Newbie Question ~ Good Starting Point For Planning?

[lucincia]

Hi all ~

Been to Orlando multiple times for conferences and WDW several times, but never US/IoA. We will be in Atlanta this September for Dragon*Con and figured we can sneak in a trip to Orlando. 2 adults and DD13 and DD9. Mostly rides and some shows. Key is the Harry Potter.

Is this a good starting point for the side trip ~ Thinking of driving down from Atlanta first thing Monday morning (Sept. 3). Check into RPR for 3 nights. Visit CityWalk Monday afternoon/evening. Kids can hit the resort pool sometime that day too. Tuesday do the Harry Potter and IoA. Wednesday visit US. Then Thursday check out and visit DTD (have to visit the mothership sometime) before leaving Orlando.

Doable? Too hectic? What do you pros think?

Thank you in advance for your insight! I will continue to browse the Board for other tips

 

[Badge]

That sounds like a great plan!

Staying onsite really helps make the trip very relaxing because you don't have to wait in many lines.

However, I do have 2 suggestions for you.

1) If the cost is not much, I would get the three day tickets so you can at least do a few rides on the day you arrive. In Sept. the parks close early (around 6 or 7pm). While you should be able to ride everything without any problems in two days, having a few hours on the day you arrive to do a few things might help. Then, once the parks close, Citywalk will remain open until 2am. So, if the parks close at 7, you can get a nice meal for dinner and maybe play a round of mini-golf on the new courses they are building. Citywalk is not nearly as big as DTD and you can't really spend more than an hour there looking around the few shops. It is more of a "nightclub" type area with lots of bars. If you do this, I would visit HP that day to see it in the evening hours when the lighting effects are all on...it looks amazing at night!

Another thing to keep in mind is that your express passes (and early entry) are valid on the day of checkout as well. So, if you wanted to spend a few extra hours in the parks on the day you leave, you could save the 3rd day for the checkout day, or upgrade to 4 day tickets. No idea what time you plan on leaving Orlando, but you might want to think about spending 8-12 at IOA and then a few hours at DTD.

2) Again, if cost is an issue, you can skip this one as well. However if the cost is not much more, I would also suggest getting the "park to park" tickets. The parks are a short 3-5 minute walk from each other. With express passes you can ride all the rides in one park in one day normally with some time to spare so you could go visit the other park and ride a few more rides on the first "full" day. Then on your 2nd full day you could go back to the park you ended at and finish all the rides you missed and then spend the rest of the day riding your favorite rides at both parks since you can hop between them so quickly.

Even if you don't like these ideas, you plan sounds solid and should allow you enough time to ride all the rides.

 

[lucincia]

Thanks, Badge. I was just looking at the map of Citywalk and, boy, it looks small So I think your ideas for Park to Park and 3 days sound great. Will give us more flexibility once we get there. Thanks again!

 

[macraven]

hoppers are the way to go since you want to do parry hotter.
you should do the EE both days, then the rest of the park.

parry hotter section also can have a lull period in the last hour the park is open.
check it out again then.

the hoppers will help you do that.

doing weekdays is smart.
lower crowds on weekdays than weekends.

 

[blackjack68]

Great plan with the comments above. Check in and go right to the parks with your room key ecpress passes, then hit CityWalk for dinner/happy hour and the pool later (weather permitting). The pools were opne until 10pm when we were there two weeks ago and thankfully the weather was warm enough.

They have a "dive-in" movie on Tuesdays (and Fridays and Saturdays) where you can sit in or by the pool and watch a movie.