Universal Newbie- anyone good with using Touring Plans? Please help!

[OhanaMomma]

Hello! Long time Disney veteran, but new to Universal. I am trying to use Touring Plans and I'm a little confused with their process. I posted this on their forums, but they don't have as much traffic as this forum and I have a feeling I may be waiting a long time for a response. Thought I would try my luck here...

This is our first time going to USF and IOA. We are die-hard Harry Potter fans and this is the year we are taking a little break in the middle of our WDW vacation this August (took a lot of will power!) to go to USF for 2 nights. I purchased 2 day, 2 park P2P tickets and the hotel (staying at Royal Pacific) through Undercover Tourist. I am traveling with my DH, DD age 10 and DD age 12.

I have used the Lines app to monitor wait times and crowd calendars when actually IN the parks, but sticking with a pre-designed TP was never something I did. Usually, I book all my FP’s for my Disney trip, then create a personalized Touring Plan, plugging in all my FP’s- and end up kind of just doing whatever I feel like doing if wait times are low and I’m near an attraction, even if the TP says otherwise. I have never actually taken that “leap of faith” and strictly adhered to any kind of TP that was created for me. (We always have a blast anyway.)

That being said, I would really love to use one of Touring Plans’ premium plans for the Universal part of our trip this year and actually take the good advice of the experts that created the site in the first place!

So…I have a couple of questions and I hope you guys can help me out.

1. Since I am staying at Loew’s Royal Pacific resort, does this mean I automatically have the Unlimited Express Pass? I am assuming YES. That, in conjunction with the 2d2P, P2p tix basically means I can go on a ride as many times as I want in those 2 days, correct?
2. Being a hotel guest, I am planning on using the Early Morning entry to WWoHP on the first day of our stay at 8am. When I try to create a Touring Plan, do I start my day at 8am when entering the time, or should I start the plan at 9am when the park opens for everyone? I am confused bc the plan has me going on Despicable Me Minion Mayhem at 8:02 am?
3. Is Early Park Admission ONLY for HP World?
4. Where should I enter the park? Should I go in through USF or IOA? I am confused because of question #5 below:
5. The notes in my TP say elect “Hogwarts Express Arrival” only if entering The Wizarding World BEFORE Early Entry officially begins; otherwise select “Main Entrance.”" What does that even mean? Is there another event even BEFORE Early Park Entry?

Thank you all so much for any help! Any other advice or tips are appreciated!
Denise

 

[Steven G]

Hi, I haven't been there yet, but I have been using Touring Plans myself.

1) Royal Pacific includes the unlimited express for your entire stay (checkin to checkout). You could checkin early, leave your bags at the front desk, and go to the parks and use your express pass. My understanding is that you would want to talk to the front desk to help you get setup for that.
2) You would want to set it to 8am. Note that Early Morning entry includes Minion Mayhem and Harry Potter Land (currently), so that is probably why.
3) Check https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/early-park-admission ... this can change at any time, so check closer to your date, just in case.
4) USF
5) I don't know what that means, sorry.

 

[mrskay9]

Hi. I'll be there then too. Nice to meet you. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[macraven]

You can check in at the hotel front desk at 6-6:30 if you wish
Room won’t be ready but you will get your hotel room keys and this is needed to use early entry to the park and for ep lines

Take your bags to valet and they will hold them for you
They place them in a confined cubicle out of visitors view
Keep your claim ticket number !

Go to the park 20-30 minutes before park opening
Wait in line of your choice

You will be ahead of crowds
All the onsite hotels are eligible for early entry

Hit potter rides first and explore the shops as it won’t be very crowded at that time

Once this time period is over, all guests in the outside park line will enter

Many head for potter then
Start now to hit the rides and shows in the park

Or take the train to the other park and enjoy that section of Potterville

For rides, use the express lines as it will have shorter waits

A few rides you do miss some things that lead up to the ride
You might want to use the regular line at least once for them
Men in Black, Mummy, Spider-Man are a few that have great things to see in the lines

Catch a couple of shows
Horror make up show, animal actors on parade. Blues brothers street act

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Hello! Long time Disney veteran, but new to Universal. I am trying to use Touring Plans and I'm a little confused with their process. I posted this on their forums, but they don't have as much traffic as this forum and I have a feeling I may be waiting a long time for a response. Thought I would try my luck here...

