Need help finishing touring plans for a 2-day visit..Leaving tomorrow! (UPDATE post#10: We're back!)

[laurajetter]

My extended family of 9 members ranging in age from 8 to mid-70's (two are on scooters) will be visiting this coming Sunday and Monday. We have park to park tickets, and Express Pass Unlimited, but we are staying offsite and won't be able to get in for the extra early hour. I've spent the past few months planning out the Disney part of our vacation and have dreadfully little time left to plan Universal. I am having such a mind block figuring out what route through the parks to take. I've narrowed down that we want to make a beeline for Harry Potter on either day (which was my original plan), after some advice on these boards.

Knowing that, I'm thinking we'll start by going clockwise out of the gate and go on the rides in order until we get to Harry Potter. (FYI, we'll probably start with Universal because I don't feel like getting drenched right off the bat on all the wet rides at IOA.) Here's where I'm getting hung up... Once we get to the Harry Potter area and we're done Escape from Gringotts and exploring Diagon Alley, do we continue on past Harry Potter to finish up the last two rides we're interested in (Simpson's Ride and E.T.), or do we stay in Harry Potter area to take Hogwarts Express to IOA? We definitely want to take it both ways at some point within our two day visit, but I can't figure out the best itinerary. If we take do Hogwarts Express, then when do we go back to Universal to finish up those two rides? Should we take it back immediately to finish them? That seems a little weird though. Is it best to do most all rides at one park on one day and then the other park the next day, or do half and half both days?

I don't know why this is boggling my mind, it doesn't seem like it should really be that difficult of a thing to do! I think it's the fact that we can move between parks via Hogwarts Express that is throwing me off. Talk about last minute... we are leaving tomorrow morning bright and early and I can't believe I still don't have this figured out. Any help is greatly appreciated!

In case it helps, here are the rides at each park we intend on going on:

Universal:
Shrek 4D
Despicable Me
Jimmy Fallon
Transformers (maybe, but not likely)
Revenge of the Mummy
Fast & Furious
E.T.
Simpsons Ride
explore Springfield
Escape from Gringotts
explore Diagon Alley
Hogwarts Express: Kings Cross

IOA:
Incredible Hulk coaster
Spider-Man
Popeye & Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges
Dudley Do-Right's RipSaw Falls
Kong
Jurassic Park River Adventure
Pteranodon Flyers (just DS and myself)
High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride
explore Seuss Landing
Flight of the Hippogriff
Forbidden Journey
Hogwarts Express: Hogsmeade
perhaps castle light show? Don't know much about this but would probably like to see it.

 

[skylock]

Stop stressing. You have express pass. so whatever order you want to do it in will be fine. It is not like disney fast pass where you have to wait around for your time. You just pick a ride and get in the express line.

Now that the HP rides are included with express pass, it is easy peasy.

Depending on when the parks close, we do not even go until around lunch time (we like to sleep in on vacation) and still have a leisurely park day even when we ride some things more than once.

 

[laurajetter]

I realize the express pass surely will help out with the wait times, I'm just trying to pick out the most efficient method of touring around the parks because several members of our group are older and have a little more trouble handling the heat and all thewalking. I'm trying to avoid backtracking too much, so I'm hoping I can get advice from people who are familiar with the parks' layouts that can offer me a couple ideas of tried and true plans of what's worked for them instead of me guessing (guessing wrong, most likely ).

 

[gotomu212]

We really aren’t being flippant, it when we say EP will make this seemless we really mean it. It doesn’t just help out, it makes most waits FLY.

Your strategy of starting at the front and moving clockwise stopping at each ride as you come to it is good. Once you get to Diagon Alley I’d hop then and you’ll be out near Seuss Landing and can start moving through there and then over to Superhero’s and then water (or wait for water rides until the next day).

Then on your second day you can ride Hogwarts Express back if you didn’t get to it the first day. I understand not doubling back and running everywhere, but work in HP when you’re somewhat nearby and it’s not crowded. You really will be fine!

PS I noticed you didn’t have Cat in the Hat on your list. It’s one of my favorites. Super cute and worth it if your already in Seuss.

 

[gotomu212]

Wanted to add please come back and tell us what you think!! I love to hear how first timers found the dark side after being accustomed to Disney and Fastpasses.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Agreed with others that you really don't need to worry about it. With EP you really don't have to worry about being efficient. A general plan for your day is fine. You'll be efficient just by having EP. It's so much different than Disney in that way. If the members of your party are getting tired, just take a break for a while and enjoy the atmosphere.

Have fun. Enjoy.

 

[skylock]

I realize the express pass surely will help out with the wait times, I'm just trying to pick out the most efficient method of touring around the parks because several members of our group are older and have a little more trouble handling the heat and all thewalking. I'm trying to avoid backtracking too much, so I'm hoping I can get advice from people who are familiar with the parks' layouts that can offer me a couple ideas of tried and true plans of what's worked for them instead of me guessing (guessing wrong, most likely ).

My group ranges from kids to 88, including 2 on scooters/wheelchairs.

We start out together and ride the things everybody likes first, or most everybody. If you really like something and want to do it again, get back in the express line and do it again. And again. And again.

After that, we split up and the mild riders go do the mild stuff and the thrill seekers go do Hulk and the likes with a time and meet back up area planned. For us it is usually men in black because my 88 yr old mother loves that one. Or the night time entertainment area if that is happening. We meet back up with snacks of popcorn or the likes to watch the night time show.

As you tour the parks, if someone gets tired, we find a nice cool place and take a break. We also find a nice cool quiet spot for gma to take a nap. Someone stays with her and the others enjoy the stuff nearby.

You will be fine, don't stress.

