Please help with one day Universal plans!

[♥ Mandi ♥]

My die hard Disney family is venturing off Disney property for a day at Universal in early April - my boys have discovered HP and binged all of the movies in a few weeks and are obsessed, so that will be the majority of our focus for the day.

My boys will be 8 and 5 on our trip and I’m guessing my 5 year old, while pretty tall, may not be tall enough for the 48” minimum rides by then (I think my oldest was 6 when he was tall enough for Rock n Rollercoaster and he’s over 90th percentile for height). We’ll also have a one year old with us so will utilize rider swap when necessary.

My middle son loves Jurassic Park and they both love Marvel so we’d like to at least explore those areas as well. They’d definitely love to buy wands and do some spells too!

I know Dr. Seuss might be fun for one year old but we’re also doing a week at WDW so I don’t think we need to bother dropping in there for her sake at that young of an age.

Is there anything else that shouldn’t be missed? We aren’t big thrill ride people. Will one day be enough for my boys to enjoy both HP lands and Jurassic Park/Marvel - maybe Simpsons too?

Any kid friendly can’t miss dining in either park?

This reminds me of how I felt on our first Disney trip in 2008, pretty clueless lol.

 

[bchbetha]

Do it all! I don't think there's anything I would skip doing. You never know what might be an unexpected favorite.
Curious George's play area for the littler ones and Camp Jurassic for bigger are great- don't miss them.

 

[♥ Mandi ♥]

Do it all! I don't think there's anything I would skip doing. You never know what might be an unexpected favorite.
Curious George's play area for the littler ones and Camp Jurassic for bigger are great- don't miss them.

Thank you! Will check them out!

 

[Skippyboo]

I would get the Universal app and explore the different rides. In early April, the Studio side will be having their Mardi Gras event sort of like their version of food and wine. There’s a nightly parade with floats and they throw plastic bead’s into the crowd.

The water rides at Universal will definitely get you wetter than Disney’s water rides. First 2 rows of Jurassic Park River Journey will get your front soaked.

 

[disneyseniors]

If the boys are obsessed with all things Harry Potter, then I would expect to spend most of the day in the 2 HP lands. Even if you are doing only one park, it could take up most of the day. Those areas are just awesome and the Gringotts attraction is fantastic. If you pick IOA side only, then I would probably advise you to avoid forbidden journey. I am an adult and I had a difficult time riding it. It was jerky, quick, causing nausea, and I felt like I was going over backwards more than once due to their "ride arm system". I don't recommend it to anyone. But my granddaughter who barely passed the height test did just fine. So?????
Minions is fun, as is MIB and other attractions on the stuidios side. Honestly, there is so much to do and see on both sides that it takes more than a day for us.

 

[maverik85]

Are you getting 2 park tickets? Harry Potter is split over both parks and the Hogwarts Express takes you between them (but you have to have 2 park tickets to ride). If not go to Islands of Adventure as HP: Hogsmeade with Hogwarts castle is there along with Jurassic Park and Marvel.

If they are fans of those franchises I would definitely recommend doing the Velocicoaster and River Adevneutre rides at Jurassic and Spider-Man at Marvel Island. Velocicoater is themed to the Jurassic World movies with the actors appearing in preshow and some great raptor animatronics. Plus it is also an amazing coaster. The River Adventure has lots of dinosaur animatronics on it too. Spider-Man is one of the best dark rides. Camp Jurassic could be fun for a little kid to explore and play around in, and there are some cool caves to walk through. But it's not a can't miss thing either.

If you are doing both parks, with your priorities I'd recommend starting the day at Diagon Alley in the Studios park and then taking the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade. This can take up a good part of the day if it's busy, especially if they want to go around and use the wands. This would allow you to hit all the HP stuff first as that seems the priority and then you can go into Jurassic Park next door to it and work around to Marvel and ensure you get to your priorities first then. If you continue lopping back to the Hogwarts Express it will take you through Seuss, which is a cute land. The Cat in the Hat dark ride is fun and usually low wait (not as high quality as Disney's but decent) and the Seuss Trolley Train is a nice relaxing ride on an elevated path that gives good views of the park. Can be fun for the little one and give everyone a short rest off their feet. The Hogwarts Express gives a different experience each direction so can take it back to the Studios side then if time left. I'd recommend Mummy then in this park as it is a great attraction. Time permitting MiB is fun (shooter dark ride with physical sets), Transformers (dark ride very similar to Spider-Man), and Bourne Stuntacular (impressive stage stunt show).

