Harry Potter is killing me

[Plan Man]

I am a die hard Disney Fan. We will be in Disney staying at POP for ten nights with a nine day hopper. 15yo DD who has been begging to go to Disney (last trip was when she was 11). I finally agree to the expensive vacation and now she is begging to go to Universal for one day to see the Wizarding World. Give me your best LOL "NO" line. Or your best "Come on Dad they grow up fast" line. It may be the tipping point

 

[nytimez]

I am a die hard Disney Fan. We will be in Disney staying at POP for ten nights with a nine day hopper. 15yo DD who has been begging to go to Disney (last trip was when she was 11). I finally agree to the expensive vacation and now she is begging to go to Universal for one day to see the Wizarding World. Give me your best LOL "NO" line. Or your best "Come on Dad they grow up fast" line. It may be the tipping point

How about this -- join us on the Disboards' Universal forums.

It's totally worth a visit (the forums and the Universal parks, that is).

 

[mmtska]

Sorry I gotta go with the kid on this one lol. If we could swing it I would TOTALLY take a day to go to Universal. Hey it's one day As much as I love Disney, I'm a huge HP fan too.

 

[mesaboy2]

Yep, HP is pretty cool. Your kid slipped each of us a $20.

 

[dock]

You are there in Orlando. You have plenty of days for the Disney Parks. You may never get back there again with your daughter (don't mean to be a downer). Go to Universal for a day. Sell some plasma or your Viking's Favre jersey if you need to scrape up the money. j/k

 

[Andtototoo]

We were just there for 9 days. We spent two at Universal. The earth is still spinning on its axis. The Harry Potter ride is awesome. Spiderman is also FANtastic!

I will also add a plea that you do not make the mistake my father did 40 years ago when we went to WDW. He refused to allow me to ride on HM because my sister was afraid. You know what I remember most about that trip? What I did NOT get to do. Don't have that be your daughter's memory of this trip and of YOU.

 

[CAStevens218]

I'm going to go with your DD! Harry Potter World is totally worth the trip! Make sure you get there early!

 

[DaniB]

I'm with your daughter! We ended up adding 2 days to an originally 8-day trip to go over to US.

 

[wdw4rfam]

We are also diehard Disney people, and have never stepped off property untill last year. We just had to try Harry Potter..... it was AWESOME!!!! It really was a nice change too (uhh did I say that??). Universal parks don't have it together like Disney- but they have some great attractions.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Go with 7 days ay WDW and 2 at US. We always do. Why go all the way to Orlando and only see part the attractions. Teens love US. No reason not to go.

 

[marlower]

You definitely need to go and there is a one day park to park ticket with roundtrip shuttle transfers from your Disney resort to Univ....you can't beat that deal! I have never seen a HP movie or read a HP book but my daughter is a huge fan so we went. Even though I had no idea what all the meanings were at HP, I LOVED it! You are already in Orlando, I say go for it!!

 

[danceintherain]

I'll likely be diverting away from Disney during my next trip to Orlando. I don't even have a kid old enough to do a convincing "PUH-Leeeeeease."

 

[southern_redhead]

Having not done either attraction with my kids, I will say this:

I would try to find a way to get her to HP. Could you drop a full Disney day back to an evening and do HP earlier in the day?

I would LOVE to take my kids to HP, we are huge fans and I know my older ones would really enjoy it. That said, my oldest is newly 12 (stepson is 15, he'd like HP *okay* but wouldn't care to skip it in favor of our Disney trip) so I'm waiting. Our big factors were: Time (we have a week + 2 weekends and we have a fair amount of travel time to consider), Cost (getting six people to Disney was expensive enough LOL), Crowds (we are going late June and I figure, with the movie coming out in mid-July, crowds may explode there) and Age(ages 7 to 15, we have a few more vacations so we'll try to hit it the next time we do Orlando...)

Is this your only child? If she is, then you won't have to factor in whether missing some Disney time will bother other sibs. If she wants to go and you can afford to make it happen I'd say DO IT!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Forget one day and forget JUST seeing WWoHP.

Invest in TWO days and see the whole place. WW is just a "land" inside of Islands of Adventure. If you ONLY go to that, unless you guys are mega super uber HP fans, you won't get your money's worth. But if you trust that it's a really neat place with LOTS of great rides and attractions (and omg the Port of Entry, which is the entrance to IOA, is so beautiful!), and really give the place a good shot, you will not fret over that expense once you're home.

We hadn't been to either WDW or Universal, we gave both a good shot (10 days in the WDW parks, 4 days at Universal (onsite to get all the perks, even), on a 17 day trip) and we were splendidly pleased with it all.

So I'd drop a WDW day or two, get a 2 day ticket to Universal (and me being me I'd stay one night at an onsite Universal resort for the TWO days of WWoHP Early Entry and TWO days worth of Express Pass PLUS that you get with the hotel stay), and do it up right!

 

[KellyNY]

The only "no" I can think of is if you cannot afford it. One day tickets and transportation are expensive for any park,not just Universal. However, if you can afford it, GO, you will enjoy Universal, not only WWOHP, but the whole park and I would actually do 1 day/ 2 parks because I personally love US better then IA. You have 9 days at Disney, why not to do something different for 1 day.

 

[fairyprincess88]

Take her. If she is a Potter fan in anyway then it will be amazing for her. Universal has created the ultimate Potter nerd dream come true with the WWoHP. For a Potter fan like me who has always loved WDW and has gone every year for many many years, since the opening of WWoHP there is pretty much nothing that Disney could offer that could top what Universal has given me with the Wizarding World. Yes it will add an extra cost but if it can be done then do it. She will love it.

 

[Wadecool]

The only "no" I can think of is if you cannot afford it. One day tickets and transportation are expensive for any park,not just Universal. However, if you can afford it, GO, you will enjoy Universal, not only WWOHP, but the whole park and I would actually do 1 day/ 2 parks because I personally love US better then IA. You have 9 days at Disney, why not to do something different for 1 day.

What she said!

 

[kate_wdw]

I agree with the others who say, "Go!". Unless you absolutely cannot afford it, it seems a no-brainer given her interest, your proximity, and the length of your vacation.

We squeezed IOA into a much shorter trip to WDW and it was absolutely worth it. Besides the WWOHP, there are lots of other fun attractions at IOA (especially if you or your daughter like thrill rides).

P.S. If you are going this summer, there are three really fun rides that will get you wet/keep you cool(er) in the heat.

 

[Planogirl]

You'll get no sympathy from me. DS was just a year younger when he finally talked me into Universal and I haven't stopped going since. WWoHP is just icing on the cake.

It is pricey though because now I have to budget for two themepark resorts! I split my time in half between the two of them and just go for it.

 

[scschulla]

Sell some plasma or your Viking's Favre jersey if you need to scrape up the money. j/k

hahaha i dont think anyone in MN would get 10 dollars for the jersey! we can go to anymall and get then like 75% off or more!