Please help review my plans! 2 full days for 9yo Harry Potter Fans

mom2red

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 13, 2010
We have 3 day, 3 park, park to park tickets.
Two 9 year old boys (friends) and the moms-mother son trip, DS turns 10 on the trip-he doesn't know he is going yet!
Harry Potter Fans, both are tentative with roller coasters/thrill rides. DS OK with Space Mountain, but that has been the limit for roller coasters, his friend hasn't done any roller coasters.

July dates, Wed through Saturday staying on property (Cabana Bay) so early entry but no express passes.

Really going for Harry Potter experience. We will do our own Universal family trip another time as a family for the full experience when DD6 is a little older.

Thank you in advance for your help!

1) Right now it shows early entry for both parks. Does it stay this way? Universal website says both parks have early entry for the month of July. Regular opening 9AM, so early entry is 8AM?

2) Wed Flight arrival around 1PM.
Check into hotel,
explore resort,
settle in and then thinking we will head on over to Diagon Alley?
Money exchange at Gringotts?
Ollivander's Wand shop for a wand?
Explore shops?
Escape from Gringotts?
Hogwarts Express?
I've read it is less busy in the evening. Good plan?

3) 1st full day: If we go to Diagon Alley on day one should we rope drop IOA since they have more rides?
Plan A
IOA early admission RD
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey,
Dragon Challenge
Flight of the Hippogriff
Watch Frog Choir
Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley for lunch and shopping and long break at hotel?
Back in the evening to the boys' choice?

OR Plan B
Universal early admission
Minion Mayhem
Harry Potter and Escape from Gringotts
Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade
Forbidden Journey
Dragon Challenge
Flight of Hippogriff
Lunch and break
Back in evening to boys' choice

4) 2nd full day: Either rope drop IoA or Universal depending on what boys want to do again or rope drop Volcano Bay?

5) Are there other attractions we should be considering? What is the best way to fit in Minion Mayhem if we use early arrival for IOA on first full day and Volcano Bay for 2nd?
 
Are you going this July? If so, you will definitely need to rope drop (or preferably use early entry) Volcano Bay. There have been reports that it has been closing due to capacity between 9-10 a.m. most mornings.

If there is early entry at both parks, I would do EE at IOA and do Diagon Alley maybe on your arrival day. Hogsmeade (IOA) is SMALL and tends to get very crowded, very quickly. I like to take advantage of the EE crowds to see everything without a million people around me. It does tend to clear out closer to park closing, which is also a nice time to go. Diagon Alley is a bigger area and much more capable of handing the crowds.

We tend to pick one "wand day" where we dedicate a bunch of time to playing with the wands (pick the day that you are going to be in both parks) since they can be a bit of a pain to carry around all day. (Hint: when you buy your wands, have the boxes sent to the front of the park to pick up on your way out). I have a wand holster that I bought from Etsy, but after carrying it around all day and never using it, we settled on the one wand day rule.

On our last trip (the first that was not off-season), we were able to ride the Minions each night just around closing with minimal wait.
 
Hi if you are going to do VB then you will need to rope drop that one morning. I would do that on your 2nd full day if you are going there. If you rope drop US you can do Diagon Alley then right before opening go to Minion Mayhem. Minion Mayhem gets crazy and in July without EP it will be a long wait. I personally like your plan B better for the first full day. Remember only the Harry Potter worlds are open an hour early the rest of the park is not. You will be able to be at the front of the line for Minion Mayhem.

The one thing that is going to make touring a little different now is that the Harry Potter worlds will have EP for the rides. There is a good chance that on site guests will not flood the parks as quickly.

I agree the evenings near park close are good for the Harry Potter Worlds so that helps.

yes for the month of July all the parks will be early entry at 8:00am.

I will be there in 2 weeks staying at Cabana Bay again. We love that resort you are going to have a good time.
 
I second the wand day idea. That way you do t have to drag your wands to the parks every day.

Are you planning any other rides or just HP areas? My son is the same age and he loves spider man, transformers, MIB, Mummy, Jurassic Park ET, and Blutos Barges. All of those are tamer than space mountain.

DRagon Challenge in Hogsmeade is a legitimate roller coaster and can be scary for tame kids. Flight of the Hippogriff is a tame roller coaster though and during EE you could ride it multiple times.

If it were me I'd plan Diagonal Alley the first dat later In the evening (maybe after dinner). You could check out other US rides earlier in the day. On Day 2 EE in Hogsmeade, you should be able to see e erything in the first 90 minutes and then I'd leave the area and do all the other IOA rides that you're interested in.

The parks and hotel are close enough that taking a midday swim break and going back afterwards is very doable.
 