This is our first time going to USF and IOA. We are die-hard Harry Potter fans and this is the year we are taking a little break in the middle of our WDW vacation this August (took a lot of will power!) to go to USF for 2 nights. I purchased 2 day, 2 park P2P tickets and the hotel (staying at Royal Pacific) through Undercover Tourist. I am traveling with my DH, DD age 10 and DD age 12.

I have used the Lines app to monitor wait times and crowd calendars when actually IN the parks, but sticking with a pre-designed TP was never something I did. Usually, I book all my FP’s for my Disney trip, then create a personalized Touring Plan, plugging in all my FP’s- and end up kind of just doing whatever I feel like doing if wait times are low and I’m near an attraction, even if the TP says otherwise. I have never actually taken that “leap of faith” and strictly adhered to any kind of TP that was created for me. (We always have a blast anyway.)

That being said, I would really love to use one of Touring Plans’ premium plans for the Universal part of our trip this year and actually take the good advice of the experts that created the site in the first place!

So…I have a couple of questions and I hope you guys can help me out.

1. Since I am staying at Loew’s Royal Pacific resort, does this mean I automatically have the Unlimited Express Pass? I am assuming YES. That, in conjunction with the 2d2P, P2p tix basically means I can go on a ride as many times as I want in those 2 days, correct?
2. Being a hotel guest, I am planning on using the Early Morning entry to WWoHP on the first day of our stay at 8am. When I try to create a Touring Plan, do I start my day at 8am when entering the time, or should I start the plan at 9am when the park opens for everyone? I am confused bc the plan has me going on Despicable Me Minion Mayhem at 8:02 am?
3. Is Early Park Admission ONLY for HP World?
4. Where should I enter the park? Should I go in through USF or IOA? I am confused because of question #5 below:
5. The notes in my TP say elect “Hogwarts Express Arrival” only if entering The Wizarding World BEFORE Early Entry officially begins; otherwise select “Main Entrance.”" What does that even mean? Is there another event even BEFORE Early Park Entry?

Thank you all so much for any help! Any other advice or tips are appreciated!
Denise

1. Is an easy yes. You can use the EP queue and ride as many times as you wish. And actually with EPs you don’t really need a Touring Plan, other than to ensure that you don’t miss anything out. It is so much more relaxing than Disney. The Hogwarts Express travels between the parks and is not at the entrances and you can use it to travel between the parks. TPs has a two day/two park plan, which is great, and just choose whichever park you prefer on the first day. Or I sometimes use the WWoHP two park one day plan.
So select main entrance for your arrival time but when you transfer to the second park choose Hogwarts Express, because you will use that to transfer, rather than walking back to the main entrance to exit one park and using the main entrance of the other park. If early entry is at 8 am enter than as your start time. Most but not all the rides are open when the park opens for early entry. There is no EP for the new Hagrid ride and it is not always open in the morning, so you may need to check that closer to your trip. Also, if you want to cast spells in DA it is good to go there first while it is less busy.
I don’t move a step without a TP at WDW but at Universal you can just use the plans as a guide and roam free. You will be so relaxed, I promise.

 

[OhanaMomma]

Hi, I haven't been there yet, but I have been using Touring Plans myself.

1) Royal Pacific includes the unlimited express for your entire stay (checkin to checkout). You could checkin early, leave your bags at the front desk, and go to the parks and use your express pass. My understanding is that you would want to talk to the front desk to help you get setup for that.
2) You would want to set it to 8am. Note that Early Morning entry includes Minion Mayhem and Harry Potter Land (currently), so that is probably why.
3) Check https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/early-park-admission ... this can change at any time, so check closer to your date, just in case.
4) USF
5) I don't know what that means, sorry.

Ok, thank you Steven- this helps! Do you know which park Ollivander's is in? It's not in my plan for USF and I am wondering why not.

 

[Steven G]

Ollivanders is in both parks.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Ok, thank you Steven- this helps! Do you know which park Ollivander's is in? It's not in my plan for USF and I am wondering why not.

