First Time US goers with small kids

[BrittanyM]

We are heading to Florida in February for my BIL's wedding and while we are there want to visit Universal. We are from California but have never done Universal at all and have chosen to now because DH and I are big Potter fans. We bought 3 day park to park tickets and are staying at the Holiday Inn across from the parks. Our kids are 7, 5 and 1 so we will be doing a lot of baby/child swap and will have a stroller with us.

I have read through a lot of touringplans.com information and have a few questions. There is stroller parking like at Disney right? (Also we have never been to Disney World, but have been multiple times to Disneyland.) And I've read you can't take things on the rides with you and have to utilize lockers. I'm assuming this won't be as much an issue since we will have to use child swap anyway, is that correct?

With the freestyle drink cup can you get it filled with butterbeer or do you have to have a special butterbeer cup for that? Which drink filling type cup is the best deal?

I read on touringplans that Sundays aren't as busy at Universal? Is that actually true? Being used to Disneyland I shudder to think of going to an amusement park on the weekend so any crowd tips would be helpful. We want to visit the Kennedy Space Center either Sunday or Monday and we were thinking Sunday would be driving over to Orlando and getting settled in the hotel, Monday the Space Center, Tuesday and Wednesday Universal and Thursday Universal in the late morning/early afternoon before we have to be at MCO at 3pm. Is this a good plan or do I not need to avoid weekends as much as I think? Is there a reliable queue time app for iPhone?

Any other tips are welcome, our kids aren't really into HP but love Dr. Suess and Despicable Me/Minions as well as Curious George. I've seen that the Minions ride needs to be high priority so should we plan on that first thing when we get in the park? Or would it be better to do Harry Potter early and then do Minions later? Thank you so much, I feel totally clueless about this whole thing and I like to be prepared!

ETA: Another question I thought of... will it be too cold for the water rides? And could someone "rate" the probability of getting wet for each water ride? Or compare it to Splash Mountain? I love those types of rides but I'm not sure I want to plan on doing them if it isn't fairly warm and you tend to get soaked!

 

[schumigirl]

For the water rides, it's not a question of how wet you'll get its how drenched you will be. Bilge Barge and Ripsaw Falls........totally drenched from head to foot. Jurassic Park can vary depending on how the boat is loaded......we have gone on hundreds of times and it varies from a sprinkling to be being totally drenched.......we sat on the front row once and were totally dry.....folks in row behind us were soaked. I wouldn't do the water rides in February......but I hate being cold....others may be ok with it.

I have never seen Minions at less than 45 minutes from early in the am. We never do early entry but are there really early and by 8.45 am it was always at least 45 minutes.....and that was so called quiet days. So if that's a priority definitely go there first......it's a fabulous little ride! Potter you can leave till later in the day, if you plan to stay later it does quieten down as it gets nearer to park closing.

Having child swap is a good thing, you can avoid lockers that way if you have the pushchair.......yes they do have stroller areas like at Disney.

The big 3 rides, RRR, Duelling Dragkns and Hulk (although it's closed right now) you can only have lanyards with EP if you have it......no bags of any kind including Danny packs that are allowed on other rides and no wallets, phones or coins.....really nothing in pockets for safety. And they do enforce that rule.

We have seen quiet Sunday's and mobbed Sunday's.........we usually don't spend much time in the parks at the weekend as a rule, but we are there 18 nights......so really maybe someone else can chime in on that one.

We never use freestyle cups so can't help you with that, but I don't think you can refill them with butter beer......they have their own cup......you can buy a souvenir one.......but I don't refill them, so again, not much help there........

You've made an excellent choice with getting park to park tickets.......means you can ride the Hogwarts Express......it really is amazing to see, and they take care of your stroller......they take them and keep them in the end of the carriage o you get them at the other side. You have to do the journey both ways, as it's different both times.

 

[RMulieri]

We usually arrive in Orlando on Sundays and the parks are pretty busy, at least busier than what the guidebooks claim. But I am sure there are busy Sundays and not so busy ones ( we go in Jan or August ) .Despicable me should be a priority. We stay onsite and have early entry /express passes and do not usually wait for it, but I will tell you that shortly after opening, lines are already 45 mins long for standby and only get worse throughout the day ( even on slow days the waits can be 90+ mins) .
I agree with the above..Jurassic park you may get spritzed or drenched. The other 2 you Will be drenched ( like jumped in the pool with clothes on ).We don't ride them in January even on warm days because it is cold after .
Lockers------On the following rides: Hulk, Dragon Challenge, Rip ride Rocket---
Lockers need to be used for all items except a lanyard .No items in pockets at all( no cameras, phones,loose change ) : child swap can hold bags, but you still need to empty pockets.It is STRICTLY enforced.
ON the following rides you can have a waistpack only ( no backpacks, wristlets, crossbody, or sling bags) everything else needs to go in lockers except they do not make you empty your pockets : Men in Black, HP Forbidden Journey, HP Gringotts, Mummy. If you are doing child swap, the bags on those rides can wait with the non-rider

Butterbeer can not be used with the freestyle cup.They do have a refill cup or discounted refills in the Potter areas for butterbeer.The potter areas are the only areas that sell butterbeer .We drink a lot of water so don't bother with the refill cups