Universal - Potter confusion

[Lesleyta]

Hi all

It's been MANY a year since i visited Orlando - The Simpons ride was being built last time I was there (RIP Back to the future).

Anyway - I'm a bit confused by this Harry Patter lark ... is it a separate park or a land within a park? I.e. do I need to use a full day for it (would prefer not to). Our group is mainly adult (or adult sized kids who are braver than most of us) so no need for kiddy rides.

I know how long you spend in a park is subjective, just looking for a rough guide.

42 days, 19 hours and 30 minutes to go ... but who's counting?

Lesley

[WhereIBelong]

They have spread Harry Potter BETWEEN both parks as a separate "land" in each - The Hogwarts express runs between them so you need to have park-to park entrance tickets to do both on the same day.

[kellsbells]

There are 2 Harry Potter areas - one in each park. They are joined by the Hogwarts express which you can only ride if you have the park to park tickets.

They are brilliant, the theming is excellent and the rides are great. I'd say between the 2 areas you could spend a day easily but it depends how interested in it you are. They are not huge areas but there is a lot of detail and more time can be spent doing spells if you buy an interactive wand. There are also small shows in both lands, Olivanders for the wand choosing ceremony and places to eat.

If you just wanted a quick look and to ride FJ and Gringotts then you could probably get away with a couple of hours in each if it's not your thing.

[ely3857]

Harry Potter is an area in the main park. It isn’t a separate section or park on it’s own. Both sides have one headliner ride, IOA side has a child’s ride and then there’s the park to park train Hogwarts Express.

You can dip in and out of the area as you would any section of the park and it doesn’t require a day, or half a day of it’s own. How long you do spend there is dependant on how Harry Potter mad you all are or how busy it is (& it gets busy) which could put you off wondering around.

[EcosseDibb]

HP is split across two separate 'lands' within the parks. Diagon Alley (newest) is in Universal Studios and Hogsmeade in IoA. They are also linked by a train ride, Hogwarts Express, should you wish to go from one to the other but you do need a 2 park pass to ride.
There is loads to see if you or any of the party are into HP - the shops etc are very detailed and my wife loves spending a while taking in all of the detail which is lost on me.

The rides are busy, but not unmanageable. As always if you get there early you'll have the shortest waits (or use the FOLP if you have it). All of the rides bar Flight of the Hippogriff will be suitable for your older crowd, FoH is more a kiddy coaster.

It all depends on how you're planning to visit the parks as to how long you would need. If you're at Universal for a couple of days, then prob best to just tackle them one at a time when you're in each park. Get there early and then move on with your day. If you're trying to do both in the same day, without FOLP, then you might need to plan for a longer wait on either Escape from Gringotts or Forbidden Journey.

[Miss AliJS]

There are Harry Potter bits/rides inside both of the 2 parks- Islands of Adventure and Universal. The Hogwarts Express runs between the 2 parks so if you want to ride that, you need to make sure that your ticket allows you to park hop.
If I were you, I would book a night at one of the Universal premium hotels- Portofino Bay, Hard Rock or Royal Pacific as this will give you express passes for both check in and check out days. As you can skip the queues with this, you could easily get round the 2 parks in 2 days. We have stayed at Hard Rock and it was fab- lovely walk or river taxi to City Walk at night and great vibe by the pool. You can check in as early as 7am and head to the parks.

[Lesleyta]

Wow - you lot are fantastic! Thank you sooo much.

I'll chat to the others but my initial thoughts are do 1 day in each park including HP ... we have a couple of 'spare' days at the end to go visit things we missed/need to see again if needed. Sounds like that should work.

Thanks again!

[ely3857]

Originally Posted by Lesleyta

Wow - you lot are fantastic! Thank you sooo much.

I'll chat to the others but my initial thoughts are do 1 day in each park including HP ... we have a couple of 'spare' days at the end to go visit things we missed/need to see again if needed. Sounds like that should work.

Thanks again!

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As long as your Universal tickets are still valid then yeah, a scheduled day at each plus a couple of days in hand to return to favourites is a decent plan.

[Gill H]

As above, make sure you have park-to-park tickets otherwise you can't ride the Hogwarts Express which goes between the two.

Definitely look at staying one night in one of the Universal hotels. You will all get front of line passes for both days (checkin and checkout day) and you can check in as early as you like. If you stay at one of the 3 nearest hotels (Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino Bay) you also get early entry into one or both parks every day.

We got a taxi 6am and were at the park gates 7.45 for early entry. It was such a lovely relaxing way to do the parks - we actually stayed 2 nights which gave us 3 days early entry and 3 full days in the parks with front of line access.

[Softy]

Originally Posted by Gill H

Definitely look at staying one night in one of the Universal hotels. You will all get front of line passes for both days (checkin and checkout day) and you can check in as early as you like. If you stay at one of the 3 nearest hotels (Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino Bay) you also get early entry into one or both parks every day.

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Wrong way round there. You get early entry when staying at any Universal hotel. Unlimited front of the line passes when staying at RP, HR or PB.