One day at universal with 11-year old

[Sophie_2003]

hello,

We are doing a Disney family vacation in July and we will do one day at Universal. At first I had thought of buying an express pass for my daughter and I...till I Priced it and it came to over $500 for one day...insane.

We are renting a house, so staying at a hotel is a no-no for us.

We went to universal Hollywood last summer and my daughter loved the minion ride, that one is a must. I think she would like some Harry Potter but I don't think we need to do all there is HP. Right now I am looking at buying regular ticket for US only, and have a touring plans . com that tells me the only significant wait we would encounter is the escape from Gringotts. I was also under the impression you had to have admission to both parks to do the HP stuff.

Is is possible to have a decent day in late July without any kind of express pass. Thoughts, suggestions on what you would do, keeping in mind getting a hotel will not happen for us this time!

Thanks in advance

 

[macraven]

July is usually a very crowded time for the darkside parks.
not sure if there will be a lull the last week in july.

suggest you go early before the parks open and head for DE once you are in the park.
that is one ride that does get long wait lines.

 

[johde]

To do all of the HP stuff you need park to park (park hopper) tickets. If you buy just a USF ticket you can do Diagon Alley and ride Gringotts. Hogwarts and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride is at IOA. The Hogwarts Express connects the 2 parks together and requires park to park tickets.

Most of the time, the 3 worst waits in the park are Minion Mayhem, Gringotts, and Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. I'm assuming your touring plan has you doing Minion Mayhem first. With early entry being at both parks now, you'll have a wait for that ride even at RD.

 

[bumbershoot]

The idea of going with an 11 year old (the big age for wizards, you know) and not going to ALL of Wizarding World makes me sad. Would make my 11 year old sad, too, if I told him, which I'm not going to do!

At first I had thought of buying an express pass for my daughter and I...till I Priced it and it came to over $500 for one day...insane.

Tickets AND EP came to $500 or just EP? Thinking it must be tickets. So what is the cost of the tickets without the EP. (I don't feel like battling the US site to price it out)

July so the chances of getting a super-decent rate onsite deluxe, not necessarily to stay, but to get *TWO days worth of unlimited Express and TWO days of early entrance, for just ONE night's rate, is pretty low. Sad to not have that option open. It's so lovely, after all.

Honestly I personally would rather miss out on US's Wizarding World than IOA's, but maybe I just "imprinted" on IOA because it was the first Wizarding World. But since she wants to ride Minions ride...gotta have US in there.


One day at ANY themepark is an expensive proposition! It's why, when we have Uni trips we don't go to WDW as well, because it's so ridiculously expensive to do one day there. Either have to come to terms with the high cost of one day OR don't do it on this trip, IMO.

 

[RMulieri]

July is VERY crowded time and the minions ride ( even with express pass) has lengthy waits.It isn't unusual to see waits of 120 mins or MORE for it without express.Both parks will have early entry for resort guests, so by the time you get into the park, both HP sections and Despicable Me are going to have considerable waits.
That said, as mentioned do see ALL of Harry Potter including riding the train , you will need a park to park ticket.There are HP areas in BOTH parks.The ultimate Potter fan would be disappointed to not see them both.
One day tickets are NEVER cheap, even at Disney,.Which is why we only do one or the other.It is too expensive to do both