Efficient Touring Plan

[kdfogliano]

We will be doing Universal the first few days of our next trip (April) Will have our arrival afternoon, full day and then next morning until off to Disney.

Will have park-park passes and express pass.

In need of a GOOD touring plan. I've read a lot and getting conflicting info. Please someone tell me how to maximize these days with spending as much time in Harry Potter as possible. We haven't been to universal in 10 years. We are hustlers, want to do as much as possible in as short as possible.

Please add any "must not miss" food, shows etc...

No need to worry about height requirements!

 

[cschaaf]

Are you staying on-property at Universal? If so, you'd have Early Park Admission available on that second day. You could use that to get in the HP section of the park that is open early. I'd use that time to do any rides in that area, then, when the other park opens, take the Hogwart's Express to the other park and do those rides.

You'll be able to get the non-HP stuff done using your EP. I think you'll be surprised at how much you can get done.

My 'must do' items aren't really food or show related: The Mummy, Men In Black, and Hulk are rides we try to do every day we are in the parks.

The only show we go to is the Horror Makeup Show and we don't do that every trip.

For food, our favorite is Red Oven in Citiwalk. IMO, you won't find a better food deal at Uni or Disney.

 

[gotomu212]

My strategy is to see HP areas during express entry and then leave the area until later in the day/evening. Those areas can get crowded but clear out around 4ish (you can use the wait time app to keep an eye in case things get empty).

Other than that I echo a PP that your express pass let's you pretty much walk on (with maybe a short wait) to any ride so you don't need extensive touring plans. I basically all I to I hit a ride, get on, and and hen walk to the next one.

My most dos is eating in the Leaky Cauldren and Three Broomsticks and a meal at Mythos (no advance planning required but I usually book a reservation at Mythos the night before) and we also leave time for the play areas, depending on ages this might not apply but there are fantastic areas for the kids to run and play in both parks.

 

[schumigirl]

With EP and park to park you don't need a touring plan.

However, check the website www.universalorlando.com

Familiarise yourself with the park layout and note what you want to do and that'll give you an idea of your days. The layout is easy to follow and has restaurants, bathrooms etc too.

What my must do rides could be different to yours. Again, the website has loads of info on the rides in both parks.

Read the stickies on here too.......there's a fabulous food one created by damo..........it has all restaurants in parks, hotels and Citywalk with all menus available to see, so you can see what would suit your family.

No need to make dining reservations ahead of time either..........

 

[SaintsManiac]

I've been reading orlandoinformer.com and their plans are pretty detailed.

 

[cschaaf]

I've been reading orlandoinformer.com and their plans are pretty detailed.

Their touring plans are fine and will get you through if you want to use them.

Their touring plans are primarily focused on hitting the shortest wait times. So, you'll see the busiest rides grouped at the top (early AM) and the bottom (late PM). Generally good advice for any theme/amusement park touring.

If you don't have EP, those touring plans are probably the best way to make sure you can get the most done and wait the least.

With EP, I don't think they are necessary. We hit the non-EP rides first (Harry Potter stuff), then the busiest rides (Kong, Minions). Then we hit rides we'd like to do more than once in the day (Mummy, MIB, Transformers, Hulk). After that, we just do whatever we feel like doing.

We rarely return to the HP areas after the initial rides in the AM. In IOA, we'll walk through the area, but only to get to something else.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Their touring plans are fine and will get you through if you want to use them.

Their touring plans are primarily focused on hitting the shortest wait times. So, you'll see the busiest rides grouped at the top (early AM) and the bottom (late PM). Generally good advice for any theme/amusement park touring.

If you don't have EP, those touring plans are probably the best way to make sure you can get the most done and wait the least.

With EP, I don't think they are necessary. We hit the non-EP rides first (Harry Potter stuff), then the busiest rides (Kong, Minions). Then we hit rides we'd like to do more than once in the day (Mummy, MIB, Transformers, Hulk). After that, we just do whatever we feel like doing.

We rarely return to the HP areas after the initial rides in the AM. In IOA, we'll walk through the area, but only to get to something else.

My family is going solely for the HP areas, so that's why I plan to use OI.

 

[janicept]

I was a tour guide for my brother-in-law's family last year with one day at each park: EPCOT, SeaWorld, and both Universal. The way I handled it was made a list of all rides, shows, and activities. I went to each person about what was a not to miss, good if we had time, and don't want to waste time at. For Universal it's important to go to the non express rides early. We had two kids that were split between coaster riders and non riders. I go all the time so I stayed with the non rider whenever needed. HP express is not worth the line if it's long; I'm sure there's video on Youtube. Studios has a lot more to see than IOA unless the kids are really young. I also made it a point to let the kids know that as much as they are going to want to stand around and look at the HP area we needed to ride the rides then loop back around in the afternoon to go in the shops and take pics when the lines are long.

