Two Days - Two Parks - Help me decide

[mickey0624]

Decided this year to add two days before our Disney trip and visit Universal. This will be our first time there in 14 years, so a lot has changed. I have a son and daughter that absolutely love Harry Potter. So we're scheduled to land at MCO at 9:15 on Thursday morning. We're going to check in real quick then head to a park. So hoping if all goes well, we're at park #1 by 11:30. Then we have all of Friday to explore the second park. We are staying on property, so we have the fast pass and we also bought the two park hopper.

So I need some advice. Which park should we hit on the first, shorter day? How should we attack the Harry Potter rides? any advice would be appreciated.

 

[bchbetha]

Hogsmeade was miserably crowded 11-5 everyday we were there, as in barely able to cross the sidewalk. So, I'd go with Universal Diagon Alley first.

 

[damo]

I would go to Diagon Alley first and take the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade.

After that you can do the rest of the parks.

 

[angryduck71]

Ok, I'm going to disagree a bit. You can't use your fastpasses on many rides in Harry Potter (Dragon Challenge and Flight of the Hippogriff you can). Not sure what time of year you're going? I would do the afternoon stuff with Fastpasses for whatever non-Harry rides you like. Then, in the evening, start doing Harry Potter. If you have park-to-park tickets (I hope you do!), you can crisscross on Hogwarts Express too. Also, find out which park is early entry (if it's just one), make sure you go to THAT ONE the full day and get there EARLY for the Harry Potter stuff in that land. Potter stuff will be less crowded right before park close and in early entry. But again, it might be that only one park is open in early entry.

 

[BippityBrittany]

If you have the express pass, I would go to the Harry Potter attractions first - most of these rides do not offer Express Pass. You will save a lot of time with those with all other attractions! I'm glad you went with the park to park tickets, since you need those to ride the Hogwarts Express - This is an awesome ride and going from IoA to Universal Studios is a totally different experience than going from Universal Studios to IoA!
Also make sure you get the interactive wands for your children, this way they can cast some spells throughout the park!

 

[Parker Clan]

I'm going to echo what the PP's mentioned and say the Express Pass is a must and a life saver! It really allows you to focus on the HP rides/areas first and then you can hit a ton of rides after with little wait!
Also I agree it depends what time of year you go. We go every August & last year we waited 15 mins for Gringotts every time. This was odd since DA just opened in 2014! But I'm not complaining and IMO Diagon Alley is better than Hogsmeade & we found we spent much more time there. Just my opinion though. The Hogwarts Express is so fun & definitely rode that like 4 - 5 times lol
This year with Kong open, I'm interested to see how this disperses the crowd

 

[wookiebeck]

I'm with angryduck. The HP sections are wonderful in the evening after dinner. Use the express passes all day to bypass lines on the other major rides. Then go to HP at night for 10-15 minutes waits (where you would have spent 60 minutes at midday).

 

[johde]

Adding to what everyone else has said, I would spend a little bit of time in both parks both days. With the Hogwarts Express going between the two parks, a HP fan is going to want to park hop.

 

[bchbetha]

I also agree. Just bounce between the parks at your leisure! You don't need to commit to anything.

 

[mickey0624]

Thank you all for your great suggestions. I guess most people are recommending we bounce from park to park? How many actual rides are there between Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley? Also is there a place to eat with a Harry Potter theme?

 

[schumigirl]

Thank you all for your great suggestions. I guess most people are recommending we bounce from park to park? How many actual rides are there between Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley? Also is there a place to eat with a Harry Potter theme?

Have you checked out the website?

www.universalorlando.com

Full of info about rides, where they are what height requirements and such. Also has info on restaurants, hotels, Citywalk and anything else you can think of. It's a great place to start.

Also we have in here threads about dining and parks. Damo has a fabulous sticky on food.......it lists every restaurant with menus for you to check out........

 

[wookiebeck]

And if you like shortcuts, here:
https://www.universalorlando.com/Restaurants/Islands-of-Adventure/Three-Broomsticks.aspx
and
https://www.universalorlando.com/Restaurants/Universal-Studios-Florida/Leaky-Cauldron.aspx