Universal Florida: Could we do this? Spring break

[mrshandy]

We're driving from the DC area to FL for spring break April 5-10 and staying with family in the Bradenton area. 

I was thinking that Good Friday we would go to the Harry Potter Park and stay at a local hotel off property, then drive back to VA the next day. 

It wasn't until googling that I figured out this was a crazy idea and would cost at least $750 for tickets for the 4 of us. Two adults two kids. DS and I are obsessed with Harry Potter. DD likes it too but still a little young to have read the books yet. H likes it, but has not read the books. 

I've been there before with my sister in 2015. It's a wonderful place. I know. But I'm really worried about the crazy crowds and about spending an insane amount of money for park tickets for one day at a park where we will spend most of it waiting in line. Express passes will pretty much double the cost. So it would be $1500 for one day at the park?!?

Staying at a property would help, but that would screw up our schedule since we wanted to drive up from Sarasota in the morning and then stay in the hotel the night after visiting the park. We would have to stay two nights or we could switch hotels and stay at a cheaper hotel, I guess. 

Help me think this through. If we get there as soon as it opens on the day of and stay all day, could we still have an enjoyable time and do everything without fast passes? 

[revolution]

If you can swing it, I'd get the express pass and tix to both parks so you can ride Hogwarts express.

We just went in Nov and did a day at Universal. I had the bright idea and sold my family on it and then I was sticker shocked. But it will probably be the only time we go to Universal and DD is huge into HP, so I figured I'd close my eyes and do it. I realize we are lucky/privileged that I could do that, but if you can swing it, it is worth it, especially on a holiday weekend.

ETA:  We would NOT have been able to do everything without the express pass.

[MDmomof2]

We did this 2 years ago, but as part of a week at Disney. Yes, the one day park passes are insane. And we got the park hoppers so we could ride the Hogwarts Express. We did not get the Express Pass and didn't have any trouble doing ALL of the Harry Potter stuff in one day, BUT we didn't do anything else. No other rides/shows/etc - just Harry Potter stuff. We ate breakfast at the 3 Broomsticks and had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron! Best day of my 10 year old DD's life but we won't be doing it again. I think we spent $1,000 on tickets, food and souvenirs for one day.

[minniemouse]

I wanted to do this on our Disney trip last April, but couldn’t stomach the cost. 1 day at universal for the 4 of us would have cost over 25% of our 8 day stay at Disney!

[Deleted]

Good Friday will be insanely busy

Also, isn't the HP stuff spread across two parks in Florida? I thought some of it is at Islands of Adventure and some at Universal.


ETA - Yes. I was correct. So if you're wanting to do the Hagrid ride you'd need the Universal access and Islands of Adventure for the castle and Diagon Alley. 

[Deleted]

To mirror what I said in a post below regarding Christmas at Disney, honestly with how much money these parks cost, I just couldn't bring myself to spend all that to go on a holiday and spend the entire day in lines and maybe do two or three things.

[mrshandy]

Yes I’m factoring in going to both parks. Sorry I wasn’t clear. The hogwarts express is awesome so we won’t want to miss that.

I talked to H and he can’t stomach the price. So he’s fine with me and DS going solo sometime during the week. It’ll be less for just the two of us to go and hopefully we can handle the crowds.

[Wines Not Whines]

We also balked at the price for 2 days, so we ended up buying seasonal annual passes and committed to go back for another trip within a year. It made sense for us, because it only cost a little more than 2-day park-to-park tickets with express passes, and we have family in FL, so we knew we’d be in the area again. However, the seasonal passes are blacked out for Easter and Christmas. There are other passes that include those weeks, but they’re more expensive.

[jaycee]

Dec 16, 2019 17:43:38 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

I think this is a brilliant idea.  I've done solo trips with my older DS while my younger son and H do other things and it ends up working out really well.