How many hours to tour just WWOHP?

[Belle'sFan]

My sister and I (55+) are spending one day at Universal to see WWOHP. We are staying the previous night at Royal Pacific, so will have the express passes. We are early risers and will take advantage of early entry. We don't do super thrill rides, but would like to walk through the line for forbidden journey (likely not ride -vertigo), ride the train both ways, and possibly Escape from Gringotts. We are also interested in the shops, whatever entertainment there is (frog choir?), and having lunch. How much time should we allot? Asking because we plan on hiring a car service to take us to WDW afterwards.

 

[macraven]

weekends have more park crowds
Maybe make your UO visit M-Th

 

[StageTek]

My sister and I (55+) are spending one day at Universal to see WWOHP. We are staying the previous night at Royal Pacific, so will have the express passes. We are early risers and will take advantage of early entry. We don't do super thrill rides, but would like to walk through the line for forbidden journey (likely not ride -vertigo), ride the train both ways, and possibly Escape from Gringotts. We are also interested in the shops, whatever entertainment there is (frog choir?), and having lunch. How much time should we allot? Asking because we plan on hiring a car service to take us to WDW afterwards.

You should allot 3 hours to each area. NOT counting the time in line.

You will not want to use the Express Pass for Forbidden Journey because you'll miss much of the line experiences. So add time for that - one hour on a busy day.

Three hours might be too much but then again it might not. You may find yourself deeply immersed in finding and trying all the wand spots. And you may want to linger at lunch? The Traditional English Breakfast at Three Broomsticks is wonderful. I'm not a Potter fan and I easily spent an hour wandering around finding new things - and only quickly glanced into most shops. My 10 year old niece couldn't be dragged out of there at 3 hours.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Agreeing with what @StageTek suggested and wording it slightly differently, I would plan on a full day. That gives you plenty of time for rides (do not use ExpressPass for Forbidden Journey if you are only doing the line. The full line lets you see more of Hogwarts castle. The line on its own is a wonderful walkthrough attraction), shopping (it is so much fun to browse), shows, and a meal (also, snacks. Florean Forescue's ice-cream is amazing). There are four shows total. They are all worth seeing once. If it's happening, the castle projection show that I saw was enjoyable and worth seeing.

 

[Belle'sFan]

Thank-you! We are flying in on a Sunday afternoon around 2pm, then going to the Royal Pacific Resort. The plan was to check out City Walk, have an early night, then take advantage of early entry/Express Pass to see WWOHP, head to WDW around 3pm. Now I'm wondering if we should get a 2-day pass, see some of it on Sunday and some on Monday. I wasn't sure if there was enough to take up that amount of time.

 

[sunnybunnies]

Thank-you! We are flying in on a Sunday afternoon around 2pm, then going to the Royal Pacific Resort. The plan was to check out City Walk, have an early night, then take advantage of early entry/Express Pass to see WWOHP, head to WDW around 3pm. Now I'm wondering if we should get a 2-day pass, see some of it on Sunday and some on Monday. I wasn't sure if there was enough to take up that amount of time.

My family (with teens) can easily spend an entire day from open to close between the two Harry Potter parks. It does get VERY busy, though. I would say it is the busiest part of both parks. Therefore, morning and late afternoon/evening will be the best times for you, with the least amount of (shoulder to shoulder) crowds. Sunday late afternoon to close and then again Monday from early opening until middle of the day would be the best use of your time.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Thank-you! We are flying in on a Sunday afternoon around 2pm, then going to the Royal Pacific Resort. The plan was to check out City Walk, have an early night, then take advantage of early entry/Express Pass to see WWOHP, head to WDW around 3pm. Now I'm wondering if we should get a 2-day pass, see some of it on Sunday and some on Monday. I wasn't sure if there was enough to take up that amount of time.

If you can afford it, get a two day pass. It will make your life easier. You won't feel as rushed and it will give you more time to explore.

