How to Tour

[mastodon]

So we will be staying onsite from Dec 17-Dec 20th. We will be arriving late on the 17th and will also have 2 full days Friday and Saturday. Right now only IOA is opening early all of these days. First question is if we enter early on Friday will be really need to be there for early entry on Saturday? Second question- are all rides open for Early Admission? Finally, would you recommend riding the HP rides and doing all rides in IOA/US before exploring HP lands? Or if we take time to explore will we have longer waits at the rest of the rides (we will have Express Pass).

 

[Robo56]

If you are arriving late on the 17th I would get checked in and settled in your room.

Then go to city walk and and a nice meal there or one of the restaurants in or by your hotel. All Universal Resorts have some very nice options for food.

If IOA is opening early on your days (it was on ours also in May) be there at rope drop and you will be able to go to Hogsmeade which was The Wizarding World of Harry Potters first park to open. No other rides were running yet. Do the Forbidden Journey, Flight of Hippogriff, Dragons Challege and you have completed the rides in Hogsmeade. Check out the shops then as soon as the Hogwarts Express starts running take it over to Diagon Alley ( The second WWOHP park) and do Escape from Gringotts. Then see the Ollivanders wand show and check out the shops.

Then head out to other rides. The Dispicable Minions ride is very popular in Universal. Having your express pass will make things much easier.

If all you have is the two full days then I would take advantage of early entry even if it is IOA. You will be inside the park and ready to hit the other rides when they open at 9. I promise you will want to revisit the Potter lands and take everything in again.

Have a great trip

 

[kohlby]

A note about the shops - they were super crowded when we were there - in the off-season! There is not much room to move around in many of the shops. I can't imagine how crowded they otherwise. I read that the shops stay open when the rides are open. Since people in line when the park officially closes still get to ride, one way to make this work for you is to do the shops at the end of the day - right around and after the park's scheduled closing time.

As for express pass, there are some rides that don't use that -


Universal Studios Florida

• Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts™
• Hogwarts™ Express
• Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl
• Fievel's Playland

Universal's Islands of Adventure

• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey™
• Hogwarts™ Express
• Pteranodon Flyers®
  
  
  I've read that though Minions does have EP, the wait for EP can be half the wait of the regular line. (This is not true for the other EP lines). This means that a 90 minute wait could still be a 45 minutes wait with EP! So, I'd do that one early too.

 

[RMulieri]

Only the attractions in Harry potter are opened for early entry.Occasionally at IOA , they will also open a ride in Seussland for EE. When EE is at the studios, usually Despicable me is open in addition to Gringotts and the shops.