Golden Birthday Harry Potter Day Help - 4/11/22 - UPDATED!

[ceeceegee]

Hi everyone! We are planning a 1-day Wizarding World Extravaganza for my niece who is turning 11 on 4/11/22. I've been reading through threads and seem to have all of the usual questions but it's just so hard to decide when only going for 1 day so I appreciate any help/advice/itinerary tips.

• Priorities - Wand from Ollivanders (and time to do spells), HP rides and train both ways, soaking in all the WW atmosphere
• Express Pass - We have 1 day park-to-park Passes (4 ppl). Do we also need Express Pass for Monday 4/11 if really only planning on all of the HP things?
  • I currently have a room at RP booked for 4/11 to get the EP and Early Entry, but the $840 price is tough to take
  • Express Pass alone would be $600 for our group on 4/11 (1x, not unlimited)
• Early Entry - Along the same lines, how valuable is Early Entry? Would it be worth it to book at Dockside for $280 (instead of RP) for EE purposes only?
• Or can we just stay offsite, save $$$ and get all the WW easily done in one day?

Thank you for your insights!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If your priority is just HP, I think you will not get enough benefit from EP for the price. It won't help with Hagrids, Ollivanders, spells, exploring. And the lines for Gringotts & Forbidden Journey are interesting, so it doesn't feel like wasted time so much.

What you will want to do is plan your Hogwarts Express timing - that will possibly be the longest waits. Also plan your lunch - HP restaurants get very busy at peak lunch times. An early or late lunch is a time saver; any hunger from early/late meal time can be aided by a snack (Butterbeer? Florean Fortescue's ice cream?).

Early Entry is great for exploring UP areas with fewer crowds. Is is $280 great? Not sure. Is it $100 great, considering the extra hour vs how much you're spending on tickets? Probably.

Are you planning to stay through park close? You can hop in line for Hagrids last thing, and enjoy low crowds in Hogsmeade after park close, continuing to do spells. It's quite pretty lit up at night.

 

[Pooh's World]

Hi everyone! We are planning a 1-day Wizarding World Extravaganza for my niece who is turning 11 on 4/11/22. I've been reading through threads and seem to have all of the usual questions but it's just so hard to decide when only going for 1 day so I appreciate any help/advice/itinerary tips.

• Priorities - Wand from Ollivanders (and time to do spells), HP rides and train both ways, soaking in all the WW atmosphere
• Express Pass - We have 1 day park-to-park Passes (4 ppl). Do we also need Express Pass for Monday 4/11 if really only planning on all of the HP things?
  • I currently have a room at RP booked for 4/11 to get the EP and Early Entry, but the $840 price is tough to take
  • Express Pass alone would be $600 for our group on 4/11 (1x, not unlimited)
• Early Entry - Along the same lines, how valuable is Early Entry? Would it be worth it to book at Dockside for $280 (instead of RP) for EE purposes only?
• Or can we just stay offsite, save $$$ and get all the WW easily done in one day?

Thank you for your insights!

If she's never done the queues for the rides she's missing out on a lot.

 

[ceeceegee]

Thank you @CAPSLOCK and @Pooh's World ! This is exactly the type of info I am looking for.

 

[Edeyore]

You should check the Universal Orlando website also. I may be wrong, but it was my understanding that the "train" is currently being refurbished and is not running.
This would take a bit of a bite out of your time having to walk between the two parks.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

You should check the Universal Orlando website also. I may be wrong, but it was my understanding that the "train" is currently being refurbished and is not running.
This would take a bit of a bite out of your time having to walk between the two parks.

The train was only down for a few days - it's been back up for a while now

 

[ceeceegee]

Appreciate the heads up - I sure hope it stays running!

 

[Kit Jackson]

Florean Fortescue's ice cream is amazing. If your niece is a serious Harry Potter, she'll want to see the entire line for Forbidden Journey. There are parts of the castle you don't get to see when you use the ExpressPass line.

 

[ajsamett]

Fellow potter fan here! I'd say, stay onsite at the Endless Summer hotels. They are a really great price and you still get early entry. If HP is the only priority, then rope drop Hagrids (if it is open for early park entry), if not go on any of the other rides she'd enjoy (if she likes coasters), and then do the other Hogsmead rides/Olivanders. Do some spells and stuff then pop over to Diagon Ally by 11 so the train line hasn't gotten too long. Do all the DA things) and lunch. Do whatever else you want at that park and pop back over to IOA for the castle show in the evening! Finish with Hagrids if you haven't ridden it yet or want to again.

