1st trip in 8 years! FOTL? P2P?

[ImpossibleOfMe]

Hey Dis!

DH and I will be taking a kid-free Universal Trip the first week of December and wanting to check out everything we've missed in the last 8 years! Especially WWoHP!

I have just a couple questions.

We are planning staying at RPR for FOTL, do we need to do this that time of year? DH would rather skip a ride completely than wait 40 mins for it.

Are p2p needed or is there enough to do in each park to fill a day considering we wont be doing shows or standing attractions that are pre-2008? Hours are 9-7 the days we will be there, and while I really want to take HE, I really don't know if it's worth the $35 each ticket, just for that. Is it?

What would be the cost of upgrading to p2p on 2nd day? I saw the difference is greater on 1 day tickets but hoping that if you have a 2 day, it will be less. :\

TIA!

 

[macraven]

early december is lovely, not a packed crowded time period.

if you buy tickets for two days, and then want to upgrade them to P2P on the second day, not a good idea.

if you have 2 day passes for one park only and then upgrade on day two, you lose out.
both days will become p2p tickets and you could have used them that way starting out.

just buy the 2 day passes p2p
it's affordable and you can park hop as much as you want.
i'll rephrase that and say, $35 is not a lot for me to invest based on the amount i dole out to do the trip.
i figure if you haven't been to the darkside since 2008, it might be years before you venture back to it.
might as well take it all in on your schedule when you go in december.


it's been 7 years since you have been to the darkside.
new sections have been added and street entertainment has been added to the studios side since then.

if you run into any rides going down while you are there the two days, easy to park hop back the same day when the ride comes back into service.

 

[kohlby]

We'll be going that week this year as well. We usually go the week before t-giving, the week after, or the week after that. We stay at RPR and the express pass isn't needed for most rides - but it's nice to have. I'll have kids with me though and that makes me like it even more. There are times when it saves us 10-15 minutes and times we don't need it at all, but 10-15 minutes is still a nice perk. One of the biggest perks is getting into the park. It's a long walk from the huge parking garage to the park's gate. It's so much easier going back and forth from on-site. You can also consider a split stay - that's what we do to save money. Since you're doing two days, just one night on-site deluxe will get you two days of express pass.

I agree with doing park-to-park. Since you haven't been in 8 years, there's even more reason to do park-to-park. Also, without kids, we did a lot more walking and would switch parks a lot more. In our pre-kids days, we would start at IOA for thrill rides repeatedly, then head over to US to give our stomachs and heads a break, and then back to IOA for more coasters.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

Smartest thing I ever did was pull the kids out of school to go in early December rather than Christmas break. The crowds were awesome, but we still walked through the express lines to feel like royalty. I second, or third, or fourth park to park. Not just for Gringott's, but you will be able to spend the 1st day hitting all of the "new" stuff and a 2nd day to repeat the favorites. I always read how much better the decorations are at the motherland, but my family absolutely loved the decorations and shows at UO/IofA. If you take time to hit those shows as well as the standard year round shows, you are going to want to be able to get through the rides quickly to make the schedule work. You may need to revisit one of the parks to see it all. And based on your excitement for HP world, that is going to take at least a good 6 hours for both, maybe more if you fanatical. Keep all of the flexibility you can and prepare to be amazed when you enter Diagon Alley. My wife has never seen a minute of the movies or read a page of the books and was completely overwhelmed by the entire area!