Spending one day at Harry Potter Universal?

[walkdmc]

We are staying at the AKV in November for a week. I'd love to surprise the kids (2 boys, huge Harry Potter fans) with a one day trip to Universal, just to see the HP section.

Has anyone done this? Would you do it at the beginning, middle or end of the week, considering you don't have any solid plans and all parks will have low crowds the whole week? I'm tempted to get off the plane and head there after dropping off our luggage at AKV (we're renting a car). I'd like to get it out of the way so we can get on with Disney. But I'm open to anything that's worked for your family.

TIA!

 

[Lowell317]

My DW and I are planning one day at Universal, specifically so she can spend some quality time with Harry. We are doing it as our first full day. My sister was there this past week and said it was moderately busy so we are planning on getting there very early, doing the forbidden journey twice and then see the rest.

Personally I'm looking forward to our Disney days a little more

 

[dqpowell]

...considering you don't have any solid plans and all parks will have low crowds the whole week?

This is a very bad assumption. Crowds will be low overall, but crowd levels at individual parks vary quite a bit from day to day. One day, Magic Kingdom could be very quiet, and the next packed like a July day. This is especially pronounced when there are hard-ticket party events going on like the Halloween and Christmas parties.

Also, by most accounts the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is seeing huge crowds as well. When I was there, the line just to enter that section of the park was huge.

You should consider looking at crowd predictions at TGM, touringplans.com or EasyWDW.com. The first two are subscription based, but the third is free. Personally, I think touringplans.com gives the best recommendations and offers the widest range of tools.

David

 

[taymorel]

I am planning on doing the same thing when we go next year. I have never been to Universal, but my niece likes Universal better than Disney since she is a teenager. But, my son is younger so we will only stay for 1 day. Have fun at Harry Potter!



caroline

2010 Contemporary
2011 Animal Kingdom Lodge

 

[KellyNY]

I was asking about strategies on Universal board a month ago( sadly we did not do HP) but I was told to do HP in afternoon, less crowds. I would suggest to ask moderators to move thread to Universal Board, you will get more answers there.

 

[DisneyDreaming48]

We are staying at the AKV in November for a week. I'd love to surprise the kids (2 boys, huge Harry Potter fans) with a one day trip to Universal, just to see the HP section.

Has anyone done this? Would you do it at the beginning, middle or end of the week, considering you don't have any solid plans and all parks will have low crowds the whole week? I'm tempted to get off the plane and head there after dropping off our luggage at AKV (we're renting a car). I'd like to get it out of the way so we can get on with Disney. But I'm open to anything that's worked for your family.

TIA!

I was there a couple of weeks ago and did one day at Universal just to see Harry Potter World. Its not big enough to spend a day just at HPW, and the line for FJ gets long fast. I recommend going early and first thing getting in line for FJ, you'll want to do this ride twice (it is amazing). The rest of the area you'll do in a couple of hours if you take everything in slowly. We took the Mears shuttle from our hotel at Disney to Universal, it was not expensive at all. As a side note...get the frozen butterbeer, its VERY good.

I'm heading back to Disney and HPW in 9 days and can't wait to get a butterbeer and ride FJ again. Course nothing beats Disney, but its nice little extra now that Universal added Harry Potter.

 

[walkdmc]

I've already checked the touring plans and I think the busiest day, at the busiest park was like, 4. Most days of our trip are 1's and 2's, some are less than 1!!!! (I can't wait to see what a 0.8 looks like). So, if the touringplan is accurate, we're in for low crowds.

How long would you guess it would take to tour the Harry Potter section?

 

[mom2rtk]

We have been the week before Thanksgiving before. It's one of the lowest crowd weeks you can find. Just avoid DHS on Fantasmic days, and you should be fine.

Have a great time!

 

[Bradsdadg]

The one thing I would tell you is that the day we went the crowds got crazy the later it got. If you can do Harry Potter right when the park opens you will be better off. Good luck and be prepared for crowds no matter what.

 

[Berlioz70]

I agree with Dreaming48, there is not enough there for an entire day. I've been several times, the first time I went I was done in just about 4 hours. I did the single rider line for FJ (10 min wait), then went through the express line to check out the queue, but did not ride. I did not have an express pass, but it seems like they were letting people do this who wanted to see the queue (amazing) but didn't want to ride.

I had no desire to ride FJ a second time because I felt very motion sick. Also, if you have a bag, the line is drastically longer because you have to first wait in line for a locker before waiting in line for the attraction.

The line for Olivander's was about 45 minutes, but there was no shade so it was HOT HOT HOT.

We took time to walk through the shops and watch the Toad Choir and Tri Wizard performances. We also met the Hogwarts train conductor and visited Dueling Dragons and FofH.

Everytime I go, it's in the afternoon. There is a line to get into the area in the morning, but once afternoon hits you can just enter and then check things out.

 

[TLinden16]

I'm going to move this to our Universal board. The folks over there will have lots of great advice.

 

[damo]

OP, you'll want to check out this thread for strategies about when to go.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2490956

 

[christophfam]

OP, how old are your boys? I'm amazed to read that so many people hit WWOHP and then leave. There are so many great thing to do and see at IOA. We can easily fill a day especially with shortened Nov. hours. We used to only do Disney on our FL trips, but now it is mostly Universal. Go early and enjoy WWOHP, but then enjoy the rest of the park!

A few of our top things to do at IOA (other than WWOHP) -

Nice relaxing lunch at Mythos to recharge your batteries.

Camp Jurassic play area will keep active children busy for ages.

Seuss Landing also has a great play area for the younger set not to mention some great themed rides!

Don't leave the park without riding Spiderman. One of our favorite Orlando area rides!

You'll find many characters around the park - are your boys interested in super heroes?

and then of course are the RIDES!!

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

We are flying down early before our Dream cruise and I was going too stay at Universal , but it is oh so expensive...So I am thinking about just staying at PFQ and driving over too Universal for one day....It is not that far too drive from Disney and I could still get my Disney fix at WDW...Even if I don't get too go too the parks.......

We plan too rent a car too.....

So if we land early on Thursday morning...We could head straight to Universal for the rest of the day...Sounds like we would have plenty of time too experience the HP area.

Then maybe Friday I can go too AK or DS....

Also thinking about flying in Wed night as long as we don't have too many snow days this year....School should be out on the 20th....Decisions..UGH!

Love these boards