Advice for First Time Visit

[bunnyboo]

Hi, I'm planning my first vacation to Orlando and would appreciate your advice on some things regarding USF/IoA. It's going to be just my boyfriend and me, and we'll be in Orlando 10/25-11/2. We are planning on getting 2day base tickets without park hopper and will be staying at a Disney resort, so no extra perks.

1. As of now we plan on going to USF Tuesday 10/27 since it's one of the few nights without HHN, and IoA on Thursday 10/29 since HHN only causes it to close 1 hr early. Does that sound like a good plan, or are there better days to go during our trip?

2. We are both big HP fans (primary reason we're going) and enjoy roller coasters/thrill rides, but are not really into shows. Do you think we'll have enough time to do everything we want with just 1 day at each park?

3. For lunch we plan to eat at Leaky Cauldron and Three Broomsticks, and are going back to Disney for a late dinner both nights. We want to skip CityWalk completely or at most just stroll through for 30min (so we have more time in the parks). We both grew up in CA and have gone to the Hollywood one multiple times for Bubba Gump/Hard Rock Cafe, and been to Margaritaville in Vegas. Are there any restaurants you think we definitely shouldn't miss? Is there anything special about the Orlando CityWalk that we should check out?

Thanks for your help, looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

[schumigirl]

Do you know if you don't have a park hopper you won't be able to ride the Hogwarts Express?

Seeing as you are both HP fans, it would be a shame to miss.

 

[macraven]

on both of your days you will visit the parks, go early.
try to be up front in the line for when the park will open to the public at 9:00 am.

others will already be in the park the hour prior so it won't be empty but you can still hit the coasters without long waits hopefully.

you can dedicate each separate day to the park you are in all day.

like schumi stated above, you will miss going on HE since you won't have the park to park tickets.
but you will be able to do all the potter things the day you are in the parks.

 

[Parker Clan]

1 day at each park could work, but I agree to get the park to park option. We rode the Hogwarts Express like five times! Mainly to get back and forth between parks. It was also a ridiculously cool experience! We did two days at US/IoA as well but back & forth between parks. And it's a good thing we went on Gringotts the first day we were there because it was closed the second day! So definitely head straight to Gringotts!!