Universal/IOA tickets - First timers

[m1ckeymouse]

Hi Guys

We have decided to have a day at Universal/IOA so my MIL can see all the Harry Potter bits, bless her, she didn't even know it was there!

Are we right in thinking the best/cheapest way to purchase 1 day dual park tickets is via the universal website as a pre purchase? Currently works out about £288 for 2 adults and a 9yo, does that sound about right, or are we missing a trick. We know nothing about Universal as we usually stay in the Disney bubble.

Thanks for your help

 

[dixonsontour]

The one day park to park would be £267 for 2 adults and a child with american airlines.co.uk

Can you only spare a day? There is a lot to fit in 1 day especially if your 9 year old wants to do the interactive spells. A 2 day is only a few pounds more.

 

[chmurf]

2 days are a bare minimum, so if you can manage to squeeze that in your plans, then it will sure be money well spent.

There are 2 separate HP lands, linked by a train ride.

you might want to consider getting a room onsite (cheaper is at RPR) to get early entry to harry potter, and unlimited express pass (front of the line access to almost all of the rides in both parks)
1 night will get you those perks for both check in and check out day (arrive early for check in to be there for Early Entry)
that's a lot of money, but Unlimited express make it much more enjoyable.

At the very least consider Cabana Bay beach. Cheaper but it won't get you unlimited express, only Early entry, but those are nice if you want to hit harry potter first thing in the morning before the muggles are allowed into the parks

 

[m1ckeymouse]

Hiya

Thanks for your replies, we wrote a list yest of the bits we would like to do at both parks and as my MIL and son won't really ride anything and myself and hubby are happy doing HP as a priority with the train ( that's about the only thing the other 2 will ride lol) we are hoping a full day (park open to close) will do it. It will be an expensive day to not do much but probably worth it to see my MILs face!

Many thanks

 

[laura_<3]

My OH's sister and her husband have bought a 1 day / 2 park ticket (I think!) off the Universal website. I believe it worked out cheaper that way. They are purely going for Harry Potter. They don't like rides but want to see the HP area's and go on the Hogwarts Express.

 

[micksn]

This is what we did last year. We left at 3ish had a good look round and did most of what we wanted to on a busy August day.

Universal

Booked a one day trip to Universal for myself and DD. We used dreams unlimited which included Mears transfers. Mears were great, pick up at 7.30 and arrived at 7.50. It was easy to collect tickets and we got in line for Forbidden journey by 8.10. Queues for everything were short in Islands of adventure we did FJ, Dragon Challenge, Cat in Hat, Hulk, Spiderman and Jurrasic Park by 11.00.

We then got train to Universal which was amazing!!! Loved the detail and the scenes from the window. Diagon Alley looked great, but queue for Gringotts was 3 hours. We decided to only do this if less than 2 and we wanted to do rides in Island of adventure as well. Never mind something for next time!

Hi it was with Dreams unlimited

http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/Universal/index.htm

We paid 150 dollars each which included transfers from Disney resorts and tickets to both parks. You get a choice of collection and return times. It was a really good service

From my highs and lows - August 2014! We didn't have a car so the transfers worked really well for us.

 

[zavandor]

It will be an expensive day to not do much but probably worth it to see my MILs face!

If she is a big fan, that will be her highlight of the holiday, I'm sure.
£267 from the AA site posted above looks like a great price.

 

[LiquidSunshine]

We went to Universal for one day last year, purely for WWoHP - we went mid September and granted the queues were not as bad as we were expecting. I will give you an idea of what we managed in the one day. Hopefully it will give you something useful!

We managed to do all the rides on both sides - including the Dragon Challenge twice (we thought it was that good ), the Hogwarts Express (twice! Some queuing, but that was to be expected. Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade was about 5mins, coming back the other way was about 20mins) and lunch at The Three Broomsticks, plus a look round some of the shops. The longest wait we had was about 40-45 mins for Flight of the Hippogriff (which, in our opinion, wasn't worth the wait) and about 30-35mins for Escape from Gringotts.

We also managed to do the interactive part at Ollivander's, were a member of the group is picked out by the witch/wizard HP style, "a very strong magic in you" type situation, and that person follows the witch/wizard's instructions by performing spells until the right wand is found.

Out of about 10 kids in the group we were part of, I managed to get picked out!
It is great fun, and, of course, you are offered to buy the wand at the end (which I did!), which you can then use to go around both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley performing spells at certain points - much to my DBF disgust as he had to stand around while I tried to master my new wand!

After that we managed to walk around Universal Studios taking in the sights and managing a few of the other rides, including The Hulk (twice) - next to no queues, unless you wanted to sit in the front row. The Hulk was a straight walk on.

Ideally, we would consider staying a night or 2 in order to do the full Universal Studios/IoA experience, but we found the 1 day we spent adequate to do the WWoHP comfortably. But again, we did go during a quieter period.

P.S. WWoHP is amazing. Fun for all the family & so much effort has been put in. Even for those not interested in the rides, it really is an experience to see the shops, street performances etc.

 

[PrincessLou]

If you just want to go to Harry Potter you can easily do this on a one day two park ticket.
I would get there for park open and head into the studios to get the hog warts express from Kings Cross to Hogsmead, this is doing things in the order they did it in the films and I think it adds a touch of magic to the entrance to Hogsmead. I would then do the rides there and go back on the train to Diagon Alley, the train is different each way and I highly recommend doing it both ways.

I recommend trying the orange and lemon drinks that are only sold in HP world they are delicious and the frozen butter beer of course.

the studios is the quieter park and if you finish in HP you could probably get on a couple of things in the studios, ET, Minions and Shrek are great for families and people who may not be to keen on rides normally.