WE do not do things in order necessarily because everybody in not going to ride say terminator, but everybody wants to ride other things. So we skip the wild rides the first time around for the most part, but that can change. Instantly. After we make the first loop, we split up as I said before. I am not going to do hulk or the wet rides, so while half the group is doing that, the other half may be having ice cream somewhere in the shade.

You don't need to stress, because when everybody wants to ride something else, just get in the express line again.

For the most part with disney, it is one ride and done. But not universal with express pass. we can do the seuss stuff until the kids say enough,

 

[bchbetha]

I wouldn’t really want to keep 9 folks of varying ages, interests and abilities together. Consider splitting up at times and having some meeting spots planned + meals together. Even though the potential thrill riders will be fast with EPs, standing around waiting for them would get old quick

 

[laurajetter]

I wouldn’t really want to keep 9 folks of varying ages, interests and abilities together. Consider splitting up at times and having some meeting spots planned + meals together. Even though the potential thrill riders will be fast with EPs, standing around waiting for them would get old quick

I totally agree, however, in the interest of being totally transparent, my parents are treating my family of 4 to this trip (including meals), and I know her idea of touring the parks is for us to all stick together in one large group. I think it would hurt her feelings if we in essence said, "Okay we're going on these other rides and will meet back up with you later." She wouldn't take that so well (even though it makes sense), so we did need to stick together. I'm going to update how our trip went in my next post on this thread, so check it out if you want!

 

[laurajetter]

Wanted to add please come back and tell us what you think!! I love to hear how first timers found the dark side after being accustomed to Disney and Fastpasses.

We just got back yesterday from our trip and I saw your response so I'm going to go ahead and tell you how it went! We started with 2 days at Universal/IOA followed by 5 days at Disney. We had researched what rides were at Universal and IOA so we at least already knew which ones we wanted to go and which ones we wanted to skip. After posting this thread my sister (who was part of our group of 9) happened to call and I told her my dilemma and we came up with a basic plan to just start in one park and hit the rides mostly in order. I kept envisioning that since we had park-to-park tickets we'd be hopping around, going back and forth on Hogwarts Express, etc. to take advantage of it but we decided that since we had a few members that couldn't get around as easily and normally get tired/exhausted fairly quickly it would be best to just stick to Universal the first day and IOA the second. So here's what we did:

Day One: Universal
Despicable Me (loved it)
Shrek 4D (meh)
E.T. (It was neat and I liked it, but a lot of that had to do with nostalgia for me... I grew up with that movie!)
Jimmy Fallon (Loved it!! More than I thought I would, haha!)
Revenge of the Mummy (Just a few of us went on. I was nervous about the drops... it was on the edge of being too intense for me but I managed to do it twice. It was pretty good!)
Fast & Furious (Pretty good... I was mostly impressed by the technology that allowed you to see in all directions around you to make it feel like you really were in a chase scene)
The Simpsons Ride (really liked it)
explored Diagon Alley (I'm in heaven with anything Harry Potter, so I loved it! Only downside was not having a significant amount of time to let all the details sink in... we always felt like we couldn't leave the older folks waiting for us too long because they'd get uncomfortable quickly. They knew nothing of Harry Potter and didn't want to get out of their scooters to explore, so I felt a bit rushed. Also, although DS12 and DS8 are big HP fans, they were antsy to get through it after about 10-15 minutes... they were hot and tired of walking, lol)
Escape from Gringotts (was nervous at first but loved it!)

Day Two: Islands of Adventure
(we decided to go through Universal to enter IOA via Hogwarts Express, and then exit at the end of the day the same way so we could experience both directions... this worked out well!)
Hogwarts Express: King's Cross Station (Totally awesome! I had viewed a spoiler beforehand so I kind of knew what the experience was going to be like, but it was still awesome in person. I wish I hadn't seen the spoiler though because I originally thought the train was simply transportation back and forth! I would've been so surprised!!)
Flight of the Hippogriff (Very fun, everyone liked it)
Forbidden Journey (AWESOME! Probably one of my favorites of the whole trip; very memorable)
explored Hogsmeade (so neat... see above reaction to exploring Diagon Alley)
Kong (loved it)
Hulk Coaster (I didn't go on, only a few others did. They loved it)
Spider-Man (loved it)
Popeye & Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges (All but one of us went on and we had so much fun! We had to convince a couple of the older folk to go since they didn't want the hassle of having to protect themselves and their items from getting wet, but they liked it so much they requested to go again!)
Hogwarts Express: Hogsmeade (Loved it!)

Final notes: We didn't get to all the rides/experiences on our list (skipped exploring Springfield, Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, Jurassic Park Adventure, Pteranodon Flyers (no Express Pass line), High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride, and the castle light show), but overall I feel like we got a lot accomplished considering the amount of people we had in our group. I won't lie, it was pretty stressful on me, DH, my sister and her husband to manage our whole group, getting them to stay together when traveling from one area to another, a thousand bathroom breaks, them wanting to leave early, my FIL falling off his scooter twice, etc. but those are all things not having to do with Universal itself. I will say I really did love some of the rides there, the Harry Potter sections lived up to everything I imagined, I just wish I had more time there. Express Pass, as compared to Disney's Fast Pass, was totally awesome and so well worth it if you can afford it. I LOVED not having to worry about what time it was that we arrived to each ride, I always knew the Express Pass line would be ready and waiting for us! Disney's Fast Pass is awesome that it's free, but holy cow, the amount of foresight and pre-planning needed was crazy. I'm certainly glad we did though, because the FP+s we used for the rest of the week surely saved our group from some hugely long waits.

So, how did this lifetime-Disney-fan like crossing over to the dark side?

I truly enjoyed myself at Universal/IOA and would most definitely visit again, however Disney is still my favorite!!!!!!!!