Help! Only doing Universal, but not made a plan! 😥

[kadiekaismummi]

Hi all, we are off in just over two weeks! We are only doing Universal’s three parks & have 14 day tickets, thing is I've seen people making itineraries but haven't even thought or even know what I should aim for doing or what park to go what day etc, we are hoping to stay, (but haven't yet booked) a one night stay at one of the three universal hotels to make use of two day folp. We haven't been to Orlando for nearly nine years, & want to make the most & do as much as possible, can someone please point me in the right direction, or even give me some ideas on making a plan for my universal days, xx. I just haven't a clue what to head for 1st etc, any help will be gladly recieved Xxx thanks guys

[macchu picchu]

Staying the night at the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino hotels is definitely worth it - just arrive very early (around 7am) at the hotel to check in and get your FOLP printed before heading over to early entry. Do the Harry Potter stuff first during early entry as it is not included in the FOLP. Just make a list of the most popular rides everyone wants to do and work through it with the aid of FOLP. For days where you do not have FOLP, target the less popular rides/shows. Use the Hogwarts Express (different 'story' in each direction) to travel between the parks. Have a look at the park maps online - if you haven't been for a few years, there will be a lot of new stuff. Check out the wait times on the Universal app, it will give you an idea of the most popular rides(and hence the ones with the longest queues). Reading a few Universal based trip reports will also give you some great information and ideas.

Haven't been to Volcano Bay yet but it sounds like getting there early is also a good idea to get a few rides in before the wait times go up. Avoid the water park at the weekend when more locals with annual passes may go.

We sometimes pop out of the park to eat at CityWalk for lunch or early dinner, then go back in - Hogwarts at night looks great. I always feel I plan less for Universal than Disney - we just did Universal on our last trip and are doing the same this Oct. So much to see and do, and by not doing Disney as well, you can take time to do the things you might have missed when trying to cram it all in. We are also taking time to go to Kennedy Space Centre and Daytona Speedway, doing some shopping, some mini golf etc. Have a great holiday.

[DFussy]

The Dibb is great, and I have found useful info on it, such as the overnight hotel stay for the fast passes. But through threads on here, I have found there is a lot of useful info about Universal specifically on Orlando Informer, ie info on how to approach harry potter areas, info about the refillable drinks, dining plan, photo ops, character meets and there are even some touring plans I think, if you want to have a plan.

In past experience, Spiderman being an all the family ride, always had quite long queues so I think when we go to IOA, we will try and get that done early. Looks like Despicable me minion is the same, looking at queue times, but if you do the overnight, early access hour includes this as well as harry potter rides at Universal Studios, if you can get the early access for US at the time you are there. It might be worth checking the parks with early access for your holiday, before you decide what day to stay over?

Have a great time.

[justacey]

My only plan is to treat the 2 parks as 3. I'm refusing to do HP on a US or IOA day.

[DisneyDaffodil]

We are going in under 2 weeks and have never been to Universal before. We don't have FOLP so we are going to rely on the app and wait time boards to plan the days as we go along. We have ideas of some places we would like to eat depending on queues. We also plan to visit Florida Mall one day for a long anticipated trip to Hot Topic for our DD. But much less planned than Disney trips.

Plus we are flying to New York for the second part of our trip and have planned that much more than Universal. We have bought NY passes and have a day by day plan to ensure we visit all we want and try to do attractions close together on certain days to save a little walking. But again, for food we have ideas of certain places to eat but nothing booked.

[JudeB]

I don't think you need to worry too much about making a plan for while you are at IOA/Universal. In 2015 we stayed one night at RPR to get the benefit of the express passes. We checked in about 7.30am and then hit the parks. They usually have one or the other open early, so you could check that out and aim to make use of the extra early hour each day. Other than that, we just wandered round the parks, and took each ride as we fancied it. REALLY enjoyed not having to keep an eye on our watches and being able to take in all the sights and theming (especially in Harry Potter).

[kadiekaismummi]

Originally Posted by macchu picchu

Staying the night at the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino hotels is definitely worth it - just arrive very early (around 7am) at the hotel to check in and get your FOLP printed before heading over to early entry. Do the Harry Potter stuff first during early entry as it is not included in the FOLP. Just make a list of the most popular rides everyone wants to do and work through it with the aid of FOLP. For days where you do not have FOLP, target the less popular rides/shows. Use the Hogwarts Express (different 'story' in each direction) to travel between the parks. Have a look at the park maps online - if you haven't been for a few years, there will be a lot of new stuff. Check out the wait times on the Universal app, it will give you an idea of the most popular rides(and hence the ones with the longest queues). Reading a few Universal based trip reports will also give you some great information and ideas.

Haven't been to Volcano Bay yet but it sounds like getting there early is also a good idea to get a few rides in before the wait times go up. Avoid the water park at the weekend when more locals with annual passes may go.

We sometimes pop out of the park to eat at CityWalk for lunch or early dinner, then go back in - Hogwarts at night looks great. I always feel I plan less for Universal than Disney - we just did Universal on our last trip and are doing the same this Oct. So much to see and do, and by not doing Disney as well, you can take time to do the things you might have missed when trying to cram it all in. We are also taking time to go to Kennedy Space Centre and Daytona Speedway, doing some shopping, some mini golf etc. Have a great holiday.

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Hi Macchu, thank you so much for your info, will indeed take a lot of this info onboard xx

[kadiekaismummi]

Thank you all so much really appreciate all your feedback x

[kl_belle]

I wouldn't worry too much about planning for Universal, especially if you're not doing Disney as well. Definitely devote a whole at least half day to Harry Potter bits and get there early - crowds will be much less and allow you to really soak up the amazing sight of Diagon Alley.

We also found going a couple of hours before close good. We managed to get on rides that are normally heaving in the day such as Spiderman and Kong as pretty much walk ons going near to park close time and staying till the bitter end. You'll also get way better photos without all those crowds in the background and can finish your day off with a drink on CityWalk!

Missing it already! Have a great holiday

[justacey]

My colleague went to Universal at Easter and showed me a photo he took of an empty Gringotts queue at 8 pm. He said most things were practically walk on at that time.