Strategy

[mastodon]

Feeling a bit worried that I don't have a firm plan in place at IOA and UA when we we are there next week. We will have early morning access and express pass. But should we spend time exploring the Harry Potter Worlds or move on to rides as soon as we do the rides in Harry Potter Worlds? Will we be at a disadvantage if we spend an hour or 2 exploring and then move onto the rest of the rides in each park?

 

[mastodon]

Or is it a better strategy to do the rides in respective lands- take the Hogwarts express and continue on the rides in that land?

 

[damo]

You won't need a plan next week if you have express.

 

[kohlby]

Agree that you won't need a plan unless you're talking about the very end of next week. Otherwise, relax and have fun! We tried to plan just to focus on a specific park but found we went back and forth far more than we used to due to Hogwarts Express. The planning I would do is to figure out where you may want to eat lunch. If you have a couple places in mind, then it means less walking or at least being in the same park.

 

[RMulieri]

You don't need a plan for anything other than Harry Potter ( non express pass stuff). If anyone meets the height restrictions for Pteranodon flyers or wants to ride Kang and Kodas Twirl and Hurl, you will also want to hit those since they don't take express .Out of those 2, Pteranodon flyers builds lines quickly after opening and stays that way a lot of the time

 

[mastodon]

Thanks- we are actually at the end of the week on Thursday-Saturday. Does that change things? We want to eat at Leaky Cauldron and Three Broomstix. Going to do Mythos for dinner. Anywhere else we should target? Is Krusty Burger okay?

 

[wookiebeck]

We really disliked the Krusty Burger. Got spoiled with Mythos and on the Studios side, Confisco Grill. You should try that if you are planning on being on that side for one day.

 

[RMulieri]

Keep in mind ...Mythos often closes earlier than the parks do and often the last seating is between 330-430 pm .

 

[kohlby]

Yes, Thurs-Sun does change things as kids will be getting out of school for Christmas break. That means Sunday could easily be crowded - but Thursday is still likely low crowds. Do Minions on one of the days earlier in the trip, before the crowds start. I read that even the express pass often has a real wait for that. (However, it was a walk-on first thing in the morning when I was there last week). Make sure to do the Harry Potter areas on the earlier side of your trip too - and of course, the early hour is an excellent time to do that. Even when crowds aren't high, the stores and walkways can get rather crowded.

For food, consider City Walk as well. It's really easy to walk out of the park for more options. For City Walk, we liked Red Oven Pizza - and you can get the pizza to go and take it back to your room which is very helpful if you have any kids in your group who have reached their park limit. I've read good things about Cowfish too, but there wasn't a lot on the menu that I'd eat so we didn't try them. We always eat at Three Broomsticks at least once. This past trip, we tried the Doc Segrue Kebab place for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised. The ice cream place Florean's ice cream place is worth stopping by too. The butterbeer ice cream was amazing. I liked my lavender and Earl grey ice cream too. They had a lot of interesting flavors.

I didn't get anything from Krusty Burger but there are other options next to it in the same building. My husband got the chicken and waffles from the place right next to it. (Cletus's Chicken Shack?) Two of my kids got pizza from one of the places in there - not sure which one. It was so-so. And then I split a turkey wrap with my other child which was a few spots down from Krusty.

 

[sk8jdgca]

Harry Potter is good at night during the last hour of park opening.