Universal plan of action - does this make sense?

[HFJohnson]

So we have two days at Universal in October, with one night at RPR for the express passes. We have two single day tickets for each park, with no park hoppers.

At the moment the park hours are...

Universal
Monday & Tuesday - 8am - 7pm (plus the extra hour for hotel guests from 7am)

IOA
Monday & Tuesday - 9am - 8pm

IOA is also marked as most recommended on the DIBB busy day guide for the Monday so at the moment I'm thinking we do that on the Monday and then Universal on the Tuesday.

What do you think? Would anyone do anything different? As we have the express passes is it essential we use the extra hour in the morning?

[Floridaagogo]

I never bother with the extra hour.With express passes for all the rides it’s not needed x

[ratmanscoop]

I personally would have had at least one day of park-hopper so you can ride Hogwarts Express, but I assume that's a bit late now.

7am sounds a bit early to enter the park if you're there until 7pm close to me, one full day in each park should be ample to get everything done without having to be up at the crack of dawn.

[Canoeing fairy]

We had the express passes on August and used the early entry time to take photos in the Harry Potter bit. During that first hour you can get some great photos with no one else in them. Later in the day those parts are rammed with people.

[Vertigo]

With express passes you should be fine regardless of how you do it!

I am sure you have checked - especially as you put the park time link in - but the studios closes at 5pm most days in October for HHN. It is only open until 7 on the odd day.

Can I ask why you didn’t get a hopper ticket? The flexibility it allows and also the Hogwarts express make it worthwhile IMHO.

We have very similar countdowns too! Getting really close now...

[disneywiseowl]

I’d go in early & have a pool break in the afternoon.

Great photo opportunities.

These are photos we took yesterday:

(Sorry - Poor quality - photos of photos etc)

[lizzie145]

Just back from there and it was fairly quiet, 5 minutes for a lot of rides. Kong was 45 but I did that the other day.
Did rip ride rock it twice in a row with minimal wait

[Lell]

We are just back from Aventura so no express passes and the longest we queued last week was about 20mins. Most rides were about 5-10 mins. We didn't bother doing early entry as the parks were so quiet. If you have just arrived in Florida you will be up early anyway so could be worth doing it then.

[HFJohnson]

Thanks for all the replies - lots of v helpful suggestions, especially re getting in early for photos.

We were very tempted to get the park hopper tickets but it would have been an extra £150-£200 extra for the two days that are already costing a lot. This is our first visit to Universal so it's meant to be just a taster really - if we like it I'm sure we'll be back.

I've doubled checked the closing times - we're there on Monday and Tuesday which seem to be the only days without HHN.

Just thinking about pool time - we have the one night at RPR - will we be able to use the pool after we check out?

[Floridaagogo]

Yes you can use the facilities all day.keep your room key to use in the parks for express and for entrance to pools (the hard rock pool is gated )