Help me plan time at Universal Studios!

[Anonymous]

We have three full days. Will the kids have had enough after 2 days and the third day can be at Disney or a water park? Thoughts on how to best use those days? Best apps for planning? We will be staying outside Universal.

[Anonymous]

Totally depends on when you're going and your children's interests.

[Anonymous]

Yes I should have provided more details. The kids are 9 and 10. They love, love, love Harry Potter. We have done Disney before and they loved that too. We did think HP should be a major focus this time. We have three full days, and I would love some help deciding how to allocate time. Would it be too much to just stick to Harry Potter and really spend time exploring every little shop? I should say we are also not an energizer bunny type family - we need reasonable breaks and good meals (as good as possible in these parks). Please send any and all advice our way including restaurants to book.

[Anonymous]

I went to Universal Studios for the first time in Feb., with a 10 y.o. and 7 y.o.. We bought a 2-day ticket to both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. If your kids are big Potter fans, they will have a great time.
The other attractions in the park are fun, too - and great for the tween age group. I really don't think you need to do Disney during your trip - especially if you like to go at a leisurely pace.

City Walk has lots of restaurant options and is located between the parking area and entrance to the parks, so you'll have to walk through it.

We are Disney fans and were surprised by what a great time we had at Universal. I think my kids are getting a little old for Disney and Universal was perfect. Traffic getting out of the parking garage at night can be terrible, though. Be forewarned to leave the park early or stay late and walk around City Walk.

[Anonymous]

Two days is plenty. Get the park-to-park ticket so you can take the Hogwarts Express. Also, get there first thing in the morning when it opens because it gets extremely crowded as the day goes on.

[Anonymous]

My kids are a little younger than yours but we are also planning a 3 day trip to Universal Studios. Our whole family loves Harry Potter and that is the focus of our trip in October. We were flirting with the idea of doing the Disney Halloween Party but we decided to stick with just Universal Studios.

We are not marathon theme park goers and prefer to just do half days per day so we are doing three half days. We plan to start off 2 of the days at each of the Harry Potter areas at Universal Studios and IOA. On the third day, we will do the rides/shows we could not do or want to do again.

Our friends have told us that 2 days is plenty (1 park per day) but that assumes you stay all day.

[Anonymous]

did Universal LA this summer. We bought the front of the line of pass. Expensive, but totally worth it. Did the entire park in a day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two days is plenty. Get the park-to-park ticket so you can take the Hogwarts Express. Also, get there first thing in the morning when it opens because it gets extremely crowded as the day goes on.

Agree completely with this advice. You will have the early entry and fast passes since you are staying on site, so use them to your advantage. The UOR app is useful (not as much so as at Disney, but still worth it).

[Anonymous]

When are you planning to go?

We just got back last week and did 3 days at Universal. My best piece of advice is to get there before the parks open. In US, go to the Minion ride first and get there quickly because the lines will not get any shorter all day. You would think that Harry Potter would be the longest line but it isn't, the Minions ride averages at least 80 minutes up to 150 minutes each day we were there from 10 am onward. We waited 2 hours but only because the ride broke down and we were stuck with a wheelchair in the middle and couldn't get out. It was cute. HP may have been 50 minutes or so.

No real need to get front of the line tickets. Download the Universal Studios app and the one from touringplans.com to keep up on the lines and predictions, I found that using both really helped out. And definitely use the crowd predictions from touring plans to figure out what days to do which parks. The first day we were there the prediction was a 3 out of 10 so it helped us plan. On our third day the prediction was 7 out of 10 and we could feel the difference.

We did all 3 days at the parks, first day we did US only, 2nd day we did IOA first and then took train back to US and finished the day there, either redoing rides we liked or added in a new one and on the third day we did US first and did HP and the kiddie section then took the train back to IOA and finished the day there. It made for a leisurely trip. Plus we wanted to see the difference in the train going both ways.

Eat at Three Broomsticks and try the frozen butter beer.

[Anonymous]

You could easily spend 3 days there. Depending on crowd levels you will spend 4-5 hours in each HP park alone. Seriously take your time, ride things multiple times, etc. Day 1 run (walk quickly) back to one entrance to HP, spend as much time there as you want, then hit other areas as time permits. Day 2 do HP again, hit the other entrance and once done like day 1 hit other rides. Day 3 hit Minions first then anything else you haven't done yet. You may not know until you're there how much "non-HP" time you'll have. Maybe buy the 2-day park to park tickets for Universal then decide if you want to do a third day there or WDW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When are you planning to go?