Hi if you are going to do VB then you will need to rope drop that one morning. I would do that on your 2nd full day if you are going there. If you rope drop US you can do Diagon Alley then right before opening go to Minion Mayhem. Minion Mayhem gets crazy and in July without EP it will be a long wait. I personally like your plan B better for the first full day. Remember only the Harry Potter worlds are open an hour early the rest of the park is not. You will be able to be at the front of the line for Minion Mayhem.

The one thing that is going to make touring a little different now is that the Harry Potter worlds will have EP for the rides. There is a good chance that on site guests will not flood the parks as quickly.

I agree the evenings near park close are good for the Harry Potter Worlds so that helps.

yes for the month of July all the parks will be early entry at 8:00am.

I will be there in 2 weeks staying at Cabana Bay again. We love that resort you are going to have a good time.

Thank you! I thought Minion Mayhem was also open early during EE? If we RD US would we ride Minions first and then go to Diagon Alley or go to Gringotts first and then backtrack to Minions and back to Diagon Alley?


Are you going this July? If so, you will definitely need to rope drop (or preferably use early entry) Volcano Bay. There have been reports that it has been closing due to capacity between 9-10 a.m. most mornings.

If there is early entry at both parks, I would do EE at IOA and do Diagon Alley maybe on your arrival day. Hogsmeade (IOA) is SMALL and tends to get very crowded, very quickly. I like to take advantage of the EE crowds to see everything without a million people around me. It does tend to clear out closer to park closing, which is also a nice time to go. Diagon Alley is a bigger area and much more capable of handing the crowds.

We tend to pick one "wand day" where we dedicate a bunch of time to playing with the wands (pick the day that you are going to be in both parks) since they can be a bit of a pain to carry around all day. (Hint: when you buy your wands, have the boxes sent to the front of the park to pick up on your way out). I have a wand holster that I bought from Etsy, but after carrying it around all day and never using it, we settled on the one wand day rule.

On our last trip (the first that was not off-season), we were able to ride the Minions each night just around closing with minimal wait.

OK, so another option would be to try to hit Minions that first night if we are out that late. Park closes at 10PM correct? That should be doable if we rest at the hotel when we first check in.

Hi if you are going to do VB then you will need to rope drop that one morning. I would do that on your 2nd full day if you are going there. If you rope drop US you can do Diagon Alley then right before opening go to Minion Mayhem. Minion Mayhem gets crazy and in July without EP it will be a long wait. I personally like your plan B better for the first full day. Remember only the Harry Potter worlds are open an hour early the rest of the park is not. You will be able to be at the front of the line for Minion Mayhem.

The one thing that is going to make touring a little different now is that the Harry Potter worlds will have EP for the rides. There is a good chance that on site guests will not flood the parks as quickly.

I agree the evenings near park close are good for the Harry Potter Worlds so that helps.

yes for the month of July all the parks will be early entry at 8:00am.

I will be there in 2 weeks staying at Cabana Bay again. We love that resort you are going to have a good time.

Thanks so much! I thought Minion Mayhem was also open early according to the website?

I second the wand day idea. That way you do t have to drag your wands to the parks every day.

Are you planning any other rides or just HP areas? My son is the same age and he loves spider man, transformers, MIB, Mummy, Jurassic Park ET, and Blutos Barges. All of those are tamer than space mountain.

DRagon Challenge in Hogsmeade is a legitimate roller coaster and can be scary for tame kids. Flight of the Hippogriff is a tame roller coaster though and during EE you could ride it multiple times.

If it were me I'd plan Diagonal Alley the first dat later In the evening (maybe after dinner). You could check out other US rides earlier in the day. On Day 2 EE in Hogsmeade, you should be able to see e erything in the first 90 minutes and then I'd leave the area and do all the other IOA rides that you're interested in.

The parks and hotel are close enough that taking a midday swim break and going back afterwards is very doable.

Thank you! So as for the other rides, I am not sure? I don't want to spend our time waiting in line and from everything I am reading the lines build really fast in the summer? Good to know about Dragon Challenge...that might be a maybe then.

Another question I have is if the quick dining plan is worthwhile? That is something I can purchase at the time we purchase our meal though?
 
Ride Minions first. Hit Diagon Alley second. The Minions line never goes down and it's a boring line. At least the HP ride lines are cool. :)
 
Hi the quick service plan can save you some money. It is especially good if you want to eat in the HP worlds. You get a snack with the meal and I believe you can use it for butter beer. Which is worth it. We are doing the quick service plan as we need it. I know you can purchase it that day I am just not sure where. If you find out please post.
 


July will be hot and busy

Both parks have EE for hotel guests as parks will be packed during regular hours


Check out the website so you know the locations of the rides
You can also get the show times for the park entertainment per day

So pick up the park guide maps when you enter the parks
It will have current info for entertainment in pottervilles

have to agree that hitting minions first will be best
 
Thanks everyone for your advice! The big reveal was today so now DS knows about the trip!
 

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