Last Minute Universal Tips

[twinmomma]

I booked a very last minute trip to Universal to take my ten year old daughters to Harry Potter in two weeks. We will be staying at Dockside and will have two full days to do whatever we want in the parks. I honestly figure we'll just spend the two days in the Harry Potter sections and swimming in the hotel pool. I did not purchase the express passes. They were very expensive and we really only care about the few rides in Harry Potter, not the rest of the park. 

Is there anything else I need to make sure we have set up before we go? I don't want this to be a super scheduled trip like Disney is. I plan to just wing it for the two days. But I also want to make sure I'm not missing any major things we'll regret not doing ahead of time. 

Thanks!

[CurlyQ284]

Universal requires way less/zero planning compared to Disney. I think deciding whether to get the Express Pass is really it. Maybe if you wanted a special dinner, you might want to take a peek at reservations at one of the CityWalk restaurants.

We ate at Chocolate Emporium, but if you just want a giant shake I read there's a side window where you can get one without sitting down for a meal. Cowfish and the Italian restaurants at the Italian hotel on property are really good (I forgot the name of the hotel, but it's so pretty inside and fun to check out). The Harry Potter restaurants don't need reservations. I prefer Leaky Cauldron for breakfast and 3 Broomsticks for lunch. Leaky has a bunch of pies and it's just a bit heavy for theme park activity for me.

Oh and get the Park Hopper so you can ride the Hogwarts train

[mrsslocombe]

Nope, you are good. Just make sure you have the Park Hopper if you want to ride Hogwarts Express (it's slightly different in both directions, so ride it each way).

I would not bother with Express Passes either, you can't use them on Hagrids anyway.

Hagrids is better at night, if you are there after dark.It's also very different if you are riding on the motorcycle part vs the side car, so I'd make sure you ride a couple of times to make sure everyone can ride the better seat.

At least one day make sure you go to Diagon Alley first thing, it is so much less crowded and you can do the spells easier. By noon it is packed. Hogsmeade also gets crazy but since it's not as closed in it doesn't feel as crushing.

[momin2013]

FTR, I’ve been to Universal many times and I’ve never gotten the Express Passes and it’s been fine.

Definitely download the app; it’s pretty handy to be able to see current wait times.

I’d plan to get to the park early and go straight to HP first thing as that section gets busier throughout the day.

Food is MUCH better outside of the parks. We usually get breakfast before we go, grab quick snacks/lunch in the park, then go for a good dinner on Citywalk where there are lots of great choices. I love Antojitos and Toothsomes the best.

[twinmomma]

This is making me feel much better, thanks! I was starting to worry that I was missing something big in the planning process since there was so little to it. But it sounds like we can just go with the flow and be totally fine! I did get the park to park passes and we get to go in early since we're staying on site. So it sounds like we're good to go!

[callmekd]

I would consider getting in line early for early entry and heading straight for Hagrids if it’s on your list of must dos. The wait never dropped when we were there in February. We did the early entry 1 day so we could ride it.

Also read up on what rides require you to check your bag/purse. I wish I would have had a Fanny pack.

You can do the castle tour (Ie wait in line to walk through the castle without doing the ride). I will never again ride the castle ride - the motion sickness is real.

We had a hard time finding food inside the parks.

Also I would be happy to PM you the itinerary we used - we spent 2 days at the parks and had plenty of time to do everything HP.

[Doggy Mommy]

Take advantage of your early park entry, get to the park early so you're toward the front of the line, and go straight to Hagrid's. You'll still have a wait but it's definitely the lowest you'll see that line. Then hop on Forbidden Journey - maybe twice. If you want to do Velocicoaster, do that next because the line for that gets crazy too, but if you aren't interested, I'd probably grab the train and go do Escape From Gringotts. You'll have the HP rides done right as the parks start to get crazy, then you can do spells (if you're getting wands), go in the shops, get Butterbeer etc. Also FYI the train line gets crazy! I've been 4 times and every time we've ended up walking from park to park because the train line was so crazy.

I think the food in the HP restaurants has gone downhill, but I like the 3 Broomsticks better than the Leaky Cauldron. At Citywalk I've only been to Cowfish, but it was great.

[nancybotwin]

We are just ending a trip to Disney and Universal - we live near the one in LA and go often, so I also figured I would just wing it. The two days we were at Universal were CRAZY busy…we saw lots of show groups who must be here for competitions or conventions plus it’s Orlando Grad Bash, so all high school seniors take over the park at night (and the parks closed at 6pm). It was much busier than I expected and I would have done things differently if I had known how busy it would be.

- we ended up making reservations for dinner at CityWalk. You don’t need to do it far out, like at Disney, but it helped to have a place to go and to not wait a long time. You don’t have to give a credit card or anything so you can cancel if your plans change…but it was good to have.

