DH has a conference in Orlando in early June and we decided to pull the kids out of school for a few days to join him. His conference is at an ‘on property’ hotel for Universal and we are all superfans of Harry Potter, so thought it’d be the perfect opportunity to go to HP World at Universal. So, now I’m starting to research it and have a lot of questions!
We are taking a red-eye on Tuesday night and will get to Orlando at 6am on Wednesday. DH and the kids both (surprisingly) can sleep on planes and think that we should start the parks on Wednesday. His conference starts Thursday night, and this way, DH could go with us for two days. I am still vacillating between getting 3 or 4 day passes. The fourth day only costs about $20 more, so it seems worth it, but I’m not sure we’d need that many days there. How does Universal compare in size to Disneyland? Is it smaller, like Legoland (SD) or Knott’s or quite large? With the 3 day pass, they’d have an entire day to enjoy the pools and water slides at the resort, plus we are also getting tickets to see Blue Man Group Saturday night. Does it make more sense to go Wed/Thurs/Fri? Or Thurs/Fri/Sat? Or Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat? It’s unlikely we’d be able to get to the hotel and into the park after the airport until 9:30ish (I think, have no idea how far the airport is from the park), so we’d lose that precious time in the morning, before the big crowds. But, I worry that it could get crazy on a June Saturday, so my gut says to avoid it, and start on Wednesday (even though I’d be exhausted). Thoughts? We fly home Sunday afternoon.
If it makes a difference, since we are on property, we will get to go an hour earlier than the regular opening time and get the Express Passes for non-HP rides. Also, as I understand it, we need to get park hopper tickets to be allowed to take the Hogwarts Express—is that right? A friend suggested taking a fanny pack, since backpacks are not allowed on most rides and you’d have to waste time to check it in. Do they allow you to bring any snacks into the park at all? Thoughts on fanny pack vs. backpack? Any other tips for a newbie?