First time to Universal/IOA...please help.

[Toot Sweet]

Hello,

We are doing a whirlwind trip to Orlando. My girls (ages 14 and 10) have not been to WDW in four years due to financial issues. We saved and saved to do a quick trip, two days in Disney parks and one day at Universal.

None of us has ever been to Universal or IOA. We can't afford to stay an extra day in order to do one park each day, but we did get a park hopper allowing us to do both parks that day (next Tuesday, Oct 25). We got express passes. Do you think we will be able to do all the rides at both parks in one day with an express pass?

Also, which are the can't-miss shows? We are trying to cram a lot into one day, so I know we can't see everything.

I don't know a whole lot about either park, but I definitely want to see WWOHP; it's my main reason for going.

If you had to choose five things not to miss, what would they be?

Thank you so much for any help. We are leaving on Saturday.

 

[Seeker615]

Don't miss

IOA:
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - My all time favorite ride! Also go and do the castle tour too!

Spiderman

Jurrasic Park River Adventure

There are a lot of other rides but to me those were the best

Universal Studios:
Revenge of the Mummy

The Simpsons

Men in Black

Horror Make up Show - my favorite show at Universal. We saw it twice!

Have a great trip. It is very easy to hop between the parks. We did it all day. When one seemed crowded we would head over to the other.

 

[DCTooTall]

The only show I'd say you absolutely positively shouldn't miss is the Horror Makeup show at Universal Studios.

Now for rides.


Universal:

Mummy
Men In Black
ET (Just for the Queue and cute nostalgia factor)
Simpsons (although I'll mention that I can leave feeling icky depending on the car I ride in).

IOA:

Spiderman
Forbidden Journey



If you are a big coaster fan, There are also several at the parks that shouldn't be missed.

I also enjoy Poseidon's at IOA, but I don't know if I'd say it was a not to be missed attraction.

If you do an open-to-close day and have the express, You shouldn't have too many problems hitting everything in both parks. I might however recommend looking at some park maps first so you know what you absolutely must do.


The Express won't be accepted on a few attractions, such as Forbidden Journey. If the line is too long, I'd suggest looking at the Single Rider line, and then doing the Castle Tour line in order to see the queue area. (May need to ask a team member to point out which one it is.)

There are a lot of attractions that take Single Riders, and it can sometimes be faster than Express. It would also be good for some attractions you may decide you want to re-ride (mummy, MIB) since your express is only valid once per attraction.

 

[Planogirl]

Get to Universal early and head straight to WWoHP. We stay offsite and have no trouble riding Forbidden Journey if we do that. We do wait but it's reasonable. Now if you want to go into Ollivanders, I understand that you should line up for that first. If you can, try to see WWoHP at night too. It's really pretty.

I agree pretty much with everyone's suggestions as to best rides. Also, try to see a bit of Seuss Landing and ride Cat in the Hat if the line isn't too long. You might also want to ride Jaws (a bit hokey but fun) and Disaster in the studios if the lines aren't too long. Disaster's line lengths are all over the place so you never know with that one.

If you need somewhere to just sit and rest, definitely see the Makeup Show. Terminator is another good one for a bit of sitting.

 

[wen8jr]

Other than WWoHP (which we will be doing for the very first time this year too)...

Our favorites in order of best to last:

The Mummy - US (A must do! I think we rode this 5 times one trip)
SpiderMan - IOA
Simpsons - US
Horror Make Up Show - US
Men in Black - US
ET - US

We ride the big coasters too, like HULK, etc. and all the small rides but those don't seem to be our favorites that we talk about a year later.

Tip - you are not allowed to take a fanny pack or any type of purse/bag on some rides in the parks or at least they wouldn't let me...you have to use a locker...which is free (i hope it still is) but is aggravating and TIME CONSUMING if you are going to try to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. On the Mummy I had to hit the locker all 5 times as my family didn't go far, then decided to go back to ride again after I had retrieved my bag. Our next trip we will not be taking a bag in of any kind, plan to have zipper pockets or carry the bare minimum in the park with us. I think some folks have talked about this here on the US boards, so there may be some additional tips around that might help as well.

 

[zack123]

I'm a ride fan, shows I can take or leave. I didn't see the Monster Makeup Show, but of the shows I did see, the only one I'd count as "don't miss" is the Frog Chorus mini-show in WWoHP. It's short, outdoors, and runs several times per day, so you can always multi-task and enjoy a butterbeer while you watch it. (Frozen butterbeer is awesome, by the way. If you are a Potter fan, be sure to try the butterbeer).

Terminator 2 and Disaster are fun, if you have time and the lines aren't too long. Christopher Walken is hilarious in Disaster.

My favorite rides were -

IOA:
-Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
-Dragon Challenge
-Ripsaw Falls (do not do if it's cold, you will get soaked)
-Hulk

US:
-The Simpsons
-Revenge of the Mummy
-MIB
-ET (adults who enjoyed the movie when they were younger will probably like this more than the kids)
-Rip Ride Rockit


If I had to narrow it down to five? I'd ride Forbidden Journey five times.

If it's five different rides:
-Forbidden Journey
-Simpsons
-Mummy
-MIB
-Dragon Challenge

P.S. I am a roller coaster fan, if you're not into the big coasters you may want to skip Hulk, Dragon Challenge, and RRR.