Universal Planning - First timer

Visit dates - 12/22 - 12/24
Family of 4 - 2 Adults - 2 Teen Potterheads
Have UEP for 3 days
Tickets - 3 Park - 3 day Park to Park
Roller Coaster fans

Family is not early riser so I dont think we will be utilizing EPE. Looking for community’s recommendation for planning my TP. Should I do 1 park per day or Park hop all 3 days? Definitely want to enjoy Hogwards Express at least once or twice.

Any and all tips are appreciated

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We love to hop at Universal because the parks are so close together. So that’s my take on that question. Definitely yes for us.

I’d maybe try to be there for early entry (so arrive1 hour to 45 minutes before early entry time) at least one of the days so you can ride Hagrid’s and Velocicoaster. They are IMO the best rides in the parks, are both coasters obviously, and do not take express pass.

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My recommendation with having UEP for 3 days is let your teens decide where to go and what to do. Just give them a primer of the different attractions at both parks. Oh, or just have them take this questionnaire. I’d visit Volcano Bay a half day at a time. See some shows (Bourne, Make-up, Animal Actors) during the mid day busyness.

For short-ish waits on the two attractions with no express lane:
Ride VC as early in the AM as you are able and/or late evening.
Get on Hagrid’s shortly before park close.

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Thank you all!
@bebe80 your response makes me think that with UEP I should be set for my trip to do majority of the rides ? is it ?

Absolutely and hopefully some re-rides

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I’ve done Universal at Spring Break a few times. As long as you manage your waits for Hagrids and/or VC then 3 days with Express will be plenty of time to do everything, but be prepared to still wait on those dates, even with Express. Because there’s no reservations and really no limit to how many can have it (theoretically they’d stop selling it after a certain number, but I’ve never seen it sell out on a non- event day), it’s not quite like FP/LL where you’re almost always going to wait around the same amount of time.

The Express lines can get long on higher crowd level days, so if it’s longer than 30 minutes then I would consider coming back to it later. There some predictability (like Minions is probably going to be busiest in either line for the first 90 minutes the park is open) but it can really be a crapshoot where the Express line just gets randomly busy.

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Thanks you all.
What do you think is the best time to visit WWOHP?

Yay! slight_smile:

In general, prepare for high crowds in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

Since you are not using EPA, I would stay clear of Hogsmeade til after noon when it won’t be quite as crazy.

Bonus is that USF doesn’t have EPA so most of the early crowd will head to IOA Hogsmeade. So the earlier you can arrive at Diagon Alley in the morning the better.

Of course late evening is less busy too.

Since you may spend a lot of time in the WWOHP and your teens are Potter heads, this link to a detailed map of Diagon Alley is helpful so you know where you’re going (and where to find the entrance) ahead of time.

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