Universal Studios

[SunshineGirl]

So we are breaking with the norm and taking the kids to Universal for a few days this summer. In large part it is because of their love of Harry Potter.

Kevin and I went for 1 day a couple of years ago and pretty much ran through the entire park. HP wasn't built yet. We skipped the "kiddie" sections like Seuss. I can hardly even remember it!

So tell me what I need to do to start planning and what we absolutely MUST do. We will have 3 day park hopper tickets, staying on property. But I know that the kids will also want to spend time at the pool because it looks very nice.

Help!!

[bbangel]

You must have frozen butterbeer! So yummy!!!!

I had a three day ticket and had time to do everything I wanted in a pretty short amount of time. Of course I didn't ride the big coasters like Hulk but still did pretty well.

I found Universal to be much hotter than WDW so you may want to be prepared for that. On the whole I found it needed a whole lot less planning than WDW. If you want to do all the big rides you might want to think about buying their FOTLP. The DIS has a pretty good section on Universal if you have specific questions.

[dwkay8]

If you're staying at one of their hotels, you automatically get FOTLP, which is a big perk. Which one are you staying at? We were going to stay at Royal Pacific for a night or two one time, but had to scrap that part of our vacation.

Did you book a Harry Potter package that includes a Three Broomsticks breakfast? I think that would be fun! We have only booked day guests so far, so I can't remember if all Universal hotel guests get an early entry into HP, or if you have to book the HP package...

For summer, park hours for US and IOA are probably out, I haven't checked recently. Other than maybe trying to snag a reservation at Three Broomsticks, there isn't much dining planning you have to do.

If the girls wanted to do the wand shop at HP, I've heard it's actually good to do first thing, instead of Forbidden Journey like you might instinctively think.

Remember that several rides require you to store your bags in lockers. I can't remember the details off the top of my head, but I consider that a big difference from what I am used to with Disney.

[SunshineGirl]

That locker thing sounds like a pain. Will definitely have to figure that out because I always carry my baggalini with me.

Royal Pacific is where we are staying. We were going to stay on property half the time and off the other half but they were running some kind of special where you got a percentage off if you stayed 4 nights. So it was going to end up costing us only about $200 more to stay on property the whole time. We did NOT book one of the packages, though, because I used my AMEX points to buy our park tickets.

I won't be riding Hulk, but I have a feeling that the rest of my family will!

[bbangel]

I actually found the lockers not to bad. They are outside of every major ride (anywhere you need to be bag free really) and are free for a period of time so you can ride the ride.

[Breeze88]

Be warned that the Harry Potter section is still almost wall to wall people!! I have a friend who was just there and she commented to a shop keeper about how crowded it was. The man laughed at her and told her that what she was seeing wasn't half as crowded as it usually is.

She said that the best thing is to get to that part of the park as soon as it opens or you won't be able to get much done.

[momof3lovebugs]

Anyone want to chime in here for some more info on Universal?? We will be there first week of November for only 1 day to do WWoHP and would love suggestions on discounts, plan of attack etc....

[arob414]

Originally Posted by momof3lovebugs

Anyone want to chime in here for some more info on Universal?? We will be there first week of November for only 1 day to do WWoHP and would love suggestions on discounts, plan of attack etc....

Would love some info, also. We are going during Spring Break (the wk before Easter), staying at Bonnet Creek Resort and including a 2 day visit to Universal. My girls have wanted to see the HP part since it opened. We know everywhere will be swamped but the upside is temps will be cooler than what we have experienced on the last few trips (late May/early June).

[dwkay8]

Tom and I did a partial day at Universal this past May. I'd have to find my old notes, but I think we were there for about 5 hours on a Sunday and saw everything we planned to (which wasn't everything in both parks!). We started in the Studios, then finished in Islands of Adventure. By the time we got to Harry Potter (the last thing we did) the land was fairly empty, and the wait for Forbidden Journey was only the time it took to walk the queue.

I'm really glad we went, and hope we can make it work for our schedules on another Disney trip soon. It's an exciting time at Universal! I've been meaning to write some reports from our last trip, so maybe this weekend I'll work on a report for our Universal day and post it in the forum.

[momof3lovebugs]

Originally Posted by dwkay8

Tom and I did a partial day at Universal this past May. I'd have to find my old notes, but I think we were there for about 5 hours on a Sunday and saw everything we planned to (which wasn't everything in both parks!). We started in the Studios, then finished in Islands of Adventure. By the time we got to Harry Potter (the last thing we did) the land was fairly empty, and the wait for Forbidden Journey was only the time it took to walk the queue.

I'm really glad we went, and hope we can make it work for our schedules on another Disney trip soon. It's an exciting time at Universal! I've been meaning to write some reports from our last trip, so maybe this weekend I'll work on a report for our Universal day and post it in the forum.

Kayla, this is great to hear! We have only the one day and would be so disappointed if it was so crowded we didn't get to do all we hope to.
The must sees/do's are everything in Harry Potter world, Seuss Landing and the Super hero area-ds is a new marvel fan.
I couldn't really care less about the rest of the place. Get me a sweet spot to sip a butter beer and watch the people and I will be good.