Which park for a day?

[sweetvixendreaming]

Hello!

The title says it all. We are looking at possible adding a day to our trip to Florida this summer. My daughter is SUPER into Harry Potter and she would LOVE to see Some Harry Potter stuff up close. She isn't into thrill rides at all. My husband would take our son to Legoland for the day. We can only scratch to one park (can't do 2 in 1 day costs, unless there is a SUPER inexpensive ticket floating around). Which park would be best for us? What would you choose?


Thanks so much,
A total noob.

 

[bchbetha]

If you can save your pennies to get park to park, she'll love getting to go through platform 9 &3/4 and ride the Hogwarts Express (plus getting to see both parts of HP). But, if you can only choose one, do Universal Studios as Diagon Alley is more extensive than Hogsmeade. You miss Hogwarts but you get Gringotts, Knockturm Alley, a dragon and other cool stuff. If possible, buy her an interactive wand- so cool!

ETA- you can often find free kids' tickets to Legoland so, voila!, money freed up to do park to park.

 

[sweetvixendreaming]

Thank you!

I did just find Legoland tickets for a significant savings. I hadn't realized that they've engineered it so that you have to have dual admission to really enjoy it! Sneaky buggers!

Thank you so very much for your reply!

 

[macraven]

What are the ages of your children?

Lego land is geared towards younger kids

My friends kids weren't interested in LL once they were 10

i took a pass on that park as i was concerned i would have my boys not being into it.

of course, all kids are different and i'm sure there are many that are older than 10 that love the place.

 

[sweetvixendreaming]

My munchkin is 7. He would go to Legoland with his dad while his older sister (9) and I would go do Harry potter things. He seems to be in hue middle of LEGO mania right now, and I'm afraid he'd be too old to enjoy it the next time we get back. (I have my fingers crossed SO hard that we can take my parents to WDW soon.

 

[macraven]

at the age he is, legoland would be perfect!
for your daughter, she will be thrilled with potter!


i'm crossing my fingers for you also that you get to take your parental units to wow soon....

now all your bases are covered.

 

[keishashadow]

one day, single park only - a vote for studios

OP come back and post some pics of Legoland after your trip

 

[sweetvixendreaming]

Macraven, thank you!!!!

Keisha, sure thing!

 

[Disxuni]

I would say Universal if you have one day, it seems a little more diverse in things to do. There are rides for children, thrill rides, and great shows. Which technically both sides do, but I personally think the shows are better on the Universal end and there's more. Both sides are probably equal when it comes number of attractions, but for some reason, it just seems in general that there is more to do at Universal than at Islands of Adventure for some reason. But that might be, because I have more favorites on the Universal end.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

I also would say Universal - I assume Minions, Shrek, ET, Hello Kitty store, etc would also more suit her than Seuss, Jurassic Park, Marvel. Sorry for the assumptions...does she know about the day? Is it a surprise? She may have an opinion once you research the HP stuff in each park along with the other offerings.

But, if your budget is tight, don't research too much, or you will talk yourself into park-to-park...

 

[macraven]

I would say Universal if you have one day, it seems a little more diverse in things to do. There are rides for children, thrill rides, and great shows. Which technically both sides do, but I personally think the shows are better on the Universal end and there's more. Both sides are probably equal when it comes number of attractions, but for some reason, it just seems in general that there is more to do at Universal than at Islands of Adventure for some reason. But that might be, because I have more favorites on the Universal end.

with Kong opening soon and Hulk back in service, we will see lots of crowds at ioa.
it could become favorite park for while.

time will tell

 

[sweetvixendreaming]

Vacaplanner, they don't even know that we are taking a trip! I'm so excited to see their little faces when we surprise them! We watched the disney vacation planning DVD and told them it was for marketing research (I teach business), and got FastPasses for what they were most excited about.
It really sounds like, for right now, Universal is our best bet for everything, but I'm still bummed about how it is split. That said, well done Universal for figuring out how to get the most from people!

 

[Disxuni]

with Kong opening soon and Hulk back in service, we will see lots of crowds at ioa.
it could become favorite park for while.

time will tell

Very true. Universal is looking even better and better. Honestly, I can wait for Kong and the Hulk. If I don't happen to stumble across it's soft opening dates while visiting the park, then I'm going to wait until I have EP (if I stay on property), or things cool down in the off season.