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Theme Parks Florida Rides, Attractions, Genie+ Questions and Info. |
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20 Jan 16, 03:12 PM |
#1
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Guest
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Advice about Universal
We are heading to Orlando later this year- October/November. It will be myself, DH, my in-laws and three kids aged 11, 1 and 3. Only DS1 and myself would be any way interested in the thrill rides and would both love to see anything Potter. What's the best way to do universal bearing this in mind? We are staying for 12 nights in CBR.
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20 Jan 16, 04:37 PM |
#2
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Apprentice Imagineer
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Are you asking what tickets you should have or how many days you should go for or what? I'm not quite sure about your question?
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Various houses and hotels in Orlando - 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012 Hotel Cheyenne 2009 and 2012. Hotel New York in 2014 - DLP |
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20 Jan 16, 09:45 PM |
#3
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Excited about Disney
Join Date: Jul 13
Location: Teesside, UK
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I would look at 14 days Combo tickets for Universal Studio , IOA , Wet and Wild , SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens. You can get tickets without Busch for slightly lesss. That would keep you busy for the full 12 days. With a couple of break day.
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20 Jan 16, 09:59 PM |
#4
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slightly serious Dibber
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We booked one night at the hard rock hotel on our first trip so we could have two days with front of line passes. We love thrill rides but the passes were great and we used them on pretty much everything. You also get early entry which was great for seeing the Harry Potter section of the park. Also it is so close to the parks that we could easily go back to the hotel for a swim in the afternoon and then back to the parks again. The prices of tickets are starting to rise at the moment but you can just put a deposit down with some companies like Florida tix and secure the current price. We loved it so much that we have booked three nights at the hard rock for this years holiday. Hope this helps
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Mazzadee |
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20 Jan 16, 10:06 PM |
#5
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Guest
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To clarify, we are all staying in Disney world for12 nights. Of the group only myself and my older son will do thrill rides, we would both also love to see Harry Potter. I have seen posts about booking a universal hotel for one night to avail of front of line passes. Is this something we need to do/ is it advisable at that time of year? Is there enough in universal for very small kids/ adults who won't go on rides?
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21 Jan 16, 12:27 AM |
#6
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Guest
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If you are avoiding Thanksgiving, in late November, US/IoA should be relatively quiet; especially mid-week. Given that, you can, probably, get away without the express passes you get with a room.
I would suggest two days at the parks - don't worry, there is much more than just thrill rides. Get there for rope drop and head straight for Potter as it will get very busy later. Then just wander. IoA is a big circle, so just go round in order. US is more of a maze and you can just stroll about. There are plenty of places to eat or chill where you can leave the non-riders - Mythos is always voted best theme park restaurant. There are shows too - the Blues Brother and Beetlejuice are, probably, fun for everybody. Nobody can not like Shrek or Minions and Men in Black is a must do. SpiderMan is thrilling, but not scary and comes second only to Tower of Terror as best theme park attraction in USA. Seuss Landing is totally immersive and should appeal to everybody - and has very safe rides. After the parks, you can eat in the area outside - Citywalk - which has lots of themed restaurants. |
21 Jan 16, 06:39 AM |
#7
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Apprentice Imagineer
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Universal is all about the rides.
The fireworks and parade are rubbish. Our local pocket park had better fireworks. At busy times the potter rides can have 3 hour wait times. Not all rides have the fast pass option although if its busy time when you go the hotel option to get the two days fast passes is great. We went in August and with the fast passes we were able to get on many rides 4 or 5 times. But do check as i seem to recall rip ride rocket not having fast pass and 90 mins wait was common. |
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21 Jan 16, 11:27 AM |
#8
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Guest
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Rip Ride Rocket does have fast passes Just metal detectors at the entrance so OP make sure you empty your pockets completely into the free lockers next to the ride or with a non-rider Also, we've seen the fireworks a number of times with the evening show and we thought it was beautiful looking through all the years of universal films etc, very touching, doesn't need to big kaboom that fireworks tend to do to make it special for us My advice would be if you're going to go on/a couple of days around thanksgiving to maybe consider the overnight stay for fastpasses and early entry. The fast passes are AMAZING and most of the rides do have fast pass entry, I think I recall the Harry Potter attractions as the only ones without fastpass when we visited in 2015 The parks aren't just about thrill rides, the theming and shows are awesome too! We usually spend 2 weeks staying at a universal hotel but as others have said maybe an overnight stay with 2 days entry to the parks or even a 2 night stay to get that extra day for anything you may have missed. The crowds around thanksgiving are usually quite a lot, the queues weren't ridiculously bad when we went around thanksgiving but it was a colder year for them and it was awhile back. What I will say is when we were there at a VERY busy time during October last year early entry was not worth getting up for as the Harry Potter attractions were MANIC at that point, with all the hotel guests rushing over for no queues to be greeted with 75 minute queues immediately after we left in. The queue went all the way around Diagon Alley because it couldn't fit inside the actual queue. However, by late afternoon this queue had dipped substantially to around 20 minutes (sometimes 10!). However, despite us queuing for 60 minutes before, we certainly were not bored at all and it didn't feel long because the theming was unbelievable, unlike anything I've seen before and if you like Harry Potter you will be able to appreciate the attention to even the smallest of details. There's shows going on outside in Diagon Alley, so whilst your queuing non-riders will be able to check these out, see some of the shops, grab some icecream and maybe get an interactive wand from Olivanders and try it out at some of the spots around Diagon Alley and watch the dragon breath fire! There's plenty for everyone to do in both parks, lots of family rides too, the water rides are a must do! They make some great memories! Just do them last as you get drenched Hope this could help, we stay on-site at Universal every year and visit the parks for the 2 weeks we visit Orlando so if you have any questions about the on-site stay gimme a shout
Have a great time! |
21 Jan 16, 04:45 PM |
#9
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Guest
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Thanks everyone, we are staying from end October to early November so thanksgiving crowds wouldn't be relevant- unless it also gets that busy at Halloween?
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21 Jan 16, 10:23 PM |
#10
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Guest
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