Both nighttime shows in the same night?

Universal Orlando Resort
1

I’m spending my snow day snuggled up at home and planning the Universal end of our trip. I’m curious…is it possible to see both nighttime shows in the same night? Here’s my dilemma…

  1. I really, really want to eat at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, but they don’t do preferred seating or take reservations, so I’m prepared to wait a long time for a table.

  2. We really want to see both Celebration Cinema and the Nighttime Hogwarts lights.

  3. Our flight home leaves really early, so I’m avoiding staying at the parks really late on our second night.

So…can we fit in both night shows on Day 1 and Toothsome on Day 2 after a day in the parks?

My kids are older, so I’m not above eating super late at Toothsome, but don’t want a 2 hour wait at 8pm either.

I’m thinking I want more than I can have, lol. :rofl:

2

The nighttime Hogwarts lights are every 15 min from I believe, 8:30/8:45, and the show is pretty short. I’m not sure when the other show starts, but if you saw the first one, and headed back to the other park, you could probably catch it. What if you ate at Toothsome for lunch?

3

The Hogwarts lights have fireworks at the end. When you see them the next show starts in like 15 (might be 18) mins. It was very helpful when we were in the park to know when to head over to Hogwarts. I dont remember if it had a specific start time or if it was just from dark till close. Given that flexibility I definitely think you could do both.

I like the suggestion of toothsome for lunch. Where are you staying? If it is one of the onsite hotels that give express pass then you also get preferred seating which should cut down on your wait for food.

I would make sure you do the lights at USF on your first night since those are very set and then if you miss Hogwarts you could squeeze it in at the end of the last day. That being said we have never made it to the USF lights (little kids…too late at night). But we did do the Hogwarts lights this last time and they were amazing!

4

We are staying at Royal Pacific, but when I asked an employee (online chat) if Toothsome had preferred seating, she said no. But, maybe they do? I think I’m also really overwhelmed by all the shows. My plans look super full with not a lot of wiggle room, but I think that’s mainly because I have almost every “street show” on our plan. Any advice on not to miss shows (other than HP)? After 5 days rigid touring days at Disney, I really want these two days to be a little more relaxed, but I’m paranoid about the relatively high crowd levels (7 and 8 both days) and missing out on something.

A late lunch at Toothsome could be an option!

5

We did priority seating last January at toothsome but I guess that could have changed. If they dont I would say a “lunch” at an off time (maybe 2 or 3?) might work.

We dont really do the street shows but we did both the horror makeup show and the animal one and loved them both. The horror makeup show was amazing and well worth it (plus it is inside and has nice seats so it is a good break place). My dd 4 loved the frog choir show.

You have express pass so you will be fine. It is hard to not want to plan every step but really you dont need to when you in have express pass. Just go were you want!

My only other piece of advice is to do the early entry one of your days. Whichever park has it go to that HP area first thing then while everyone else is in line for the rides you get to explore with almost no crowd. It is well worth getting up early for the peace of it all. Then use the Hogwarts express to go to the other side to explore.

Have fun!

6

Thank you for your insight! It’s possible they do preferred seating and just not advertise it. I have the Horror Makeup Show and Animal Show on our to do list, but I might just remove the others and just see what we see. Thanks again!

1 Like
7

I feel like Universal is way less stressful than Disney, even on a busy day. Plus, you have the express pass, and you shouldn’t worry. We’ve never had the express pass, but always had the best time. I too have to highly suggest the Horror and Make Up show. We love it so much that we see it on every trip, it’s a lot of fun!

1 Like
8

You have gotten some good advice regarding the shows and I will add one thing regarding Toothsome. I have eaten there twice: once at 5pm in October and once at 10pm in August. Our service was fantastic in October and abysmal in August. In August the food took FOREVER and we literally didn’t get our dessert (we did eat a full meal there!) until after midnight. I don’t know if it was time of year, time of day or just an off night, but in my experience, an earlier seating is better than a later one. And for the 5pm, we got seated right away.