General Universal Touring Plan?

[Frozen2014]

We'll be spending the day at Universal on Fri Aug 25th. My son is a big Harry Potter fan, and we want to catch most if not all attractions including the Studio Tour.

The park opens at 9am that day. We are not staying at a Universal hotel, but from what I'm reading we can do early entry since I would buy tickets online beforehand, right?

Is there a general touring plan that is recommended?

 

[oakleycat]

It shouldn't be too crowded that day. SoCal passholder blackouts have ended by then, but most local kids are back in school by then. Generally, if you're focused on HP hit that area early, avoid during the middle of the day, and return in the late afternoon/evening. The same is true for the studio tour, it's pretty empty by late afternoon (just make sure you note when it closes as it's at least an hour pre-park closure). If I was spending a whole day I would check out HP at early admission, then head to the the lower lot while most people are in the upper lot, then head back to upper lot/studio tour, then back to HP. Hopefully you won't have much crowd and won't have to worry about it!

 

[Frozen2014]

It shouldn't be too crowded that day. SoCal passholder blackouts have ended by then, but most local kids are back in school by then. Generally, if you're focused on HP hit that area early, avoid during the middle of the day, and return in the late afternoon/evening. The same is true for the studio tour, it's pretty empty by late afternoon (just make sure you note when it closes as it's at least an hour pre-park closure). If I was spending a whole day I would check out HP at early admission, then head to the the lower lot while most people are in the upper lot, then head back to upper lot/studio tour, then back to HP. Hopefully you won't have much crowd and won't have to worry about it!

Thank you so much! Am writing your suggestion down. So HP right away (we'll probably be there right when it opens. We'll be adjusting to the time change, but it's too our advantage coming there (i.e. our kids will probably be up at 4am...lol). I need to look up lower lot vs upper but am sure it's obvious on maps, etc.

 

[blana]

Upper vs. Lower lot is usually pretty spelled out on the maps. One word, the lower lot usually seems to open later than the upper lot, so unless you stay in HP for an hour after regular opening, the lower lot may not be open yet.

 

[Epek]

I actually would NOT hit HP first. I was just there Aug 9. We got there around 9:30. From that point until about 3-4pm, the waits for Forbidden Journey were 1.5-2hrs. We waited and watched the wait time boards and the app until it was listed at an hour. We only ended up waiting about 30min! That was around 4, I think. Most of the rest of the day, it was lower waits. Granted for you, it will probably be slower because school will be back in session.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thanks Epek. My son definitely wants to see HP attractions. i'll check the wait times on the app and then decide from there if we go first or later in the day.