How to break up the Schedule

#1

It is currently cheaper to buy four day tickets than to buy two day tickets, because of a promotion. So, we are getting four days of park tickets, but only planning two real days in the parks. We will have early entry and express pass for these two days (getting a hotel for one night.) If we don’t get some must-dos done during these two days then we can come back on a “rest” day to do the thing and be money ahead. My husband and I were actually talking about having my mom watch the kids for a day so we could have a date night/day to go ride velocicoaster and then go out for drinks, if it is open by then.

SO, for these two days, should we spend one day doing JUST Harry Potter things, and then the second day doing every thing else? Day 1 is check in day and Day 2 is check out day, so we will have a pool and room to have an afternoon break on Day 1 but not on Day 2. Day 1 is Sunday. We are huge Harry Potter nerds. How should we break this up??

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#2

Are they two-park tickets? I assume so if you are contemplating doing both HP sections on one day.

Personally I am going to split HP into two days - one for each park - to kind of milk the magic for longer. We will focus one day primarily on IOA and the other primarily on USF. We have little kids so we want to minimize walking. We will probably do the Hogwarts Express back and forth on one day rather than using it for transportation between parks.

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#3

Yes, this is correct.

We have a smallish child, but we also have a Grandma who is very happy to spend the day with her in Seuss Landing while we’re getting on the bigger rides. I like the idea of “stretching the magic.”

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#4

As a huge Harry Potter nerd myself, every trip I take a day entirely devoted to only Harry Potter. The idea of stretching the magic is nice, but for me, fully immersing myself in nothing but is even better. (Plus, I still do a little bit of Harry Potter stuff every other day of my trip as well.) However, my trips are usually 3 days or longer, so I have plenty of time to hit the other attractions. So I guess my answer to that question would vary depending on whether you intend to try and do everything else in the parks and would rather not have to use a third day, or if you want a truly immersive Harry Potter experience and are willing to either forgo some things, or use that third day.

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#5

The truth is, you don’t NEED a full day for HP. Actually, you can probably get everything done in about a 1/2 day across both parks. Of course, if you want to spend more time, you absolutely can. I merely say this because if you really only plan a total of two days, it might be best to get HP stuff done (not necessarily spending a lot of extra time there) and move to the rest of the park for the remainder of the day. Then, on day two, finish the remainder of the OTHER park. After this, if you have more time (which you will), THEN return to HP and take time to do some of the other things you missed or want to spend more time on.

I think if you devote an entire day to HP up front, you might find that day 2 you don’t have enough time to get everything done. Now, if you had three (or more) days, I’d say absolutely plan a full day for HP.

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#6

Hm, it seems like there are some very valid points to both sides of this. Thank you all for your thoughts

I guess part of my problem is that I am not even sure what else we want to do. My tweens are at that awkward age where they want more thrill than Peter Pan’s Flight but aren’t quite ready for super crazy coasters. My oldest, who will be turning 13 on this trip, has ridden several “big” coasters at cedar point, but he still gets really nervous and has to hype himself up to do it. He might do the Hulk. He has already said he won’t do Rip Ride Rockit, even though it looks tame to me, the lift has him freaked out. DD10 is really only looking forward to HP, and the Simpsons would be gravy for her. I think spider man will be fun. I personally want to ride the Mummy but I think I’m the only person in our party who does. I am determined to ride the ET ride, as I’ve said on another thread this is something I’ve wanted to do since my chidhood LOL

Also, on day 1 I really think we will be taking advantage of the pool at the Hard Rock Hotel, mid day. If we do HP and maybe Marvel and Toon Lagoon on Day 1, and then on Day 2 other major rides that would benefit from express pass, and then if we need to take a day three we will just have things that don’t really need express pass?

I feel so loosey goosey with this

#7

When we went in 2016, we spent about a day and a quarter in what we call Harry Potter World. We did not do anything else at Universal. This time around we plan to do some of the other attractions, but most of them do not interest my family. That and they were turned off by the posted 3 hour wait for, I think, the Transformers ride.

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