To Hogwarts We Go!

samheatherwhite · Jan 23, 2015

Ohio louie said:
wow...thank you so much for posting! we are going in may and we know how to do disney, but universal will be our first time. i also have a adventurous 7 yr old who is 49 inches. i am a bit concerned about our 4 yr old who is 43inches but more timid. i'll have to read on to see how the rest of the park worked for you guys. thanks so much!!!

Thanks for reading. We loved Universal and cannot wait to go back. My little guy is probably not going to be a brave ride kind of kid. He still had a great time. He loved the playgrounds most but he also really enjoyed the Dumbo-esque rides. He also had fun on the carousel and all of the Suess rides. He had a nice time exploring while other rode the big kid rides. People say that this is not a park for the little guys but mine had a blast. He also liked the HE.

Ohio louie · Jan 23, 2015

samheatherwhite said:
Thanks for reading. We loved Universal and cannot wait to go back. My little guy is probably not going to be a brave ride kind of kid. He still had a great time. He loved the playgrounds most but he also really enjoyed the Dumbo-esque rides. He also had fun on the carousel and all of the Suess rides. He had a nice time exploring while other rode the big kid rides. People say that this is not a park for the little guys but mine had a blast. He also liked the HE.

do you think it is a must? we're staying offsite and going the 1st week of may...slower time period. my understanding is you can upgrade your tic while at the park. ???

samheatherwhite · Jan 23, 2015

Ohio louie said:
do you think it is a must? we're staying offsite and going the 1st week of may...slower time period. my understanding is you can upgrade your tic while at the park. ???

I don't think that it is a must during a slow period and I would hate to pay to upgrade. Those things aren't cheap. I would definitely wait and see after you have been in the actual parks and upgrade if needed. We had Express since we stayed on site and it was great but with smaller kids we didn't use it to its full potential. We didn't need it at all (Mid Sept. slow time) for Spiderman, Transformers, Mummy, and most of the little kids Suess rides. Those usually took longer to walk the line than anything, usually less than 10 minutes.
We loved having it most for Flight of the Hippogryff. The wait for it was usually 30+ in the regular line and walk on in the Express line. G loved this one so we rode it a lot. We also needed it with Despicable Me unless we rode it first thing. (FYI first thing DM rides had low waits but sometimes the meet and greet with a dancing minion afterward did not have a minion. If you ride early for low waits just come in later through the gift shop and see the minion if your kids like that kind of thing.)
I think that with the smaller kids you would be fine without one. If you ride the big coasters you might need it but I think during slow season it would be a bit of a waste of money. Just my two cents

Ohio louie · Jan 23, 2015

samheatherwhite said:
Thanks for reading. We loved Universal and cannot wait to go back. My little guy is probably not going to be a brave ride kind of kid. He still had a great time. He loved the playgrounds most but he also really enjoyed the Dumbo-esque rides. He also had fun on the carousel and all of the Suess rides. He had a nice time exploring while other rode the big kid rides. People say that this is not a park for the little guys but mine had a blast. He also liked the HE.

thanks for sharing!!! i was so nervous before i saw this post.

Ohio louie · Jan 23, 2015

samheatherwhite said:
I don't think that it is a must during a slow period and I would hate to pay to upgrade. Those things aren't cheap. I would definitely wait and see after you have been in the actual parks and upgrade if needed. We had Express since we stayed on site and it was great but with smaller kids we didn't use it to its full potential. We didn't need it at all (Mid Sept. slow time) for Spiderman, Transformers, Mummy, and most of the little kids Suess rides. Those usually took longer to walk the line than anything, usually less than 10 minutes.
We loved having it most for Flight of the Hippogryff. The wait for it was usually 30+ in the regular line and walk on in the Express line. G loved this one so we rode it a lot. We also needed it with Despicable Me unless we rode it first thing. (FYI first thing DM rides had low waits but sometimes the meet and greet with a dancing minion afterward did not have a minion. If you ride early for low waits just come in later through the gift shop and see the minion if your kids like that kind of thing.)
I think that with the smaller kids you would be fine without one. If you ride the big coasters you might need it but I think during slow season it would be a bit of a waste of money. Just my two cents

