Hello everyone!
Four adults are visiting Universal Orlando for the first time, for two days - mostly because two of us are big Harry Potter fans and the other two are sort of. I’d like to use the “Wizarding World One-Day/Two-Park Plan” for the first day, so we can really immerse ourselves in Harry Potter. Our second day I’d like to do most of the non-Harry Potter stuff across the two parks.
Is there a good non-HP one-day two-park touring plan already created that I can start with? Is it even possible to hit the non-HP highlights of the park in one day, or would it be better to just use the “Universal Orlando Two-Day/Two-Park Plan”?
Tips would be appreciated!
It is definitely possibly to do HP in one day, plus add some other rides in. We did it. Our first day was devoted to HP. After doing both parks for HP, we did a couple more rides outside HP and headed back to our rental at 3:00.
I would say it is possible. Assuming you dont get caught in the president day crowds. Try just creating your own plan. If you are staying on site you will be able to get into one park early. If you aren’t then start at opening with the other park. You have to make two separate plans for each park, you just have your second park start time start when you should be getting done at the first.
We really enjoyed the horror makeup show which I think gets skipped a lot.
Single rider lines are great but I get not wanting to split up. Maybe use it as a back up if you get there and lines get too long.
I actually like to split my HP stuff up. If you can get the rides accomplished in one day then use early entry the next day to just look around. Everyone else will be in line for the rides and you’ll have it almost to yourself. It’s also a great time to do olivanders. But I really dislike trying to look around either park when it is crowded, it can be overwhelming.
Have fun! We love universal and my DH and I will be going on our first kid free trip 2/13 - 2/17.
BTW, we went in early February, Monday through Thursday. Monday was our HP day, and crowds were VERY light. BUT, by noon, crowds in HP are very thick, regardless, so definitely be sure to RD and head straight to HP first thing to get ahead of the crowds.
Also, when we went, Monday was CL 2, but Thursday was a CL 4 (according to UT). We definitely felt the difference. It definitely felt twice as busy. Having said that, it was still pretty light crowds due to the week we went.
You’ve gotten some great advice here, but I would also like to add that, as a huge Harry Potter fan myself, I can easily spend an entire day doing only Harry Potter things. I will watch every show, ride each ride multiple times, do spells, wander in every shop, eat at every restaurant. You get the idea. It is very easy to just get lost in the world and spend an entire day if you are a major fan. The themeing is fantastic!
That is what we plan to do! It’s just figuring out the day at Universal where we try to do the non-Harry Potter stuff that I’m having trouble with. I wish the Touring Plans generator would let you do two parks in one plan; that would make it a lot easier to figure out!
I always make personal plans, because I know the things that I would like to try and the ones I don’t care about. It’s actually not too bad if you just make one plan for the park you’re going to start with, optimize it, then grab the end time from that plan and make your start time on the other part plan roughly a half hour after the end time of the first plan and do the same thing. If you need more specific guidance, let us know!
So this is a total newbie question - is the only way to go park-to-park to ride the Hogwarts Express? Are there any other points where the two parks connect for crossing between them?
You can walk from front entrance to front entrance. They’re basically right next to each other. You have to go through security and ticket check again.
You don’t have to go through security again. You do security before entering Citywalk. Once you’re in there you can enter either park without having to do security again.
