First Time Universal..help planning Harry Potter

[justme0729]

This January will be our first time at Universal...I have looked over some of the sticky threads and the Universal website but I am feeling pretty clueless! Our goal for our one day there is to explore the Harry Potter World. Can someone give me advice for what we "must do" and what attractions we should do in the morning to hit the lowest wait times? I'm also a bit confused on where the Harry Potter World is located...I think I saw online that it is both at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios parks so we will need the two park admission ticket?

Basically, if we want to do everything to do with Harry Potter all in one day...how would you personally do it? What would your "schedule" be for the day? I am super clueless so the more details, the better Thank you!!!

 

[macraven]

This January will be our first time at Universal...I have looked over some of the sticky threads and the Universal website but I am feeling pretty clueless! Our goal for our one day there is to explore the Harry Potter World. Can someone give me advice for what we "must do" and what attractions we should do in the morning to hit the lowest wait times? I'm also a bit confused on where the Harry Potter World is located...I think I saw online that it is both at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios parks so we will need the two park admission ticket?

Basically, if we want to do everything to do with Harry Potter all in one day...how would you personally do it? What would your "schedule" be for the day? I am super clueless so the more details, the better Thank you!!!

what's your date in january?
hopefully you will not be doing a weekend for your one day for the parks.


i went this past january and some days had crowds, some didn't.
tour groups were out in numbers the second week in January when i was there.

MLK period will bring in some crowds.

the HP event is at the end of this coming January 2015.



parry hotter sections are in both parks.
studios and island of adventure.
the newer, larger section of HP is at the studios.

the train ride (HE) can be taken to reach the other potter section in the other park.

the park to park tickets are needed to board the HE / train ride.

if you want to see all of the potter sections, you will need to visit both UO parks.
buy the 1 day park to park ticket

 

[ellataylor]

We did both Harry Potter lands in 1 day at the beginning of September. The crowds were low on that day so it may take more time depending on crowd levels on your day of visiting.We did find it easily doable and was nice to totally immerse ourselves in the world of Harry Potter! This was our plan of attack:

Early entry to US (we stayed at Cabana Bay)
Go straight to Gringotts,the line was about 20 mins but we kept walking all the time and the queueing experience is great.
Breakfast at The Leaky Cauldron ( walked in and got table straight away)
Explored the rest of DA.
Caught Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade in IOA (you need park to park tickets)(no wait at all!)
Rode Forbidden Journey x2 with 15 min wait (my family actually loved this more than Gringotts but both are fab!)
Rode Flight of the Hipogriff and Dragon Challenge (only those of us who like rollercoasters)
Explored Hogsmeade.

We were actually done by 2pm but as i said probably due to low crowds. We were able to quite a few more family favourites in IOA before the end of the day.

By far our favourite day of our 17 day trip to Orlando but we are huge Harry Potter fans!
Hope this helps

 

[Taterella]

We did both Harry Potter lands in 1 day at the beginning of September. The crowds were low on that day so it may take more time depending on crowd levels on your day of visiting.We did find it easily doable and was nice to totally immerse ourselves in the world of Harry Potter! This was our plan of attack:

Early entry to US (we stayed at Cabana Bay)
Go straight to Gringotts,the line was about 20 mins but we kept walking all the time and the queueing experience is great.
Breakfast at The Leaky Cauldron ( walked in and got table straight away)
Explored the rest of DA.
Caught Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade in IOA (you need park to park tickets)(no wait at all!)
Rode Forbidden Journey x2 with 15 min wait (my family actually loved this more than Gringotts but both are fab!)
Rode Flight of the Hipogriff and Dragon Challenge (only those of us who like rollercoasters)
Explored Hogsmeade.

We were actually done by 2pm but as i said probably due to low crowds. We were able to quite a few more family favourites in IOA before the end of the day.

By far our favourite day of our 17 day trip to Orlando but we are huge Harry Potter fans!
Hope this helps

Did you do Ollivander's? Have the crowds at Ollivander's died done now with 2 locations?

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks for the question, I also enjoyed the responses. We have done Hogsmeade twice (multi-day visits), but will be going back to add DA, and I'll have a close look at ella's response.

We have successfully navigated into the small Ollivander's in Hogsmeade; late afternoon proved to have shorter lines there (as people are leaving for supper, really), but I expect it will be easier now.

I would also say, make time to just enjoy, walk around and soak it in. The Hogshead Pub in Hogsmeade has always been less crowded than the Three Broomsticks, if you are just looking for a butterbeer (or an ale!).