We just got back last week and did 3 days at Universal. My best piece of advice is to get there before the parks open. In US, go to the Minion ride first and get there quickly because the lines will not get any shorter all day. You would think that Harry Potter would be the longest line but it isn't, the Minions ride averages at least 80 minutes up to 150 minutes each day we were there from 10 am onward. We waited 2 hours but only because the ride broke down and we were stuck with a wheelchair in the middle and couldn't get out. It was cute. HP may have been 50 minutes or so.

No real need to get front of the line tickets. Download the Universal Studios app and the one from touringplans.com to keep up on the lines and predictions, I found that using both really helped out. And definitely use the crowd predictions from touring plans to figure out what days to do which parks. The first day we were there the prediction was a 3 out of 10 so it helped us plan. On our third day the prediction was 7 out of 10 and we could feel the difference.

We did all 3 days at the parks, first day we did US only, 2nd day we did IOA first and then took train back to US and finished the day there, either redoing rides we liked or added in a new one and on the third day we did US first and did HP and the kiddie section then took the train back to IOA and finished the day there. It made for a leisurely trip. Plus we wanted to see the difference in the train going both ways.

"No real need to get front of the line tickets." I totally disagree. As an example, Jurrasic Park in LA this summer (July), the wait was 100 minutes. We boarded in like 5 minutes with the passes. Waterworld, Animal Actors and other rides you get let in first for the best choice of seats, you get a behind the scenes look at things, talk with actors and pics with animals. This is one area where you do not want to cheap out on unless waiting in line for 1-2 hrs with kids, in the sun, is enjoyable to you. Why do the park in 2-3 days when you can do it in 1.

Eat at Three Broomsticks and try the frozen butter beer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When are you planning to go?

We just got back last week and did 3 days at Universal. My best piece of advice is to get there before the parks open. In US, go to the Minion ride first and get there quickly because the lines will not get any shorter all day. You would think that Harry Potter would be the longest line but it isn't, the Minions ride averages at least 80 minutes up to 150 minutes each day we were there from 10 am onward. We waited 2 hours but only because the ride broke down and we were stuck with a wheelchair in the middle and couldn't get out. It was cute. HP may have been 50 minutes or so.

No real need to get front of the line tickets. Download the Universal Studios app and the one from touringplans.com to keep up on the lines and predictions, I found that using both really helped out. And definitely use the crowd predictions from touring plans to figure out what days to do which parks. The first day we were there the prediction was a 3 out of 10 so it helped us plan. On our third day the prediction was 7 out of 10 and we could feel the difference.

We did all 3 days at the parks, first day we did US only, 2nd day we did IOA first and then took train back to US and finished the day there, either redoing rides we liked or added in a new one and on the third day we did US first and did HP and the kiddie section then took the train back to IOA and finished the day there. It made for a leisurely trip. Plus we wanted to see the difference in the train going both ways.

"No real need to get front of the line tickets." I totally disagree. As an example, Jurassic Park in LA this summer (July), the wait was 100 minutes. We boarded in like 5 minutes with the pass. Waterworld, Animal Actors and other rides ....you get let in first for the best choice of seats, you get a behind the scenes look at things, talk with actors and pics with animals. This is one area where you do not want to cheap out...unless waiting in line for 1-2 hrs with kids, in the sun, is enjoyable to you. Why do the park in 2-3 days when you can do it in 1.

[Anonymous]

"No real need to get front of the line tickets." I totally disagree. As an example, Jurassic Park in LA this summer (July), the wait was 100 minutes. We boarded in like 5 minutes with the passes. Waterworld, Animal Actors and other rides you get let in first for the best choice of seats, you get a behind the scenes look at things, talk with actors and pics with animals. This is one area where you do not want to cheap out on unless waiting in line for 1-2 hrs with kids, in the sun, is enjoyable to you. Why do the park in 2-3 days when you can do it in 1.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the advice! We have decided to stay outside the park but will buy the express passes. But we won't be able to get in an hour early since we are staying outside. Since we like to take things slow, I think I will go with the 3 day park-to-park tickets with the express passes.

[Anonymous]

The Express passes might not cover the HP rides, they didn't when we went. And time of year, day of the week matters as to crowd level.