Help me plan our Park to Park single day

[ksueboo]

We only have one day, this Thursday park to park! We are new to Universal (visted IOA during a Disney stay about 5 years ago). We are staying onsite and will have Unlimited Express Pass. Can I get some ideas of how to start the first couple hours of the day? No kids this trip, we love Harry Potter and dislike water rides. I will avoid Minions ride and Simpsons ride. We get in one hour early. Where do we start? I know Hagrids is the popular ride, whats the best way to ride it?
Thanks for any help!!!

 

[ksueboo]

...just as a side note, I realize I don't need to plan it out like I would a normal Disney day but just get us started for the day!

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Will you be using Early Entry? If so, that's only at Studios right now, so you'd start out in Diagon Alley for a bit, then maybe hit any other rides in that park of interest like maybe Mummy or Men in Black.

If you want to ride Hagrid's at park open at Islands of Adventure, you'll need to exit Studios around about 9:30 & walk over & get in line to enter the park, heading straight to Hagrid's first thing. Don't let the line freak you out! With the distancing requirements, it wraps around outside but moves the whole time .

That's how we spent our first couple-three hours when we were there last week - hope that helps!

 

[nkereina]

Is Hagrid's still using VQ? I haven't been keeping up, but I know I read before that it was typically booked up within minutes of park opening.

Many Potter fans prefer to start in Diagon Alley and then ride the train to Hogsmeade (IOA), just as Harry did. That's a fun way to do it, but logistically, we'd probably start in Diagon Alley and then just finish the rest of UO before riding the train over to IOA. I'm not sure what current park hours look like, but as two adults also, UO tends to take us longer than IOA so I might save the one that's open later for the second half of the day. Other than Hagrid's, there really isn't anything you need a plan or strategy for. The beauty of unlimited EP is that you can tour the parks in any order you wish with minimal waits. We never take advantage of early entry and usually start at the front of the park and just go in order. However, I would use early entry just to maximize time if we only had one day.

 

[nicknamy1996]

Subscribing! We're doing both parks in one day in a couple of weeks.

I pretty much have it narrowed down to 4 "must dos" at each park, anything above that will be a bonus.

 

[ksueboo]

Will you be using Early Entry? If so, that's only at Studios right now, so you'd start out in Diagon Alley for a bit, then maybe hit any other rides in that park of interest like maybe Mummy or Men in Black.

If you want to ride Hagrid's at park open at Islands of Adventure, you'll need to exit Studios around about 9:30 & walk over & get in line to enter the park, heading straight to Hagrid's first thing. Don't let the line freak you out! With the distancing requirements, it wraps around outside but moves the whole time .

That's how we spent our first couple-three hours when we were there last week - hope that helps!

Yes we will! Thank you! I suppose if Hagrids isn’t using virtual queue or EP maybe we should just stay at Universal and make our way to IOA after lunch. I just checked as Hagrids is showing a 30 min wait right now (1:40pm).

 

[ksueboo]

Subscribing! We're doing both parks in one day in a couple of weeks.

I pretty much have it narrowed down to 4 "must dos" at each park, anything above that will be a bonus.

I went through yesterday and chose 4 from IOA and 7 from Universal that we hope to do! Hopefully wait times and weather will work in our favor Thursday!