Help with our Mom and Adult Son Trip, Please :)

[Lucy2939]

First time for both of us to Universal Orlando and we will be coming for two days on Monday, October 29 and Tuesday, October 30. We are staying onsite so we have early entry. We want to see everything but I (mom) really want to see the Harry Potter attractions and such. Son will do anything but I know he wants to ride everything we can Can anyone help with a sort of plan for us? Do we use early entry both days or just one (which day then)? What ride should we start with? Do we park hop both days? Do we need an interactive wand? Any great advice would be appreciated so much. I am just so excited that my son wants to take a trip with his mom

We will be checking in on Sunday night and we don't fly out till Wednesday so that does give us two full days if that helps with any planning.

Thank you so much.

 

[MikeNamez]

What resort are you staying at?

 

[wookiebeck]

You mention on-site stay. Are you at Portofino, Hard Rock or Royal Pacific? If so, you will also have the Express Pass. If you have that perk, you will not need a touring plan, per se.

EE will be at the same park for both days of your trips. Do the first day, then decide if you want to do it again, or queue up for rope drop at the other park for your 2nd day. Keep in mind that EE only opens the HP world area, not the entire park.

Your park hopper tickets allow you to ride the Hogwarts Express, so yes, hop each way so that you can experience both trips. Otherwise, hopping is fun for us as it is nothing like the time sucker that hopping at WDW is.

An interactive wand is fun, but not necessary. Lots of kids get one because it makes it appear that you are doing magic at certain stops along HP world. I just watch the kids do the magic and never bought a wand.

 

[macraven]

Your hotel will know which park is opened early each day.
You need to show your hotel room key and park ticket to get in.

Only the potter sections and one outside ride will be open in this one hour period.

Look at the park maps online at universalorlando.com so you know the layout of the parks.
Easier to know which direction to walk to before you enter the parks.

If you want to take the Hogwarts express train to the other park, be in that line early.
It is very popular and many take the first ride out in the morning to the other side.

If you wait until 8:50 to get in that line, it will be a longer wait.
Faster to walk to the other park than take the train.
Do HE later in the day as lines are less waits.

 

[Lucy2939]

What resort are you staying at?

We are staying at Cabana Bay so no express pass. Do you think it will be busy enough I should get one for us?

 

[Lucy2939]

You mention on-site stay. Are you at Portofino, Hard Rock or Royal Pacific? If so, you will also have the Express Pass. If you have that perk, you will not need a touring plan, per se.

EE will be at the same park for both days of your trips. Do the first day, then decide if you want to do it again, or queue up for rope drop at the other park for your 2nd day. Keep in mind that EE only opens the HP world area, not the entire park.

Your park hopper tickets allow you to ride the Hogwarts Express, so yes, hop each way so that you can experience both trips. Otherwise, hopping is fun for us as it is nothing like the time sucker that hopping at WDW is.

An interactive wand is fun, but not necessary. Lots of kids get one because it makes it appear that you are doing magic at certain stops along HP world. I just watch the kids do the magic and never bought a wand.

Thank you so much - super helpful. Do you think we need an Express Pass? We are at Cabana Bay.

 

[MikeNamez]

We are staying at Cabana Bay so no express pass. Do you think it will be busy enough I should get one for us?

Its hard to say with crowds, that's not really my specialty as I just take it for what it is and adjust expectations accordingly. I have no issues with using single rider lines.

With that being said if you were on the fence with express pass for one day your better off getting a room at Royal Pacific. I just looked at your dates and the total increase from Cabana Bay to Royal Pacific would be about 315$ dollars. Now if you look at what an express pass would cost you for 1 day, 2 people would be about about 200$. For the extra $115 to stay at Royal Pacific you would get 2 days of express pass and would be able to hit every single ride, some more than once.

I would highly suggest looking into a hotel that offers the pass if your even thinking about getting it for one day. Also the amount of time you would save using the Boat transportation from Royal Pacific vs the Bus's at cabana bay is also worth the increase in price, but i like to pay for convenience.

 

[skylock]

Me and my son travel everywhere together, we are even dive buddies. You will have a good time, but you will enjoy the parks more with the express pass. ESP your son.

I would seriously consider bumping up to the deluxe hotel even for just one night. That will give you express for two days.

Get the deluxe room for Monday and you will have the express pass for Monday and Tuesday. Checkin day and checkout day. You can check in very early and they will hold your luggage then they will text you when your room is ready.

I know it is a hassle to have to move rooms, but that small amount of inconvenience will be well worth the trouble.

With the express pass, you do not need a touring plan. Just go. You do not even need to worry about doing early entry. You can if you want but not necessary. You can park tour at a much more relaxed pace.

If the wait times are say only 30 min or so standby, you will express it in under 10. You can ride things over and over. If standby is 30 min, you can ride it 3-4 times in that amount of time with express.

 

[georgina]

I enjoy just watching the kids use their interactive wands, we have never bought them.

I don't think you would need the EP those days of the week at that time of year. I've been at CB in slower times and even on weekend days the lines were short in the morning. Early entry will give you access to only one of the HP areas, so I would use it one day and just rope drop the other park the next morning. Looks like US is open 8 AM - 7 PM and IOA 9 AM - 8 PM. That should be plenty of time to do everything, use the mornings! Park hopping is so easy, do it whenever you feel like it!

