Longer stay touring plans

[hildai]

I'm hoping the experts on this forum can help my family and I plan our 5 night Easter week stay at the Royal Pacific next month.

Background: This is our 2nd visit to universal. We've stayed at the HRH back in 2012 for 2 nights after a Disney cruise. Diagonal Alley was still under construction. 2 daughters 16 & 13 both huge HP fans, my husband and myself to will be on this trip. We purchased 4 day park to park tickets for this vacation. First time staying at RPR -- flight dates: 3/26 arriving by 11:00 a.m and departing 3/31 2:00 pm flight home.

I've checked the park hours during our stay 3/26-3/31 and it's showing 8-10 as operating hrs. I know that we could take advantage of the early entry at 7:00 am each day, but is that truly needed with an extended stay? I've read the HP areas begin to thin out after 7 each evening - true or false? We like to take a break everyday for some pool time so I definitely want to plan for that. Orlando Informer suggests keeping HP rides to the end of the day and touring the rest of the park in the morning hrs. Has anyone tried this?

One option I'm thinking of would be to not visit the parks on our arrival day (Saturday) and go with a Sunday to Wednesday touring plan.

Option two (DH's idea) would be to rent a car for one day during the trip and take the girls to the beach for the day (possibly Clearwater??). If we decide to go with this plan then we would visit a park on arrival day.

This trp is a last minute decision and I'm used to the months of planning and preparation I normally do for Disney vacations (I love those!!!!!). Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

 

[schumigirl]

You can't really go wrong with any of your ideas really.

We stay 18 nights so we never, ever do EE......just not necessary for us. You have EP so you have no worries there. There's only a few rides that don't participate in EP. Forbidden Journey, Gringotts and Hogwarts Express are the three Potter ones that don't. You have park to park tickets which is a good choice.

The parks do thin out nearer park closing, seeing the parks particularly Potter areas after dark is another level. They are truly spectacular in the dark. I wish I could see it for the first time again!!!

Clearwater is beautiful. Takes us around 2 hours to drive there.........it's less to drive to Cocoa Beach but the gulf beaches are so much nicer to see.......water is calmer and warmer.

Doing the parks on a Saturday will be fine as you do have EP if you did decide to do a beach day. It is Easter so will be busy, but again, with EP it won't be so bad as not having it.

RPR is gorgeous........just been updated and although I'm very biased, we love it. Pool is lovely.......ideal for families but never gets too rowdy which is perfect for us. The fact the hotel is so close to the parks makes it ideal to come back for a break during the day. Less than a 10 minute walk usually.

You really don't the planning a Disney trip involves.........check out the website www.universalorlando.com it has loads of info on park layouts and so much more info on parks, hotels and Citywalk. No need for reservations for dining months in advance either........much more relaxing trip...........

 

[bchbetha]

I'd ride Gringotts in the AM in case it breaks down and remains down for most/ all of the day, which happened to us on day 1 (luckily we rode it first thing so no problem). I don't think I agree with the advice to wait until the end of the day for HP rides. Some of the lines were as long or longer than they were in the morning. But, we're also HP so we started and ended our days with HP.

I bet you'll get a ton done if you make it over at 7-8am. I'd hit Minions, Transformers, the Mummy and maybe RRR on the way to Diagon Alley, if entering US first.

The week is only going to build crowd wise so a beach day might be nice. Hanging out at the resort, saving car rental fee and just saving time sound appealing vs fitting in a beach day.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Any of your options are fine. What we have discovered is the beauty/ease of flying into Tampa for a split stay (maybe consider next time). We absolutely LOVE the Marriott Westshore. Nothing super fancy, but super staff! It is also near two large shopping malls and plenty of dining.

While there is some parking at Clearwater, we really enjoyed nearby Honeymoon Island. It is a state park with plenty of easy parking, bathrooms, food concessions, playground, nature trails (osprey!), picnic area...and best of all, you'll avoid the horrible Clearwater causeway traffic! because you take a different causeway to H Island. I think flat $8/car. Only downside is no lifeguards.

You can also catch a fun ferry to nearby Caladesi for $14 round trip. Both beaches have many shells, but Caladesi has more. With the ferry, you are limited to like 3 hours on the island (though I heard they don't penalize you if you are late). Both beaches also offer canoe rentals through the mangroves.

