Okay, fellow travelers. For those of you who’ve been hoping to go, planning to go, and emailing me about the details of our trip, here’s how we did it:
Overview
For those of you who, like me, don’t have a bevy of Florida theme park experience, here’s the scoop: there are two Universal theme parks next to each other. The first is the Islands of Adventure; the second is Universal Studios. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is just one part of the Islands of Adventure, so that’s where you’re headed. You’ll may also want to check out some of the other areas of the park: Suess Landing, Toon Lagoon, The Lost Continent and Jurassic Park. If you plan a full day at the park, you should have time for most or all of the areas.
Where to Stay
I strongly recommend staying at one of the three on-site hotels. We stayed at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort. It’s closest to the Islands of Adventure, which makes heading over super-early in the morning a little easier. (There is a boat you can take, but it’s an easy walk.) When you stay at any of the onsite hotels, your room key allows you early access to the park and puts you in the “express” line for most of the rides. These two perks alone are absolutely worth the money. Stay there!
Note: If for whatever reason you don’t stay on the property, there are a limited number of Express Passes available for purchase each day. The price varies by the day–some days they cost $19.99 each, others as much as $59.99 each. The days we were there the Express Passes cost $49.99 a piece. Please know, though, that these do run out and, even more importantly, they’re only good ONCE on EACH RIDE. Yes, I know that seems like yelling, but it’s a big distinction. I can’t tell you how many times we whipped through a line and did the ride again because the express line was so much quicker. We lapped one poor woman (and I guess everyone around her) 3 times using our room key express passes. You’d only be allowed one trip through the express line with your potentially expensive Express Pass.
Which Tickets to Buy
This decision sets the rest in motion, and I struggled over it for quite a bit. Still, I’m very happy with what I ended up purchasing–it worked very well for our family of 5.
Universal offers vacation packages, some of which are tailored for guests who love Harry Potter. You can purchase a package, as we did, that includes breakfast at the Three Broomsticks (see Where to Eat). You can also purchase theme park tickets separately, without a package. Either way, you have to decide 1) how many days, 2) one or both parks, and 3) one park per day or both parks each day.
If you’re going for the Harry Potter experience, I don’t see any reason to visit both parks each day. True, they’re close enough to walk, but there’s no way we would’ve left the Islands of Adventure that first day. The second day, we went to Universal Studios, and I would consider returning to the Islands of Adventure at the end of the day for a last butterbeer or final ride on the Forbidden Journey, but I don’t know. Our Wizarding World day was nearly perfect. I’d hate to ruin it by trying to re-create it. That said, I’m not a big amusement park fan in general, so if you are, perhaps you’d thrive visiting both parks both days. Take your pick.
Plan for the Day
Keep in mind that our kids are well-travelled. That is, they’re used to being hauled around and walking long distances for sight-seeing. Needless to say, being hauled around and walking long distances for amusement park fun was a complete joy for them!
First things first: Park hours vary, but the days we were there Islands of Adventure opened to the public at 8:00. That meant, as on-site hotel guests, we could get in at 7:00. We did, and we were glad! Listen to me very carefully: go straight to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. There is no express pass for this, the most popular new ride, and it is fantastic. Go get in line, pronto! We did, and only waited a few minutes. We exited the ride and got back in line. This time, we waited about 10-15 minutes. Totally worth it–the line snakes through Hogwarts and there’s plenty to see while you wait, including moving photographs, just like in the books. By the time we exited the ride the 2nd time, the line had grown immensely. Very quickly, the wait was over an hour for something we rode twice in less than half an hour. Go early!
Roller Coasters: We hit the two roller coasters in the park next, using our room key express pass for both of them. The Flight of the Hippogriff which is just my speed (that is to say: not scary) and the Dragon Challenge, which I took a pass on but the boys loved. Again, by going early and using the express line, we got through these rides without much of a wait.
Next, we enjoyed breakfast at the Three Broomsticks. Reservations are required and a bit difficult to come by, so schedule early! (See Where to Eat for more info.)
The park has done a fantastic job of recreating the village of Hogsmeade, and even my sons, who know everything Harry Potter, were impressed. We visited all of the stores, and bought too much at Honeydukes. It’s so very pretty, though, it’s hard not to!
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| yummy treats at Honeydukes |
- Dervish and Banges and Filchs Emporium of Confiscated Goods are great places to find keepsakes. We came home with a quaffle, the Triwizard Tournament Cup, and a very fancy crest-type thingy.
- Honeydukes. Chocolate Frogs (delicious), Fizzing Whizzbees and Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans. What’s not to like?
- Zonko’s is attached to Honeydukes, and has every sort of Harry Potter-related novelty item you could ask for. The boys couldn’t get enough of it!