Other fun tips
- for a lot of rides (the app will tell you if available) you should use single rider. It's just as fast, sometimes faster than EPs and it's free. Both Gringots and Forbidden Journey have single rider though it skips a lot of the queue, so I'd ride it normally once and if she loves it, again single rider!
- don't forget to stay for the shows at both HP parks, it's fun and a great time for a butterbeer break
- order online some uniform pieces. it's fun to dress up but you don't wanna pay 140 for a robe she'll grow out of

Feel free to ask any other HP world questions, I love it there!

 

[peanut520]

I would keep the RP for the early entry and EP.
- Rope drop hagrid’s then EP on the other rides (i rather miss the details in the queues than miss the rides because i ran out of time) because you can’t predict how long the lines can be to cast spells. The line for the hogwarts express can be long due to the line to load the train. During spring break last year the wait was 40-60 minutes and only 10-20 for EP. You have to ride it both directions to see both versions. There will so be lines to eat in the WW restaurants so you will need time for that.
- I would not do single rider as it take away from going as a group for a celebration, plus Hagrid single rider is notoriously slow (poss slower than regular line).
- olivanders is neat but my dd rather spend the time looking at things at honey dukes (there were 2 hour waits to see the olivander shop and lines to get in the candy shops).

 

[ceeceegee]

I knew I came to the right place! Good points all around and I appreciate the varying opinions. @peanut520 I have a feeling that honeydukes is going to be a major draw as well, and I didn't even think about lines to cast spells. @Kit Jackson ice cream is definitely also on the list! And @ajsamett I am leaning towards Dockside for the early entry so thank you for commenting on that. Still worried about the spring break crowds so might hold on to the RP reservation until I'm sure what the park hours will be and which park will have early entry. thank you!!

 

[ceeceegee]

We decided to stay at Dockside so we'll have early park admission to US on 4/11 (hooray for park hours being out!). Would you recommend we do Olivanders first thing if available? Or Gringotts?

 

[kmedina]

I'd go to Ollivanders first. As fun as it is (and I say this as someone who was picked to have the wand chosen for her over my own kids who were also there strangely enough), I would not want to wait a long time for it. While she may not be chosen, she could be. How special would that be on her birthday!

 

[ceeceegee]

Thanks @kmedina ! I hope she gets chosen!

Do they have EE at both parks ever? From website it says US April 11-17, 2022 and IOA March 2-April 17, 2022 . If that is the case, should we do Hagrid's first over US?

 

[Skippyboo]

Stop in at Guest Services and pick up a Birthday button that might help get her picked.

 

[kmedina]

Thanks @kmedina ! I hope she gets chosen!

Do they have EE at both parks ever? From website it says US April 11-17, 2022 and IOA March 2-April 17, 2022 . If that is the case, should we do Hagrid's first over US?

If you have early entry and plan to do Hagrid's, I'd do that first. It looks like both parks have early entry on the 11th and Hagrid's is open for Early Entry while you're going to be there. Go to IOA, do Hagrid's, then Ollivanders, then others in HP lands.

 

[kmedina]

Without Express Pass, I'd do Hogwarts Express right after Ollivanders. Ride it both ways. The line will get busy as the late morning, afternoon picks up, and there is nothing interesting in the line to look at (after you pass through the wall) as there is for the other rides.

 

[ceeceegee]

@kmedina - thank you so much! We did decide to skip EP since we're so heavily focused on HP stuff so this is very helpful.

 

[Gentry2004]

The 11th is going to be VERY crowded as it is the week before Easter. Also we found that spells take a lot longer than you think they will. Agree with another PP that the train wait is long too, especially the London to Hogsmeade direction. Trying to do everything in a day will be long - just be warned.

 

[ceeceegee]

The 11th is going to be VERY crowded as it is the week before Easter. Also we found that spells take a lot longer than you think they will. Agree with another PP that the train wait is long too, especially the London to Hogsmeade direction. Trying to do everything in a day will be long - just be warned.

Yeah - definitely nervous about crowds, but we'll make the best of it. We are gearing up for open to close and will make sure to prioritize what she wants to do ahead of time and get those top things done first. I'm sure we'll be back at some point, but want to get that first trip in while she will still be in awe of it all