First Timer Question

[Mrs Lapo]

Hi, I'm planning my first trip for my family. We are only planning one day at Universal. Our main goal is to see all of the Harry Potter attractions as we are HUGE fans. Anything after that is a bonus. I am asking for any tips you can give me. I've heard that Disney gives away free pins for things such as first trip or birthdays.. does Universal do that as well? Are we allowed to bring food into the park like you can at Disney? I feel like all of my pre trip research has been focused on the Disney side since we are only spending one day at Universal but I still want to make the most of that one day.

I am planning on taking a cab to and from the park so that we can be there for rope drop. My plan is to head directly to Diagon Alley & hop right in the Gringotts line. And then explore the rest of Diagon Alley. We want to get an interactive wand and make sure to hit all the interactive window displays. Then we'll ride the Hogwarts express over to Hogsmeade and explore everything they have to offer over there. I would like to eat at Three Broomsticks but I'm assuming it will be crowded so we'll have to see about that. And like I said once we're done checking out all the HP attractions then anything else we get to see will be a bonus. I really want us to take our time since I doubt we will be there again anytime soon.

Is that a realistic plan? Will we be able to see everything in DA and WWHP? Any other tips or suggestions I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance!!

 

[mrsabbott]

When are you going?? If you are going during a busy time of year or visiting on a weekend vs a weekday then crowds and wait times might be more.

We haven't been since they opened Diagon Alley. We are going Spring Break.. which falls right after Easter weekend but right before the main "Spring Break" times.. We plan to only visit midweek (M-TR) and will devote an entire day to just HP. We won't have fast passes or anything. We didn't the last time either and survived.

There were some things I didn't get to do because we were trying to catch the highlights of both parks in just 2 days. We have a sort of "game plan" for our HP day. Hubs wants to eat at Leaky Cauldron for lunch. We want to experience Olivanders and would like to get an interactive wand. We will definitely do Gringott's and want to take our time really exploring all the small details. And, of course, we will do Hogwart's Express and we will do all of Hogsmeade again. We want to catch ALL of the shows. If we want to ride something again we plan to (although after seeing the queue's, we may opt to take turns in the single rider lines). We do want to do Hogwart's Express both ways because it is supposed to be different.

Providing wait times aren't outrageous (2-3 hours) I think a full day is plenty of time to get the most out of both parks!

 

[Planogirl]

If you only want to see the Harry Potter stuff and it isn't too packed you can likely get that done. The only problem I see is trying to visit Ollivanders and Gringotts. I've been wondering what the lines for Ollivanders are like nowadays.

 

[hydrotony]

If you want to see all of WWOHP, you need a 1-day 2-park ticket since half of WWOHP is in each park and you need 2-park ticket to ride Hogwarts Express. Start at USF, go right to Diagon Alley & ride Gringotts is correct. Ollivander's has short lines in DA (3 rooms), Hogsmeade Ollivander's has 1 room and lines are longer. Eat lunch at 11am at Leaky Cauldren before the rush. The DA shows in Carkitt Market alternate every half hour. Right now, two different puppet plays and music set by Celestina Warbeck. Unfortunately, the 2 shows at IOA may play at the same times as the 3 shows at DA, you need to figure out a schedule. It may be good to do 2 round trips on HE to get all the shows. Dinner at 3 Broomsticks also may be better before or after typical dinner time.

 

[Planogirl]

If you want to see all of WWOHP, you need a 1-day 2-park ticket since half of WWOHP is in each park and you need 2-park ticket to ride Hogwarts Express. Start at USF, go right to Diagon Alley & ride Gringotts is correct. Ollivander's has short lines in DA (3 rooms), Hogsmeade Ollivander's has 1 room and lines are longer. Eat lunch at 11am at Leaky Cauldren before the rush. The DA shows in Carkitt Market alternate every half hour. Right now, two different puppet plays and music set by Celestina Warbeck. Unfortunately, the 2 shows at IOA may play at the same times as the 3 shows at DA, you need to figure out a schedule. It may be good to do 2 round trips on HE to get all the shows. Dinner at 3 Broomsticks also may be better before or after typical dinner time.

Thanks for answering my question about Ollivanders. That is good news!

 

[crostorfer]

Heed this advice, you will thank me later.

You need to be at the gate, in line, no later than exactly one hour before the park opens. Not 55 minutes, not 45 minutes, no later than one hour. An hour and a half is better. Go straight to Gringotts, then to Olivander's, and then save the HE for last after you have seen everything on the Diagon Alley side. The waits for the HE haven't been nearly as bad as predicted, I've been watching them on an app every day.

You have to remember than on site Universal guests from all four resorts will already be in the park at that time, if you want to do it all without spending a ridiculous amount of time in line, you need to be at the the front of the pack. When the WWoHP opened in 2010 we went in September and were there exactly one hour early. We were probably 20 people back in line. Within 15 minutes there were HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS of people behind us, and that isn't an exaggeration. A few minutes makes a huge difference. Even the onsite guests are lining up an hour early for the hour early entry, the line starts forming as early as 6:30am for an 8am early opening.

