Do you think it is possible to do the two parks in one day? I haven't been to Universal in over 20 years when I was in the WDW College Program. We ended up with an extra day in our schedule and the kids are crazy about Harry Potter. We live in the UK so seeing the reconstructed sets are not a high priority to us. We have been to the Harry Potter tour in London and seen a majority of the film sites. We are mostly interested in the ride themselves.
Should we just go to the Studios instead of the IOA? Maybe focus on one park instead of rushing through?
Is there a place to buy discount tickets? I am blown away by how much the tickets cost. I think I bought my annual pass for $100 twenty years ago.
And their "fastpass" isn't included with the ticket price? What? I am clearly out of the loop when it comes to Universal. Our kids were always to short to go on most the rides so I didn't want to spend the $ on tickets since they could not ride on most of the "good" rides anyway.
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We did do both parks in one day but we were mainly interested in the Harry Potter areas and the Jurassic Park Raptor Experience and that was all we did while there. You do have to have a Park to Park ticket because the HP stuff is located in both parks but you can take the Hogwarts Train to get from one to the other. We were able to ride the Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, Hogwarts Express, and Escape from Gringotts while there and also wander in and out of all the HP shops. Plus we waited in line to get a frozen butterbeer. You and your kids will love the Harry Potter areas. Theming is amazing!
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I agree that you will have to be quite choosy about what you do - really look and plan ahead. I'd do the 2 park ticket because you can do the Harry Potter world in one park then go to the other. What time of year are you going? Do bear in mind that Harry Potter world gets very busy, very quickly - and I think you only get early entry if you are staying on site or have an annual pass. It is true that they charge extra for an "express pass" (again unless you are staying on site. That is bad, I guess - but really good if you don't mind paying for one, because it makes things much, MUCH quicker than a fastpass does at Disney, because the number of them available is so much smaller. As for discount tickets online, there are a few sites where you can save a few (very few) dollars, but there are also a lot of scams out there, so take care! If it looks too good to be true I wouldn't trust it. Universal allegedly offers a lowest price guarantee, but I don't know for sure how that works.
i've done both in one day. other times i took 2 days. my next trip in Sept will probably do 2 days
DVC owner at AKL, OKW & BRV. stayed at every WDW resort except GF & YC. also went to Aulani & Disneyland. top of bucket list Tokyo DL next year, maybe Paris and Hong Kong
