Express Pass Unlimited... Harry Potter first or do rides in order?

[laurajetter]

Not sure if my title is clear enough or not! We have a group of 9 going this Sunday and Monday (p2p) and I still need to figure out a general plan for the order of rides we’re doing those two days. Since we have Express Pass Unlimited and the HP rides are now included, I’m trying to figure out if it’s still necessary (or at least a good idea) to head straight for HP when we get there at RD. We are not staying on property and thus won’t get in an hour early. Looking at the map, I want to figure out if we should go on rides as we come to them and work our way to HP, or should we head straight over to HP area to experience the shops and such before it becomes overwhelmingly crowded.

Our group has a few older members in scooters and it seems it would probably be easiest to do the rides as we come to them, however we have a few huge HP fans (myself included!) and I’m kind of anxious to get over there and get that part going.

Any advice is welcome... We’ve been so focused on planning the Disney part of our vacation and we don’t know much about Universal so help is greatly appreciated!

 

[gotomu212]

We find the HP areas uncomfortably crowded at the beginning of the day (after EE), but the same areas become nice around 4ish and later in the evening we’ve felt we had the run of the place. So even though we LOVE HP we spend the first part of the days doing everything else and then really soak in the HP areas as people head to dinner.

When HP gets crowded it’s hard for a scooter to go through. It can be hard to even walk and keep everyone together so it really does make a difference in my opinion.

Either way with EP you’ll Have a great time!

 

[laurajetter]

We find the HP areas uncomfortably crowded at the beginning of the day (after EE), but the same areas become nice around 4ish and later in the evening we’ve felt we had the run of the place. So even though we LOVE HP we spend the first part of the days doing everything else and then really soak in the HP areas as people head to dinner.

When HP gets crowded it’s hard for a scooter to go through. It can be hard to even walk and keep everyone together so it really does make a difference in my opinion.

Either way with EP you’ll Have a great time!

This is super helpful, exactly what I was looking for. It’s so hard to know the best thing to do when you’re a first timer (I actually *was* at Universal many moons ago, but so much has changed it will be like my first time!)

Anyone else seem to have a similar experience?

 

[macraven]

Only problem with waiting to do the Potter section for the rides is, if the ride goes down in the evening, it might not be back up that night.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We have found the HP areas to be less crowded in the morning and as a previous poster said, at night as well. Especially with a scooter, I would go first thing in the morning, do some spells, go in the shops before they get packed. I would do rides late morning and then head out to the rest of the parks until early evening. We also found that eating at the HP restaurants for dinner was much less crowded than lunch if that appeals to you.

 

[laurajetter]

Only problem with waiting to do the Potter section for the rides is, if the ride goes down in the evening, it might not be back up that night.

Geez, that's a good point I guess; I was just about to definitely wait until later for HP now I need to re-evaluate! Do the rides tend to go down often?

Also, do you know about how long it takes to walk from the park entrance to the Harry Potter area for each of the 2 parks?

 

[macraven]

I’ve walked it many times so it does not seem long now

From the front of the studios park, probably within 5 minutes

At IOA could be a tad longer
Depends which route you go
You can reach potter by walking through Seuss section or by starting by Spider-Man

If not many are in the parks, quicker walk to potter

 

[gotomu212]

Geez, that's a good point I guess; I was just about to definitely wait until later for HP now I need to re-evaluate! Do the rides tend to go down often?

Also, do you know about how long it takes to walk from the park entrance to the Harry Potter area for each of the 2 parks?

I think with 2 days you’d be okay if by chance a ride went down the first night. You could still do everything else and leave that ride for the next morning- crowd or no crowd. In my experience the problem with HP in the morning is everyone staying on site will have an hour jump on you, and half of those people also have EPs so the value of EPs in the morning at HP aren’t near as good as later in the day.

 

[laurajetter]

In my experience the problem with HP in the morning is everyone staying on site will have an hour jump on you, and half of those people also have EPs so the value of EPs in the morning at HP aren’t near as good as later in the day.

This is good to know; thanks!

 

[Disxuni]

If you don't have the EE and don't get there exactly when they open, it's better to go later in the day as someone suggested, if you're wanting to ignore the crowd.

However, normally EE is Universal, which if that is the case, I would recommend going to Hogsmeade if you want a taste of Harry Potter first thing in the morning. I only worry about the crowd really with Hogsmeade, as it's a lot more narrower than Diagon Alley.

I do want to say that, Diagon Alley, of course can get crowded, but doesn't appear nearly as crowded as Hogsmeade ever does, as it has a lot more space and area to explore and shop. Where as, Hogsmeade, is almost like walking a hallway back and forth to get to anywhere.

Also, if you're going to Ollivanders, go to the one in Diagon Alley. Not only it's book accurate with the experience, but theirs is 10x bigger.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Interestingly I feel like Diagon Alley is the much more crowded of the two. Hogsmeade was awful during the holiday protection show on the castle but other than that, I don't find the walkway to be overly crowded (the shops are crowded in both areas). Diagon however is a bunch of narrow walkways and the main one is always choked off with people holding their cameras waiting for the dragon. Putting that beast on a schedule would help tremendously. I understand that would take away some of the magic of it but the people trying to get through and my fearful DS would probably appreciate it. The area around the Beadle the Bard stage does open up and thin out which is a nice respite from the crowds and there are some good spell casting areas back there but overall I think Diagon is more crowded. YMMV.

 

[SonyaShay]

Putting that beast on a schedule would help tremendously.

Just back from our trip and it was every 10 on the 10.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Just back from our trip and it was every 10 on the 10.

Good to know! We asked while waiting for Olivanders in Nov and the TM gave us the pseudo in character answer that they tried to put her on a schedule but that dragons don't take direction well. My son will be much less stressed now that we know when it's going to happen. Yay!

 

[SonyaShay]

Good to know! We asked while waiting for Olivanders in Nov and the TM gave us the pseudo in character answer that they tried to put her on a schedule but that dragons don't take direction well. My son will be much less stressed now that we know when it's going to happen. Yay!

There were lots of times that it didn't have fire but the growling was still on the 10s.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If it's too windy, no fire.