As far as a plan, look at the rides, read descriptions, and think about what you will both want to do vs what he will want to do but you don't. Universal has a lot of single rider lines that help cut down on wait time. Minions line gets long quickly. Try to ride Kong early also. Will you want to do water rides? (Bilge Rat Barges may get you thoroughly soaked) Many of the lines get shorter toward the end of the evening, except Hulk (everyone wants to ride Hulk at night.) I have had success getting in the Forbidden Journey line toward the end of the evening. I am usually the person standing in each room of that line watching the show as people rush by me.

The bus transportation from CB is great!

 

[Lucy2939]

Its hard to say with crowds, that's not really my specialty as I just take it for what it is and adjust expectations accordingly. I have no issues with using single rider lines.

With that being said if you were on the fence with express pass for one day your better off getting a room at Royal Pacific. I just looked at your dates and the total increase from Cabana Bay to Royal Pacific would be about 315$ dollars. Now if you look at what an express pass would cost you for 1 day, 2 people would be about about 200$. For the extra $115 to stay at Royal Pacific you would get 2 days of express pass and would be able to hit every single ride, some more than once.

I would highly suggest looking into a hotel that offers the pass if your even thinking about getting it for one day. Also the amount of time you would save using the Boat transportation from Royal Pacific vs the Bus's at cabana bay is also worth the increase in price, but i like to pay for convenience.

Thank you so much for all of your help!! I have decided to stay at the Royal Pacific for Sunday and Monday now and then just go to an airport hotel for Tuesday night since we fly out early Wednesday morning.

So I just want to make sure that I can then use Express Pass for both Monday and Tuesday? Also is it faster to take the boat then the Bus? Finally, can you walk from Royal Pacific to the parks?

Thank you so much for helping me

 

[TommyJK]

Thank you so much for all of your help!! I have decided to stay at the Royal Pacific for Sunday and Monday now and then just go to an airport hotel for Tuesday night since we fly out early Wednesday morning.

So I just want to make sure that I can then use Express Pass for both Monday and Tuesday? Also is it faster to take the boat then the Bus? Finally, can you walk from Royal Pacific to the parks?

Thank you so much for helping me

You get the Express Pass for check-in day and check-out day and each day in between. So if you're staying Sunday night and Monday night, you technically get it for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday so you're good!

RPR is very walk-able to the parks. 10 minutes-ish and it will bring you right near the entrance to IOA. But the Boat Ferry is also nice and is about a 15 min door to door timeframe.

 

[SarahWeasley]

Thank you so much for all of your help!! I have decided to stay at the Royal Pacific for Sunday and Monday now and then just go to an airport hotel for Tuesday night since we fly out early Wednesday morning.

So I just want to make sure that I can then use Express Pass for both Monday and Tuesday? Also is it faster to take the boat then the Bus? Finally, can you walk from Royal Pacific to the parks?

Thank you so much for helping me

That's what we always do - stay at RPR, but get a cheaper hotel by the airport for our last night.

RPR to parks is very walkable; we usually check the RPR boat dock to see if there's a boat at the dock or about to arrive (and often there is), and otherwise we walk it.

I'm sure you and your son will have a great time!

 

[DrummerBoy523]

First time for both of us to Universal Orlando and we will be coming for two days on Monday, October 29 and Tuesday, October 30. We are staying onsite so we have early entry. We want to see everything but I (mom) really want to see the Harry Potter attractions and such. Son will do anything but I know he wants to ride everything we can Can anyone help with a sort of plan for us? Do we use early entry both days or just one (which day then)? What ride should we start with? Do we park hop both days? Do we need an interactive wand? Any great advice would be appreciated so much. I am just so excited that my son wants to take a trip with his mom

We will be checking in on Sunday night and we don't fly out till Wednesday so that does give us two full days if that helps with any planning.

Thank you so much.

How old is your son? FYI, our boys were bored in the HP land. They are 11 & 15. The interactive wands really are for smaller kids - plus I think the spells are lame. I wouldn't buy a wand unless you just want a souvenir. Wife and I wanted to mill about in Diagon, but they just wanted to ride rides, so I would definitely keep that in mind. Here are my thoughts:

Use EE and go straight to Diagon Alley. Ride Gringotts which will satisfy the son.
Go to wand show and get a wand if you must
Go get a butterbeer and then if you buy a wand, do spells - this will take you about an hour.
Exit DA and go ride the Hogwarts Xpress over to IOA.
Ride the Journey ride if you can handle it - pretty intense.
Mill about and maybe grab early lunch
Stay in Islands and go ride Hulk and other rides
Ride Hogwarts back to UO
Ride Mummy and other attractions

You have 2 full days - you'll get everything done with the Express Pass IMO. We did.

 

[damo]

How old is your son? FYI, our boys were bored in the HP land. They are 11 & 15. The interactive wands really are for smaller kids - plus I think the spells are lame. I wouldn't buy a wand unless you just want a souvenir. Wife and I wanted to mill about in Diagon, but they just wanted to ride rides, so I would definitely keep that in mind. Here are my thoughts:

Use EE and go straight to Diagon Alley. Ride Gringotts which will satisfy the son.
Go to wand show and get a wand if you must
Go get a butterbeer and then if you buy a wand, do spells - this will take you about an hour.
Exit DA and go ride the Hogwarts Xpress over to IOA.
Ride the Journey ride if you can handle it - pretty intense.
Mill about and maybe grab early lunch
Stay in Islands and go ride Hulk and other rides
Ride Hogwarts back to UO
Ride Mummy and other attractions

You have 2 full days - you'll get everything done with the Express Pass IMO. We did.

Post title says adult son so they'll probably both enjoy milling about somewhat like you guys.