What would you do with "free" half day at parks?

[Surgie2]

We (husband and myself) have purchased tickets that are buy 2, get an extra day free. We originally planned to spend only two days at the parks with P2P tickets. Our primary interest is Harry Potter which we can do in 2 days. Not interested in roller coasters. Staying offsite about 10 minutes from park. With the extra "free" day, we might just head over our first afternoon so what would be the best use of our time arriving midday or later on a Tuesday - last week of January?

Our other option is just to enjoy the resort weather permitting and forget about the free day.

 

[Seeker615]

I would check out the other attractions and see what will interest you. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much there is to see and do. There is not really a lot of coasters at Universal. There are a lot of fun attractions and shows as well.

Some of my favorite other things to do are - The horror make up show, Men in Black, Jurassic Park area and the ride, Walking through the comic strip section and doing all the crazy photo ops, spiderman, Transformers and I can't wait to try the new Kong attraction.

Have Fun!

 

[TheConsciousness]

Catch up on slower tasks: photo ops, phone pictures, shopping, trying new foods/snacks.

When we bought our 2days+1free ticket, by the third day our feet HURT, so taking things slow was great.

 

[Disxuni]

You might change your mind once you get there and are enjoying everything. You might want to enjoy a couple of rides one more time, you might want to have another butter beer, or pumpkin juice, you might want to find the little secret things around the parks and enjoy them. Such as for example, at Borgin and Burkes, you can see the vanishing cabinet and hear a bird in there, but what a lot of people don't know is that if you put your hand on it, you can feel something moving in there. It's little things like that which are hidden at the parks as well which a lot of people don't think about. A lot of these things also can be found online, but at the park itself, it's not advertised, or common knowledge. So, it's things like that which are fun to find!

Also, you might want to focus on photography, if that is something you're interested in, if you're busy the other days trying to take in the rides and shops. Or perhaps, go to the shows that are there, or experience other restaurants which you have not tried yet in the park. Or just walk around and take in what you haven't seen.

It doesn't have to be a day loaded with, let's do this, now let's do this, now let's do that, because when you first get there, you'll constantly trying to get from one place to another to see everything, but the beauty of that third day is that it can be a day which you can take your time, enjoy the scenery, and catch what you didn't see before. Or as @Seeker615 said, it isn't all just rollercoasters, most of the rides are simulators, or another form of a ride, or attraction. Islands of Adventure/Universal, not just WWoHP, might surprise you.

 

[Andysol]

Our primary interest is Harry Potter which we can do in 2 days.

While some people could spend 2 full days in HP, for 99.9% of people, that's a big too much time. Islands of Adventure is one of the best theme parks on the planet- and USF makes Hollywood studios look like a joke for being built the same year. You don't even have to go in a park- you could just eat at Citywalk and go watch the firework show afterwards. What I'm saying is- there is way more to Universal than Harry Potter. While they are the best themed areas in any park in the US, the rest of the entire resort is Amazing in it's own right.

 

[bumbershoot]

You're talking about going your first day, right? I'd definitely get the extra day and just do whatever I wanted to do!

We originally thought we were going for HP, too. I'm a chicken, DH is too big and DS was too small for most of the coasters. We decided to do it up seriously right, and stayed onsite and had 4 day tickets. We had to drag ourselves out to get to our hotel and dining reservation at AKL. If you give the place a chance it can be wonderful.

Now are you going the last full week or the very last bit of Jan? Assuming your first day is tues so you'll be in the parks through Thursday, if it's the last full week you might start to see people coming in for the Celebration of Harry Potter taking place the last weekend of Jan. Keep your eyes open for people like Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis, and the men that played Fred and George. They tend to be guests for that event.

 

[Surgie2]

You're talking about going your first day, right?

Yes, we arrive on a Tuesday (Jan. 24) morning after short drive from Valdosta (with a long drive from St. Louis the day before). So since the extra day is included I thought we'd take our time getting to the park Tuesday afternoon. Maybe do a few things that are not must-see or anything we don't have to wait in line for. Maybe somewhere nice for dinner? Then our full days will be Wednesday and Thursday.

if it's the last full week you might start to see people coming in for the Celebration of Harry Potter taking place the last weekend of Jan. Keep your eyes open for people like Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis, and the men that played Fred and George. They tend to be guests for that event.

Thanks for that info!

 

[georgina]

DH and I just had 3 days there, and we did most of what we wanted the first two days, so we used the 3rd day to ride a few things again (Mummy my favorite, Kong just because someone said we should walk through the regular queue, Forbidden Journey my other favorite, Hogwarts Express again, etc). We also did some things we have never done - Horror Makeup show which is not at all what I expected - in fact someone down in the front row heckled them a bit, saying 'I thought we were going to learn about horror makeup' when in fact it is more of a comedy show. We did Terminator 3D which we hadn't done in 13 years and I can wait another 13 to do it again.