NBR: Florida/DisneyWorld/WoHP peeps

sfgiantsjo · April 2015

How long should I plan to spend at World of Harry Potter in order to see both parks? Two Days?

sfgiantsjo · April 2015

Er, hit post to soon.

We are planning about 5 days in Disney. and want to see WoHP, as well. I also hope to get to a football game on a Saturday. trying to keep our trip to 10 days...

LaBellaBarv66 · April 2015

2 days is plenty...one for each park. Do not stand in line for Olivander's...you can still go into the wand shop and they'll show you "your" wands without having to wait an hour for one kid to have the wand choosing experience. I haven't seen it since they added on but I'd still say 2 days should be fine.

FirstMate06 · April 2015

Agree with PP. I would buy the 2-day Park Hopper passes for Universal and spread it out over two days. BUT, if time is an issue then it is also possible to see all of WoHP in one day if you have the park hopper pass and take the Hogwarts Express train between the two parks.

I went most recently last October and two of the major Harry Potter rides were out of service unexpectedly for the two days we were there which was a bummer. It was still a great experience and we loved watching the shows (Quidditch player dancers, Knight Bus, etc.) and drinking butterbeer. I highly recommend getting express passes if possible. Those saved us SO much time waiting in lines and we were able to go on rides multiple times.

Overall I'd say go for one day if you only want to experience WoHP and not the rest of Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, but two days if you want to take time to experience both parks fully. I love Universal so I recommend the two days.

Have fun!!

ThisModernLove · April 2015

We did about a day and a half because of crowds. I wouldn't have got to see everything we wanted to in one day because we wanted to spend time in Springfield, get Duff beers, and do some other rides. Universal Orlando has a good phone app that had pretty accurate wait times for the rides/attractions so I'd recommend downloading that. The Disney one was about 15 minutes off but also helped. Definitely get the park hopper so that you can go between as crowds can vary park to park. Also, we did Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and while they warn all over about the motion sickness possibility, DH and I both got sick afterwards. I typically don't get ill on rides but that was rough on me. I wish we would have saved it for the end because it threw us off for a couple hours. For reference, we went in October of 2014.

Hope this helps!

EliStar · April 2015

I'll message you about this when I get out of my doc appt. Girl, you comin to FLA and I don't get a heads up?!!!??

sfgiantsjo · April 2015

EliStar said:
I'll message you about this when I get out of my doc appt. Girl, you comin to FLA and I don't get a heads up?!!!??

Hahaha! We are about 99% sure we'll go. I am super excited - I haven't been to Florida in at least 15 years, and I haven't been to DisneyWorld in over 20. We're planning early November!

EliStar · April 2015

sfgiantsjo said:

EliStar said:
I'll message you about this when I get out of my doc appt. Girl, you comin to FLA and I don't get a heads up?!!!??
Hahaha! We are about 99% sure we'll go. I am super excited - I haven't been to Florida in at least 15 years, and I haven't been to DisneyWorld in over 20. We're planning early November!

OMG! We are ALWAYS in Orlando in early November for Liam's birthday. We're planning a longer trip this year instead of throwing a huge birthday bash like we usually do.

Anyway, I am sitting at a computer now so I'll chime in about WWOHP and Disney. I know you're a Disney freak like me. What are you guys planning on doing in Disney? I would plan to spend the most time in Magic Kingdom and start familiarizing yourself now on the magic bands and fast passes and rides that you need to hit. Also, make dining reservations as soon as you can. My favorites are Be Our Guest and Chef Mickeys. There is an epic post on that somewhere on the baby board - search for it! In terms of the parks, my favorites are Magic Kingdom, then Epcot, then Animal Kingdom, then Hollywood Studios. My favorite ride in all of the parks is Expedition Everest, though. It's so bad ass! If you have time, check out Downtown Disney - the shopping area there is really nice. What resorts are you looking at?

