Help with Wizarding World Two-Day/Two-Park Plans

Universal Orlando Resort Touring Plans
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Yes. If you’ve not been to UOR before you’ll be surprised at how close & convenient everything is. The boats literally drop you off past all the general admission / parking lot screening for the parks. You’ll be right in the middle of CityWalk on on your way to the front gates. You can even walk to the parks if you want a short stroll in the morning to get the blood pumping!

Only a minute or two. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a nuisance. All lockers are located right outside the rides. There are a couple different sizes and only the really small lockers are free.

Probably not. The larger lockers measure out at 12 in x 13 in x 16.9 in. The larger ones cost $2 upfront. Furthermore, any ride locker will start to charge an additional $3 per extra 30 minutes, up to a $20 maximum after what the posted wait times are at the attraction. Keep this in mind because, if you have bigger items with you that you’ll need to stow away, you won’t have any choice but to cough up the dough each time you ride. (In this case, you might consider getting an all-day locker. - These are located at the front of the parks)

The best advice I can give is travel LIGHT!! Universal is so much smaller, in a good way, than WDW. You don’t have to pack like you are going on safari. It’s more like Disneyland. You can get back to your hotel in less than 20 minutes. I’ve literally been in the back of the parks, decided to take a break and been in my room in that amount of time.

The best thing about Universal is how you don’t really need a plan like WDW. It’s such a leisurely place. (IMHO - It’s everything I wish WDW was in a LOT of aspect!)

I put these together as I think it can be answered as one…

First, August 28 is a great time to go. All the local schools go back Aug. 10 and most Universities start Aug 22. It’s going to be much slower than even a week earlier!

TP is wrong about the RD wait. I don’t know why it would say 0 minutes!! LOL! I’ve RD Hagrid’s a bunch of times. If you really are at the front of the pack you’ll get on in less than 10 minutes. If you can’t sprint / power walk to the ride you’ll be in the main herd. 90% of ppl at Early Park Admission are going to Hagrid’s - no joke! (It is ALL the way to the VERY BACK of the park - :man_running: :cold_sweat:)

If you get there with the people who didn’t run, but walked with a “purpose” you’ll probably wait 15 - 20 minutes. If you can’t keep up and have to stroll, expect a 30 - 45 minute wait.

(This is all based on my personal experience. It can / may vary for others!)

I don’t think you’ll get a 3 minute wait for Hulk either… Overall I’m just going to suggest you have an “outline” of what you want to do instead of relying on Touring Plans at Universal. I’d get very familiar with the Universal App. It’s great! Way better than what Disney offers. It’s pretty intuitive, but has unique features that you may not notice at first glance. You can see all the wait times, set alarms for attractions when the wait is what you want, order food and more!

I love TP, but they focus 90% of their time to WDW as that is 90% of what ppl here use. The Universal side, and even Disneyland, aren’t updated well.

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no thats correct, if you rope drop EE and walk over to Hagrid your going to wait between 0 and 70 min

0 if you arrive super early and stay at front of pack if your a few miutes back then 3000 people will all beat you and its easy to wait 60.

BUT getting there 40 mins early to get a 10 min wait or arrive 5 mins early to see a 60 min wait… who knows :smiley:

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Tis the plan I’ve followed too so that’s why I suggest it. I’ve been to Universal Orlando 4 times b/w Jun 2021-2022 and 5 times since 10/2020 so I feel pretty confident in my skills there! LOL The only place I ever get hung up is Dudley Do Right’s if I include that ride. For some reason, even in Express, I have to wait 30 min for that ride which is never what the TP app says and it throws me off so fair warning! Plan more time for that. Another technique I use when building TPs is to add 15 min breaks every few rides (it doesn’t mean you need them or use them but it’ll help if you get off the thread and to keep you in the frame of mind of not just checking things off because you’ve got some padding). Also never ever be afraid to throw a plan away day of and listen to your body/mind! LOL

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This one is pretty long. If you all could read it over as a double check, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And thank you all for the replies today. It is our first time to UOF. I think I might have been at City Walk or one of the parks for a work conference but those memories have been overwritten by real life.

I’m feeling better today. I think I have the gist of it.

  1. From Royal Pacific - doesn’t matter if we walk or take the water taxi - if we go early enough we’ll be ahead of anybody parking at City Walk and anybody busing. Check.

  2. We axe our “all day Disney, open to close, prepared for anything, park back packs” for a lighter scenario. Check. Plus chances are good for some child swaps as I don’t think everybody will ride everything. So we can ditch stuff on me/wife while waiting.

  3. Don’t need a plan. But I DO. That’s just me. I might make a good Liner Travel Agent for a retirement gig. Seriously though, for me, it’s about having the timing down on where we will be so I can plan for the shows and sit down food. Since we’ve never been, we want to see it all!

  4. I added breaks after every land to help account for the timing of waits being really low.

Taking the previous recommendations and weaving in today’s information, here’s what I have.

Monday, 8/22 - Royal Pacific - Travel day, check in day, pool day, Citywalk Emporium for dinner.

