One day ticket or two?

[BuenaVistaBound]

We're going to Universal next week, staying onsite (Portofino) for two nights. Our intended park day is on the Fourth of July, so we know it's going to be packed. We're doing early admission to get to Harry Potter first thing -- it's the primary reason for our trip. As there's not much else at IOA that my kids will be interested in (they're not fans of super heros or roller coasters), I'm guessing that we'll be done with IOA around lunch time.

We have dinner tickets for the Cinematic Experience at the studios that night at 7:30, so we'll definitely need the two-park pass. My question is, given the combo of heavy crowds and the express passes we get for staying onsite, will we have time to see the highlights at the studios in one afternoon, or should we plan on buying a two-day ticket and filling in whatever we missed on the fifth (also a heavy crowd day, I'm sure)?

We go to Disney World a lot, but I haven't been to Universal since 1994, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[AJA]

Personally I would want the two day pass for such a crowded time.

What about the water rides at IOA? Would your kids like those? And the Jurassic Park area, my DD is 7 and dino crazy, JP is a must for us.

ETA: would your kiddo's like the Cat in the Hat area? One fish Two fish is very much like Dumbo and Aladdin just add a couple squirts of water, on a hot day it's a lot of fun. You'll also walk past the carousel coming or going from HP.

The Studios has a big childrens play area by the Woody woodpecker roller coaster. We've spent a lot of time playing there.

 

[BuenaVistaBound]

Thanks for the input. Yes, I think they probably would like the Suess area and Jurassic Park as well. I'm the one who steers them away from water rides because I can't stand walking around in wet shoes and clothes

I think the biggest factor will be if both kids are totally spent after a six a.m. call time to get in early. If they need to rest before dinner, that's two days...

 

[BuenaVistaBound]

Since this seems to come up a lot, I'll share our experience last week.

I did wind up buying the two-day multi park pass. We stayed at Portofino Bay and hit the first boat out at 6:10 a.m. on July 4th to take advantage of the early admission to Islands of Adventure. We were literally the first people at the turnstiles. They opened the gates a little after 6:45 a.m. and we headed straight for Harry Potter.

It was actually very pretty at sunrise, with the tops of all the snow-covered spires lit up. We went to Ollivander's first, and they opened the doors for the first show at 7:00 a.m. sharp. From what I've heard, seeing the show there with only ten other people was a rare treat (but neither of my kids got picked to test a wand). We went into the store and each kid got wand, which they excitedly waved around the rest of the morning.

Next up was Forbidden Journey. The posted wait time was 20 minutes, which was about right. However, I think we all would have appreciated a slower queue to check out the details in the castle. From there we went to Flight of the Hippogriff which was still a walk-on. So, by 8:00 a.m. we had already done the major rides (no dueling dragons for us) and seen the show at Ollivander's and even did some shopping. We then went to breakfast at The Three Broomsticks and were able to carry our food over and eat at the Hogshead. After breakfast and butter beers (I know, 8:00 a.m.), we went to one of the shops and picked up some chocolate frogs. We got pictures with the conductor at the Hogwarts Express, and then decided that we had seen everything.

We were able to go over and hit all of the rides in Suess land while the new arrivals headed straight for Harry Potter. Then we did Posiden's Fury, Jurassic Park visitor center, pterodon riders and Spiderman before 11:30 a.m. A word about the Express Pass: Awesome! There was a 90 minute wait for Spiderman and we just walked right on. After two days we had done everything we wanted to and the pass made it all possible. So worth it to stay onsite, if Disney had something similar I'd be hard pressed to come up with a price that I would not be willing to pay.

The kids had been up since 5:30 a.m., so we went back to the hotel for a nap. After, we had lunch and went to the Studios around 3:30. Again, I have to sing the praises of the Express Pass! On the Fourth of July, we did Shrek, Terminator, the Monster Make-up show, E.T., The Simpsons, Men in Black and Disaster in under four hours. We were even early for our 7:30 reservations at Lombardi's.

If that was all we were able to do, it would have been okay. But since we bought the two-day pass we went back late the next morning and did MiB, E.T. & Simpsons again and even got into the new Dispicable Me ride after about a 15 minute wait (standby time: 100 minutes). We had lunch and walked around the backlot, saw the Blues Brothers show and left around 3:00 p.m.

So my verdict, if you have the express pass, and don't intend on doing any of the big coasters, you can definitely do Universal in one day. I'm sure we missed something cool, but we'll be back.

 

[Fluff724]

Great post BuenaVistaBound!

Does Despicable Me use the Express Pass system as well? We are going in a few weeks and I am concerned about the wait time for that since I have a 2 year old and I know my 5 year old will be devastated if we don't get to ride it. Thanks so much!!!

 

[macraven]

Great post BuenaVistaBound!

Does Despicable Me use the Express Pass system as well? We are going in a few weeks and I am concerned about the wait time for that since I have a 2 year old and I know my 5 year old will be devastated if we don't get to ride it. Thanks so much!!!

yes it does utilize the express line.

 

[Fluff724]

yes it does utilize the express line.

Great! Thanks so much!