ResortTV1

This October my family will be at Disney for a week. We've been there 17+ times over the years, but have never visited Universal in all these years. My husband and 15 year old daughter are huge Harry Potter fans and have decided to take one day of our trip for the two of them to visit all the Harry Potter stuff at Universal. So my question is, does anyone have a good touring plan for someone who plans to spend just one day at Universal (both parks) and only wants to see Harry Potter stuff? Is it better to start at one park over the other? Certain attraction that the line gets the longest that they should go to first? Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks!
Chrissy

This is very doable. There are Wizarding World of Harry Potter sections in both Universal Orlando parks. Heres a rundown.

The Islands of Adventure park has Hogsmeade, which has Hogwarts castle, and has the following rides:

• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey: A very immersive dark ride featuring motion and projections. It also has an immersive queue.

• Hagrids Motorbike Adventure: A fast and intense but "moderate" coaster ride (i.e. like Thunder Mountain at Disney) with immersive themes.

• Flight of the Hippogriff: a light "junior" family/kids oriented coaster ride with themeing.

Hogsmeade also has Harry Potter themed shows, shops, places to eat, and a stand to get Butterbeer.

The Universal Studios park has London/Diagon Alley, and has these rides:

• Escape from Gringots: An intense and highly immersive ride that includes an immersive queue with animatronics, and a highly immersive and intense ride that is an amazing combination of coaster and projections.

London/Diagon Alley also has Harry Potter themed shows, lots of shops and places to eat (including a stand with Harry Potter themed drinks, and an ice cream shop you can get Butterbeer ice cream and other flavors.

Both Hogsmeade and London/Diagon Alley are wonderfully themed, and are good for just walking around and taking in the atmosphere, so I would recommend some time for that as well. Check out the shops.

And both sections are connected by an amazingly themed train ride, the Hogwarts Express, so you can literally go directly from one section to the other, as long as you have tickets or a pass to both parks. (And the Hogwarts express is just as much a ride as a means to get to the other park, and features different experiences each way, so you may want to ride it both ways to get both experiences.)

So, this is not a specific plan, but hopefully this gives you an idea. Enjoy.

Hey, I just realized that I didnt actually answer your questions.

I think either park is a good start. Hogsmeade has more rides, so you may want to do that first, do all the rides and look around (see the shows, shops, etc.), and then head to London/Diagon Alley to do that one ride, and have more time to look around that area (which is extensive with shops, places to get food, etc.)

(Of course, one could argue that if you wanted to be more specific to the Harry Potter storyline, you could start in London/Diagon Alley and then head to Hogsmeade.)

Ride times... It depends on whether youre there at a peak season time, or not. If you go at a non-peak seasons, the lines for the rides are often walk-ons or at least minimal. I have an annual pass, and on a non-peak season day, if I get in quickly and head to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey first thing, I can often get one with very little line.

The rides that nowadays have a long line are, in order of length of line,

• 1.the relatively recently added Hagrids Motorbike ride

• 2. sometimes the Escape from Gringots ride,

and

• 3. sometimes the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride.

If its peak season, they will all probably have a long line.

Also, the Hogwarts express (which transports you between the two sections) may have a long line also, especially (definitely) if its a heavy attendance day at the park.

I would go to Islands first and go on Hagrid's immediately. It gets long lines and can go down as the day progresses. It's possible to get a mobile virtual queue time for it later in the day, but can get tricky so it's best to head straight there. I think it's usually about 11 am that one of the opportunities open up. I did that and got one for like 12:30 pm on a busier day. After that I'd hop on the Hogwarts Express because that can have shorter lines beginning of the day. But, if it's half-hour or more I'd maybe wait until later in the day.

Besides that, I'd just keep checking the wait times for the other rides. It can go down for Forbidden Journey and Gringotts but it can also go up. The end of the day usually has shorter times. But, it's not time wasted just to be in line for those because there is so much to see! I'd almost recommend the slower lines like for Gringotts because there are little details that appear the longer you are in line in some parts.

Another option for rope drop is to get a reservation at Ollivanders which I think you have to walk up and ask right now. It's an actual experience, and I recommend getting an interactive wand even if it's your only trip for a long time. There are some really fun interactive elements around both parks.
And don't forget to hop back on Hogwarts Express from Diagon Alley because it's a different ride in ways.

Basically, if you don't mind spending your whole day in both Wizarding Worlds and waiting in some lines you can get a full day experience without even doing the rest of Universal!

Thanks Chris4Disney for asking these questions! Our family heads down in Oct and we too have only planned one day for Universal- mainly for Harry Potter and we were wondering the same thing!

JLThemeParkDude wrote: ↑Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:42 am (Of course, one could argue that if you wanted to be more specific to the Harry Potter storyline, you could start in London/Diagon Alley and then head to Hogsmeade.)

This is what I did the first time I went and it was incredibly magical taking the Hogwarts Express from London and stepping out to Hogsmeade; I would definitely recommend it to Potter fans! Although I will say that Hagrid's coaster wasn't a thing when I went so only had the 2 big Potter attractions to worry about long lines for.

NotAtDisney wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 12:45 am

JLThemeParkDude wrote: ↑Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:42 am (Of course, one could argue that if you wanted to be more specific to the Harry Potter storyline, you could start in London/Diagon Alley and then head to Hogsmeade.)

This is what I did the first time I went and it was incredibly magical taking the Hogwarts Express from London and stepping out to Hogsmeade; I would definitely recommend it to Potter fans! Although I will say that Hagrid's coaster wasn't a thing when I went so only had the 2 big Potter attractions to worry about long lines for.

I was thinking that a good option that could give you both experiences would be to do a "round trip" starting with Hogsmeade, so you could get all the rides there done early. Then get on the Hogwarts express and go to London/Diagon alley, and do the ride and other stuff there. Then when you're done with London/Diagon Alley, get back on the Hogwarts express and conclude your day back at Hogsmeade.

This would be worth it because the Hogwarts express experience (its not just a train, its kind of an immersive ride too) is different each way. For the Harry Potter fan, Its worth seeing both. And you would get the Harry Potter storyline experience the second time around. Just a thought. However you do it, its a great experience.