As far as WWOHP. SO much fun. You can definitely do them in two days. If you're only doing WWOHP, you can even probably do both in one, but I'd want to do the rest of the parks. Get the two day park hopper so you can ride the Hogwarts Express. It's worth it. I cannot tell you how excited I was to walk through Platform 9 3/4. It was that little kid on Christmas morning feeling. I like Diagon Alley more than Hogsmeade, but the Castle in Hogsmeade is just ridiculously gorgeous. You will be dying of the fangirlyness. Must dos - Butterbeer, All the rides, Ollivander's Shop, and they even have interactive wands that work spells all over the magical areas of the parks. SO COOL.

sfgiantsjo · April 2015

We are thinking 5 days in Disney and two in Universal. Hopefully hitting all the parks. I'm totally at a loss as to where to stay. There are SO.MANY.HOTELS. Disneyland only has three, and all are walking distance to the parks. I tried looking up tips online, but people are all, you can take a bus here, a boat there, the monorail there...WTF. Also, you get free parking? So maybe driving is easier. Headsplosion.

We don't need fancy - We are only sleeping in the hotel, not spending any time in it. So cheap is good, we can spend our $$ at restaurants. We like eating.

I'm so looking forward to all the things that aren't at Disneyland. It's such a treat to experience anything Disney for the first time. Nothing like it!

katienichols08 · April 2015

I think I'm going to Disney and Universal in October so I'm totally gonna monitor this feed. I've been to both before but I am actually trying to plan with the hubby and the child this time...and we've never paid to go to either--so this will be our first time just the three of us. Should be fine....

sfgiantsjo · April 2015

Oh, @Elistar, (or anyone) - How is early November crowd-wise?

EliStar · April 2015

sfgiantsjo said:
Oh, @Elistar, (or anyone) - How is early November crowd-wise?

It's one of the best times to go all year!

As for resorts - stay on property if you can. NOTHING is walking distance and it's a giant PITA to park everywhere. Take the shuttles wherever you go. They're so convenient and show up every 15 minutes. The value resorts are fine and they're less than $150 a night.

josie402 · April 2015

sfgiantsjo said:
Oh, @Elistar, (or anyone) - How is early November crowd-wise?

We went to Disney in early November and it was great!! We were there over Vereran's day and that day was crazy at the Magic Kingdom, but the rest of the week was perfect. We were able to do everything we wanted (but the kids weren't into the big rides). We didn't go to Universal so I don't have any advice on that but I'm dying to go!

RiverPlate · April 2015

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, and honestly I don't think I would do Disney any other way than staying on property. Our hotel was probably mid-range for Disney, and it was really nice. I really liked the Art of Animation was well. We went to the O'Hana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at the Polynesian and it was my favorite thing we did there. That resort was beautiful too.

And in my next life I want to be a master gardener for Disney. OMG the flowers. I could have spent all day at The Land in Epcot. Amazing amazing amazing.

funkypineapple · April 2015

We went last month and did a park a day. We did both Universal parks in one-day and the Hogwarts Express is basically the coolest thing.

Definitely check out the Universal and Disney apps while you're there! We did that this time around and it totally helped. If you want reservations at a restaurant but don't get it right away, be flexible and check a few days leading up to your trip or the day. We got reservations at Be Our Guest about 2 days before we left for Orlando and I LOVED it!

Have fun!!

RevJen · April 2015

We stayed in the Pop Century resort which is a value resort. We spent all day in the park so it didn't make sense for us to pay more for a hotel. It was fun. I think we asked to stay in the 80s wing. This was at Disney.

We went to WWoHP right after it opened and it was PACKED. Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks was fun but I didn't do the rides. I get claustrophobic and I was having problems with the amount of people that were there. I think the entire populations of England, Ireland and Brazil were there, all standing between me and where I wanted to go. There were plenty of shops to wander through though.

abs05 · April 2015

We are planning a Disney trip in November, too. We are doing the 1st or 3rd week. Not Thanksgiving and we want to avoid Jersey week. Excited!! We went last year and had so much fun. Would love to do HP but DH and DD have less than zero interest. Hmph.

sfgiantsjo · April 2015

abs05 said:
We are planning a Disney trip in November, too. We are doing the 1st or 3rd week. Not Thanksgiving and we want to avoid Jersey week. Excited!! We went last year and had so much fun. Would love to do HP but DH and DD have less than zero interest. Hmph.

That's when we are going, maybe we'll be there at the same time.

NBR: Florida/DisneyWorld/WoHP peeps

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