Tell me how you conquer U.S. & I.O.A~Whats your park action plan (Newbies inquiring)

[cbsnyber1]

We did three nights in the onsite hotel (4 days of parks). I think the kids did every ride 5 or more times. We hit rope drop, express pass whatever we wanted. Back to hotel for food & swim. Back to parks. Dinner at Bubba Gumps. Back to parks.

It really is easy to get around and do what you want without needing the crazy tour plans like we do in WDW. It was a nice change of pace.

THIS may be the single best concise summary of the difference between WDW and Universal that I've ever read! Key phrase: Express Pass

 

[indimom]

It really is that easy.

Which is why we love it!

But, I will add this advice. Make sure you check out the show times early in your trip and make a plan for the ones you want to hit. We were having so much fun with rides that we let ourselves get short of time and tried to cram several shows into one afternoon. Yeah... that is a bit hard to do.

So, just make sure you spread them out a bit, one or two a day, and you should be set for everything else.

Other tips, if your son is young/small enough for Pteranadon Flyers, make sure you do that early one day. It's fun, but VERY slow to load and doesn't have express so it can put a kink in your plans if you don't do it early. Seriously, it's so slow and creates such long lines, that they created the "height limit" to control the crowds. Yikes!

The Jurassic Park play area is a lot of fun for older kids. You can really explore (i.e. get lost) in there. It's great and you could spend a good amount of time in there.

My two were 8 and 10 on our last trip, and they also loved the Ball Pit behind the Curious George play area. (Okay, dad and I liked it too.) We had a foam ball battle to the death in there and stayed much longer than we anticipated. So, if that's something your family would enjoy, save some time for that.

Make sure you check out the Talking Fountain near the Sinbad and Poseidon shows. That's a hoot.

If you want to try a butterbeer at WWoHP and the street cart is busy, try the Hogshead or Three Broomsticks. Trip reporters have posted that there is little to no wait at these locations.

As another poster mentioned, if you are interested in Ollivanders, do this FIRST during early entry, then move on to Forbidden Journey. It's a short show, but has limited space, and a line builds quickly.

And don't forget, pool hopping is encouraged at the three resorts. Check out the kids play area at RPR one day, the slide at PBH another, or enjoy the music at HRH.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[supercruiser420]

Here's a sample of touring plans that I give to people touring UO With their family.

Islands of adventure...staying on property means you get into IOA one hour early with access to wizarding world of Harry potter only.

1. Enter park, head to the right and enter Seuss landing.
2. Walk towards green eggs and ham and stay to the left f the building, there is a little used path that will expedite your trek to Harry potter. You will also be able to see the statue of the 2 sneetches.
3. Walk through lost continent and into the arch way of wizarding world of Harry potter WWHP.
4. On your left you will see the hog warts express, then the entrance for dragon challenge coaster, then the owlery, and finally the entrance to ollivanders. Do ollivanders first. It is a five minute show that only allows 20 people in at a time and has 2 plus hour lines all day
5. Exit ollivanders, save the wand shopping for later.
6. Head towards the back of WWHP where Hogwarts castle and the Harry potter and forbidden journey ride is located. Drop everything in free lockers located on the right when you enter the castle and ride. In the queue, hang out in the defense against the dark arts class room for a few moments....some magic happens.
7. After exiting forbidden journey, if you have small one, ride the flight of the hippogriff (kiddie coaster like goofys barnstormer...actually same manufacturer)
8. For thrill seekers, head over to dragon challenge coaster back by the entrance of WWHP. This is two thrill coasters wrapped into one. Blue is Hungarian horn tail and red is Chinese fireball. The red side is faster and the blue side has more Twists and loops. You should have time to do both.
9. Grab a butter beer inside the hogsheads pub...shorter lines than the outside carts and you can use any discounts you may have. No discounts at the carts.
10. Head to Jurassic park....

Universal studios.
1. Enter park.
2. Walk past shrek 4D which will be on your right and make a right after it. Walk up the pathway.
3. Transformers the ride is on your left, walk around the building to the main entrance.
4. Ride transformers.
5. Head back towards front of park and ride despicable me
6. Ride hollywood rip ride and rockit.......

If you have any other questions, let me know!!

 

[vacation_junkie]

Here's a sample of touring plans that I give to people touring UO With their family.

Islands of adventure...staying on property means you get into IOA one hour early with access to wizarding world of Harry potter only.

1. Enter park, head to the right and enter Seuss landing.
2. Walk towards green eggs and ham and stay to the left f the building, there is a little used path that will expedite your trek to Harry potter. You will also be able to see the statue of the 2 sneetches.
3. Walk through lost continent and into the arch way of wizarding world of Harry potter WWHP.
4. On your left you will see the hog warts express, then the entrance for dragon challenge coaster, then the owlery, and finally the entrance to ollivanders. Do ollivanders first. It is a five minute show that only allows 20 people in at a time and has 2 plus hour lines all day
5. Exit ollivanders, save the wand shopping for later.
6. Head towards the back of WWHP where Hogwarts castle and the Harry potter and forbidden journey ride is located. Drop everything in free lockers located on the right when you enter the castle and ride. In the queue, hang out in the defense against the dark arts class room for a few moments....some magic happens.
7. After exiting forbidden journey, if you have small one, ride the flight of the hippogriff (kiddie coaster like goofys barnstormer...actually same manufacturer)
8. For thrill seekers, head over to dragon challenge coaster back by the entrance of WWHP. This is two thrill coasters wrapped into one. Blue is Hungarian horn tail and red is Chinese fireball. The red side is faster and the blue side has more Twists and loops. You should have time to do both.
9. Grab a butter beer inside the hogsheads pub...shorter lines than the outside carts and you can use any discounts you may have. No discounts at the carts.
10. Head to Jurassic park....

Universal studios.
1. Enter park.
2. Walk past shrek 4D which will be on your right and make a right after it. Walk up the pathway.
3. Transformers the ride is on your left, walk around the building to the main entrance.
4. Ride transformers.
5. Head back towards front of park and ride despicable me
6. Ride hollywood rip ride and rockit.......

If you have any other questions, let me know!!

AWESOME! Thanks so much!!!

 

[rowan555]

If skipping Olivanders, is there a different path to take to get to the FJ ride quickly?

 

[RMulieri]

If skipping Olivanders, is there a different path to take to get to the FJ ride quickly?

Not in the morning.In the morning you walk through past ollivanders to get to Forbidden journey