Tuesday, 8/23 - IOA - Early entry rope drop Hagrid’s. We should be able to be early and fast walk. I’ve added a 20 minute break to account for the wait time that TP’s is off. Will only focus on the Potter rides (will come back tomorrow night for Hogsmeade / evening sigh seeing). TP thinks I can get Forbidden and Hippo done before the 1 hour is up. Move counter clockwise around and I have us finishing Seuss around 2p, which is perfect for my Mythos 230p reservation. Finish off a couple missed things then take the Express over to USF around 5p-6p.

Tuesday, 8/23 - USF - ride Gringotts and tour / sight see Diagon Alley, Leaky, all that stuff at evening/night. End with Cinema under the stars.

Wednesday, 8/24 - IOA - Early entry rope drop Velocicoaster, dick around, and ride the first train over to USF.

Wednesday, 8/24 - USF - ride Gringotts again, see the Potter shows, and again set off in a circle around the park. I have us going clockwise this time which seems to put us in good shape for our 230p reservation at Finnigan’s. I have us finishing off USF 530-6p and only missing 3 shows. Ride the Express back over to IOA.

Wednesday, 8/24 - IOA - Catch the spirit rally, now take the time to sight see Hogsmeade, stop at Three Broomsticks, etc, again saving this for evening/night. See the castle lit up. Ride Hagrid’s at close.

Thursday, 8/25 - VB - will work on that TP tomorrow I hope.

Friday, 8/26 - Can do/redo anything missed, start with USF since it closes at 6p, finish at IOA. Doing Citiwalk Vivo for dinner.

Anything I’m totally screwing up there?!

Thanks again for all the effort and support.

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Totally get it! I used to carry one for Universal as well! After day two, and you see how easy UOR is to navigate, I bet you’ll be more flexible!! :wink: :sunglasses:

I have been able to do this. However, I’ve been multiple times and I know where I’m going. Plus, I travel solo often. I don’t think it’s feasible for a first time visitor with a family.

Hippogriff is a “coaster” for very small children. I’d compare it to Barnstormer at Magic Kingdom. Unless you have very small children it is not worth the wait. It has a perpetual 45+ minute wait because it can only load a maximum of 16 people per ride. Loading & unloading of the ride takes longer than the actual experience!

I do think you can get to Hagrid’s and get on FJ in that first hour. Don’t rush through FJ!! The queue, IMHO, is the best queue in all of Universal and one of the best anywhere. It’s an experience all by itself!!

I’m a big HP fan as well and have done my own “HP exclusive” days. They’re a blast!!

If you are doing the interactive wands, the best time is first thing in the morning. Those areas aren’t monitored and everyone “takes a turn” for however long they want. Lines for these get super long about an hour after park opening.

Also – You can buy a preowned wand off eBay if you want to save a good bit. However, it’s really special to get your wand at Olivander’s!

You’ll need to verify that this show is happening at this date. HHN starts only about a week later and it has it own unique show in that area. The Cinematic Celebration may be on hold as it transitions to HHN. If it is running make sure to arrive at least 30 - 40 minutes in advance. There is no seating and it gets elbow-to-elbow / “pushy” closer to showtime!!

Don’t skip out on the various shows around USF! The Bourne Stuntacular is a “must-do”! Plus, it’s great to see The Blues Brothers or Marilyn Monroe in the street. The Horror Make-up Show is a very cute and corny show, but a lot of fun!

I believe there’s a music festival, Music After Dark, with Maroon 5 that is happening that evening. They’ll probably start letting people in around 3pm and try to get all other people out of that park by 6pm. So be aware that waits will rise after 4pm as people who came for the show hop on a ride or two.
(especially at The Mummy which has been closed for so long and is near the stage area)

Make sure to have a reservation. Without one you’ll wait at any CityWalk restaurant at least 80 - 90 minutes for an opening at dinner and after the parks close. Especially on a night when USF closes right at dinner time. This does apply to all nights though. I’ve seen so many people shocked that they can’t walk-up to Toothsome’s or Margaritaville and be quickly seated!

FYI - I’ll be back there the week before you, in about 19 more days!! I will be doing another trip report! Be on the lookout & feel free to ask any “real time” questions while I’m there!

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:100: I also need to plan for the meal locations, and not walking halfway thru the park for food.

Smart

Agree. But maybe good for DS7.

I second this. Maybe rope drop Diagon Alley Thursday or Friday before the train folks arrive.

:white_check_mark:

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Blockquote
Hippogriff is a “coaster” for very small children. I’d compare it to Barnstormer at Magic Kingdom. Unless you have very small children it is not worth the wait.

Ya, I think we have to do this for my DS7. There’s going to be enough rides he won’t or can’t do so I won’t skip anything he can do.

Can express pass be used during early entry?

Blockquote
If you are doing the interactive wands, the best time is first thing in the morning.

Noted. I’m not sure what’s going to happen here with my kids. My DS14 liked the books and movies but hasn’t said much about it now that he’s a high schooler. DS11+7 have never been super interested, to my surprise. My wife and I are fans. But we’re not ‘getting dressed up’ type of fans!

