Newbie needs advice... can a 1 day trip to USO and IOA in November be done?

[realhousewife]

We are taking a trip to WDW this November with 3 kids ages 15, 13, and 7. None are into "thrill rides" or coasters but love Harry Potter. 3D rides are ok for them, though.

I am thinking about getting a one day park -to-park pass for each of us, rent a car, explore all the Harry Potter worlds and the Hogwarts express in one day. They would also do the Minion ride, Dr. Seuss, ET as well.

According to a crowd calendar I saw, crowds are low in Mid November so it seems like we could do it. However, I haven't been to Universal for over 20 years and didn't take kids with me then. Also, it looks like we would only have from 9-7 pm.

I need someone with experience to tell me if this can be done or if it is not worth it because it is too much ground to cover?

TIA!

 

[PulsarIII]

... can a 1 day trip to USO and IOA in November be done?
-->Yes... BUT; not if you are there for Thanksgiving

Have toured both parks from offsite in 1 day, the first half of Nov. and the week after Thanksgiving (Dec. has a way of seeking in this late in the month). Pre-HP it was a cakewalk, but HP can eat up a lot of your day if you let it. You could try to split park time evenly between both parks and keep HP in each park to half your time in each. This should help make a good dent into most of the “Got 2 Dos” for a Universal day. Remember Plan A is to have FUN & enjoy the day with your family.

G’day
III

 

[redhotariel]

If you are going before Thanksgiving (which you are) you should be fine! I have faith that you can do it. You will not be able to see all of the little things that Universal Orlando has to offer, but you will be able to get the rides that you want to in! Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade are fantastic and very detailed and interesting, so spend some time there. My recommendation is pick your starting park, do everything you want to do there (other than Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade) first. Get all of those things done, then go into the "Harry Potter" section of either park. After you've spent your time there, use the Hogwart's Express to take you to the other park. Enjoy the second "Harry Potter" section at the next park, and then finish up your day with whichever other rides you want to do

 

[kathy884]

Of course it can. You just can't see and do everything, but seeing and doing everything has never been a big deal to me. You can in one day especially at times when the park is moderate see highlights of both parks, get a good sense of what the Universal parks are all about and have a very enjoyable day. With so much to do and see in Orlando it's always all about what your priorities are and what you want your vacation to be like. We did a one day park to park visit this past December before the Christmas crowds (crowd level 3 day, probably similar to what you would experience in November), and similar to you, prior to that my last visit was in 1989 (DS who was with me had been in 2008, so more recently than me) and we had a great day. Thought it was definitely worth going and for us (given all the other things we love to do in Orlando), a one day allocation for this worked great for us.

I by the way spent $5 on the a www.touringplans.com Universal subscription to see what the authors thought were the best of the best in both of the parks and to look at some of their one day touring plans. Their plans included time just walking around and exploring things in the HP areas too. With that in hand too we used one of their one day plans as a starting point and DS took off a bunch of things he had been on in 2008 that he didn't care to repeat, which was great making it a more leisurely day and we went with that. // If my husband comes with us to Orlando in 2016, the next time we are visiting we are thinking of doing one day at these parks again with a similar plan again.