Best Touring Plan 1 day both parks

[Minnie404]

Hi All-we are headed to Universal next week and doing both parks but only one day. First time going there and was hoping for those that have gone what is best touring plan. My son is into rollar coasters so those will be a must. I'm not planning on the express pass unless I find the crowds really bad. Any help would be appreciated-we are huge Disney fans but this is the first time over to Universal. Or if there is a site that has great ideas for a touring plan please let me know. TIA

 

[TommyJK]

A touring plan w/o express pass would depend on how important it is that you ride Minion Mayhem and/or Skull Island : Reign of Kong

 

[klo1335]

We did this in August 2015. We went right when it opened and did not have express pass. It was a moderate crowd day. We got through Jurassic Park, WWoHP both side, and Seuss Landing. It was so hot that we didn't even make it to the rest of UO, which is why we are going back for 4 days. I would suggest picking what is important to you. For us it was WWoHP and Jurassic. I can guarantee that you won't be able to see everything. But we still had a lot of fun. The Hogwarts Express is awesome!

 

[TommyJK]

Here is what my personal 1 Day touring plan w/o express pass would be:

Rope Drop at Islands of Adventure

1. Kong - only because I haven't been on it yet, it's new, and will have long lines pretty quickly
2. Hogsmeade - Ride Forbidden Journey
3. Dragon Challenge
4. Hogwarts Express over to Universal
5. Diagon Alley - Ride Escape from Gringotts
6. The Mummy
7. Rip Ride Rockit
8. Transformers
9. Head back up to Hogwarts Express and take it back to Islands of Adventure
10. Jurassic Park River Adventure
11. Spiderman
12. Hulk Coaster

Notable Omissions (you could slot in above if you have the time):

1. Minions Ride. The line is ALWAYS long except at early entry/rope drop. If this was a must ride I'd redo the touring plan much differently
2. Simpsons ride. It's good, but also tends to have a long line and is a bit out of the way from the above touring plan
3. MIB. Doesn't make the cut IMO ahead of any of the other rides
4. Popeyes and Ripshaw falls, again good rides but wouldn't do them in place the ones on my list
5. Dr. Dooms. This one you could most feasibly fit in between Spiderman and Hulk coaster, time permitting.

 

[Minnie404]

Here is what my personal 1 Day touring plan w/o express pass would be:

Rope Drop at Islands of Adventure

1. Kong - only because I haven't been on it yet, it's new, and will have long lines pretty quickly
2. Hogsmeade - Ride Forbidden Journey
3. Dragon Challenge
4. Hogwarts Express over to Universal
5. Diagon Alley - Ride Escape from Gringotts
6. The Mummy
7. Rip Ride Rockit
8. Transformers
9. Head back up to Hogwarts Express and take it back to Islands of Adventure
10. Jurassic Park River Adventure
11. Spiderman
12. Hulk Coaster

Notable Omissions (you could slot in above if you have the time):

1. Minions Ride. The line is ALWAYS long except at early entry/rope drop. If this was a must ride I'd redo the touring plan much differently
2. Simpsons ride. It's good, but also tends to have a long line and is a bit out of the way from the above touring plan
3. MIB. Doesn't make the cut IMO ahead of any of the other rides
4. Popeyes and Ripshaw falls, again good rides but wouldn't do them in place the ones on my list
5. Dr. Dooms. This one you could most feasibly fit in between Spiderman and Hulk coaster, time permitting.

Thank you so much. This will definitely help me. Minions would probably be the only other ride that he may want to do but not for sure until I ask him. Trip is a surprise so won't know what he would like to do until we get down there. Thank you for putting this together. I really appreciate it.

 

[TommyJK]

If you want to do minions, then you'd probably have to sacrifice Kong without express pass. If minions is a must I would change the touring plan to be:

Rope Drop at Universal side

1. Minions (its right near the entrance)
2. then head straight up to Daigon Alley to do Gringotts
3. Take the Hogwarts express to Hogsmeade
4. Forbidden Journey
5. Dragon Challenge
6. Jurassic Park River Adventure
7. Spiderman
8. Hulk
9. Then double back up to Hogwarts express so you can experience it the other direction
10. Mummy
11. Rip Ride Rockit
12. Transformers

At this point if you have time you could try and perhaps fit in Simpsons/MIB, or see if you have time to re-ride either Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Spiderman or Hulk (IMO the attractions worth a second ride).

 

[laughinplace199]

We are in a similar situation in that we only have one day for both parks. We are going Nov 23 (day before Thanksgiving) and will have early entrance and express pass. It will be super crowded and we know we won't be able to see/do everything.
All of the Harry Potter stuff is our main "must do" list, but we want to do as much other stuff as possible. We've never been to Universal, so I'd appreciate any help on a touring plan.

 

[TommyJK]

We are in a similar situation in that we only have one day for both parks. We are going Nov 23 (day before Thanksgiving) and will have early entrance and express pass. It will be super crowded and we know we won't be able to see/do everything.
All of the Harry Potter stuff is our main "must do" list, but we want to do as much other stuff as possible. We've never been to Universal, so I'd appreciate any help on a touring plan.

You're in a better situation with early entry and express pass.

Universal side has early entry in November so I would head straight up to Diagon Alley, do that until the first train on Hogwarts Express is available , head over to Hogsmeade, do all of that next.

Then with express pass, do a "loop" around Islands of Adventure, do Hogwarts Express back to Universal , and then do a loop around that park.

 

[laughinplace199]

Thanks TommyJK. That's just the info I was looking for!

 

[Minnie404]

Here is what my personal 1 Day touring plan w/o express pass would be:

Rope Drop at Islands of Adventure

1. Kong - only because I haven't been on it yet, it's new, and will have long lines pretty quickly
2. Hogsmeade - Ride Forbidden Journey
3. Dragon Challenge
4. Hogwarts Express over to Universal
5. Diagon Alley - Ride Escape from Gringotts
6. The Mummy
7. Rip Ride Rockit
8. Transformers
9. Head back up to Hogwarts Express and take it back to Islands of Adventure
10. Jurassic Park River Adventure
11. Spiderman
12. Hulk Coaster

Notable Omissions (you could slot in above if you have the time):

1. Minions Ride. The line is ALWAYS long except at early entry/rope drop. If this was a must ride I'd redo the touring plan much differently
2. Simpsons ride. It's good, but also tends to have a long line and is a bit out of the way from the above touring plan
3. MIB. Doesn't make the cut IMO ahead of any of the other rides
4. Popeyes and Ripshaw falls, again good rides but wouldn't do them in place the ones on my list
5. Dr. Dooms. This one you could most feasibly fit in between Spiderman and Hulk coaster, time permitting.

Just wanted to say thank you so much for this-we followed it pretty close and got to do everything on this list plus a few extras-we started at rope drop and decided to do hulk first-no line and he was super excited to ride it-we got front row with no one behind us went on to King Kong and then to Harry Potter-hogsmeade was down so we walked over to Universal and hit the rides over there-even was able to ride minions late in the day. Headed back to IOA late in the day and rode hulk 2 more times-it was definitely his favorite coaster. Thanks again for the help-he is in love with universal so I'm
Sure we will be Back at some point.

 

[TommyJK]

Excellent! I'm glad you had a great time!