 

[bbeagle]

Are you getting 2 park tickets? Harry Potter is split over both parks and the Hogwarts Express takes you between them (but you have to have 2 park tickets to ride). If not go to Islands of Adventure as HP: Hogsmeade with Hogwarts castle is there along with Jurassic Park and Marvel.

Unfortunately, the ride heights for both Harry Potter rides in the Islands of Adventure park (Hagrid's Motorbikes and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) is 48".

If they are fans of those franchises I would definitely recommend doing the Velocicoaster

Unfortunately, Velocicoaster has a height requirement of 51".

I'd recommend Mummy then in this park as it is a great attraction.

Again, the Mummy has a height requirement of 48".

Height Requirements at Universal Florida

 

[maverik85]

That's true. I missed/forgot about the heights listed for the kids. I still say a similar plan will allow them to hit the areas though with order of priority. Just get through some of the areas quicker.
Will note that while they might not be tall enough to ride Forbidden Journey, the queue is through Hogwarts castle. You can ask at the front about castle tours. They have done them in the past but not sure if they still do. Might be able to go through Express even to see the queue up until the ride station. They would probably have fun going through the castle.

 

[greeneyedchick]

I would recommend thick shoes so that your kid meets the 48" requirement. Otherwise, Universal isn't much fun.

I agree with everything that Maverik85 said. You can also ask for a tour of Gringott's in Universal. If they agree, you will bypass the line.

The Cat in the Hat ride is a fun dark ride for all and the line usually move fast. The Jurassic sky ride and the Dr. Seuss train in the sky lines take forever! Not worth the wait unless your kids can't get on other rides. Outside of Harry Potter, Spiderman and the Jurassic boat rides are must-dos in IOA and Men In Black and the ET Ride (for nostalgia's sake) are fun in Universal. As others have mentioned, you can only ride Hogwart's express if you have park hoppers. If you have HP fans, I highly recommend. The other water rides in IOA will get you soaked! Save them for last if you must do them.

 

[Kit Jackson]

If you can do the full Hogwarts Castle tour without riding the ride, the Harry Potter fans will love it. The line takes you through different parts of Hogwarts (you see more if you use the regular line because the ExpressPass line skips some parts of the castle). If they are serious fans, they will probably think it's amazing.

 

[♥ Mandi ♥]

I would recommend thick shoes so that your kid meets the 48" requirement. Otherwise, Universal isn't much fun.

I agree with everything that Maverik85 said. You can also ask for a tour of Gringott's in Universal. If they agree, you will bypass the line.

The Cat in the Hat ride is a fun dark ride for all and the line usually move fast. The Jurassic sky ride and the Dr. Seuss train in the sky lines take forever! Not worth the wait unless your kids can't get on other rides. Outside of Harry Potter, Spiderman and the Jurassic boat rides are must-dos in IOA and Men In Black and the ET Ride (for nostalgia's sake) are fun in Universal. As others have mentioned, you can only ride Hogwart's express if you have park hoppers. If you have HP fans, I highly recommend. The other water rides in IOA will get you soaked! Save them for last if you must do them.

Ha, we're hoping. I think he'd love the 48" rides.

Thank you all for the help and advice. HP is definitely the priority, with Jurassic Park coming in second and Marvel coming in "if there's time" which I hope we'll have. If there's time left we'll try Kong, MIB, Simpsons rides with my oldest as my husband hates these type of spinning/3D/screen rides (Remy's at Epcot ruined his day haha), he'll happily hang out with the baby while we ride those.

It seems doable for us with Express, there's a lot we'll skip out on due to height restrictions and my baby will be young enough that I think we can skip the baby-friendly rides as it seems there'll be plenty for her to look at and at 12mos she won't know the difference either way!

 

[greeneyedchick]

I recommend non-drowsy dramamine to everyone going to universal. Enjoy your trip!