yes the express passes are outrageous! you answered exactly how i hoped. no huge lines for kiddie rides except minions. thanks for the gift shop tip!
as long as we get to ride hippogriff, FJ, gringotts once i'll consider it a huge success! loved all the shows you bumped into too. sounds like it was by chance. not a clear schedule for those events? we've used kenny the pirate for disney characters and it is so helpful! can't find a similar resource for universal. we also just walked onto rides at disney may 2013 at all 4 parks...except for new and it rides. thanks again for sharing your trip and tips! what a beautiful fam

samheatherwhite · Jan 24, 2015

Ohio louie said:
yes the express passes are outrageous! you answered exactly how i hoped. no huge lines for kiddie rides except minions. thanks for the gift shop tip!
as long as we get to ride hippogriff, FJ, gringotts once i'll consider it a huge success! loved all the shows you bumped into too. sounds like it was by chance. not a clear schedule for those events? we've used kenny the pirate for disney characters and it is so helpful! can't find a similar resource for universal. we also just walked onto rides at disney may 2013 at all 4 parks...except for new and it rides. thanks again for sharing your trip and tips! what a beautiful fam

I know that the animal actors show had times listed outside where it is held. I think that you can find out at the front of the parks where and when the characters will be out. We didn't really look at those since we were eating breakfast with the ones the kids were most interested in. After the parade I think there is a meet and greet with the guys we saw at breakfast and they come out at different times in the mornings near Cafe LaBamba and you could also see them then. The transformers are cool and meet near their ride and they change from Optimus Prime to Bumble Bee and I think that there is sometimes a Decepticon. Make sure you look when you walk by if there is a specific one you want to meet. The Suess characters were fun and had no line at all and we also ran into Woody Woodpecker near the Hulk. We saw Popeye and Olive Oil in the toon lagoon area and also Wolverine and some other super heors/villians from that genre that my kids didn't know. They also had longer lines.
Thank you for the kind words.

LuvEeyore · Jan 28, 2015

Great updates. I am behind from before Christmas. Just now catching up.

ChipDale · Feb 2, 2015

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your pictures and experiences! We are planning to go to Universal (particularly for the Harry Potter attractions) and your reports were so helpful and answered most of my questions about what to expect!

coastgirl · Feb 2, 2015

Thanks for this...I can't believe your final updates have been there for a month and I missed them. Loved all the pics. Yes, I am never in any of the pics either!! I am getting more excited every day for our trip (NEXT MONTH!) and I loved hearing about your family's trip.

LuvEeyore · Feb 4, 2015

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed being along for the trip.

RunnerMommyof4 · Feb 18, 2015

Awe so glad I found your report and all the photos. My students tease me I live under a rock but I didn't know about the Harry Potter rides, etc. So our 1st family vacation is taking an unexpected turn. We had thought we be at 24/7 WDW but not anymore

Our daughters are obsessed with HP!!!

Queen of Oakville · Feb 19, 2015

Great TR!

I have a few questions, if you don't mind taking the time to answer : )

1. how much are the interactive wands? are they all the same price (character or birthday)?
2. do certain spells work in certain places? I mean can you use the winguardiam leviosa spell in just one spot or several? how do you know which spells to use? is there is book of spells?
3. how much were the chocolate frogs? (roughly!).
4. how much would you say you spent each day on food?

Thanks very much, I picked up a lot of great tips from your report.

samheatherwhite · Feb 19, 2015

Queen of Oakville said:
Great TR!

I have a few questions, if you don't mind taking the time to answer : )

1. how much are the interactive wands? are they all the same price (character or birthday)?
2. do certain spells work in certain places? I mean can you use the winguardiam leviosa spell in just one spot or several? how do you know which spells to use? is there is book of spells?
3. how much were the chocolate frogs? (roughly!).
4. how much would you say you spent each day on food?