I’ll save Friday morning for this. If the other two days get them all interested in casting, we’ll rope drop USF Friday morning.

Blockquote
The Cinematic Celebration may be on hold as it transitions to HHN. If it is running make sure to arrive at least 30 - 40 minutes in advance. There is no seating and it gets elbow-to-elbow / “pushy” closer to showtime!!

Got it added as a note on the ole TP. Thank you very much.

What are the must do at night rides in USF? For IOA, I have Velocicoaster and Hagrids. But I just realized I don’t have any rides planned for night currently for USF.

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I’m pretty sure you can. I’ve never done it. However, I have done Single Rider during Early Park Admission (EPA). I’m pretty sure the UXP queue is available as well. Hopefully someone can verify though.

Diagon Alley at night is breathtaking. It’s not a “ride”, but something you should definitely make time to see. The only “ride” at USF that is cool at night is Rip Ride Rock-it. I wouldn’t call it a “must do” though

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A couple more night rides recommended here:

Note, this was before VC opened

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Unpopular Opinion? - VC as night isn’t as good… It’s too dark to see the raptors and other elements.

IMHO - VC is a beautiful ride to watch go around the track from outside though!

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Thank you both. I’ve made some TP notes about re-riding these lists of attractions at night.

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Ok so we just completed our 4 day, park to park, 3 park tour. First time any of us did universal with the family of 5.

Some thoughts.

Loved volcano bay on Thursday. Something about waiting in vq lines, even long ones, comfortable wet in bathing suits, makes it tolerable. Was there from open until they kicked us out.

For IOA and usf, I don’t understand how people say they were not / are not supposed to be busy this last Tuesday and Wednesday in late August. They were packed. I couldn’t stand the people. Smaller corridors and smaller parks makes them feel busier than Disney the week prior, to me. Some of it was that we got ‘parked out’. Even my kids wanted to leave.

And anybody that says with express pass = don’t worry about planning parks, I’m not believing that again. We should have toured using a park plan optimized for no express. That would have been WAY more accurate. At least it was on Friday when I tested it that way hitting rides we missed.

Sorry to say, but we got way more value out of g+. I don’t think we waited more than one time, more than 15 minutes, using g+. That was at every park over 6 park days Bg1 had a lot to do with that though. We waited lots with express pass. The expectation of waiting about 1/3 the posted standby time was pretty true. But that sucks on 80 minutes rides we hit at the wrong time of day because of bypassing an optimized tour plan. I got to the point of just going back to the hotel as I couldn’t take the crowds or waits any longer.

Hagrids was down a lot. We went 0/3 Tuesday morning, evening, and Wednesday morning. Finally got on wed night. That is a fun ride!

Loved horror make up show! Loved the tech behind Bourne stuntacular. My wife and oldest ride every coaster and loved them. I did VC. That was enough for me.

Coming directly from 10 days at Disney, it was hard not to miss all those little things that Walt got right and still does.

I’ll do it again but I need new expectations set first!

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Since reopening in 2020 Universal has been consistently busier and had much longer lines than Disney, and even last September we found it wasn’t nearly as dead as it had been in past years that time of year.

Whereas Disney is limiting APs and still doing APRs and limited LLs, Universal seems to be trying to squeeze as much out of the rebound travel period as they can. With Express hotels being fully booked most of the time I think Express waits will continue to be longer than they were in the past.

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How did you like the hotel and food/restaurants???

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I scrolled through all my remarks to see if I ever said “don’t use a plan”. While I think a TP isn’t as vital at UOR as WDW, I’d still always make one. I checked and I said, "use it with your UXP more as as a checklist than an itinerary. "

I’m making one for both my Sept & Dec trips, even though I’m there at least a week each time. I still say the wait times aren’t perfect either as TP focuses more on their WDW app than UOR.

I will still stand by my comments that navigating UOR is so much easier to vacation at than WDW. (and 1/3 of the price!)

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Loved the location of the RP. Loved walking every where. Every sit down was great. Didn’t keep track of quick service and we didn’t always eat at the same time on those. Food was very very good. Thanks!

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Our sit-downs were Toothsomes, Mythos, Finnigans, Jake’s, and Vivo. We’d go to all of them again.

While there was nothing wrong with RP whatsoever, it was no Beach Club from a room setup point of view. Having 5 people in 350 whatever square feet really makes you appreciate the little things like dual sinks, shelving setups, refrigerator size, stuff like that.

RP needs to get after their vendors. All tower 1 washing machines were broken and the ice machine minimally on floors 7 and 4.

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No worries. I wasn’t calling out anybody specific. I’ve read it more than once from multiple people…xp is so easy you can ride anything, anytime. I just wanted to document for anybody reading this now in 2022 that was not the experience I had.

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The rooms at RP are definitely small, and the lack of balconies doesn’t help. I also don’t like that the lobby is just so… crowded. Even when it’s got no people in it feels cramped.

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Thanks for the observations on longer UXP waits compared to G+ LL. IMO this is something that gets forgotten in the “G+ sucks, UXP is much better” rants common in the Disneysphere.