All in a day?

[Limmer]

Hey! I am feeling completely out of my league here. I am a Disney veteran but we are adding a few days onto a Disney trip this time. My kids will be 14 and 16 and are Harry Potter fans so it seemed like the perfect time, but I know nothing about Universal.

We plan to have 2.5 days here, staying at Portofino Bay in October. We chose that one strictly for the Express pass. We will arrive approx noon on a Wednesday and thought that was a good time to try out Volcano Bay and maybe Citywalk for dinner.

Thursday all day at US and all day Friday for IoA. We have done 12 days happily at amusement parks near home so I know the girls will be able to power through the day and we plan to take advantage of early entry both mornings.

What are the chances we will get all the major rides done in one day each park? Are we crazy?

 

[DisneyMom93]

Hey! I am feeling completely out of my league here. I am a Disney veteran but we are adding a few days onto a Disney trip this time. My kids will be 14 and 16 and are Harry Potter fans so it seemed like the perfect time, but I know nothing about Universal.

We plan to have 2.5 days here, staying at Portofino Bay in October. We chose that one strictly for the Express pass. We will arrive approx noon on a Wednesday and thought that was a good time to try out Volcano Bay and maybe Citywalk for dinner.

Thursday all day at US and all day Friday for IoA. We have done 12 days happily at amusement parks near home so I know the girls will be able to power through the day and we plan to take advantage of early entry both mornings.

What are the chances we will get all the major rides done in one day each park? Are we crazy?

The first time we went we did the Express Passes and we did ALL the rides multiple times. We did the Harry Potter ride too, but only once.

We did one day US and one day IoA and a third day we did a half day at each park. We didn’t even need the third day but it was great because we just did all the rides we wanted to do multiple times.

My kids were younger then and they also spent a long time in the water play area too. I can’t believe how much we did in 3 days.

 

[DisneyMom93]

Oh, my kids weren’t able to go on the Hulk ride, or the Doom, so maybe that adds time. But we would have had plenty of time anyway. I think we rode Despicable Me and Spider-Man 8 times each.

 

[SG131]

With express pass you should easily be able to do everything you want. The parks are a lot more compact than some of the larger Disney parks so there’s definitely less walking. Without express pass but utilizing single rider instead I was easily able to do almost all the rides in 2 days plus time for plenty of wand waving. I’m not sure if Halloween horror nights would affect your plans. I don’t know much about how it works and since I hate haunted houses I have skipped over any information about it.

 

[skylock]

With express pass you can ride anything you want as many times as you want.

 

[bchbetha]

If they’re HP fans, you really should get park to park tickets otherwise no train.

 

[Disneyliscious]

If they’re HP fans, you really should get park to park tickets otherwise no train.

We are on the fence about this too. It's like paying $50 per person just to ride a ride. I've watched youtube videos of it and while it looks pretty cool, I'm not sure its a $50 ride for us (and we are HP fans). I'm sure to some it is though. It would cost us $450 to ride the train. I can't even comprehend that.

 

[Skippyboo]

Halloween Horror Night would definitely be happening on Friday night in October. It’s only at the Universal side. The park closes early around 5pm. You will want to check that the Thursday isn’t also a HHN when the dates come out.

I like the rides better on the Universal side than IoA. I couldn’t spell a whole day at IoA so I get the park to park ticket. The Hogwarts Express is different in each direction.

The parks are super close to each other. It’s not like Disney. It’s super easy to go back and forth between the 2 parks.

 

[bchbetha]

Halloween Horror Night would definitely be happening on Friday night in October. It’s only at the Universal side. The park closes early around 5pm. You will want to check that the Thursday isn’t also a HHN when the dates come out.

I like the rides better on the Universal side than IoA. I couldn’t spell a whole day at IoA so I get the park to park ticket. The Hogwarts Express is different in each direction.

The parks are super close to each other. It’s not like Disney. It’s super easy to go back and forth between the 2 parks.

The train is great for HP fans but the reasons given here are why I'd really want park to park tickets. We just go back and forth all day.

 

[Limmer]

Halloween Horror Night would definitely be happening on Friday night in October. It’s only at the Universal side. The park closes early around 5pm. You will want to check that the Thursday isn’t also a HHN when the dates come out.

I like the rides better on the Universal side than IoA. I couldn’t spell a whole day at IoA so I get the park to park ticket. The Hogwarts Express is different in each direction.

The parks are super close to each other. It’s not like Disney. It’s super easy to go back and forth between the 2 parks.

That would be even better. The kids would love to hit the Horror Nights with their Dad. That is a no go for me so a quiet night exploring or reading by the pool works!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

The train is not worth $450, cool as it may be. There is also often a wait (less so with express, but still).

The ability to park hop may be worth $450, but really for 2 days it probably isn't normally. That being said, if US closes early both days due to HHN, is the option to have another 3 park hours plus the train and freedom of hopping worth it? Probably.

If you stay with one park per day, you can always upgrade if you decide it would be worthwhile at that time.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If the choice is park to park vs. HHN, pick HHN for sure.

 

[wilbret]

My opinion on park to park... the train isn't worth it. The lines are always long when you want to ride it, so you'll want to watch times and maybe ride when you hadn't planned on it.
We just exit one park and walk to the other, it's less than a 10 minute walk. With Express Pass and multiple days, you will really find yourself looking for things to do (and that's fine).
We have been enough times that we can do both parks in a day and hit what we want. Doing the water park is a great idea.

 

[bobbie68]

Hi not sure if you know this (if you do I apologize) but the express pass from Portofino Bay will not work at Volcano Bay. It has it's own express pass which you could purchase. I have never purchased it there. We usually would go first thing in the morning or later afternoon. It really slows down about two hours before the park closes. It is a great water park. The tapu tapu takes some getting use to but it is like Disney's old fast pass. You get a time for a ride then go and ride then pick another when your finished.

We enjoy City Walk for dinner. One of our favorites is Toothsome!

I think you will have plenty of time with the other two parks with two days. The express pass really cuts down time for rides. It is nice that you will have the express pass and Portofino is now one of my
favorite resorts.

For me personally, I think the Hogwarts Express is awesome! My family are really HP fans and I couldn't imagine going there as a big fan and not riding it. We always get park to park tickets. I would not go without them. Besides the train we love to hop between parks. We find we do more that way. My family also likes the studios better, and usually wouldn't put a full day in IOA. The park hopper helps. I do understand when there is a budget and you have to chose.

Happy planning!

 

[Catvondita]

Totally do able. I usually do a Disney Vacation and do one day at universal, park hopper and can still get everything done that I want. So with the express pass and doing one park a day you will have more than enough time!