This will be our first time visit to Universal mainly for Harry Potter. We have visited Universal at LA so have already seen some rides like Simpson etc. I have booked for 2 separate days at Royal Leows Pacific to get Unlimited Express Passes. Wondering if I need 4 days with Unlimited Express Pass.
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To solely concentrate on HP, 2 days are plenty. Express pass is such a great tool that I’m sure in your two days you’ll be able to cover other areas too.
Have fun!
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There are only 4 rides and the Hogwarts Express (ride both ways!) in the Harry Potter areas and Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure or whatever the full name is doesn’t accept express pass although the other 3 rides and the train do. Honestly if you are only going to do Harry Potter, one day would be sufficient. Though you’d need a park to park ticket. Two days will allow you to do other rides as well. We haven’t been since 2019 but we rode everything several times with one full day, one where we started around 1 after doing Volcano Bay, and leaving the parks around 2 on our third day. We had table service dinners on City Walk the first two days.
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I think two full days for the Wizarding Worlds.
Recommendation: start your visit walking through the park to the London section and enter Diagon Alley there. Amazing way to start.
Express pass is a good thing but also get the park hopper option, you’ll want this since Diagon Alley is in the Islands of Adventure park and Hogsmeade is in the Universal Studios one. PLUS you need it to ride the Hogwarts Express between parks. You must do that. Go both ways, it’s different going in each direction.
As someone else mentioned, there really are only four rides total but when you go there It’s not for the rides, it’s for the immersive experience.
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Two full days w/ UXP will be plenty. Depending on if crowds are low and no small children you can see all of the WWOHP - both parks - in a single day. The UXP is wonderful! It’s nothing like FastPass or now LL. You really don’t wait more than half the post wait time - often only a third of the time.
With two full days, you’ll be able to explore the shops, eat the treats and see a few other attractions.
(I definitely recommend a ride on Orlando’s “Mummy” ride. It’s is way better than the LA version!!)
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We visited with our children for the first time this summer, and stated At Royal Pacific to get the Unlimited Express Passes. We had 3 days, park-to-park and it allowed us to definitely do everything Harry Potter (and many things more than once!) as well as going on many of the other rides. I think 2 full days would allow you to see everything, 3 days would be more relaxing and allow to see some of the same shows again if you wanted to.
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I agree just one day is sufficient for just HP areas, though 2 days would be more relaxing and allow you to see other areas of the park (there is much more at UOR than at Hollywood). If you are going to do 4 days, I would recommend a day at Volcano Bay. The 4th day will probably feel superfluous, TBH.
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2 days is enough.
We did the attractions in the order they follow in the books for my Brother. He loved it that way.
I say 2 days because there is more than just the attractions. There are so many details in the areas that you may want to spend the time investigating. Once you add in shows, spell casting, detailed searching in the nooks and crannies, you will end up needing more than one day.
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I agree with everyone above who says that two days is plenty. If you’re only doing Harry Potter, you could cram it all into one day, but two days would give you a nice, relaxing time.
On our last trip, we did two full days at Universal plus the morning of the third day before transferring to our WDW resort. With the express pass we did every ride in both parks that we wanted several times and ended up leaving a bit earlier than planned on day three because we felt like it was enough! This was before Hagrid’s ride opened, but we didn’t just stick to Harry Potter. We hit all of the major rides in USF and IOA. Don’t miss Spiderman!
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Per my family, 1 day is enough to do all the HP stuff and then some
They have gone twice and spent the full day with EP and been very happy with what they accomplished
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We went in July some years back, stayed at RP for one night (for the EP) and did everything we wanted to in both parks (plus a bunch of repeat rides) in 1.5 days, …and that included all the HP stuff.
Just after lunch to park close on the first day, and rope drop (with early entry) to close on the second day.
You should be fine.
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If you luck out and have early entry in both parks, I’d definitely choose to spend time in the early morning in each side. If you have early entry in Studios, don’t bother riding anything but explore the Diagon Alley area without the crowds (especially if you have the wand!). It’s so much better to wander up to a wand spot and just try it, vs queue in a line to do the same “spell” that 4 people ahead of you had done already. Diagon alley has the very amazing umbrella spell- so fun.
Hollywood US is so tiny compared to the ones at Orlando. We were just in the Hollywood Hogsmeade and don’t skip the Flight of the Hippogriff at Hogsmeade in Orlando- it’s so much better than the short little ride at Hollywood! I actually lost my hat in Orlando’s version- I was so surprised it was that zippy!
Also, exploring the Hogsmeade and the Diagon alley at night is a whole other experience. Ideally, go to early entry in whatever park you can (I prefer Studios, but it just depends what’s offered), and spend you time, then return at night as well.
Other fun stuff: the makeup show is really underrated and quite entertaining. Bourne stuntacular is pretty darn impressive. Simpsons is much better in Hollywood so no need to spend much time on it in Orlando. The show at Studios Orlando (cinematic show) is very nice!
I would say 2-3 days is perfect…
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As everyone said 2 days should be more than enough to enjoy all of Happy Potter (especially if one of them is a weekday).
We had Unlimited Express and saw most of HP in 1.5 days. But, we weren’t trying to do everything HP 100%.
I forgot to mention that it would be couple of days before Christmas.
We spent about 5 hours in Diagon Alley and finished up with the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade. But that was without Express Pass, so we had to queue for Gringotts.
I don’t know how much of the ride queues you skip at Hogwarts and Escape from Gringotts. I would do at least one regular queue at Hogwarts, as each room is very well themed and you’ll recognise them from the movies. Even in the regular queue we let people go past us all the time. I’d hate to just walk through.
If I go back I’ll do the queue again and then skip the ride. Once was enough. I liked Gringotts though.
I’ve never done the regular queue for FJ. I have once for Gringotts, I don’t think EP misses much. Single rider does though.
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I haven’t been at Christmas but I’d assume crowds will be crazy in which case 3-4 days seems a lot more reasonable than at most other times.
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