Thanks very much, I picked up a lot of great tips from your report.

1. I think that the wands are about $45 for an interactive with all styles being the same price and $35 for a plain wand.
2. When you buy a wand you are given a nice map that shows you where the wands work and which spells and motions to say. There are also little markers on the ground that indicate a spell casting area. There are quite a few in both DA and Hogsmead. There are also a lot of super friendly and helpful castmembers near the spell areas who will help you make the spell work if you struggle. I bet the sweet witch in DA helped G with Wingaurdium Leviosa for about 20 minutes.
3. The frogs were right around $10 and they are massive. Easily shared with a big group when broken up. There is also one of 5 cards inside. ($ founders or Dumbledore)
4. HP food was a little more expensive than food at other places mostly due to adding on 5$ drinks. Most adult plates at the quick service places were in the 12 to 15 range and kids were 8ish. I felt that for the quality of food in Mythos and Finnigans that the price wasn't too much more. Portions are also pretty big especially in the sit down spots so sharing could help you cut costs.
We also saved money by bringing in water bottles and we had quick snacks for breakfast in the room.

Thanks for reading the report we had a blast and if you think of any more questions I will do my best to be helpful.

samheatherwhite · Feb 19, 2015

RunnerMommyof4 said:
Awe so glad I found your report and all the photos. My students tease me I live under a rock but I didn't know about the Harry Potter rides, etc. So our 1st family vacation is taking an unexpected turn. We had thought we be at 24/7 WDW but not anymore Our daughters are obsessed with HP!!!

Thanks for reading. Universal is a must for HP fans. Make sure and get park to park tickets so y'all can ride the Hogwarts Express. It is really cool.

Queen of Oakville · Feb 20, 2015

awesome, thank you!

MMCamp · Feb 28, 2015

We are a family of five with our three kids being 13,10,8 when we go this upcoming October. We are planning to stay offsite but to be in Orlando for 10 nights. We are planning 4 Disney days and had planned on 3 US days. Our kids and I are huge HP fans. Huge! Will 3 days be enough or should we plan for more?

samheatherwhite · Feb 28, 2015

MMCamp said:
We are a family of five with our three kids being 13,10,8 when we go this upcoming October. We are planning to stay offsite but to be in Orlando for 10 nights. We are planning 4 Disney days and had planned on 3 US days. Our kids and I are huge HP fans. Huge! Will 3 days be enough or should we plan for more?

I think that your kids are big enough that you could definitely do almost everything in 3 days. Most huge HP fans could probably spend weeks at Diagon alley and Hogsmead but I think that you could do, explore, and ride, and shop a lot in 3 days.

macraven · Feb 28, 2015

MMCamp said:
We are a family of five with our three kids being 13,10,8 when we go this upcoming October. We are planning to stay offsite but to be in Orlando for 10 nights. We are planning 4 Disney days and had planned on 3 US days. Our kids and I are huge HP fans. Huge! Will 3 days be enough or should we plan for more?

suggest you avoid the weekends in october.
hhn is held then (besides some wednesdays and all thursday).
this brings in crowds to the park in the early afternoons.

last year when the park closed at 5:00 due to hhn, the parry hotter area did allow those in that section to finish up the ride until up to 6:00.
those with the park to park tickets rode HE to the ioa side.

ElenaJane · May 2, 2015

Just found your TR! I had so much fun reading your updates. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I will be traveling to US in a few weeks and will be meeting my 7yo twin niece and nephew. I hope they are as brave as Gracie!

samheatherwhite · May 3, 2015

ElenaJane said:
Just found your TR! I had so much fun reading your updates. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I will be traveling to US in a few weeks and will be meeting my 7yo twin niece and nephew. I hope they are as brave as Gracie!

Thanks for reading. Have a great time with your niece and nephew. 7 year olds are super fun.

To Hogwarts We Go!

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