Universal Orland announces 4th Park

[TamiTaylor]

www.themeparkprofessor.com/2019/08/universal-orlando-resort-has-announced-the-opening-of-a-4th-park-universal-epic-universe/

[was5]

I didn't see when it's supposed to be done. Did I miss that in the article?

[jaycee]

TamiTaylor, I don't always comment or "like" but I really do appreciate your updates and sharing news!

Have you been to Harry Potter at Universal? Was it worth it? Did you get their express pass or whatever it is called? We want to go to Orlando again and stay at maybe the Contemporary and then just do one day at Universal just for Harry Potter. How much time would you recommend for just HP area?

[meganew]

Aug 1, 2019 15:01:44 GMT -5 jaycee said:

TamiTaylor, I don't always comment or "like" but I really do appreciate your updates and sharing news!

Have you been to Harry Potter at Universal? Was it worth it? Did you get their express pass or whatever it is called? We want to go to Orlando again and stay at maybe the Contemporary and then just do one day at Universal just for Harry Potter. How much time would you recommend for just HP area?

We did this on our last trip. We’re all Harry Potter nerds in our family and HP world was absolutely amazing. That being said, I probably won’t go again for the following reasons:

1. Harry Potter world is split between the two parks, so if you’d like to visit Hogsmeade and Hogwarts AND Diagon Alley, you have to buy tickets to both parks. That ran us $700+ just for one day.

2. We didn’t buy the express pass because I couldn’t stomach any more money, but it’s not like Disney where everyone gets 3 FPs and then try to book another- the people who had express passes can walk on to any ride (sometimes more than once depending on what kind of pass you got) and the lines were INSANE. My H and son waited to ride Gringott’s for 65 minutes and that was the only ride we did all day because it was the shortest wait.

3. It was a very sunny day, which messed with the interactive wands- almost none of them were working and quite a few staff members in the park seemed completely disinterested or even annoyed when my 4 year old asked for help. There were a few people who were wonderful, but after being in Disney all week where I feel like people are tripping over themselves to help you the difference was jarring.

4. There weren’t enough rides that my daughter could go on at 40”. It felt like there were way more big coasters and the whole park (Universal, not HP) was aimed at much older kids.

Still, with all that, we did exchange money at Gringott’s, we saw the dragon breathe fire, we saw the wand demonstration, we rode the Hogwarts Express, we got ice cream and the kids absolutely love their wands. It was a fun experience, just make sure that you get the express pass if you’ll be there on a busy day so you can actually enjoy it.

[jaycee]

Thanks for the advice, meganew! How many tickets did you buy for $700....I hope you have a family of 10. I really appreciate your insight.

[meganew]

Aug 1, 2019 20:08:55 GMT -5 jaycee said:

Thanks for the advice, meganew! How many tickets did you buy for $700....I hope you have a family of 10. I really appreciate your insight.

Four : (

[TamiTaylor]

Aug 1, 2019 15:01:44 GMT -5 jaycee said:

TamiTaylor, I don't always comment or "like" but I really do appreciate your updates and sharing news!

Have you been to Harry Potter at Universal? Was it worth it? Did you get their express pass or whatever it is called? We want to go to Orlando again and stay at maybe the Contemporary and then just do one day at Universal just for Harry Potter. How much time would you recommend for just HP area?

Hi! I haven’t been back to Universal as a parent. We have been waiting since J is not tall enough for all of the rides. He really wants to ride the Hulk Coaster. So when he does become y’all enough we will make it back there.

We all love HP. I have been reading the books to J and he’s seen all of the movies. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is split between 2 parks so you have to buy the 2 Park pass. The express pass is worth it depending on time of year. However you have to pay for that vs Disney FP. However it doesn’t limit you to 3 original FPS. It’s kind of a pay to play mentality that Universal has. However they do offer the express pass as free add on with certain hotel packages.

Basically depending on time of year and promotions there can be some good Universal promo packages.

As far as it being worth it.... that is a personal preference based on your family, your finances, and your fandom.

[MDmomof2]

jaycee, We did the HP area of both parks with our two kids (DD, 9 and DS, 6) a little over a year ago. We got in right as it opened, walked through to HP, and looked around a bit. We had breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron. DD got a wand and we played around a bit. We had a park hopper so we took the train over to the other park, had a late lunch at the Three Broomsticks and did more stuff. DD went on all the rides, DS did not but he and I are not ride people! I would say that doing all of that took 6+ hours. We did spend a little time in the park before leaving, but not much. We did not get the fast passes and I don't think the lines were too bad when we went in mid-September. There is a lot to see and do and spend money on other than rides. It was definitely a highlight for my DD, who is a huge fan and was chosen by the wandkeeper to select a wand!

That said, we wouldn't do it again. As others have mentioned you need the two park passes to do Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. That, plus the meals (which we'd planned on but still!) cost about $1,000 for the day. The estimate of $700 for park passes for 4 sounds about right. My son and I are not thrill ride people so nothing else in the parks really appealed to us - DD and DH would have loved to do some more rides. The parks are very nice and the themeing even outside HP world is good, but definitely not Disney level. The themeing inside HP World is incredible though!

[UMaineTeach]

I didn’t love Universal. It was all thrill rides that slam you around. I was so sore.

HP was underwhelming for me, but I am not a big fan. I think I read books 1,2 and half of 3 and have seen bits of the movies.

I skimmed, but I think that article just say Epic Universe will be EPIC and cost money to build and didn’t give any information about the concept.

[TBM]

Aug 10, 2019 19:03:07 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

I skimmed, but I think that article just say Epic Universe will be EPIC and cost money to build and didn’t give any information about the concept.

EPIC and 'the most interactive'. Ever. lol

That was my take as well after I read the article. I told my H that I still had no idea what it was actually going to be.

[TamiTaylor]

Aug 10, 2019 19:03:07 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

I didn’t love Universal. It was all thrill rides that slam you around. I was so sore.

HP was underwhelming for me, but I am not a big fan. I think I read books 1,2 and half of 3 and have seen bits of the movies.

I skimmed, but I think that article just say Epic Universe will be EPIC and cost money to build and didn’t give any information about the concept.

They don’t have as much info out there as I would hope. I think they jumped the gun on announcing due to D23 coming up in a week.

[Wines Not Whines]

I agree there are no details about the 4th park... except it will be epic!

Anyway, regarding the current park, we went last year and we’re going back next week (for 2 days). My son and I both love Harry Potter, so we’re mostly going for that. The HP stuff is great. The rest of the park is full of thrill rides, which my son isn’t into, so we mostly stick to the HP part.