Another great option we love is Indian Rocks beach. Parking by the hour, + a bathhouse/bathroom. The official public beach isn't quite as huge, but a super lunch place across the street called Guppies. If you go, try guac with crab!!!! The place was busy even at 3:30pm! Crabby Bills is also nearby (for fried seafood). If beach near Guppies is full, there is more beach access near Crabby Bills. A resident said there was even more super beaches down the road, but we didn't have time.

***
To answer your other questions. FOTLA is super! No need to plan your day. We mostly roam where we want. Only dining reservation we make is Mythos (only 24hrs ahead). No ressies =wait. Loved RP's sushi at 5pm, + lobby's grab and go breakfast. If you want offsite dining, try nearby plaza at Sand Lake Rd: great Whole Foods (large hot bar, salads, soups, pizza, etc.) plus several QS places. Citywalk has many great options (including fast food), and the Harry Potter QS are fun (if busy at lunch).

As for touring strategy....We always like to zig when the crowd zags, and we take opportunities when we find them. Like Disney, US crowds peak 11am - 4pm. Also, the hordes follow a pattern, and head to HP first. Soooo....arrive at HP before (or after) the hoards for shortest waits.

Late at night....the thing is, after dark is absolutely the BEST time to explore both HP lands- especially D Alley, and ESPECIALLY if you buy wands. Spells are just way more magical after dark, and the whole place has a Halloween feel. (Though I'll add on a very hot day the fake snow of Hogsmeade is nice.) So after dark, we feel torn. Many nights, (maybe most?) the lines for the HP rides DO get short near park closing, but not always. Sometimes HExpress is very short, but not always. If it is short- we can ride Gringotts, HE, and FJ in the last 45min. If one of the three lines is long, we get ice cream, ride the other Hogsmeade stuff, and watch spells.

Here's my suggestion, if you can tour like we do: the first time for any HP- see the full queue. They are all great. AFTER that, we use the single rider queue. We don't kill ourselves to arrive at rope drop, but try to arrive before the general public. Like I said, everyone heads to the same place...so the 7:15am wait is almost worse than the 7:40am wait. Even when the general Public gate opens, the HP waits aren't all that bad- because the GP has to get through all the entrance back ups: traffic, walking, tickets scanning, etc.

I suggest on your first full US day: DO get up early(ish) and go for a few hours. Roll out of bed, hit the parks for a few hours without your camera - THEN go back to RP for breakfast, maybe nap/swim, and a shower. THEN you can also re-ride late at night if waits are short. DO try the ice cream! I also like the fizzy orange juice over butterbeer. (Forget what they call it.)

It is also very helpful to hit Minions early in the morning to avoid a wait! Minions is a bit like Soarin' wait due to preshow. Minions actually has TWO preshows, so even with your FOTLA there's a wait. + very popular, + at the front of the park- so it stays busy all day. Lines are only short in the AM.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it is MUCH easier getting to/from RP than it is getting back to the Disney hotels! FREQENT shuttle boats are direct (to each hotel) - MUCH better than WDW! US boat Captains also still allowed to tell jokes/trivia (I'm old enough to remember when Disney bus drivers often told jokes/trivia!)

Also know the US water rides are rather wet - maybe hit one on way out of IoA? Also know no bags/large object on most US attractions. Lockers are free for an hour, but still cost time. Buy lanyards w/clear plastic ID holders to wear your FOTLA passes on rides! This is another reason to do wand spells at night; otherwise you have to stow the wands in a locker.

 

[hildai]

Thank you all so much for your advice and comments! I was getting a little worried with the trip coming up so quickly and not much planned out. Other than visiting and enjoying HP, the main goal of this vacation is to relax and soak up some FL sun!! I think we'll just take it easy and stick with the resort being that it's all new for us

Do you think dining reservations need to be taken care of before we leave? I'm just worried about the spring break/Easter crowds

 

[schumigirl]

Only if you want to eat At Mythos during peak lunch hours would I make a reservation.......but a few days before will be enough or even the same morning.

RPR is perfect for that relaxing time you're looking for........we never pool hop anymore, did it first visit out of curiosity, but we have everything we need at RP.

 

[macraven]

I would make some reservations if there during Easter time
There will be some eateries that it will benefit you so you don't have a long wait

 

[HM]

We did five days at Spring Break last year. Our plans consisted of: Go to the park at opening, do some rides, leave the park either after lunch or before, laze around the RPR pool all afternoon, get some dinner, and go back to the parks and do some rides. One afternoon we did Miniature golf before dinner.

We got to do our favorites plenty of times. We did everything we wanted to. And we felt relaxed and rejuvated.