Order we ride:
Studios: Gringotts, Simpsons, RRR, Transformers, Mummy, MIB (if the line is not long you can go in child swap and ride again), then whatever else you might want to see. I don't go to the kids area. Shrek is a theater show similar to Mickey's Philharmagic. Minions is not worth the wait unless you have express so I'm glad you do. I personally don't often go to the Horror Makeup Show since I've seen it so many times but it's cute to see if you have time. Again I'm sure it's on Youtube to give you an idea. The animal show is cute. Jimmy Fallon will be open by then so we don't know yet if that will have express, what the lines will be like, and how fast it loads. The night show is something to do if you have time. They basically project old movie clips onto dripping water w/ fireworks and music. This is a good time to get in line for one last ride on Gringotts or just look around in HP since everyone will be leaving or watching the show. You can get some good pics at this time.

IOA: HP castle ride, Kong, Hulk, Jurassic Park, back to HP for Hippogriff and Dragon's Challenge. The Suess Land is cute but if the kids are old they won't be interested in the rides. You can gets pics with characters and the stores are fun to look at. Not as much to do here so I would pick this park if you only have half day. Also no night show here. Again don't spend time looking around until you've ridden all the most important rides.

Download the Universal app on your phone. Very useful and you can get an idea of ride time before you get to the park since it works even when you're not there.

Have fun.

 

[cschaaf]

My family is going solely for the HP areas, so that's why I plan to use OI.

Sounds good!

Use Early Park Admission if you have it. Last trip, Day 1 we did EPA, rode Gringott's, ate breakfast, bought a wand, and hit a bunch of the wand spots in Diagon Alley. When the Hogwart's Express opened up, we took that over to IOA and rode Forbidden Journey. Then we went to Kong and used Express. For the rest of the day, we did whatever we wanted using express.

Day 2 we did EPA, rode Gringott's, ate breakfast, hit the remaining wand spots, and looked through the shops until the Hogwart's Express was open. We jumped over to IOA and went straight to Kong to see the Standby queue. After that, we went back and did FJ and Dragon Challenge (walked Standby since we'd never seen that queue before), then did the wand spots in Hogsmeade. Again, the rest of the day, we used Express on non-HP stuff.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We are staying at Cabana Bay, but we will only get early entry the 2nd day, since we drive in on the first. DD7 and I don't care to ride the thrills, so DH plans to do those solo. I told him we would buy EP for him, but Touring Plans has those days as low crowds. (11/15-11/16)

I guess we'll see what really happens, but I hope those low levels are true. We want to start off with lunch at the Leaky and then do Diagon Alley, catch Hogwarts Express, do Hogsmeade, etc. I am for sure getting a wand!

I'm hoping nearly 2 days is enough time. DD7 is obsessed with Hello Kitty, so we need to make some time for that, too.

I'm still not sure if I am going to do FJ, but I would like to ride Gringott's. One thing for me is to get some photography time, in as well.

 

[kdfogliano]

thanks everyone! '

We will have early entry. when we are there both parks open early, so we guess we will just take one day early at one park and the next morning at the other park.

ive read that the minion ride line is super long even with EP? True??

We are Disney veterans, I don't like going in blind to universal. lol

 

[schumigirl]

thanks everyone! '

We will have early entry. when we are there both parks open early, so we guess we will just take one day early at one park and the next morning at the other park.

ive read that the minion ride line is super long even with EP? True??

We are Disney veterans, I don't like going in blind to universal. lol

We have never waited longer than 15 minutes with EP for Despicable Me. Regular queue was around 100 minutes or longer at that point. More often than not it's a walk on or less than 5 minutes.

I've read a few folks have had a slightly longer wait on occasion.

EP is usually guaranteed to be 20 minutes or under.

 

[pcstang]

We've never waited longer than 20 minutes with express for DM. Usually less than that as Schumi stated.

 

[klmall]

We are staying at Cabana Bay, but we will only get early entry the 2nd day, since we drive in on the first. DD7 and I don't care to ride the thrills, so DH plans to do those solo. I told him we would buy EP for him, but Touring Plans has those days as low crowds. (11/15-11/16)

I guess we'll see what really happens, but I hope those low levels are true. We want to start off with lunch at the Leaky and then do Diagon Alley, catch Hogwarts Express, do Hogsmeade, etc. I am for sure getting a wand!

I'm hoping nearly 2 days is enough time. DD7 is obsessed with Hello Kitty, so we need to make some time for that, too.

I'm still not sure if I am going to do FJ, but I would like to ride Gringott's. One thing for me is to get some photography time, in as well.

1.5 or 2 days should be sufficient to do your must-rides and some photography. Our last 2 trips were much the same as you propose (but with EP). We would arrive mid-morning; check in; go straight to a park; tour all day until dinner; maybe tour after dinner and get up the next morning for Early Entry spending the whole day in both parks and checking out the next day. Even if we hadn't had EP I'm pretty sure we could have still done everything we wanted since the crowds were low to moderate.