I sense a wand purchase....am I a wizard?

 

[macraven]

You can download the uo app and check ride and show wait times while in the park

Also there are signs in a few places in the park that are kept current for ride wait times

 

[skylock]

Unless you like to add stress to your park going, having the unlimited express pass is all the planning you need for universal.

Pick a starting place, and just go from area to area at your leisure.

2 day park to park with express pass. Perfect. Just go and have a great time.

Why would you want to complicate things?

Save your tour planning for WDW.

 

[OhanaMomma]

You can check in at the hotel front desk at 6-6:30 if you wish

Take your bags to valet and they will hold them for you
They place them in a confined cubicle out of visitors view
Keep your claim ticket number !

Go to the park 20-30 minutes before park opening
Wait in line of your choice

You will be ahead of crowds
All the onsite hotels are eligible for early entry

Hit potter rides first and explore the shops as it won’t be very crowded at that time

Once this time period is over, all guests in the outside park line will enter

Many head for potter then
Start now to hit the rides and shows in the park

Or take the train to the other park and enjoy that section of Potterville

For rides, use the express lines as it will have shorter waits

A few rides you do miss some things that lead up to the ride
You might want to use the regular line at least once for them
Men in Black, Mummy, Spider-Man are a few that have great things to see in the lines

Catch a couple of shows
Horror make up show, animal actors on parade. Blues brothers street act

Ok, so should I ignore the TP and just get the HP stuff out of the way first? I am now wondering if we should just dedicate the first day to only HP and the second day to the other stuff..decisions, decisions!
The TP I selected has the following: (I manually added Ollivander's)

• Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem 8:02am
• Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit 9:00am
• Transformers: The Ride-3D 9:08am
• Revenge of the Mummy 9:15am
• Fast & Furious – Supercharged 9:26am
• Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts 9:54am
• Ollivanders 10:04am
• MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack 10:19am
• Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl 10:27am
• The Simpsons Ride 10:34am
• LUNCH 11:30am for 30 minutes
• Animal Actors on Location 11:51am
• E.T. Adventure 12:26pm
• Hogwarts Express - King's Cross Station 12:42pm
• Notes: Take the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure (park-to-park-ticket required)

Should I add time for exploring Diagon Alley?

 

[OhanaMomma]

Unless you like to add stress to your park going, having the unlimited express pass is all the planning you need for universal.

Pick a starting place, and just go from area to area at your leisure.

2 day park to park with express pass. Perfect. Just go and have a great time.

Why would you want to complicate things?

Save your tour planning for WDW.

I have never been to USF or IOA and I don't even know what's offered. I want to use the TP so I don't miss anything and have some idea of what attractions I should hit. I actually LOVE planning and don't find it stressful at all! I get more stressed without a plan

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Ok, so should I ignore the TP and just get the HP stuff out of the way first? I am now wondering if we should just dedicate the first day to only HP and the second day to the other stuff..decisions, decisions!
The TP I selected has the following:

• Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem 8:02am
• Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit 9:00am
• Transformers: The Ride-3D 9:08am
• Revenge of the Mummy 9:15am
• Fast & Furious – Supercharged 9:26am
• Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts 9:54am
• Ollivanders 10:04am
• MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack 10:19am
• Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl 10:27am
• The Simpsons Ride 10:34am
• LUNCH 11:30am for 30 minutes
• Animal Actors on Location 11:51am
• E.T. Adventure 12:26pm
• Hogwarts Express - King's Cross Station 12:42pm
• Notes: Take the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure (park-to-park-ticket required)

I think earmarking one day for a submersive HP experience is a good plan. I would still follow the TP just to ensure that you don’t miss anything.

 

[Steven G]

This is what I do with touring plans (In disneyland, disneyworld, and presumably in UO):

1) MAke the plan
2) Tweak the plan
3) When arrive at the park, use it to make sure you hit everything, but don't follow it. There are too many times when rides are down, or something that is supposed to be busy is not, kids want to see something, street performers, etc. where it's important to be flexible.

Frankly, the best use for me for the touring plan is to make sure nothing is missed, as well as where everything is.

