Orlando - Wizarding World of Harry Potter

[Anonymous]

We are looking to take our three boys to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and pull them out of school for two, maybe three days, next November (unless we can coordinate it with teacher workdays). We are Disneyland veterans (CA) and did Animal Kingdom in Orlando 5 years ago.

Would love advice about doing Universal/Harry Potter, and what one other nearby attraction you might do. Also any advice on where to stay. We will not be taking summer vacation next year and so price is not an option - we'll spend what it takes to have a fantastic time.

[Anonymous]

We took our kids to Universal/HP world last spring - both kids are HP addicts and we had a great time, but Universal can't hold a candle to Disney so set your expectations accordingly.
Tips:
- stay at an on site hotel - we stayed in the tropical one - because it gives you early access to the parks and you get Universal's equivalent to a fast pass included as part of your room rate.
- use that early hour of access to head straight to HP world because HP is in the back of both parks and a lot of other early admittees head straight for big rides like the Minions ride
- at least one day, get the park hopper ticket so that you can take the Hogwarts Express between the parks - take it both ways because the ride images are different in each direction
- with park hopper tix, you can easily do both parks in 2 days, especially if your main attraction is HP World
- make sure to visit HP World in the evenings, too, so you can see it at night
- we bought our kids the wands that activate spells rather than plain wands - it was their main souvenier and they enjoyed doing the spells
Happy to answer any specific questions.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! So you think you can do both parks in 1 day, or should I plan on two days total? Assuming we want to do Harry Potter and all the other rides, shows, etc.

What else did you do around Orlando?

[Anonymous]

Pp here. If you want to do both parks fully (or at least the big hits), then you probably need 2 days - in part because the fast pass system at Universal is not as fine tuned as at Disney, so there can still be long lines even in the expedited lines. Although if you go on off peak dates maybe you can get it all done in a day - we were there over spring break. One nice thing about the on site hotels is that your fast passes (I forget what Universal calls them) are good from when you check in until the end of the day when you check out - so if you check in at noon on a Monday and check out on Wed morning (so stay for 2 nights), your fast passes are good all of Monday, Tues and Wed - so you can gain some extra time that way. Plus when we went Universal was running a deal where you buy tickets for 2 days and 3rd day was free. Go on the mousesavers site because they list the Universal discounts, too - we found out about the park ticket discounts and got a discount at our on site hotel via mousesavers.

We left Orlando after doing Universal and went to Sarasota because we wanted some beach time. We had been to Disney several times and really only went to Orlando to do HP World.

[Anonymous]

Just returned from 3 days/4 nights at Universal. Three days was perfect--one park each day and then time to go back and do anything we missed or wanted to do again. It also allows for some pool time. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel, and it was fantastic! So close to the parks, and you get the express pass, which is a great benefit. We also loved having Citywalk right there for restaurant options. We went to Blue Man Group one night--kids loved it. Universal is geared for slightly older kids. There are not many kiddie rides, and I would say 60-70% of the rides are of the motion simulator variety, similar technology as Soaring at Epcot, but some more intense. Our favorites were The Simpsons ride, Minions, and Spiderman, and the Mummy roller coaster. Both parks have Harry Potter sections. The newer Diagon Alley at UNiversal Studios is incredible. The detail is amazing, and my kids loved casting spells with their wands. We really had a blast and can't wait to go back