1-Day US/IOA trip advice

[Ceryssa]

My husband and I are thinking about a quick trip to Orlando without the kiddos, probably next fall. I was originally thinking October but we aren't interested in HHN and would like to avoid both early park closure and the crowds from the event, so possibly November. Is this a good time to go? We'd like to go when the weather isn't so hot.

We definitely want to see both HP sections and ride the Hogwarts Express, and Marvel Island. About half the rest of the attractions look interesting for us. We really only have one day because there's other stuff in Orlando we want to do as well. We'll be staying off property, so no early entry available. Which park should we start with? I seem to remember reading that one opens later than the other, or certain attractions do, but I can't remember which?

I know 2-3 days is ideal, but since one is what we have, is this enough time to hit HP, Marvel and some of the other major attractions? I know we will miss stuff and that's okay, we just want to get in as much as possible, and definitely get to both parks. He doesn't like water rides and neither of us care much for the Simpsons so we'd probably skip those entirely.

 

[macraven]

first week in november has been good for low crowds.

you will have earlier park closures but with low crowds, you'll be able to cover quite a few things in both parks.

go to www.universalorlando.com and get a description of what is in both parks.
you can get an idea about the rides and shows for planning your day in the parks.
choose the things you really know you want to do and have a second list of what you can catch if you have the time.

 

[Ceryssa]

Thanks

 

[johde]

If you look on Orlando Informer and Touringplans.com, they both have 1 day/2 park plans that could be used as a jumping off point for developing your own plan. Touring plan costs $4-$5 for their predone plans but if you register for free you can play with their personalized plans.

 

[lake queen]

We just did a one day US/Ioa on Dec. 14.

Here is how we started our day, our emphasis was on HP

Gringotts
Looked around Diagon Alley - had Butterbeer
Hogwarts express
Forbidden Journey
Dragon Challenge
Looked around Hogsmeade

 

[nkereina]

We just spent 3 days at Universal the week before Thanksgiving and found crowds to be pretty tolerable. The weather was a little iffy - pretty cool in the 60s one day, 70s and sunny the next, and upper 60s and drizzly on the third.

If we only had one day - which we may do going forward - we would start at Hogsmeade/IOA. We visited Hogsmeade in the afternoon on our trip and it felt more crowded than DA did at the same time. Plus, Hogsmeade has more rides than DA so you'll see longer wait times there as well. So, we would start with Hogsmeade and then do the Marvel stuff. That was about all that interested us in IOA, Universal definitely took us longer. I would then ride HE over to US and do DA. You could ride Gringotts single rider if the stand by line is long - my fiance and I did this and we waited about 20 minutes compared to the posted 90 minutes. Worked out well.