- Ollivanders: Yes, the it’s the wand shop, and you can buy one of your very own. There’s also a very small back room where they do a wand-choosing demonstration. It’s cool but not worth the super long wait we saw there all day. Around 9 PM, the line dropped to a more reasonable 15 minutes or so, and for that kind of wait, it’s a neat experience for kids who love these books. Over an hour, though? I wouldn’t suggest it.
After perusing the village and stores, we decided to check out the rest of the Islands of Adventure. We did, and when we returned to the Wizarding World around 1:00, there was a line just to enter the Harry Potter part of the park! An hour and a half! We were all exhausted, running on 6 hrs of sleep at most, and getting grouchy. We decided to take a midday siesta and it was one of our best decisions of the day. Rather than waiting in line, we slept, and when we returned to the park two hours later, the line was gone. We revisited our favorites from the AM, except for the Forbidden Journey, where the line was still impossibly long, then headed to dinner. We had reservations at Mythos, which, I’m sorry to say, did not live up to its billing. (More in Where to Eat.)
After a late dinner, we returned to the park (around 8:30), rode rides again, and saw fun performances by both the Beaubatons and the Durmstrangs. Then we got in line for the wand-choosing show at Ollivanders (the wand chooses you).
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Early AM: Everyone grabbed a quick bagel to eat on our walk to the park (breakfast reservations weren’t until 9ish).
Breakfast: The Three Broomsticks. The food is fine–you choose from a fixed menu when you enter (eggs, pancakes, etc), then pick your order up at a counter and seat yourself. But to have eaten there, at this restaurant, was a thrill for my kids. And I have to admit they did a fine job–it looks like some of the places we ate when we actually visited England with our three kids. Plus, we bought a package that included this meal–alone, it would’ve totalled $70 for the 5 of us.
Lunch: Grab anything. Really. I wouldn’t waste time sitting somewhere during the middle of the day!
Butterbeer: BUY THE COMMEMORATIVE CUP! Yes, it’s pricey (around $11) and you still have to pay for refills ($3.25, I think) but it’s sooo tasty and let’s face it–it’s a cool souvenir. You can buy butterbeer straight up (just cold) or frosty (think slurpee). Either is good, but I think the plain old cold one is best.
Pumpkin juice: Try it if you must, but it’s very much like pumpkin pie in a cup. Super sweet and not something I’d like to drink an entire cup of. At breakfast, you can choose a drink, including butterbeer or pumpkin juice, so that might be a good place to try it. Yuk.
Dinner: We had reservations at the much heralded Mythos, supposedly the “best theme park restaurant 5 years in a row” or something like that. The food was fine. Totally fine. But I wouldn’t give it any awards. It’s best feature? It’s right, and I mean right, outside the entrance to the Wizarding World. Location, location, location.
Meal Deal: One thing I would not recommend is the Meal Deal. The places are sporadically located and it’s not the type of food you want to eat several times a day. Trust me. Unless you totally love the nuggets and pizza scene, eat something else.
Extra Fees
We didn’t get hit with any charges we weren’t expecting. The two we did have, we knew about in advance:
- Rollaway Bed added $25 per night
- Parking added $15 per night. You don’t need a car AT ALL, unless you’re planning to leave the property. We were staying a couple of extra days, so we need a car but taking airport transportation to the hotel might be cheaper.
Questions, comments? Let me know!
That looks like a LOT of fun!
You should also enter the travel business! Excellent information. You did a lot of research and early preparation to make a great vacation for your family.
Great tips! My fellow Harry Potter fan and I are headed there this weekend and this post has been most helpful! Thanks!
Great write up. You answered many of our questions. But of course, we have some more. Did your package include tickets to the park? We are interested in using the same hotel as you but can't seem to find any information about tickets being included. Also, we will be going in early May and the park is only open to the public 9AM to 7PM. Do you think 2 days is enough to do Harry Potter AND a decent amount of the rest of Universal. Or do you think a 3rd day will be needed? Thanks for your helpful tips!
Don,
Our package did include tickets to the park, as well as breakfast at the Three Broomsticks. Go to the universalstudios.com home page and click on Book Packages (next to Buy Tickets) for information on packages they are currently offering.
As for the number of days…it really depends on what you like to do. If you're only going to Islands of Adventure, it's definitely enough time.
If you also want to go to Universal Studios, 2 days is probably enough — 1 full day at each. Or you could do a shorter day at Universal Studios and 1+ days at Islands of Adventure (which I thought was more fun in general, even outside of the Wizarding World).
3 day will give you more downtime, depending on the ages of your kids & how hard you want to go each day.
