Need Universal/IoA help!!!!!

[MissPrincessKendall]

hey everyone!!

I am in need of some serious help! While I've been to Disney countless times and even as much as twice a week for the three years I lived there, I have not traveled to Universal but twice.

My younger sister and I are traveling down to Orlando this weekend to move her in for her first DCP! As a surprise our boyfriends bought us one day two park tickets and gift cards for Universal. My sister has never been and I have only attended each park once in September of 2009. Other than that I went to HHN once night last September.

We have tickets for this upcoming Saturday and I do not even know where to begin.

We love attractions and shows. We also love to eat! We will be at the park before it opens and planning not to leave until 10pm when the final park closes.

Please help! I assume the crowds are long for both Harry Potter areas and that is important for us to get on personally.

Any best practices will help. What rides to start on first? Best places to eat? Best places to shop? Unique merchandise? A plan to get the very most out of only one day? Also any cool merchandise Jurassic park themed?

Thank you in advance!

 

[captainmoch]

No problem! I've been to USF countless times, I'd love to give advice.

Rides to start with: Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. It's cute and fun, but very low capacity so lines pile up fast. It can get up to two hours, so do it first thing in the morning or right before closing. After those, do Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Transformers The Ride, and if you care about doing it, Shrek 4D. Then the rest of the rides at USF have relatively average lines, (30 minutes on average) so you don't need to worry too much about them. If your party wants to, single rider lines are useful. They can make a ride's line 1/3 of the way shorter, although not every ride has them. Most major thrill ones do, though. Take the Hogwarts Express between parks, it's great. Dragon Challenge rarely has a line, you don't need to worry about it. Forbidden Journey can have lengthy lines but the queue moves fast and is very impressive, so do the main one anyway. Skip Hippogriff, it's a kiddie coaster with overly long waits. Lost Continent only has two shows, and they're not the best, but if you have time at least do Poseidon's Fury. Seuss is cute, but is mostly simple spinner/carousel type rides. The Cat in the Hat dark ride is cute and worth doing, though. MSHI is great, but Hulk and Spiderman lines can pile up greatly. I'd recommend single rider lines for those. Toon Lagoon and Jurassic Park have the three water rides of the park, and you will get soaked. JPRA's line is never too bad from my experience, and it's definately worth doing. Same with Popeye, and it's one of the best raft rides out there. Dudley Do-Right is okay, but can have very long lines. If it's any more then 45-60 minutes, just skip it.

If you like the Simpsons, eat at Fast Food Blvd. You order from the Krusty Burger, Frying Dutchman, Luigi's, etc. It's great. I've never eaten at the Harry Potter places, but they have great atmosphere nonetheless. Mythos at Lost Continent is often considered the best theme park restaurant, although I've never been so I don't have an opinion. For shopping, most of the gift shops have neat merch for the ride they're near. Jurassic Park has some neat stuff, Marvel does, and Harry Potter is stuffed with great HP merchandise.

I hope this helps! Have a fun trip!

 

[johde]

The one thought I would add. If you sister enjoys Universal and has access to transportation, I would consider upgrading her one day ticket to some sort of Annual Pass. The Power Pass would be the cheapest but has Blackout days. The Preferred Pass would be a little more expensive but includes free parking and no blackout dates.

 

[DawnM]

The one thought I would add. If you sister enjoys Universal and has access to transportation, I would consider upgrading her one day ticket to some sort of Annual Pass. The Power Pass would be the cheapest but has Blackout days. The Preferred Pass would be a little more expensive but includes free parking and no blackout dates.

I would suggest you BOTH do this if you plan to visit often.

Look online and see which rides have single rider if you don't mind standing in line together but not riding together. Universal has a lot of them and they will really cut down the wait time on a busy Saturday.

 

[MissPrincessKendall]

No problem! I've been to USF countless times, I'd love to give advice.

Rides to start with: Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. It's cute and fun, but very low capacity so lines pile up fast. It can get up to two hours, so do it first thing in the morning or right before closing. After those, do Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Transformers The Ride, and if you care about doing it, Shrek 4D. Then the rest of the rides at USF have relatively average lines, (30 minutes on average) so you don't need to worry too much about them. If your party wants to, single rider lines are useful. They can make a ride's line 1/3 of the way shorter, although not every ride has them. Most major thrill ones do, though. Take the Hogwarts Express between parks, it's great. Dragon Challenge rarely has a line, you don't need to worry about it. Forbidden Journey can have lengthy lines but the queue moves fast and is very impressive, so do the main one anyway. Skip Hippogriff, it's a kiddie coaster with overly long waits. Lost Continent only has two shows, and they're not the best, but if you have time at least do Poseidon's Fury. Seuss is cute, but is mostly simple spinner/carousel type rides. The Cat in the Hat dark ride is cute and worth doing, though. MSHI is great, but Hulk and Spiderman lines can pile up greatly. I'd recommend single rider lines for those. Toon Lagoon and Jurassic Park have the three water rides of the park, and you will get soaked. JPRA's line is never too bad from my experience, and it's definately worth doing. Same with Popeye, and it's one of the best raft rides out there. Dudley Do-Right is okay, but can have very long lines. If it's any more then 45-60 minutes, just skip it.

If you like the Simpsons, eat at Fast Food Blvd. You order from the Krusty Burger, Frying Dutchman, Luigi's, etc. It's great. I've never eaten at the Harry Potter places, but they have great atmosphere nonetheless. Mythos at Lost Continent is often considered the best theme park restaurant, although I've never been so I don't have an opinion. For shopping, most of the gift shops have neat merch for the ride they're near. Jurassic Park has some neat stuff, Marvel does, and Harry Potter is stuffed with great HP merchandise.

I hope this helps! Have a fun trip!

Thank you so very much you helped so much!! We are going to ride in the order you have us!!!! We are going to try Mythos for food!!

 

[MissPrincessKendall]

The one thought I would add. If you sister enjoys Universal and has access to transportation, I would consider upgrading her one day ticket to some sort of Annual Pass. The Power Pass would be the cheapest but has Blackout days. The Preferred Pass would be a little more expensive but includes free parking and no blackout dates.

Does she upgrade before we go in? Does she just pay the difference between the pass we have and the power pass? Thank you!

 

[MissPrincessKendall]

I would suggest you BOTH do this if you plan to visit often.

Look online and see which rides have single rider if you don't mind standing in line together but not riding together. Universal has a lot of them and they will really cut down the wait time on a busy Saturday.

Thank you!!! I wish I could be getting one as well but I'm in NJ and I won't be able to visit in the next year time frame

 

[flopnut2112]

We recently visited with a group of HP and thrill ride enthusiasts. Our one day plan would be;
Rip Ride Rocket
The Mummy
Escape from Gringotts
Hog warts Express
Forbidden Journey
Eat at 3 Broomsticks
Dragon Challenge
Jurassic Park River Ride
Hogwarts Express
Transformers
Terminator
Eat at Hard Rock or Citywalk
We were able to ride Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk and Rip ride rocket all between 9 and 10 pm to close our day!

 

[johde]

Does she upgrade before we go in? Does she just pay the difference between the pass we have and the power pass? Thank you!

Most of us here recommend going into the park and using guest services in there. She should pay the difference betweeen gate price on the 1 day and the pass.