<p>D & I are taking a road trip to Orlando next month and one place she has on her list is Harry Potter worlld at Universal Studios. I’m doing research, but have questions and would love if anyone could help me out, as in addition to getting ready for Christmas, I’m in the process of helping my mom pack up and move into an apartment from the house I grew up and have little to no time to fully research this trip.</p>
<ul>
<li>how many days should one allow for Harry Potter</li>
<li>is it correct that all the Harry potter attraction are in the Island of Adventure section. </li>
<li>what are the best things to see in the park?</li>
<li>should we also plan to see the traditional Universal Studios park?</li>
</ul>
<p>Can anyone recommend a hotel in the Universal area? (The Portofino Bay looks lovely, but my budget is $125/night max). </p>
<ul>
<li>there’s a new budget hotel on site, but the reviews indicate the walls are quite thin and I’m a light sleeper.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>Anything else I should know? (We are experienced Disney vacationers and know the Orlando area, but have never been to Universal Studios in Orlando) </p>
<p>Universal is our favorite over Disney. Go to each Universal Park. When I was there you went back to the Harry Potter section and got a timed ticket to go back later. So go there first, get your ticket and then go to the other attractions. Don’t miss the Simpsons ride or The mummy one - I forget the name. Both parks are fun to walk around and they have better roller coasters for those who like that thing and lots of movie related non scary rides for me. </p>
<p>Been a while since I’ve been but last time we went…Call the park hotels direct and run through your list of possible discounts (AAA, military, best price etc). You actually have to name the discount (they don’t volunteer) Sometimes you can get much better price than what is quoted on the internet park site. Hard Rock is my fave because of location. More expensive to stay in the park but you get early admission, able to get in separate line for rides (which was great!), parking included, discounts for shopping and food.<br>
I haven’t seen HP but heard its great–not real big and gets very crowded. Definitely go for both parks–good stuff in both.</p>
<p>How many days depends on where you are staying. We stayed at the Hard Rock hotel so were able to get into the parks an hour before everyone else. We barely waited for the rides in the Harry Potter section, but when we were finished and everyone else was let into the park, the area and lines were just crazy. So those people spent a good part of their day waiting in line. Other advantage to staying at one of the Universal hotels is that you can get free Express passes. Then you get to go in a special line with hardly any wait at all. We were able to just walk onto the rides over and over again without waiting in line. It was great! We spent two days there (focused on one park each day), but we really covered everything in less time than that due to the Express passes. Both parks are well worth doing in my opinion, but if you have limited time and budget, you may not be able to swing it. The Harry Potter section is totally amazing, though. Your daughter will love it if she has read the books and seen the movies. And be sure to try the Butterbeer! </p>
<p>Another fun ride is the Men in Black ride. My family got very competitive trying to score the most points! And I can’t do coasters anymore, but they all liked the Rip Ride Rockit.</p>
<p>Two days should be enough and I suggest getting tickets that allow you in both parks. Hotel on-site is the most convenient for early access I also am a light sleeper but use a White Noise app on my iphone/ ipad and have no problems.</p>
<p>Fun park! the roller coasters are excellent!</p>
No, not any more. Hogsmeade and Hogwarts are in Islands of Adventure. Diagon Alley, including Gringotts, is in Universal Studios. The Hogwarts Express runs between both parks. You must have the Park to Park ticket to get onto Hogwarts at all; you can’t just do a round trip with a single park ticket.</p>
<p>Cabana Bay is the “value” resort on Universal property. It gets early entry, but does not get the Express Pass. You can add it onto your ticket if you need it, but usually it is cheaper to stay at the deluxe hotels than to stay elsewhere and add the Express Pass.</p>
<p>DD & I went last January. Stayed on site to get the equivalent of fast pass. It worked out <em>really</em> well because the machines at our hotel were broken, so we were able to fast pass every ride our entire stay. One thing that worked well for us was using the single rider line for the ride at Hogwart’s castle. This allowed us to bypass the long line which formed outside the castle (by lovely D asking the young gentleman at the entrance if we could skip the line to use the single rider line.) I think he checked to make sure that the single rider line was short (typically 4-10 people) and the walk to the tail of that line took longer than the wait in it.</p>
<p>Now that the Hogwart’s express is up and running, we need to return…</p>
<p>And just a note: some people skip the Hogwarts express since it’s not too far to walk between the two parts of Hp world. Don’t do that, since the Hogwarts Express is an attraction itself. In fact, the ride is different going and coming. But the line can get long. We enjoyed the train. When we rode it, a family from England shared our compartment, so that added some atmosphere. </p>