hogwarts express worth 300!?!

[Disxuni]

All right, maybe more of a frustration post but I just read that park to park is required to ride hogwarts express. Really makes me love disney more. So paying for 4 of our 5 kids and us adds an extra 300 dollars to our tickets (which I'm just now reading went up recently) We do love HP, but that's one expensive very short train ride. Is it worth 300.00 more dollars? We could all do a fun character meal at Disney for that!! Actually that's not a bad idea...

I would say if you're a huge enough fan of Harry Potter and have all the time in the world than the extra cost is definitely worth it, especially if you have the money. Instead of paying the extra $300 on a character meal that you'll consume within a couple of hours, you get to experience a whole other park entirely for as long as you desire until the park closes. It isn't just a ride, but transportation to a completely different park and while Diagon Alley definitely impressed me on looks and shops (more so than Hogsmeade), Hogsmeade does have the advantage of more variety in attractions as well as more shops to explore. Not only that, but you have the whole Islands of Adventures to take advantage of as well.

It goes down to what you truly desire as an experience, but personally if I had the money to spend, I would spend it on another park that I have unlimited access to for as long as the park is open, rather than a character meal which would only last a couple of hours at the most. The question is, do you rather spend it on food, or entertainment? It's honestly what you decide is more important.

 

[travelingmom4]

I appreciate all your input and opinions. We have never park hopped in any parks, but I suppose we could try it this time and see if it's worth it. I didn't seeing park hopping as a perk but I'm going to change my paradigm and pay the extra, enjoy the train ride and hope park hopping is worth it.

 

[M0therfletcher]

My query is regarding the early entry. We are staying on site at PBH for a week the end of Sept. The undercovertourist.com says that Universal opens at 8. Does that mean Harry Potter opens at 7? Another question is how early does the Hogwarts Express run to IOA? My goal is to get to Skull Island first thing when IOA opens. The engineer in me had to scale the distance from the front gates to Skull Island was 8.5". Distance from Hogwarts Express is 2.5" shorter making that the faster route even with the twists and turns going the back way. The back way has fewer distractions like the Hulk and Spider-Man. My kids are accustomed to running to the Hulk and twice have been the only riders in front car of the Coaster. With that in mind, how do you feel about letting the kids take the 4 minutes to ride the Hulk then going back to Kong. Since Kong has no FOTL will there be a queue if we ride it second? To those that may remember I'MMM
BACKKK!

 

[nkereina]

My query is regarding the early entry. We are staying on site at PBH for a week the end of Sept. The undercovertourist.com says that Universal opens at 8. Does that mean Harry Potter opens at 7? Another question is how early does the Hogwarts Express run to IOA? My goal is to get to Skull Island first thing when IOA opens. The engineer in me had to scale the distance from the front gates to Skull Island was 8.5". Distance from Hogwarts Express is 2.5" shorter making that the faster route even with the twists and turns going the back way. The back way has fewer distractions like the Hulk and Spider-Man. My kids are accustomed to running to the Hulk and twice have been the only riders in front car of the Coaster. With that in mind, how do you feel about letting the kids take the 4 minutes to ride the Hulk then going back to Kong. Since Kong has no FOTL will there be a queue if we ride it second? To those that may remember I'MMM
BACKKK!

Kong does have express pass. So, no need to rush to it since you'll have EP staying at PBH. It looks like the early park admission park and hours only go through June at this point. Its usually only one park that has early entry at a time, and it will be announced closer to your travel dates. If it's Universal that has early entry and their open time is at 8am, then yes early entry will be at 7am and Potter will be open at that time.

 

[sandam1]

The undercovertourist.com says that Universal opens at 8. Does that mean Harry Potter opens at 7?

Yep, that's what it means. One thing to keep in mind with a 7 a.m. early entry is that the restaurants in the hotels don't adjust their opening times to when the parks open. We were staying at Cabana Bay one year in September and were pretty surprised to find out that the Bayline Diner didn't open until 7 a.m. So it was Starbuck's (which was predictably PACKED) or catching something in the parks.

 

[M0therfletcher]

Kong does have express pass. So, no need to rush to it since you'll have EP staying at PBH. It looks like the early park admission park and hours only go through June at this point. Its usually only one park that has early entry at a time, and it will be announced closer to your travel dates. If it's Universal that has early entry and their open time is at 8am, then yes early entry will be at 7am and Potter will be open at that time.

 

[M0therfletcher]

Sorry I'm new at this. Thanks for the good news about Kong! Everything I've read says no EP for Kong and the slow loading Pternand Flyers, hard to spell and harder to pronounce.

 

[PollyannaMom]

You're also paying for a much quicker way to hop! Take the train and you're there. Otherwise you have to go alllll the way to the front of the park, traverse the pavement and resist the chocolate restaurant, reenter, and walk alllll the way to/towards the back of the other park to be back in Wizarding world.

Been there, done that, did not resist the chocolate.

I love the park to park tickets and would never go without them.

I love them too, but I would still go and do one park a day if I couldn't afford them!

I always find it odd that people say there is not enough to do in the parks. I can easily fill a week at the Universal Resort. Just admiring the theming can take up a good day. I plan to use my next vacation absorbing all the new HP stuff!

Me too!! My family always has a blast in Universal, and could easily spend more time there.

I appreciate all your input and opinions. We have never park hopped in any parks, but I suppose we could try it this time and see if it's worth it. I didn't seeing park hopping as a perk but I'm going to change my paradigm and pay the extra, enjoy the train ride and hope park hopping is worth it.

I think you'll be happy you did. While I can't say the ride itself is "worth" $300, it is neat, and the park-to-park is definitely an added perk there. - Universal is different in how close the parks are to each other, so hopping doesn't eat up the travel time it does at Disney. We often start in one and end in the other (even though we rarely get hoppers at Disney). And depending on how long you're there, you may even have a day where you split up to redo favorite things, and just some of you hop.

All right, maybe more of a frustration post...

Vent away! I can concede the business smarts, but do think it's kind of "unsportsmanlike" (to use a DIS-appropriate term) to trap us into it that way.