Hogwarts Express and Adult Rider Switch and Locker Stuff

[Carrissa]

Do you need a park hopper ticket to just ride hogwarts express? Like what if we just had a one park ticket, but wanted to ride hogwarts express and stay on at the end to just go back to where we came from? Is that allowed? We don't really want to spend the extra $54 per ticket for a family of 5 and feel that one park per day is enough for us.

Does Universal have the same thing as Disney where if you have a child who can't ride the ride, one adult can go through and then the second adult can go through next without waiting? How do we do this at Universal? We have a 12 yo, 10 yo and a 5 yo so this comes in handy at Disney.

Will we HAVE to spend the money on a locker? My husband will be ticked if we spend money on this after everything else. Thanks!

 

[kbelle8995]

Nope you have to have a park hopper or a AP to ride the Hogwarts express. Universal does have child swap. I am not sure how this works exactly.

Some of the rides offer complimentary lockers when there are needed. (Rip ride rocket, Forbidden journey) It is for a limited time, You can't leave your stuff in there all day. Not all the ride lockers are free just the ones where you are required to empty your pockets or not take your bags onboard.

 

[beffiegirl]

Family of 6 here...I would just pay for the park to park tickets(hopper). They come in handy trust me. Also the train is not really a ride. I didn't need to rider swap because you can bring baby and stroller on broad. It's more like a cool experience to get back a fourth from the back of the parks. i know its more money but I think it's worth it. We went park to park all the time. Just get your tickets through Undercover tourist and save some money that way. It won't really work with one person having hopper. If you can't afford it don't worry you'll still have fun.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

You will likely need Chid Swap for Forbidden Journey, Escape from Gringotts, Dragon Challenge, MIB, RRR, The Mummy, JP.

 

[bumbershoot]

Do you need a park hopper ticket to just ride hogwarts express? Like what if we just had a one park ticket, but wanted to ride hogwarts express and stay on at the end to just go back to where we came from? Is that allowed?

Yes the train requires a hopper. It's a method of transportation between the parks, and there's no turning around to re-ride without entering the actual park.

Just like at Disneyland you have to have a park ticket to ride the monorail, at Uni you have to have a hopper ticket to ride the train.

Does Universal have the same thing as Disney where if you have a child who can't ride the ride, one adult can go through and then the second adult can go through next without waiting? How do we do this at Universal? We have a 12 yo, 10 yo and a 5 yo so this comes in handy at Disney.

Yes. At Uni everyone can go into the line, and the swap area is near the seating area. So everyone gets to see the theming of the line.

Will we HAVE to spend the money on a locker? My husband will be ticked if we spend money on this after everything else. Thanks!

No. The rides that require lockers have free lockers. Now if you want to bring a bunch of stuff and stash it to come back to through the day, just like at Disney, you can pay for a locker. But that's not the situation for the rides that require the lockers.

Note: the water rides WILL get you wet. Nay, soaked. And those rides don't have free lockers. So bring some plastic bags to put your stuff in!

 

[jeffbeardreams]

Also, if you are doing child swap anyway the adult in your party who stays in the holding room with the child can keep everybody's purses and backpacks with them. I saw a Dad in the Gringotts child swap room a couple of weeks who looked like he had 20 extra bags piled around him.

Oh, and Universal does a great job with the child swap rooms. They are at least partly themed areas and they generally have a TV screen showing film clips relating to the ride. MUCH better than Disney's dentist office waiting area child swap rooms.

 

[bumbershoot]

MUCH better than Disney's dentist office waiting area child swap rooms.

Disney doesn't tend to have swap rooms. At Disney you swap outside the ride, so the adult and too-small kid(s) just do what they do outside the line.