Universal and Harry Potter

[curbsideprophet]

Anyone tried to do both parts of Harry Potter in one say? Is it worth the extra cost of buying a park to park ticket? Or should we just pick one? If you have been to both with did you prefer and which has more to do?

It will most likely just be me and DH. If the kids end up coming there will be two other adults as well. Kids would be 4 and 1 at that point.

Thanks.

[um]

I've only been to the IOA side, and it's small. I'd get the two-park ticket.

[dancingirl21]

DH and I did both sides in just a few hours. I would definitely get park to park tickets.

[jeaniebueller]

You mean IOA and universal in one day? Do not try to do both. We did and it was awful, mostly because you spend much of the day standing in line at both places.

[chickens987]

We've gone back and forth in one day. It's worth it for the Hogwarts express, which is awesome.

[curbsideprophet]

It has been years but I have been to Universal before. Our main reason for going is to see the Harry Potter stuff. I am not concerned about seeing the rest of universal. If we get other stuff in, great. If it, not a big deal. DH does not really care. We will be there in October, so I think the crowds should be okay.

I will not be around during the day but will check back tonight. Thanks for any insight.

[curbsideprophet]

Mar 4, 2015 6:52:50 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

We just did both last week. The gringotts ride was closed and it was a very slow day (you can google to find average park attendance) so we saw everything. I think if you are there on a busy day and have to wait 60+ minutes for each ride, it might be harder to do in one day.

If you don't have a park to park ticket, you can't ride the Hogwarts express. That's the connection between the parks.

Glad to hear you were able to get it all in. Did you have time to do other non Harry Potter things? Or did you just focus on HP?

[curbsideprophet]

Thanks @vicmo

[spunkarella]

I went to Hogsmeade (IOA) before Diagon Alley opened, and it was definitely doable in half a day. I think you will be fine with doing both, especially since HP is your main focus. And as PP said, if you don't do park to park, you miss out on the Hogwarts Express. I can't wait to go back and do both!

I highly recommend getting there early, leaving for a bit around lunch if you're tired, and returning for park closing. We came back about 2 hours before closing on a slow day, and basically had the place to ourselves. We rode everything multiple times with no lines at all and the cast members were so friendly and chatty.

I used Orlando Informer when planning, and it was spot on. I would pick a slower day from their crowd calendar and loosely use one of their touring plans that focuses on Harry Potter.

Crowd calendar: orlandoinformer.com/page/articles.html/_/universal/the-script-tickets-packages-planning/crowd-calendar

Touring plan: orlandoinformer.com/page/articles.html/_/universal/touring-plans/harry-potter-world-touring-plan

[curbsideprophet]

Awesome, thanks so much spunkarella