Universal newbie - Timeline question

[WDWAtLast]

We just reserved a room at Royal Pacific for March 2015 This will be our first time to Universal and I am used to planning a Disney trip, so I just want to make sure I am not missing something important.

Going early March and staying onsite, so we will have Express passes. We are driving, so no worries about getting there from the airport. Plan to purchase tickets from Undercover Tourist by Christmas (Christmas surprise for the kids)

Is it really that easy? I must be forgetting something!!! We would like to eat in one of the HP restaurants - do we need a reservation?

 

[bumbershoot]

It's really that easy.


The only way that I know of to get a reservation at one of the HP restaurants is to have a special package that gives you the option. But it's not needed. Hasn't been needed at 3 Broomsticks for years now (and I believe it was only for breakfast anyway), and I don't know if it's been needed for the venue in Diagon Alley.

 

[johde]

Lunch and Dinner at both HP restaurants is CS. From what I understand the Leaky Cauldron is somewhat similar to BOG lunch where you order, get a table, and then they bring the food to you. Breakfast takes reservations from package holders like bumbershoot said but walk ups are frequently served.

The only thing left to do is see if an annual pass holder rate APH rate comes out in the next couple of months making your hotel even cheaper.

 

[damo]

Yup, you're done.

 

[RMulieri]

Yup...it IS that easy

 

[schumigirl]

It really is that easy

You don't need reservations for anything, you really don't.

Sit back and wait for it to come around.........no need to plan months ahead of time..........and you'll have a wonderful trip I'm sure

 

[lazer]

We just finished our first visit (after many many disney trips). It was that easy! You'll love Express Pass and how little planning there is! We are at both HP restaurants by walking up. Have a blast!

 

[dealia]

The express pass was awesome. Be sure you get park to park tickets so you can take the Hogwarts express. I believe you have to pay to park at the Universal Hotels even if you are a resort guest. Also.. IMHO the Three Broom Sticks breakfast was just short of McDonalds, quality wise and VERY expensive for what you get. ( not worth it on any level) You can not bring your own food in to the parks.
Also they are very tight about bags/pocket books on the rides. There are special lockers to use but they were only free for a small window of time.
I can't think of anything else.

 

[cruisingkat]

The express pass was awesome. Be sure you get park to park tickets so you can take the Hogwarts express. I believe you have to pay to park at the Universal Hotels even if you are a resort guest. Also.. IMHO the Three Broom Sticks breakfast was just short of McDonalds, quality wise and VERY expensive for what you get. ( not worth it on any level) You can not bring your own food in to the parks. Also they are very tight about bags/pocket books on the rides. There are special lockers to use but they were only free for a small window of time. I can't think of anything else.

Yes you do have to pay to park at the Universal hotels, including Cabana Bay.
The lockers are free for those rides that do not allow you to hold anything. They are located near the entrance to the ride. The locker is free for the time it takes you to ride. If by some chance the line an ride takes longer, there are employees there to help.

 

[WDWAtLast]

Thanks so much for all the feedback! I am getting excited - and looking forward to a vacation where the "planner" gets to vacation, too!! I will definitely get the Park to Park tickets - especially for riding the Hogwarts Express !

So no reservations needed for dining - Yay!

Thanks for the heads up on parking fees and needing a locker (we carried a bag on with us at WDW) My kids are 11 and 13, so we should be able to be bag less this trip - unless I want my big camera for photos on one of our park days (camera phones have spoiled me with their convenience!)

Question about characters in the park - my girls are over meeting the characters, except for my 11 year old who is obsessed with the minions. Do you see them in the park or are they at the character meals only?

 

[KorbensMomma]

You get to dance with the minions after the ride, or just cut through the gift shop and wait for the ride to end then the minions will come out.

Also I thought you could bring food in? A PP said you couldn't but I think you can. But I do agree there was nothing really special about the 3BS breakfast, do a different meal there instead. Don't forget Mythos, they have dessert sushi for kids, it's really cool.

 

[lazer]

You get to dance with the minions after the ride, or just cut through the gift shop and wait for the ride to end then the minions will come out. Also I thought you could bring food in? A PP said you couldn't but I think you can. But I do agree there was nothing really special about the 3BS breakfast, do a different meal there instead. Don't forget Mythos, they have dessert sushi for kids, it's really cool.

There was one minion after the ride for a photo op last month. We also saw a minion and Gru in the street meeting people one afternoon. All at Universal Studios. We loved the character interactions here. Short, if any lines and they really spent a lot of time with my kiddos.

 

[macraven]

.. IMHO the Three Broom Sticks breakfast was just short of McDonalds, quality wise and VERY expensive for what you get. ( not worth it on any level) You can not bring your own food in to the parks.

on the UO website, it states you can bring in food to the parks.
anyone with diet restrictions are certainly allowed to pack their own.
many just want to bring in their own food in order to cut costs.

i have seen many families with their own snacks in the park.

the one restrictions UO has on the website:
no glass containors.

 

[bumbershoot]

Also.. IMHO the Three Broom Sticks breakfast was just short of McDonalds, quality wise and VERY expensive for what you get. ( not worth it on any level) You can not bring your own food in to the parks. Also they are very tight about bags/pocket books on the rides. There are special lockers to use but they were only free for a small window of time. I can't think of anything else.

You can bring in food.

Haven't done the breakfast there as the menu doesn't interest us, but they switch to lunch really early, 10:30 if I recall correctly, so we generally just have a protein bar for breakfast then have lunch food nice and early.

The bag restrictions are by no means on every ride, and we have never come close to missing the locker timeframe. If we used the lockers correctly and the line was much longer than expected or there was a breakdown, we would just find a locker attendant and let them know what happened so they could help out.

 

[johde]

So no reservations needed for dining - Yay!

In general, I would say that is true 80%+ of the year. You can probably raise that to 90% of the time if you make reservation the morning of or day before. Only during extremely popular times at extremely popular restaurants would you need to make reservations weeks (not months) in advance.

For example, Finnegan has no reservations available tonight after 2:45 and before 5:45. That's prime time for people using that area an early dinner for Stay and Scream for HHR. So, that one restaurant during those few hours booked up rather quickly.

Staying onsite, you get walk up priority over other walk ups at most restaurants. Technically that's not valid at Cabana Bay but I've heard people have gotten it.

 

[hpriamson]

The bag restrictions are by no means on every ride, and we have never come close to missing the locker timeframe. If we used the lockers correctly and the line was much longer than expected or there was a breakdown, we would just find a locker attendant and let them know what happened so they could help out.

They adjust the free locker time based on the current wait time for the standby line. So if you've got Unlimited Express, you'll have no problems, and quite possibly may be able to get in 2 or 3 rides in a row without having to unload your locker - that's what we did on MIB last trip.