 

[Mrs Lapo]

Thank you!! Thank you!!

We are going the week of Thanksgiving. I was told that Sunday would be the best day since some people arrive/leave on Sun so we are planning to go the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We are arriving Sat morning so this is our 1st full day in FL. That is why I wanted to take a cab vs the Mears shuttle because I want to be there EARLY!! Is there anyway to get the show schedules online ahead of time so that we can plan our day at dinner the night before? j/w. And which app are you using? I have the Universal app and also the Undercover Tourist app but I'm not sure which is more accurate. Also can you bring in outside food? I would much rather eat some uncrustables while in line than lose time out at the park than sitting down to eat for two meals. We do want to have dinner there though and will make sure to eat at an off time. Sorry for so many questions. Thanks for all your help!

 

[damo]

We were there last week and our wait times for Gringotts varied from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. We never went during EE. The 15 minute wait time was at 10:30 in the morning and the 45 minute was at 2:30 in the afternoon. The 45 minute wait was posted at 60 minutes. The line was constantly moving.

If the ride is running well, the line doesn't seem to be getting too long lately.

If you can do single rider, the wait is much shorter as well but you miss a lot of the cool queue and the elevator ride.

We had lunch at Leaky Cauldron and all really enjoyed it. I had the Ploughman's Platter which was absolutely excellent. It was my second favourite lunch of our combined WDW/Universal vacation, second only to Yak and Yeti.

 

[MMitchell29]

We were there last week and our wait times for Gringotts varied from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. We never went during EE. The 15 minute wait time was at 10:30 in the morning and the 45 minute was at 2:30 in the afternoon. The 45 minute wait was posted at 60 minutes. The line was constantly moving.

If the ride is running well, the line doesn't seem to be getting too long lately.

If you can do single rider, the wait is much shorter as well but you miss a lot of the cool queue and the elevator ride.

We had lunch at Leaky Cauldron and all really enjoyed it. I had the Ploughman's Platter which was absolutely excellent. It was my second favourite lunch of our combined WDW/Universal vacation, second only to Yak and Yeti.

Would you mind sharing what's on the Ploughman's Platter and the price of it?

 

[damo]

Would you mind sharing what's on the Ploughman's Platter and the price of it?

It was $19.99 but was for two people. It had different cheeses, some yummy bread, a chutney, a salad, a delicious scotch egg, some beet/apple salad, a tomato that had been marinated and some pickles. Doesn't sound like much but it was plenty for my mom and I to share.

 

[hydrotony]

The show times and a great deal more info is on the Universal Orlando Lines subscription by TouringPlans. It costs less than $5 but you may need to buy the WDW Lines first (~$12) and then add the UOR to it. These are for 1-year subscriptions that are updated as needed. The Lines app is free with the subscription to TouringPlans(dot)com not a separate entity. You can go to the website and look around and get a lot of info without paying first.

I just checked, the WWOHP showtimes are on their website for anyone to see. No payment needed.

 

[Mrs Lapo]

Thank you to all of you!!

 

[mrsabbott]

When we last visit UOR, we went on a Sunday and a Tuesday. Sunday wasn't packed, but it was certainly crowded. Wait times were longer and the shops and restaurants were more crowded. We went on a Tuesday and it was MUCH less crowded. I had also read that Sundays were a good day to go.. and compared to a Friday or Saturday they may very well be.. but midweek is noticeably less crowded!

 

[Mrs Lapo]

My problem with waiting until mid week means that it is closer to Thanksgiving. I was thinking that the closer it got to Thanksgiving that it would be more crowded with more people on vacations and what not. But I am expecting lines and crowds I just wanted to be able to actually move around and not have that claustrophobic feeling

 

[mrsabbott]

I understand.. What is too crowded for one person may not seem that bad to another. My hubs has issues with crowds and Sunday was way harder on him then Tuesday.. But it wasn't unmanageable at all! Enjoy your trip!!

 

[Asnell]

We went a number of years ago on Thanksgiving week, and Monday and Tuesday were both less crowded than Sunday. Now, I wouldn't want to do the later half of the week, as I'm certain it does fill up the closer you get to Thanksgiving.

You can also look at crowd predictors on some of the sites like Touringplans.com, or use a sneaky little trick on Universal's own site to see what they predict the crowds to be:

On the Universal site, go to the "buy tickets" area, and click on the Express Pass option. Then enter the date you're going and you'll see a calendar with prices for the Express Pass. The higher the price they are charging, the larger the crowd they expect! And there is some hard data behind that estimate, since Universal knows how many Expres Passes they have already sold for each day.

Good luck and I hope you have a great trip!

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

Would you mind sharing what's on the Ploughman's Platter and the price of it?

You can see food photos and menu prices of Leaky Cauldron here :

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/reviews/photo.cfm?id=7461

 

[MMitchell29]

You can see food photos and menu prices of Leaky Cauldron here :

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/reviews/photo.cfm?id=7461

Thank You, thank you, thank you This is exactly what I needed.