Universal questions/recommendations.

[keith_h 420]

We have decided we will be visiting Universal on our trip in November. Neither of us has been there before so we have no frame of reference to plan by. Our trip is the 3rd week November and our available days are Monday-Wednesday and Friday. We are not the types that have to see everything and we also like a leisurely pace. We want to see both parks and plan to buy park hopper tickets. We are mostly interested in the Harry Potter attractions but others that are worthwhile are welcome. No kids so no child attractions are required. 

 

- We will be going no more than two days. Is one day viable?

- What day/s of the week other than Thursday are good days to go? 

- What attractions other than Harry Potter oriented ones would be good to see/ride?

- What type of line times are typical?

- Any stuff better to do during the day or at night?

- Any weird parking issues, etc?

 

Thanks.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

The week before Thanksgiving is usually a good time to go crowd-wise.

 

How many days you need really depends on how much you want to do and if you like to ride stuff.  We've whizzed through both parks in 1 day but that was missing out on a lot of stuff we'd done before, and just hitting some highlights.

 

Downside to UO in November is that park hours are usually really short - like 10am to 7pm ish. I haven't looked for this year yet, but that's what we ran into last year and in prior years.

 

I'd shoot for Mon-Weds for the slower days. 

 

Parking is in the garage.  Easy to get into, costs about the same as Disney per day.  The garage isn't close to either park and actually dumps you out in the middle of City Walk.  You can end up parking really far away if you get there later in the day, although there are moving conveyor thingys that cut down on the actual walking. However since the garage IS so far away, I always make sure to take everything I'm going to need for the day to avoid wasting a lot of time going back to the car.

 

Line times totally depend on the attraction.  The thrill rides and Harry Potter stuff usually are the longest.  We've seen as long as 60-90 minutes for the big HP attractions, but depends a lot on overall crowds that day and how early you get there. We rode the new Gringotts ride at about 11am last November with only a 20 minute wait.

 

Some of the older attractions have single rider lines you can use if standby is long.

 

There is an Express Pass that you can buy - which is basically the paid version of FP.  If you want to do a lot of rides in a short amount of time, and the budget allows, it might be worth it.

 

If you like thrill rides, UO has  some good ones. Unfortunately the Hulk coaster will be down for an extensive refurb but there are some other major coasters there, one on the Islands side (Dragon Challenge) and one on the Universal side (Rip, Ride Rockit and The Mummy).

[dvccamper 32]

We're also tossing around the idea of a Universal trip.

Anyone ever stay in any of their hotels? I know some of them give you the express pass if you stay there but I don't really know much more than that.

[keith_h 420]

Mo, Thanks for the information. I hadn't thought about early park closings which should actually work out well for us and make a 2 day visit a good option. One thing we wanted to do this trip was some resort hopping and dinning. With the early closings that leaves the evening free for that and gives us some things to do during the day. It's also good to know about the Express Pass. I haven't looked into anything like that yet. While I like a leisurely pace standing in lines is not what I consider leisurely nor relaxing so will probably look into adding that to our tickets.

[nomadicoasties 1]

*Following because we are planning to visit Universal over 2 days during our trip next Aug.

 

How long is it to drive from The Fort to Universal?

 

Is the QS dining worth it if we are only doing one meal each day? (lunch) both meals will more than likely be in the HP eateries.  

[arthuruscg 34]

Bumping this thread back form the dead.

The Wife and I are looking to go the last weekend in Sept for a 10 anniversary trip, (NO kids! :-D )

How are the on property hotels?

For the Halloween hard ticket, is the whole park available or just a section?

It looks like when you stay on property you can get a 2day +Halloween add on or a 3 day+Halloween and we are trying to decide which way to go.

[keith_h 420]

Can't speak to the hotels or Halloween add on but you will want to get park hopper tickets if you wish to get the full HP experience. They are required if you want to ride the Hogwarts Express which I highly recommend doing both ways since the ride is different each direction.  My guess though is the parks accessible with the Halloween add on is the same as your base ticket so if you have park hoppers the Halloween will also be a park hopper. We went with the 2 day plus 1 free (3 days total) special which they seem to run fairly frequently. Lastly I would look at buying the tickets through Undercover Tourist or similar service. Their quoted prices are all inclusive where the Universal site will add sales tax and other items. So even though the services were only a dollar or two cheaper on the actual tickets the lack of sales tax made a big difference.