-Be prepared for long lines and/or for many people in the HP sections. We waited 90 minutes for Hagrid the first time and 60 minutes the second (and that was with early entry…the wait never got below 120 minutes and was, at one point, 210 minutes!) Even the lines for butter beer were long 😫 We got a lot done in the mornings before things got too crazy.

-I echo PP - get park hoppers and ride the Hogwarts Express both ways. It was so great.

- carry as little as you think you can manage. Many of the rides require you to put your bags into a locker, and I wish I could have carried just a Fanny pack. With all of my kids’ waterbottles, hats and Wands, I had a big backpack and it was a pain to keep checking.

I’m happy to answer any questions about Universal in general or HP in particular. We had a great time and I feel like I learned a lot about what I would do (or not do) if we came again.

[twinmomma]

callmekd, if you don't mind, I'd love to see your itinerary! It would help give me a starting place. I'm so Type A, this go with the flow trip is starting to stress me out.

nancybotwin, Good to know on the fanny pack! That was actually what we were planning. I got us lanyards with wand holders on them and then I was going to use a small crossbody bag.

I did just see something in a Facebook group about the Hogwards night time light show being done? Do you know if there is still a light show or not?

[callmekd]

Apr 24, 2023 12:13:09 GMT -5 twinmomma said:

callmekd, if you don't mind, I'd love to see your itinerary! It would help give me a starting place. I'm so Type A, this go with the flow trip is starting to stress me out.

nancybotwin, Good to know on the fanny pack! That was actually what we were planning. I got us lanyards with wand holders on them and then I was going to use a small crossbody bag.

I did just see something in a Facebook group about the Hogwards night time light show being done? Do you know if there is still a light show or not?

I’ll send you a PM

[twinmomma]

Just wanted to come back and share that we had an amazing time! 2 days for the park was more than enough for what we wanted to do.

We landed Wednesday night late, ate dinner at the hotel, got a quick instacart grocery delivery to give us breakfast and snacks and crashed so we could get up early for our early entry time on Thursday. We stayed at Dockside in a suite and it was perfect.

Thursday we were at the park from 7 AM to 2 PM. We rode Hagrid right away and got right on. We all loved it! I wasn't sure if it would be too scary, but we all had a great time. Did the Hogwarts castle tour while it was practically empty but skipped that ride because my kids are super prone to motion sickness. Then we took the train over to Diagon Alley, rode Gringotts, got our wands, and spent the rest of the day wandering over there. DD1 was absolutely in love with the Gringotts ride! We went back to the hotel to rest and swim for a bit, then went back to Diagon Alley for a couple hours at night to ride Gringotts again and just wander some more. Dinner in the hotel again to make things easy.

Friday we got up early for the entry time again with the goal of getting on Hagrid for a second time. It was down all morning though and by the time it came back up, the line was so long we never got back to it. We did ride Gringotts yet again though! Lots of spell casting and souvenir shopping. We explored some of the other parts of the park too. We did the Jimmy Fallon ride, the Minions, and a few others. We headed back to the hotel around 2 again and spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool. We grabbed dinner at Margaritaville at City Walk and then went to bed. Then our flight home was Saturday morning.

One thing I really appreciated was the attention to allergens that the Universal properties had, especially at the hotel. I have celiac and have to eat gluten free. The hotel had a totally dedicated fryer for chicken and fries and a totally separate pizza oven for gluten free crust. I never felt sick at all!

[momin2013]

Glad you had fun - Gringotts is my favourite ride too!

[luckyno7]

We just got back from Dockside. It’s a great hotel for the price. If you wanted to go on other rides and wanted express pass you get free express passes at the premier hotels. Although if you just want to focus on Harry Potter you won’t need them (and if you go before schools are out it will be less busy).

Dockside has a bus that takes you straight to universal. It runs like every 15 min and you pick it up right in front of the hotel. It takes you back from the same place it drops you off.

Once you check into the hotel there’s a desk right behind it (towards the windows at the front of the hotel) where they can print out your tickets. Made life super easy to just have them. You’ll need your room key to get in the park for early entry.

Use the app to see what times the park is open and close. When we went they had grad parties so the park closed at 6. We were still able to do everything we wanted but we made sure to leave a bit earlier to get there for early open. It will also tell you what park is open early.

I love universal cause you don’t have to plan. If you have express pass you go on a ride whenever you want and they say the the wait time is 1/2 time if the actual time (we found it even less). Otherwise it’s just go and stand in line!

If you change your mind and get express passes you’ll want a lanyard. Or if you go on rides where you will use the free lockers you’ll want a lanyard as your park ticket opens the locker. It fits a backpack that isn’t very full.