Help - Travel Agent Needed - Harry Potter World

[light-castle]

I am desperately looking for help planning a last minute trip to Harry Potter in Orlando. Having never been there, I am clueless! I realize this is not the right forum, but hoping someone from that area will be able to recommend a travel agent to help!

Thank you so much!

Jennifer

[SnuggleBuggles]

Saw you had 2 posts and making sure you saw my reply

There isn't a park called Harry Potter World (some folks think it's a stand alone park so just mentioning). HP stuff is in both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

It really isn't hard. What has you stuck? Just book at one of their hotels. This isn;t a task that requires a travel agent There are no fast passes to book like Disney. Dining reservations aren't a big deal.

If you're a Costco member, they have Universal packages. You can simply book that way.

If budget allows, book Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino so you get express passes included (unlimited front of the line passes). RP is usually the cheapest of the 3. All are very nice and close. You really can just pick randomly between them and wind up at a fine hotel. If budget doesn't go that far, book Sapphire Falls or Cabana Bay. Both have handy family suites. No express passes but early entry.

Don;t book packages- buy your tickets separately. They charge fees if you modify packages but not if you do everything a la carte.

For tickets, see how much they are on the Universal site vs Undercover Tourist. Pick the better price and call it a day.

YOu want park to park tickets because it's the only way to ride the Hogwarts Express.

Orlando Informer has complete itineraries you can use. Touring Plans gives poor plans so I wouldn't choose them for Universal.

I don't know if you're stuck because you've done Disney and think that's hard. Universal is a totally different thing. It's like going to your local amusement park. You can just show up and have fun.

[newnana]

totally agree with snugglebuggles. You don't need a travel agent. I say this as someone who was completely freaked out before going and really struggling to plan. Hands down easiest vacation we have ever done, nowhere near on the scale of Disney. I didn't "get it" until we were there and really struggled with the boards/websites trying to understand it. No meal planning, no fastpasses, just go where you want when you want and it's cool. When it gets crowded or you get tired or the kids get crabby, head back to the hotel for a nap or a swim and head back in the evening when it's cooler and less crowded.

Definitely need park hopper passes to Universal to cover both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and so you can ride the train to and from each park because the visuals are different in each direction and it's nice to sit. Plus when one park gets busy you can just head to the other.

Definitely stay on property. The listings are on their website. We booked through Costco and saved hundreds. Our package included our park hopper passes and it was fine as included. Because they were through Costco, we had to go to Will Call to get our actual passes, but each property has a will call desk in the lobby, so again, easy.

We stayed at Cabana Bay and loved it. Rooms were calm, pool was great, and because we were on the water taxi, we did security at the hotel instead of at the parks. Really convenient. Early access was key for us because we are early risers and tend to poop out mid-day. We didn't need fast passes because DD doesn't really do rides, she's just HP obsessed and wanted to absorb all of that.

How many days are you going? I promise you can do this. We were there 4 days even though you can do it in 2 because I knew DD would need a couple of days to work up courage to do some things and could spend hours pouring over looking over every detail in the castle. We had tons of extra time to do anything we could have wanted, many times over. Have fun!

[light-castle]

Thank you both so much! There is overwhelming material, and I guess it was overwhelming me! So just buy airfare separate, tickets separate, and hotels separate? I am going with my 2 boys, and my mom (who snores), so we need a separate bedroom for her. Do any of the hotels have multiple sleeping areas? (I didn't see any.)

So with 2 kids (14,8) how long should we spend there? 3 days, 2 nights? We might try to do some Disney too? We would also like to visit the ocean, any advice on where to go and stay? We would like to stay right on the beach.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Cabana Bay has a 2 bedroom suite. All of the hotels have some suites though so if you want those express passes, I'm sure you can find one. If you'll be there over Memorial Day, you'll want express passes UNLESS you can go for 3-4 days. With 3-4 days, you can accomplish everything at a good pace and strategically avoid lines by hitting the park at opening for rides, sight see (or hotel pool) midday, more rides in the late afternoon when lines get more reasonable.

Cabana Bay's 2 bedroom suite https://www.universalorlando.com/web...bedroom-suites

There are kid suites at Royal Pacific and Sapphire Falls. You could get those and just request a roll away bed if you want to reconfigure the sleep arrangements. https://www.universalorlando.com/web...st-suites.html

You can always just book a regular room and dole out ear plugs. That's what we do as dh snores!

Adding Disney would add a lot of $. It's your $ though. They only really start to offer good ticket deals with longer stays. Short stays =s the highest prices. Disney also requires a lot more planning. You seem overwhelmed with the planning so maybe just stick to Universal and the beach.

Clearwater area is a good place to go. Lots of hotels on the beach.

[light-castle]

Has anyone stayed in VRBO on the coast within driving distance from Universal?

[pharmjenn]

Has anyone stayed in VRBO on the coast within driving distance from Universal?

Are you meaning driving in daily to the park? Universal is in Orlando area, so over an hour in any direction to the beach. Most people wouldn't want to do that daily. Otherwise, most of Florida is "driving distance" if you are moving from the coast to Orlando.

[light-castle]

I mean to drive to the coast to stay for a few days. Preferably a quieter beach, would love for it to have seashells!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I mean to drive to the coast to stay for a few days. Preferably a quieter beach, would love for it to have seashells!

Haven’t done a VRBO there but have certainly used it and Airbnb other places. Fine options if you read reviews.


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