The most important hours in almost any park is opening till about 11 or 12. Get as much done by then, and then take it slower the rest of the day (hotter during the afternoon, bigger crowds, etc..) ... with universal express, I assume you don't even have to worry too much about that either.

 

[TommyJK]

I have never been to USF or IOA and I don't even know what's offered. I want to use the TP so I don't miss anything and have some idea of what attractions I should hit. I actually LOVE planning and don't find it stressful at all! I get more stressed without a plan

If you like planning, rather than messing around with TP, simply go through the Universal Site and review all of the attractions to see what is there and that you'd want to do.

I think you'll find with having express pass that a minute by minute plan generated by TP is going to fly out the window because the timing is going to be off from the get-go and you'll just end up playing it by ear anyway

For example, I can already see that in the sample touring plan has some timing issues

• Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem 8:02am
• Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit 9:00am

With your early entry, and EP you'll be done Minion mayhem by probably 8:20, and then you'll have a 40 minute gap until RRR.

• Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts 9:54am
• Ollivanders 10:04am
• MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack 10:19am

You likely won't get done Ollivanders in 15 min because there will likely be a line by this time with all of the regular park guests (it doesn't use Express Pass) so then that will throw everything off from that.

Pick a starting place, and just go from area to area at your leisure.

2 day park to park with express pass. Perfect. Just go and have a great time.

I entirely endorse the above response. And the starting place I would advise is at Early Entry , go straight to Diagon Alley, start with Ollivanders to get your wand right away, then do Gringotts, and then just go from there. Your touring plan doesn't account for any "just wandering around and taking everything in" time. As die-hard Harry Potter fans, you could spend at least a couple of hours in Diagon Alley checking out the shops from the movies, Knockturn Alley, Casting spells etc. Same with other areas. If you're a Simpsons Fan you can spend time checking out the Kwiki Mart, Moes Tavern etc.

Don't handcuff yourself with a minute by minute TP itinerary. It's not necessary like it is with Disney where you have to take into account potentially long standby lines (depending on time of day), wedged in with your 3 initial FP's, ADR's etc.

As many on this board who have done split stays with WDW and Universal, they consider the Universal portion of their trip their "vacation" from Disney because it's so easy going (especially with Express Pass) as compared to Disney and it's necessity to meticulously plan down to the minute.

 

[Steven G]

I have never been to USF or IOA and I don't even know what's offered. I want to use the TP so I don't miss anything and have some idea of what attractions I should hit. I actually LOVE planning and don't find it stressful at all! I get more stressed without a plan

I am the same way!

 

[OhanaMomma]

I entirely endorse the above response. And the starting place I would advise is at Early Entry , go straight to Diagon Alley, start with Ollivanders to get your wand right away, then do Gringotts, and then just go from there. Your touring plan doesn't account for any "just wandering around and taking everything in" time. As die-hard Harry Potter fans, you could spend at least a couple of hours in Diagon Alley checking out the shops from the movies, Knockturn Alley, Casting spells etc. Same with other areas. If you're a Simpsons Fan you can spend time checking out the Kwiki Mart, Moes Tavern etc.

Ok, so head to Diagon Alley, do Ollivander's then Gringott's, and then the rest of the park. Very helpful suggestion!

Don't handcuff yourself with a minute by minute TP itinerary. It's not necessary like it is with Disney where you have to take into account potentially long standby lines (depending on time of day), wedged in with your 3 initial FP's, ADR's etc.

LOL! I probably WON'T stick to the TP bc I notoriously never do when I am at WDW. I appreciate your advice! Thanks!

 

[skylock]

I have never been to USF or IOA and I don't even know what's offered. I want to use the TP so I don't miss anything and have some idea of what attractions I should hit. I actually LOVE planning and don't find it stressful at all! I get more stressed without a plan

You will be amazed at how much can be accomplished with express pass. Imagine having a fast pass for every ride at disney that you do not have to set up months in advance. If you find a ride you like, ride it again. And again if you want to. My group are serial riders. Hulk 10 times, kong 5 times, our water ride day I lost count how many times they rode. They were soaked.

When you get your fill, move on to the next thing.

