The Boy Who Lived AND Villains? Yes, please!!

[Witchy Chick]

So, I am treating myself to a long weekend trip in September to go to the Villains bash in DHS. But, I also want to hit WWoHP. Here is my verrrrrry tentative gameplan.


Thurs Sept 12 --

fly into MCO, arrive 10:30am, pick up rental car, head to Universal for most of the day​

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(Aside from WWoHP, any other advice/suggestions for me to do at IoA? It's just me -- no kids. And I have never been to Universal before. Not a big fan of roller coasters (although I ride RnR and ToT at DHS; that's about as much as I can tolerate roller-coaster wise). And I will be at Universal for only this day -- probably 7 hours total.)​

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I probably will stay at Universal all day (closing is listed at the moment at 7pm).​

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Drive from Universal to Swan, check in, eat (?) Mayyyyybe go to MK (open until 10pm that night)​

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Friday Sept 13 --

tour Epcot and/or MK for the day (commando)​

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afternoon/evening -- quick nap​

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dinner and rest of the evening in DHS (until 1am for Villians thing)​

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Saturday Sept 14 --

recover (ha)​

tour whatever I have not hit at WDW already (have a park hopper, so I can move around from park to park if needed)​

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Sunday Sept 15 --

Check out of Swan, Epcot in the a.m., gas up rental, back to MCO, flight departing 2:30pm​

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I'm basically looking for suggestions/advice for Universal since I have never been there before. Since I'm on limited time at Universal, I could gladly spend all 7 hours-ish in WWoHP.

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[Alliron]

WWoHP is amazing... I felt like I was stepping right into the book... Definitely take a few hours to walk around and ride the two rides there.. However if you don't care for roller coasters you may want to skip the dragon challenge. Besides the rides the shops are amazing and the decor is out of this world... I am a Disney fanatic but I have to give universal credit... They did a great job! Btw...make sure you get a butter beer!

 

[Alliron]

Other great rides at IoA are Jurassic park, spider man, Cat in the Hat, Incredible Hulk (skip cause its a very intense roller coaster) and there is a section with a water ride which I always skip

 

[JillC LI]

So, I am treating myself to a long weekend trip in September to go to the Villains bash in DHS. But, I also want to hit WWoHP. Here is my verrrrrry tentative gameplan.

Thurs Sept 12 --

fly into MCO, arrive 10:30am, pick up rental car, head to Universal for most of the day​

​

(Aside from WWoHP, any other advice/suggestions for me to do at IoA? It's just me -- no kids. And I have never been to Universal before. Not a big fan of roller coasters (although I ride RnR and ToT at DHS; that's about as much as I can tolerate roller-coaster wise). And I will be at Universal for only this day -- probably 7 hours total.)​

​

I probably will stay at Universal all day (closing is listed at the moment at 7pm).​

​

Drive from Universal to Swan, check in, eat (?) Mayyyyybe go to MK (open until 10pm that night)​

​

​

​

​

I'm basically looking for suggestions/advice for Universal since I have never been there before. Since I'm on limited time at Universal, I could gladly spend all 7 hours-ish in WWoHP.

​

You might want to consider posting this under the Universal subforum. However, having done something similar to this myself a few months ago, here are my thoughts. If you are due to arrive at MCO at 10:30 and first have to wait for luggage and get a rental car and drive to Uni, you are not getting there before noon, probably later. Then it is a bit of a walk from the parking lot there to IoA. Midday crowds at the WWOHP are likely to be relatively high, but I would still head there first since that is what you want to see most. The whole area of the park is amazingly immersive into the books. Even if there is a long queue for Forbidden Journey, the queue itself is really great. If there is a line at Ollivander's Wand Shop for the show, that line moves extremely slowly so you may not want to wait on it since only about 25 people get in at a time.

I am not a big fan of coasters either. I'll do RnRC and Space but not E:E or ToT. That said, I was fine on Flight of the Hippogriff but did not even consider the Dragon Challenge. FJ was rather intense for me and I probably would not have enjoyed it had it not been themed for Harry Potter. I do recommend trying it once though. I assume you are getting only a one park pass so it's irrelevant for me to tell you that the Mummy ride at US is very similar to RnRC in terms of intensity. I do recommend Spiderman at IoA. And there's plenty else to do at IoA as well. See the show on the lake before you go if you can. By the time you walk back to your car in the parking lot after 7pm closing, drive to the Swan, and check in, there is not likely to be much time for you to take in the MK before 10pm closing.

One last thought - if you can fly into Florida the night before and stay on site at Uni for one night, then you can (1) get early access to IoA to check out WWOHP before the crowds get bad; and (2) get an express pass which will give you front of the line access to nearly every ride in the parks (not FJ). It will also give you several more hours at Uni which might enable you to check out both parks, not just IoA.

