Touring plans for Universal

[KrystalS]

Trying to figure out my touring plan for Universal and IOA. We will be there 2 days. For IOA is it best to go straight to the back and do HP first or should we start at Spiderman and work our way back? My kids don't want to ride Hulk or Dragon Challenge.

Same for Universal, should we head straight for HP? Probably won't do Mummy, or Rip Ride. I do want to go through the queue for Gringotts because I've read there is a lot to see.

The personalized touring plan has us walking all over, is Universal as spread out as Disney?

 

[7KLucky]

replying because I want to see what kind of answers you get. I wasn't impressed with what Touring Plans told me either.

 

[KrystalS]

I'm not sure what our plan is for now, might be making my own. Touring plans just doesn't seem as good for Universal as Disney.

 

[Robo56]

I'am at Universal now with family. Gringotts is the new ride in Diagon Alley. I would be at the gate for early admission when the park opens. Islands of Adventure has opened at 8 am for onsite guests every morning we have been here. Go directly to Forbidden Journey and ride that first then dragons challenge, Flight of Hippogriff (cute little coaster). Take in the shops at Hogsmeade then be on the Hogwarts Express as soon as it opens for your ride to Diagon Alley. Head straight to Gringotts. While my family was in line for Gringotts I explored every shop and little alcove it was awesome I was the only one in most of the shops. Have fun

 

[KrystalS]

We aren't staying onsite so we can't get in early. We plan to be there around 8-815 anyway, same time we get to Disney. Do they open at 9 or earlier like Disney?

We have 2 days planned so should we do Universal one day and then Islands? We plan to ride the Express the first day but likely just there and back because we planned to split up the parks. Touring plans says to start at front of park and work back but I think we will start at HP then head back to other rides. We aren't doing everything so I'm hoping lines won't be bad. We have gotten to Disney every day at rope drop and the only lines we had was RnR at HS and that was only 20 mins. We walked onto everything at MK and AK.

 

[skubersky]

If you ar a Touring Plans subscriber I suggest following one of the premium plans, I've tested them personally. Unless you have early entry I don't recommend Gringotts in the morning, you are better off doing Despicable Me 1st and saving Diagon for lunchtime or late afternoon.

 

[Robo56]

Gringotts is harder to get into as the day goes on.

 

[skubersky]

Gringotts is harder to get into as the day goes on.

Not necessarily true. Gringotts' queue actually peaks within the first hour after opening, especially when USF has early entry. Then it drops off in late morning and has a lull around lunchtime before building up again. There is another dip in late afternoon, then a final build until an hour or so before closing. If the line is long they may shut the queue before closing, otherwise it drops off dramatically in the final hour.

 

[Robo56]

I'am not sure when you were there. I just left after being there for a week and I was at Diagon Alley at different times of the day and there was always a good line waiting to get in. All the other schools are getting ready to let out around the U.S. This will mean there will be more people visiting the parks.

 

[hpfan100]

first you need to decide which attractions do you want to ride in each park.

For IOA...try something like this...Spider-Man, doom, water rides if interested and warm, hit up cat in hat and Seuss area, then enjoy time at potter world.


For USF....despicable me, transformers, Simpsons,men in black, then enjoy potter world and shows

I find saving potter for late morning or early afternoon means less waits at the other attractions. Potter will be busy pretty much all day although I hear forbidden journey waits drop in early evening. Gringotts is steady most of the day.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I would figure out what your kids are most interested in and be sure to do that the first or last hour of park opening. For example, my kids love running, jumping, climbing and exploring, so we did Camp Jurassic one morning at 9 am and then again one night at 8 pm. It was perfect. Practically no one else there, and we rode Pteranodon Flyers over and over with no wait. We tried it one afternoon and it was very crowded. Not nearly as nice.

My kids also loved Flight of the Hippogriff, and we rode it over and over from 8 pm until 9 pm one night.

I think it is important to visit your favorite area of the park when it is least crowded.

We just got back a couple of days ago, and, like others said, by 8 pm the posted wait at FJ was usually about 15 minutes after 8 pm. Will probably get longer as crowds increase with schools letting out.

If Gringotts is important to you, I would do it first thing. Try to arrive half an hour before posted opening, because like Disney, Universal does tend to open 10-15 minutes before posted opening time - and it will take you some time to walk to Diagon Alley. Both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade will probably be fairly crowded most of the day. Can't avoid crowds here, but you can at least go when the crowds are not insane, like first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening.

Generally, our plan is to figure out where most people want to be, and then do the opposite of that. For example, one night IOA was only open until 9 pm, but US was open until 10 pm. At 8:00 pm, we rode HE from US to IOA with absolutely no wait because most people were heading to US to see the laser show and to stay for an additional hour. The line to ride HE from IOA to US was huge. Glad we were not doing that. Hogsmeade was not as crowded as it had been earlier in the day. FJ had a 15 minute wait, and Flight of the Hippogriff had no wait at all.