Having been many times, I think a touring plan will just slow you down. It doesn't know you want to do a ride over and over again.

I think you should go over to the universal site, pick out the rides you do not want to do so you can skip those right off. I don't suggest skipping anything, but I do skip the water rides usually. I am in a wheelchair and it is just so hard for me to load.

Look at the maps and see how things are layed out. IOA is basically just a loop around the park. Studios side is a little more spread out but still can be considered a loop. That is why I say, pick a starting spot and go from there.

Hit olivanders during the extra morning hour because that is the best time to play with the wands. Available in both parks.

With express pass. you do not need to worry about wait times. Unless the ride breaks down, no matter how long the reg line is, you should never wait more than 20 min. Usually much less. I go during Thanksgiving week. The first day we went which was Sunday, we didn't get to the park until 130 and we still rode every ride once on the IOA side and left about 6pm. We didn't eat there, but we rode everything including the water rides. So you can see how much time can be saved with express. Now we did go from ride to ride because we had a new to universal person with us. Our usual style is slow, stop to look at everything, which we did for our other days. Including the multiple rides on our favorites.

You can check the stickie and see where you might want to eat. That and picking out the rides you want to skip is about it as far as planning goes when you have the express pass.

Don't skip the "kiddie" rides. I love cat in the hat and the sky high trolley. The trolley has a couple of different routes. I like the one that goes inside the dinning place.

 

[Steven G]

The notes in my TP say elect “Hogwarts Express Arrival” only if entering The Wizarding World BEFORE Early Entry officially begins; otherwise select “Main Entrance.”" What does that even mean? Is there another event even BEFORE Early Park Entry?

I looked at this in Touring plans. This is not during Early Entry. This is when both parks are open and you decide to go to the other park, via the Hogwarts Express.

For example:

1) You start at USO at 8am, ride a few rides, and decide to take the Hogwarts Express to IOA.
2) In touring plans, since you can't have both parks in one plan, if you want to do two parks in one day, you would need to create two plans, one for each park. On the IOA plan, you would then choose the entrance via Hogwarts Express, so that it can calculate the walking distance from that entry.

 

[Bethany10]

Being a hotel guest, I am planning on using the Early Morning entry to WWoHP on the first day of our stay at 8am. When I try to create a Touring Plan, do I start my day at 8am when entering the time, or should I start the plan at 9am when the park opens for everyone? I am confused bc the plan has me going on Despicable Me Minion Mayhem at 8:02 am?

Minions opens for EE, it's also the first ride you see when entering the park. If you're there at 7:45 (ish) you'll be ON the ride by 8:02 if not earlier.

1. Is Early Park Admission ONLY for HP World?
2. Where should I enter the park? Should I go in through USF or IOA? I am confused because of question #5 below:

Early admission is for Minions and the HP stuff. As to which park is open early, it changes. Check the UO website or via an app on your phone for the most up to date info. When we were there in June UO was the early park and Islands opened at 9.

The notes in my TP say elect “Hogwarts Express Arrival” only if entering The Wizarding World BEFORE Early Entry officially begins; otherwise select “Main Entrance.”" What does that even mean? Is there another event even BEFORE Early Park Entry?

My best guess is they mean if you're in UO for early entry and ride the HE over to Islands you're in the HP lands ahead of main entrance guests. the HP lands in both parks are clear at the back of the park. It's a brisk walk (or not so brisk in summer heat) to the back and it takes main entrance guests a bit to get back there. If you're already in UO and hop the train to Islands you "beat" the crowds. Along with the others who also ride the train, so you do bring part of the crowd with you when you go.

As others have said, we had a touring plan, but ditched it almost immediately once we got into the park. With EP, you really don't need to use EE but it does help with crowds and avoiding the worst heat of the day.

My kids used single rider line quite a bit as we did not stay in an EP hotel. For our return trip, we're looking at one night in an EP hotel so it does have value. It's so much easier to try and flow away from the crowds and see what has a short wait. the Universal Ap is your friend. Often, we'd be standing somewhere figuring out where to go next and I'd check the ap and say x has a minute wait, lets go do that. Our touring plan became what has the lowest wait.