 

[Witchy Chick]

You might want to consider posting this under the Universal subforum. However, having done something similar to this myself a few months ago, here are my thoughts. If you are due to arrive at MCO at 10:30 and first have to wait for luggage and get a rental car and drive to Uni, you are not getting there before noon, probably later. Then it is a bit of a walk from the parking lot there to IoA. Midday crowds at the WWOHP are likely to be relatively high, but I would still head there first since that is what you want to see most. The whole area of the park is amazingly immersive into the books. Even if there is a long queue for Forbidden Journey, the queue itself is really great. If there is a line at Ollivander's Wand Shop for the show, that line moves extremely slowly so you may not want to wait on it since only about 25 people get in at a time.

I am not a big fan of coasters either. I'll do RnRC and Space but not E:E or ToT. That said, I was fine on Flight of the Hippogriff but did not even consider the Dragon Challenge. FJ was rather intense for me and I probably would not have enjoyed it had it not been themed for Harry Potter. I do recommend trying it once though. I assume you are getting only a one park pass so it's irrelevant for me to tell you that the Mummy ride at US is very similar to RnRC in terms of intensity. I do recommend Spiderman at IoA. And there's plenty else to do at IoA as well. See the show on the lake before you go if you can. By the time you walk back to your car in the parking lot after 7pm closing, drive to the Swan, and check in, there is not likely to be much time for you to take in the MK before 10pm closing.

One last thought - if you can fly into Florida the night before and stay on site at Uni for one night, then you can (1) get early access to IoA to check out WWOHP before the crowds get bad; and (2) get an express pass which will give you front of the line access to nearly every ride in the parks (not FJ). It will also give you several more hours at Uni which might enable you to check out both parks, not just IoA.

Hi Jill!!! ::waves:: How goes the running? I have given up. Knee is giving me too much grief. I have a physical in July, so I will definitely be following up on anything my doc recommends for my knee (last year = MRI, physical therapy, Xray.......which I never did ).

Great idea on posting at the Universal subforum. Since I am just in my "planning" stages of my trip, I've only really posted in Trip Reports (and lurking/reading in the Universal forum). I am not able to come down a day earlier -- my husband caring for the kids for three days is more than enough for all of them. LOL The only thing I reallllllly want to do at IoA is Harry Potter. So, if it takes me all seven-ish hours that I am there to do that -- so be it. I'm traveling light -- only carry-on luggage. So, I am hoping to be to IoA noonish as you guesstimated (or a little earlier since I have no baggage to claim). Any estimates on how crowds will be at IoA on a Thursday afternoon (with school back in session)?

I have been looking at IoA map online and starting my gameplan (starting at WWoHP, working my way back towards the front of the park, trying to hit Spidey before I leave). I also wanted to do the Jurassic Park River Adventure. BUT, that would be last on my list (and may not even happen since I would have to backtrack a lot to even get to it). Thanks for the recommendation on the lake show. I will add that to my list. The only reason I had been thinking of trying to hit MK that same night is: I have a three-day park hopper for WDW and MK is open until 10pm. I could save my third day for Sunday morning (flight home is at 2:30). Maybe I could hit somewhere in Epcot for a nice breakfast and hit a couple of attractions before I leave.


Tracey

 

[JillC LI]

Hi Jill!!! ::waves:: How goes the running? I have given up. Knee is giving me too much grief. I have a physical in July, so I will definitely be following up on anything my doc recommends for my knee (last year = MRI, physical therapy, Xray.......which I never did ).

Great idea on posting at the Universal subforum. Since I am just in my "planning" stages of my trip, I've only really posted in Trip Reports (and lurking/reading in the Universal forum). I am not able to come down a day earlier -- my husband caring for the kids for three days is more than enough for all of them. LOL The only thing I reallllllly want to do at IoA is Harry Potter. So, if it takes me all seven-ish hours that I am there to do that -- so be it. I'm traveling light -- only carry-on luggage. So, I am hoping to be to IoA noonish as you guesstimated (or a little earlier since I have no baggage to claim). Any estimates on how crowds will be at IoA on a Thursday afternoon (with school back in session)?

I have been looking at IoA map online and starting my gameplan (starting at WWoHP, working my way back towards the front of the park, trying to hit Spidey before I leave). I also wanted to do the Jurassic Park River Adventure. BUT, that would be last on my list (and may not even happen since I would have to backtrack a lot to even get to it). Thanks for the recommendation on the lake show. I will add that to my list. The only reason I had been thinking of trying to hit MK that same night is: I have a three-day park hopper for WDW and MK is open until 10pm. I could save my third day for Sunday morning (flight home is at 2:30). Maybe I could hit somewhere in Epcot for a nice breakfast and hit a couple of attractions before I leave.


Tracey

Hi Tracey. So sorry to hear about your knee. I hope your doc is able to help.

I would guess that crowds will be relatively on the lighter side at the time you are there, at least compared to other times of year. It sounds like you have a good game plan. I guess you could play MK that first night by ear, and if you have time then go, and if not, then hit EPCOT early on your last day.

 

[RandomPrincess]

What we found worked best (Feb 2012) for WWOHP was to get there first thing and and go straight to the FJ and ride that. Don't get distracted by the village. After we rode FJ we spent and hour exploring Hogmeade. By then it started getting crowded so we left and did a full loop of the park checking out all the other lands and in the late afternoon/evening went back to Hogsmeade. By then the crowds had lowered some in the village and it was easier to check things out more.