Plans will help me figure out the best order to do things in one park, but I need to know which rides/experiences to enter into each day. So for day one, I have to state which park and which rides, same for day two and three.
Thanks for any help!