Have fun!
hey, the wizarding worl of harry potter was fabulous! tust me, ull lov it
Thanks for the tips. They helped me feel prepared and enjoy the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
I went on the last Friday of February. It was crowded, but very manageable. We were staying at a Disney hotel so we took a cab to Universal at 8am for about $40. Universal opened at 9am, so we were in line around 8:30 and got let into the park to wait at the rope shortly after. The other visitors seemed a little pushy for the wait for the rope to be moved so that we could follow the walkway to the right towards WWHP but our experience got better after that. We went to the Forbidden Journey first like you suggested and waited less than an hour and enjoyed line through the castle.
The free while you ride lockers there will fit a backpack, but nothing more. My sister had an external frame weekend backpack that did not fit in the locker and if a bag was too full, it would not fit. Your family may need more than one locker if you have a lot of stuff. The lockers are assigned randomly and are opened with your finger print. Remember your locker number and make sure the person who locked it is the same person sent to open it.
We didn't use the child swap but it looked like a great option. IF one or more of your children are not tall enough to ride, they go through the line with you and one adult takes them into a decent sized room right next to the start of the ride to wait until another adult finishes the ride and then switches places. The returning adult sits with the child while the other gets to ride. You do not need to use the lockers if you do this. There is also a non-riders exit just before the ride for those who want to see the inside of the castle without the nauseating ride.
When you get to the start of the ride, they seem to rush you on, but you do have time to pull out the hard plastic pocket in the back of the seat and put your camera or other small object there.
We were glad we got on the ride early in the day, because when we tried to go again and used the faster but less scenic single riders line, the ride broke when we were just a few people away from getting on. No one was stuck on the ride, but they stopped letting people on. After waiting a few minutes we bailed and went to another ride.
Anon,
Those are great points about the lockers and child swap. Thanks for your feedback & tips!
Im wondering about the ride itself. I would not do a roller coaster, and I know universal is not size friendly even if i wanted too. But is this ride something anyone can ride, and what does it actully entail? Is it like soaring? Do you have to fit in a certain sized seat to ride like they have outside some of the rides? any info is great! Thanks!
Kimba, You mean for the Forbidden Journey ride, right? If you're not a fan of Roller Coasters, I'm not sure if you would like it. You definitely get a swooping sensation as you "fly"towards Hogwarts on a broom, and the ride is a bit jerky at times. That said, I can do kiddie coasters, but am not a fan of the big coasters, and this was fine for me.
As for the seats: they are about 5 in a row with little dividers in between, and a harness comes down over your head to hold you in from the front. I'm not sure if they had a sample for people to check the size–you might be able to find out by calling before you go.
Have fun!
Oh man, that sounds AMAZINGLY FUN! I'm heading there soon, so these are really good tips to tell my mom (I've been doing a bit of research on the shops and what not). I mean, she is a bit of a travel guru, but none of us have been so this is a whole new world to us. I have learned (and am miffed about this) that at Ollivanders (wand shop) 20 people can come in, but only ONE gets their wand chosen. My fingers are crossed that it will be me, I am the ultimate fannatic when it comes to HP. And a slight question, I haven't been to Universal in AGES, if you but a ticket to the park, overall, you are or are not allowed to go to other park areas? I forget, last time I was there I was 8. Pretty sure you can and I need to know because if my sibling decide to come, they might have some more age-related things. (They aren't big on HP). Glad you had so much fun!
Thank you so much for this, I've been reading up on tips from others on how to do the park well and what to avoid. There's something to be said for what a parent says on what's best and what a twenty something fan may say.
Thanks so much, Your tips are going to help me plan the best trip I can!
Awesome! My husband is surprising our daughter and taking her tomorrow morning from Ca. Your tips helped tremendously! We are so excited for her! She is a true Harry Potter fan at 7! Thanks again!
Thank you for this post. My husband and I are heading there in November for the celebration, and we are trying to plan ahead to keep from being in lines the whole time. 🙂
For a GREAT lunch you should make reservations for Mythos. It has been rated one of the best theme park resturants in the nation! It is soooo good! For Adults, if you partake in Adult beverages, try the Potions of the Gods drink! It's great!
Thanks so much! My daughter wants to go for her college graduation in May AND I was feeling overwhelmed trying to plan an amusement park trip on the other side of the country (Disneyland, I know by heart 🙂 ). Your blog really helped!
Worrywart, You're welcome. Have a great trip!
Thank you for these tips! I used this information to plan a trip with my niece and we had an AMAZING time! We picked a time that was not busy at all – the end of January. We stayed 2 days and it was plenty of time to see everything as much as we wanted. The bonus – my niece was picked by Olivander to get a wand! This was the trip of a lifetime for any Harry Potter fan!