 

[only hope]

I have spent an hour just reading the advertisements on the walls at Diagon Ally. You can easily spend the entire park day just doing Potter stuff if you are big fans. There’s tons to see- besides the obvious, there’s stuff to look at up high in the gift shops (tons of book/movie prop reference), in the shop windows, the phone booth, Knight Bus conductor, stepping onto the bus at the back, London windows (really funny inside jokes and easter eggs to be found), train conductor, if you go when its less busy you can hear whats going on in some of the offices like the Daily Prophet as well as hear the Wizarding Wireless near the creature shop, the wand choosing experience…

 

[cschaaf]

If you can afford it, get a two day pass. It will make your life easier. You won't feel as rushed and it will give you more time to explore.

I'd even consider downgrading the hotel and using the difference to upgrade to the 2 day pass. You won't get a huge benefit out of the Express Passes if you aren't planning on riding many rides.

 

[sunnybunnies]

Royal Pacific is a nice hotel, though.

 

[cschaaf]

Royal Pacific is a nice hotel, though.

Totally fair! We typically stay at RPR when we're looking to get the included EP.

Counterpoint: It's only 1 night, they'll be checked in for less than 24 hours, and, if they do the 2-day ticket, they'll spend little of that time at the resort.

That said, OP, if you a premier resort is specifically what you are looking for, Royal Pacific is a great choice!

We haven't stayed at Sapphire Falls (yet! we have a 1 night reservation in early June), but it looks like the nicest of the non-premiere hotels. You'd save a bit of money over RPR, still have boat transportation to the parks, and early entry. The tradeoff is perhaps a less 'fancy' hotel and no Express Passes.

The money saved may or may not pay for that 2nd park day.

Just something to consider.

 

[ajsamett]

Are you planning on riding anything else besides the train and gringotts? If not, you don't really need EPs and it'd be a better use of your money to book a cheaper hotel and add that second day

 

[sunnybunnies]

If one *wanted* to stay in a cheaper hotel, Sapphire Falls is lovely and is quite close to the Royal Pacific. (In fact I believe their conference room wings are attached to one another, so you could walk from one hotel into the other without going outdoors?) Sapphire Falls also has a water taxi, but no express passes. However, Royal Pacific is quite nice enough to stay in on its own merits.

 

[maverik85]

I agree with others, if the two day tickets are in your trip budget, I'd get those. This will allow you to see the areas in the evening as well and check out the Hogwarts projection show.
Depending on what all you want to actually do, I'd say a few hours for each side (depending on wait times). Forbidden Journey do the regular queue to see the whole castle. Hagrid's is a mid-tier family thrill coaster. Not too intense or tall and a lot of fun, so might be in your range to try. Some fun stuff in the queue too but nothing I'd say is must see jsut from the queue.
Hogsmeade doesn't have as much to look around at as Diagon Alley but still a lot of wand spots if you want to do those. This can still eat up a bit of time. Diagon Alley has so much to look around at and numerous shops and little shows. I'd definitely do Olivander's wand selection here versus Hogsmeade too. Florian Fortescue's ice cream is delicious so I'd recommend them for a snack spot.

 

[5kidsmommy]

Also make time to stop at the Knight Bus (it's interactive), 12 Grimmual Place (you can see Kreacher in the window) and type MAGIC into the phone booth which are all outside before you go into Diagon Alley. When you are in Diagon Alley make sure to find Knockturn Alley.

Like others have said maybe get the 2 day pass and enjoy the castle show Sunday night. I for one enjoy the express pass even though we don't do a lot of rides, heck its worth it just for the train which can get long lines and you plan on riding it each way. Enjoy!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

In addition to it being very pretty at night lit up in the HP areas, evening is also a great time to do Olivander's (much shorter lines), and then you'll be all set with wands for either that evening or the next morning.

 

[Belle'sFan]

Wow, thank you everyone for these suggestions! We are leaning towards the two day pass. I think we would really enjoy seeing everything at night as well as the next day. This is a splurge trip for us after a stressful year, so we will stick with RPR. We were able to get a discount on our WDW resort, so a two day pass at WWOHP is doable.