Hello everyone! My family and I will be heading to Universal really soon. We have tickets for three days, and are staying at CB with EE. Last year, we had the same amount of time (3 days), and EE for US, which we did Despicable Me, Shrek, and Transformers the first day, and Diagon Alley the next two days. The rest of the time was pretty relaxed because we got those out of the way with the EE. We hit both parks each day, and didn’t feel like we were wasting time. We went on all the big rides, with the exception of Reign of King and Hulk, which were not opened when I went last April. We plan on doing as much as we can, but without worry because we have three days. For this trip, it looks like IOA is the EE park, something I haven’t done yet. What would be the best things to do with that IOA hour (or, should it be skipped, and go into US at regular time)?
Hi. We were just there week before last. We went to IOA for EE, and headed straight for Forbidden Journey. They had a bit of a late opening, so it took 40 minutes which is way longer than we were used to from previous visits. We then rode Dragon Challenge. The only things open that first hour are the 3 rides in Hogsmeade and Ollivanders. Occasionally the Caro-seuss-el is open as well. I would head straight to Forbidden Journey and then hit the other 2 rides. We then leave that area as it is packed by regular open.
I am always the odd man out on this, but I would only do EE at IOA one day and then try to RD USF the other days. When I did EE at IOA, I had a longer wait at Forbidden Journey than most other times I rode it, as I felt like EVERYONE in the park was headed to that one ride. The other HP rides may have had shorter lines, but FJ was pretty long. I feel like you would get more benefit from rope dropping USF.
Following
Agree, we only did EE one day. The other we went to US and headed to Escape from Gringotts.
Thank you all for the replies. After thinking it over with my family, we are thinking it may just be better to skip EE, and just head to US at opening, and go to IOA throughout the day based on our touring plan. Has anybody been to USR in the last few weeks? When is the best time to head to Kong or Jimmy Fallon, right when the park opens, or late in the afternoon? After realizing that US isn’t the early entry park, we decided to probably save Diagon Alley for later in the day so it won’t be too crowded, unless we see that the crowds aren’t too bad.