camping and universal studios

[kekee]

Hi,

We will be camping for the first time at the fort this coming August. We went to Disney in March but didn't go over to Universal. Now my kids are really interested in Harry Potter and I am thinking about adding Universal to our trip. Do you think it would be best to get a room at one of the on site hotels so that we can take advantage of early park admission and their express ride access that allows you to skip the regualr lines. Or do you think we can see it all in one day?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[DisCamper]

I would stay at the on-site hotels for the early park admission and their express ride access that allows you to skip the regualr lines in August it's very hot and wait times for most to all ride are around 60mins. But when I stayed there a few months ago you could not use your hotel card for Harry Potter all the other rides it was ok.

 

[allabouttink]

You said you just came back from a trip and visited Universal for Harry Potter. My family is Harry Potter fans. I wanted to know if it was worth the $$ to go to Universal for the day to see the whole Harry Potter thing? Thanks in advance!

 

[kekee]

We didn't do Harry Potter in March but I plan on doing it in August during our next visit.

 

[retired and happy]

We did Universal a few years ago, but stayed at the Fort. It seemed like a couple mile walk to get into the place from the parking deck. We were not impressed, but it is something different to see after a few WDW visits.

 

[2goofycampers]

You can do IOA in a day. You can also get a 2 day pass, usually at a discounted price.

Let me preface by saying we have never seen/read a HP movie or book. The ride was neat so was the castle. But, nothing spectacular to us. The HP fans however seemed really into the whole HP area.

There is also A US/IOA board on The Dis that could help you with information.

 

[jsmla]

We've been three times since WWOHP opened and stayed onsite for two of those visits. Forbidden Journey and Pteradon Flyers (IOA) and Rip Ride Rockit (US) aren't included in Express. Neither is Ollivander's wand shop which had the longest line we experienced. The line there was long right after early opening and AFAIK stayed that way all day.

If you don't have anyone too young along I really like the Single Rider line, especially at FJ. The way the ride vehicle for FJ is configured you can't really interact with your fellow passengers anyway. You stand in line together until it's time to board. I was there at Mardi Gras (VERY busy) and, when the stand-by line for FJ was 90 minutes, we walked right on using Single Rider.

We were camping at Ft. Wilderness for our October trip to Universal. We did keep our trailer at the site while we stayed over one night at Royal Pacific. It wasn't a problem. If you can get there early enough one night will give you two full days of Express which was plenty for us to see both parks.

We really like staying at the Universal hotels. The pools are very nice and we love early admission and walking to the parks.

 

[testtubes]

We also made a quick trip last Feb. to see the shuttle launch and Harry Potter at IOA. The best advice we got and did was not to have a bag with us when we went to the park. The LONGEST line for FJ was for the lockers before getting in line for the ride. What would have taken at least one and a half hours took less than 30 minutes because we were able to go right into the castle. If you have a bag, I would put it in a locker as you first enter the parks where there are many available at no wait. I only wore a waist bag (fanny pack) that did not have to go in a locker.
We arrived at IOA an hour before opening and only onsite guests were there before us. We purchased 1 day/2 parks tickets. We spent the morning at IOA and then went to Universal in the afternoon. That was enough for us. Give me good old late night entertainment at WDW which is fabulous but not so much at Universal.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[Mmketeer]

If you can afford it DIFFENTLY book one of the Lowes on site resorts and if you have a pet...bring it with you. The Lowes resorts caters to pets.
The Royal Pacific Resort is the laest expensive of the three and the benefit you gets way blows Disney's Fastpass out of the water. The first time I stayed there I was still working for Disney and I have to tell you...I almost jumped ship right then and there as Universal's resort perks were so much better.
First with the pet...we checked in with our Two BT's (one under each of our arms) and they were oohed and awed over the whole time. We did not get a pet room because we were there for our anniverary and their were no pets rooms available with a king (which we insisted on). So after seeing how well behaved and calm our four legged kids were the agent behind the desk got the manager and they made an expetion and put us in one of the towers by the convention area where they told us we were welcome to walk the dogs.
We hadn't been in the room 5 min when their was a knock on the door and we though oh no here we go....and low and behold it was a employee holding two gift bags for our pets. Each bag had a bowl and placement and a few other things to help make our pets feel welcome. Very cool. Well we forgot their bed (trust me we had alot of others stuff though like a baby get etc.) So, we called guest services and asked if their was anyway we could get one and within the hour they delivered to us for our use a brand new (with the tags still on it pet bed). They had a room service menu just for them and even treats in the mini-bar. It was pretty amazing. We even took them that night down to the hotel bar and it turned out the bartender had a BT too. It was really cool how everyone went out of their way to make them feel special. Don't get me wrong they weren't allowed in the pool or the restaurants, but we never felt like they were out of place there.

Okay now to the theme park benefit. We don't like to leave our four-legged kids alone for any length of time and though they do offer a pet walking service we decided that we wouldn't need to be gone all day at the parks. We figured that we would get the same sort of benefit as Disney's Fast Pass, but Universal's was soo much better. For instance, the Hulk was 45min wait and we walked over to our specifc line for resort guests, they scaned our id and we got on within 5 minutes! It turns out we only had to leave our four-legged kids for 4 hours and with that front of the line access pass we were able to see 90% of the park in just 4 hours!

I highly reccomend the Universal Lowes Resorts to anyone.

 

[Sinclare]

If you don't want the added expense of staying onsite at Universal there is another option (at least there used to be, you might want to check). They do sell "fastpass" booklets for Universal at their customer service (I think). It's well worth it if you're not staying on site.