WWoHP and Animal Kingdom question

[MousseauMob]

We're cruising out of Galveston on DCL the end of April and they have changed their itinerary to go to Port Canaveral with transportation and a park hopper ticket. Of course we want to use these since they don't cost additional and the kids have never been to WDW. But, we're also HUGE Harry Potter fans. We don't fly, so visiting Florida is a rare chance for us, but it is only for 1 day. I know this may sound crazy, but we're just brainstorming possibilities at this point.

Is it possible to go to WWoHP (I understand it is ony a part of IOA, but we're really only drooling for WWoHP), for part of the day, then go to Animal Kingdom and spend the rest of the day there? How much time (approx) does this take and what would transportation be like?

 

[damo]

You'd be best to take a cab which will cost you minimum of $35 each way. You can do Wizarding World in a morning, as long as it isn't Spring Break week.

 

[dasan]

We stayed at All-Star movies which is very close to Animal Kingdom.
The cab took about 25 mins. one way and was about $40 + tip one way.
The Animal Kingdom park usually closes earlier than most parks. You would
need a good 4-5 hours to do everything at the park.

As for Harry Potter it depends on how long you have to wait for The
Forbidden Journey ride and how long you want to browse inside the whole
area. You might get it done in 1-2 hours but a hard core fan could spend
much longer.

Is it possible to do both? Yes but it would be a packed day.

 

[MousseauMob]

Thanks everyone!

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

I'd suggest going to Animal Kingdom in the morning and the The Wizarding World in the evening.. usually AK closes earlier than any of the parks, while IOA can be open as late as 10 during busy seasons. Plus, WWoHP tends to clear out after dark.

 

[MousseauMob]

I'd suggest going to Animal Kingdom in the morning and the The Wizarding World in the evening.. usually AK closes earlier than any of the parks, while IOA can be open as late as 10 during busy seasons. Plus, WWoHP tends to clear out after dark.

Thanks for the suggestion, the thing I like about this is we can wait and decide on the fly if we want to go to WWoHP, without pre-planning, or if we'll skip it and use the park hopper to go to another park. As long as we are in one of the WDW parks for our transporation back to ship when we need to be, we're good.

 

[Bonniec]

I completely agree with that. AK closes much earlier than other parks and WWOHP is great at night.


This is a tough thing to advise though. Only you can decide if you want to spend the money and do it. It would cost you the cab fair plus the tickets. That's a lot of money just to look at one land (however great it may be). But if there is no way you can ever come back....


Just be warned, while it's not Disney, Islands of Adventure is an awesome park. You may find yourself frustrated at wanting to do more and not having enough time. That even goes the same for a 1 day park hopper at Disney.

I'd recommend trying to come back on your own another time.


But if you have to do it this way, then I would do AK first.

 

[damo]

Depending on spring break, the last week of April, IOA may only be open until 6 or 7 pm. This year it was a mixture of 8 pm on the first two days and then 6 pm and then 7 pm on the last weekend. Easter is in March next year, so by the last week in April, IOA is probably only going to be open until 6 or 7 pm.

 

[MousseauMob]

I completely agree with that. AK closes much earlier than other parks and WWOHP is great at night.


This is a tough thing to advise though. Only you can decide if you want to spend the money and do it. It would cost you the cab fair plus the tickets. That's a lot of money just to look at one land (however great it may be). But if there is no way you can ever come back....


Just be warned, while it's not Disney, Islands of Adventure is an awesome park. You may find yourself frustrated at wanting to do more and not having enough time. That even goes the same for a 1 day park hopper at Disney.

I'd recommend trying to come back on your own another time.


But if you have to do it this way, then I would do AK first.

I know, one day is really hard. If we came back it would be totally different, we'd probably stay at least a couple of days on sight at Universal. It may not be worth it this time, in which case we may just wait for WWoHP to open in California!

Depending on spring break, the last week of April, IOA may only be open until 6 or 7 pm. This year it was a mixture of 8 pm on the first two days and then 6 pm and then 7 pm on the last weekend. Easter is in March next year, so by the last week in April, IOA is probably only going to be open until 6 or 7 pm.

Thanks - this may change how I feel about it. Gee I hope Spring Break isn't the last week of April, I'd rather not have those crowds.

 

[dasan]

I know, one day is really hard. If we came back it would be totally different, we'd probably stay at least a couple of days on sight at Universal. It may not be worth it this time, in which case we may just wait for WWoHP to open in California!

Thanks - this may change how I feel about it. Gee I hope Spring Break isn't the last week of April, I'd rather not have those crowds.

Spring Break in Canada is last week of March and usually the States is very
close to this. I'm sure you will be fine in late April.

 

[damo]

Spring Break in Canada is last week of March and usually the States is very
close to this. I'm sure you will be fine in late April.

Our board's March break in Canada is March 11-15. That seems to be the week for Ontario. Other provinces seem to have later breaks in March.

Spring break in the US tend to vary between colleges and grade/high schools in the first 3 weeks of April. The last week is usually fine. I think because Easter is the end of March, there will be many spring breaks that are that first week of April.

By the last week in April, crowds should be low and the parks will close earlier again.

 

[MousseauMob]

Oh good! Thanks, everyone!

 

[La2kw]

I would skip Animal Kingdom and spend the entire day at Universal. AK is a joke and most zoos have a wider variety of animals that are easier to see than the ones at AK.

 

[glocon]

Everyone has their own opinion about AK, and I for one love it. If I had a hopper I would do AK in the morning (I am assuming it is a must do for you) and than hop over to MK after. I would save UO for another trip totally.

 

[Jenny3]

The park hopper ticket won't help you with IOA, just the WDW parks. If it were me, I would either use the ticket to visit two of the WDW parks (personally, I'd go with MK and DHS) or I would skip WDW altogether and spend the day at IOA, especially if you are huge Harry fans I think you will waste too much time trying to squeeze in one WDW park and IOA in one day, especially since they close early.

Good luck!

 

[ben1993]

AK is a "joke"?! That statement is a joke.

I agre that you are probably trying to pack in too much with IOA and a Disney park, I'd either spend the whole day at IOA or do AK and MK at WDW.

 

[keishashadow]

Do you have the stated times for the orlando excursion day? To determine if a viable plan you need to factor in your stated departure time from PC and realize that the bus ride to disney will be an hour or so once they round up everybody. Then pay close attention as to when you need to report back for your transport to the ship

WDW bus transport can take far longer than you expect from park to park if you just miss a bus or it's full and traffic...not uncommon to take an hour to get from point A to B in that case.

Normally, i'd say to do AK 1st then WWOHP but just think it's iffy proposition as to potential traffic issue getting back to disney even if using a cab. The ship won't wait for you if you miss the bus back to port.

IF Harry is a must-do, grab a cab from disney ASAP, then return to AK but allow enough time to bus to whatever park the bus will be located (or hope you find a cab that's available if running late).