What DO I need to plan for?

[jbrinkm]

First time visitor - staying at the HRH towards the end of August, so we'll have all of the perks. I'm used to using TP and pre-booking a ton of stuff at Disney. I keep seeing advice to not over-plan Universal "except for x" and I'm having trouble keeping track of all the x-es! Hoping to create a place here to list anything that might be important to keep in mind to lower/avoid long waits whenever possible... including dining if you have tips for that as well!

Edited to add: We plan to do early mornings and late nights with a decent break in the afternoons. Kids are DD14 and DS12. And we will do a half day at Volcano Bay (early - noon).

 

[TommyJK]

As it sits, the only thing I would "plan" for is figuring out how to do Hagrids, but by end of August, things will likely to have changed and it will be trying to plan how to do Velocicoaster.

By then, Velocicoaster will still be super new and popular, and undoubtedly won't have Express Pass for it, so you'll need to figure out a plan for how to ride it. And by this time Hagrid's might be added to the list of rides that accept EP.

But it's not something you can plan months in advance. You'll want to watch the boards in the weeks leading up to your trip to see what the best strategies at that moment are because things will change leading up to it (like rope drop strategies, or if it's using Virtual Line etc.).

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Things to plan:
1. Dining for sit down places, particularly if you plan for right at park close in Citywalk. Note you can usually reserve a day or two before, so not something you have to figure out now. You can check out menus on the App or the website.
2. Hagrids. If possible, also plan for this one at night when it's extra bonus cool!
3. VelociCoaster (presumably).
4. Ollivander's wand show.
4B. If you want to do spells around the Wizarding World, early-ish or late-ish in the day is less busy. Ditto for browsing the stores in Diagon Alley & Hogsmeade. You can do those things mid-day, but it'll be more crowded.
5. Try not to hit Minions right around park open, with EP. Later in the day is better if you have EP.
6. If you want to see the Bourne Stuntacular (which is great!) plan to be there well in advance of the show. Figure 20min on slow days and go up from there. You might get lucky at 10-15min early on a slow day.
7. Volcano Bay if that is in your plans.
8. Timing on water rides - Dudley log flume & Popeyes raft ride. Plan either by bringing a full change of clothes, riding before heading back to hotel, or just being aware that you will be soaked to the underwear. Make sure your phone/purse is protected from the inevitable drenching - you can pay for lockers there, use free lockers from further afield (Hulk or Forbidden Journey) and keep an eye on time, bring a ziplock, put in bag in center of raft for Popeye, etc. (Jurassic Park river ride will get you marginally splashed, not soaked, so you can do this at more or less any time).

 

[jbrinkm]

What about timing for meals at Three Broomsticks and Leaky Cauldron? And timing for HE? I've seen a few things about wait times there but not sure how bad or how important to prioritize timing.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Three Broomsticks was terribly slow in Nov - and it wasn't that busy of a day. There was a line to be seated while you were mobile ordering, and then a long wait once seated, even with the order already in. It was probably a good 20min or more before even a drink appeared. In comparison, Thunder Terrace a few doors down in Jurassic Park serves the same food and there was literally no wait - food out within 5min of sitting down. Did not try Leaky Cauldron this time around. The old standbys apply - eat early or late, not at typical lunch time, or just enjoy the extended break in AC - you can go up to the bar and get waters / drinks there in Three Broomsticks. Or wander in to Hogs Head pub to enjoy the scenery, and then go dine elsewhere (like Thunder Falls Terrace).

Timing for HE is going to depend - are you riding it as a transportation mechanism to get between parks, or to just enjoy the ride? The wait with EP wasn't so bad that I would bother planning a specific time to park hop. If you're riding it just to ride it over and back, fairly early in the day is probably best. It seems to get a sizable non-EP wait by mid-day and stay there, for at least one direction. It was our longest EP wait but for us it was 25min tops on a busy Sat (standby line was triple digits), but by the time you walk out and between parks back to the other Wizarding World you're looking at 15-20min anyways so it was worth a bit of a wait (in AC!). It was typically more like a 5-10min EP wait anyways.

 

[jbrinkm]

Timing for HE is going to depend - are you riding it as a transportation mechanism to get between parks, or to just enjoy the ride?

I don't know? Could do either? I haven't planned anything yet, LOL!!!

I guess if we're just going to do it as a ride, it sounds like we could reduce wait that way by doing early. So maybe that. We're taking mid-day breaks (August) so we could just go to the other park from the front if we wanted to switch.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

How many days are you there? It is pretty useful as a transportation method if you're there for several days - to get back to your Hagrids VQ time, to go back across and hit just one more ride on ______ on the way out of the parks, to cross over and see the Cinematic Spectacular, because you need ice cream at Florean Fortescues (highly recommend!), etc.

 

[nkereina]

We've been in late August before (pre-pandemic). The only things I would plan for are when to do Hagrid's and Velocicoaster. With EPs, we sleep in and don't even utilize EE and don't think twice about the order we do the parks in. We also have never made dining reservations, though we are just two adults and are flexible with the times we eat. I'd suggest avoiding City Walk restaurants around park closing, but by staying at HRH, you do get priority seating at the restaurants that accept it.

I think the biggest thing about late August is the weather. Its best not to plan because you need to stay flexible because rogue storms can come through at any time. Or, you may need a reprieve from the heat and humidity and want to leave the park to spend time at the pool. Its important to go with the flow that time of year because of the weather, so the least amount of planning helps make that possible.

 

[jbrinkm]

How many days are you there?

We have 3.5 days. First two full days at US and IOA, third morning at Volcano Bay until it gets too crowded, 3rd afternoon/evening and 4th morning back at the dry parks.

 

[shawthorne44]

I have heard that the HP restaurants have gotten their act more in gear. For example, there is a place to enter your table# when you've mobile ordered. In late August 2020, they were writing down you table# and Order# on little pieces of paper, and you had to wait for someone to come by. Someone had to match up that little piece of paper with your order so that added a delay. All that meant you sat there for longer than you should have, which meant lines to sit down were really long. Employees ran around like crazy because there was so much more for them to do. I still wouldn't go during a meal time.

If masks are still required, take a ziplock for your mask. You have to keep it on until you are physically in the vehicle by which point there isn't a clean dry place to put it. I swear I felt like I was being waterboarded when I put it back on. Fortunately we were leaving anyway so I put it on and held it away from my face