What to do first- HP or other popular rides?

[phillymummer]

Hello DISers!

Here's the scenario:

Arriving on Sat 11/7 -transferring over from Disney POR early in the morning and checking into LRP
Departing on Sun 11/8. Leaving the park by 4:00 to catch a flight home.

2 day park-to-park tickets

We probably won't make the EE on Sat. Maybe we'll make it on Sunday. That's always iffy. We're staying onsite mostly for the EP. My daughter also wants to do minions, RRR, maybe Hulk, as well as many other rides.

What should we hit first? I see a lot of ppl say HP, but I know DM and RRR are popular too.

 

[HM]

I'd do Minions first on Sunday. Then do RRR. The shortest waits for these is at the start of the day. They stay pretty long all day long.
Go to HP area first on Saturday.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I would aim for EE both days. Might be hard to get it on Saturday with your hotel transfer, but do not miss it on Sunday. It is arguably as good a perk as the express passes, if HP is important to you. We loved our early mornings in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. We found so much to do in both parks that we did not even get through everything in three days (but we repeated several of our favorites multiple times). I would get to the parks ASAP so you have as much time as possible.

I wouldn't worry about when you get to RRR or Hulk or DM. With express passes, especially the time period you are going, you likely won't have a problem. There was a 50 minute wait for DM in the afternoon in late May when we were there and we walked right on with express passes. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about when you do any of the attractions except the ones that don't offer express passes (HE, FJ, Gringotts, Ollivanders, Pteranadon Flyers, and Kang and Kodos (this one is not a big deal - the others are)). The longest line we waited in with our express passes was Ripsaw Falls. It had a 75 minute posted wait, and we waited about 15 minutes. Not a big deal.

For the non-express pass rides, I would hit them either first hour or last hour. Since you won't have last hour on Sunday, first hour (early entry) is your best bet.

 

[Hootch]

I'd do Minions first on Sunday. Then do RRR. The shortest waits for these is at the start of the day. They stay pretty long all day long.
Go to HP area first on Saturday.

I had tried RRR a couple of times in the afternoon and the wait was horrible. Our last day, I did it a little before 10:00 AM and the wait was about 15 minutes. It was about 50 minutes shortly after I finished.

I had a lot of luck with Forbidden Journey single rider line at the end of the day waiting once for 2 or 3 minutes and walking right on another time. Gringotts seemed to have a shorter line in the evening also.

One thing I learned was to space out the simulator rides. The previous trip we did Spiderman followed by Minions, Shrek, Transformers and Simpsons. I felt like I had spent an hour plus just getting jerked around.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Is your DD old enough to do single rider? DD and I like using the single rider for Forbidden Journey and Gringotts. Since it is just the 2 of us, she goes first then waits for me at the exit of the ride. We used this strategy to ride Forbidden Journey over and over and over one trip.

 

[phillymummer]

thank you for all of the responses.

About EE- It definitely will not happen on Sat. I would rather take the extra hour of sleep than have an overtired/ exhaustion meltdown in the park. It's happened and it's just not worth it (we have been THAT FAMILY before). But In all honesty, we should be able to make it on Sunday. As of right now, the park is scheduled to close at 7pm on Saturday night (which seems so early to me but whatever), so even if we take a quick swim at the hotel we should be able to get to bed early enough to wake up in time to make EE.

As for single rider- my daughter will be 10. But this will be her first time riding all of these rides, so I doubt she would want to be by herself. Maybe the 2nd time we could do single rider, but it probably won't happen the first time.

So..... since we won't make EE on Saturday, should we do HP later in the night? It seems like everyone wants to do it first, so maybe by dinnertime it will have cleared out a bit as people have finished and moved on? I don't even know which park to start with on Saturday! The last time I went we only did IoA.

Sunday.... HP first during EE then maybe the DM and RRR?

I will definitely need to space out the simulators. I can barely handle them and will be loaded up with Bonine and ginger candy. I'm not even doing DM or Simpsons. The others are iffy.

 

[hpfan100]

Since you have express pass available I would hit HP area on your early entry day and late on your non-early day. Hogsmeade tends to clear out later in the evening plus you get to see the castle at evening time... very magical. DM and RRR can get backed up and the lines are outdoors. So I would hit those up after your arrival on first day then you can come back again later. The other rides shouldn't be an issue with express pass just roll around and ride whatever appeals to you.

You're going to have so much fun!!!!

 

[phillymummer]

Does it matter which park I go to first on Saturday? Should I go to the park that did NOT have EE (like the EMH strategy for Disney) ? I really need a "ride guide" bc I can't remember which rides are in each park!

Thanks again everyone for the advice. I am not a commando tourer, but I like to have a general plan.

 

[macraven]

go here
www.universalorlando.com and get the layout of the parks.

you can see where each ride is located
and you can figure out which route to take to reach any eateries, restroom, first aid and rides.


DE is the first ride you will run into inthe park if you walk straight back from the entrance.
many will stop and do that first ride in the park when they enter and again when they leave the park each day.

that usually makes it have a full line waiting for the ride.

 

[hpfan100]

Does it matter which park I go to first on Saturday? Should I go to the park that did NOT have EE (like the EMH strategy for Disney) ? I really need a "ride guide" bc I can't remember which rides are in each park!

Thanks again everyone for the advice. I am not a commando tourer, but I like to have a general plan.

Shouldn't be needed...with express pass you will not need to wait in any long lines outside Harry Potter, DM and possibly RRR.

 

[HM]

Both parks have EE for most of the summer.

 

[phillymummer]

We are going in November. I think at that time only one park will have EE?

 

[macraven]

 

[dja14]

Re: ride guide

We printed a US and IOA map and then we have been looking at video clips on you tube. My daughter started to do as she was excited about a couple things but it has been helpful to see what we could/should miss and what we might want to do more than once. Just to give us an idea.

 

[macraven]

op, since you won't be in the parks until later on saturday, do the rides with the express lines first.
you'll probably still be tired so less waiting in lines, the better for you.

hit potterville for the main rides later in the day, but go at least an hour before park closing.

for sunday, it will be to your advantage to use the early entry period to hit rides/shops/outdoor character entertainment as it won't be very crowded.

 

[phillymummer]

Re: ride guide

We printed a US and IOA map and then we have been looking at video clips on you tube. My daughter started to do as she was excited about a couple things but it has been helpful to see what we could/should miss and what we might want to do more than once. Just to give us an idea.

We did this yesterday. We looked at the videos and pictures on the universal site. We high-lighted the rides and shows. We will probably skip most of the "kiddie" rides and some of the shows. My daughter (who is 9, will be 10 when we go) also wants to skip transformers and spiderman because "she doesn't like them". I told her with transformers there's more than meets the eye, but she didn't get it.

op, since you won't be in the parks until later on saturday, do the rides with the express lines first.
you'll probably still be tired so less waiting in lines, the better for you.

hit potterville for the main rides later in the day, but go at least an hour before park closing.

for sunday, it will be to your advantage to use the early entry period to hit rides/shops/outdoor character entertainment as it won't be very crowded.

I think we're going to do IoA on Saturday bc we want to do the water rides. That way, we can go back to the hotel at the end of the day and easily change out of our nasty clothes. Plus, hitting FJ and DC later int he day might be better just in case my motion sickness remedies fail me.

Then on Sunday I'm hoping EE is at US so I can hit up HP first. If it's not, we'll go back IoA and ride HE over to US at 9:00.