One day - what's "not to be missed"

[abbydancer]

Looking for advice here.

Here's the situation. In December, we're going to WDW with my sister and nieces (14 and 12). They are there for 5 days. We have one day for each Disney park (first time for the kids since they were 6 and 8 and they have never been to the Magic Kingdom because previous trips were all on 3 day weekends - this is the first time they'll miss school). We can't add another day to the trip or move a day to Universal.

They are huge Harry Potter fans, so we're using the 5th day to go to Universal. We will get park hoppers, and we have a hotel room we are not going to use (other than maybe DH will take a nap) to get EE and express.

The plan is to go to Diagon Alley, and then take HE to Hogsmeade. We think that we will probably have some time after to experience the best Universal has to offer.

So I'm looking to create a priority list - what we should do in order to get the best in before they close. Since none of us has been there, advice would be appreciated (I've been to USH a while ago).

Does that make sense?

Thanks for any help.

 

[kathy884]

Take advantage of your early entry for HP rides and look around at the HP areas. With the express passes you'll certainly be able to hit other major attractions too. We are doing one day too on a crowd level 2 day (December after DS's finals), our strategy and plan of attack might be quite a bit different than yours though not having the front of line passes or early entry. We're hitting Transformers and Gringotts first, taking the train over to IOA, doing Dragon Challenge, Hulk, Jurassic Park water ride, Forbidden Journey, taking the train back, doing a late lunch at Leaky Cauldron, exploring Olivanders and Diagon Alley for 90 minutes or so, and then hitting other Universal attractions (Disaster, Mummy, Rip Rocket, and Despicable me). // That's everything my 19 year old wants to do -- main focus HP stuff, next favorites from previous trip, and then all the newer stuff he hasn't been on before. A lot of Universal / IOA for him is a been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, not worth repeating. But he's really excited about the HP stuff he hasn't been to before. // Looks too, like based on wait time predictions -- did a custom touring plan we'll actually leave the park a good hour or so before closing. // Note there are some headliners others would say are must do that he has done before and isn't interested in repeating, so you'll probably want to add in more than this. But this is what my 19 year old son thinks is the perfect touring plan in case you're interested.

The HP theming looks incredible so we are really looking forward to spending a day here. We're doing a day at SeaWorld and a day at the MK too, plus have a day for the Titanic attraction on I-drive, tennis, and swimming on our mini week before Christmas five night / four day trip.

 

[darrenf67]

My top picks (not including Harry Potter);

Transformers
Spider-Man
Minion Mayhem
Our kids loved the hulk (if you're a roller coaster fan)
Simpsons

Have fun! You can get a lot done if you buy an express front of line pass

 

[glocon]

kathy884's list is what we would do with the addition of Spiderman and MIB.

And if there is time and weather permitting- do the water rides at IoA last before you leave the park.