Universal studios f

[Updawg 2286]

Kid wants to go to Harry Potter at universal studios. Which is better Florida or Cali?

Where to stay and any other advice?

[Litig8r 414]

What did you do wrong to deserve this?  At least universal sells booze.  I assume the Harry Potter deals are the same, but as a whole, Florida should be newer nicer and more options to do other theme park type stuff.  If you go to Florida, stay in one of the on property hotels.  There are a lot of Perks for staying there.  Much more than Disney.  

Edited February 1, 2019 by Litig8r

[Jerry Callo 8749]

Kid wants to go to Harry Potter at universal studios. Which is better Florida or Cali?
Where to stay and any other advice?

Took the family to Universal Florida a couple years ago. They had a blast.

Stayed at the Hard Rock hotel on site. Pretty easy trip from Austin with direct Jet Blue flights, shuttle to and from hotel, and walk or water taxi to and from park.

[wood 11287]

Did Universal Orlando a few years ago & it was fantastic. The anti-Disney, imho...

[Updawg 2286]

Luckily there is no desire to go to Disney so I don't mind it too bad. Seems like staying on the property is worth it.

[ajax 2626]

We're going to Universal Orlando this summer because the girl is a Harry Potter fanatic, and there's a new ride premiering this year. We've been to Hollywood a bunch of times because it's close. It's fine but it seems cramped. I mean, building a theme park in Hollywood - who knew you'd run out of space.

Any recs for Orlando are appreciated. I mean, in addition to not bringing CBD oil.

Edited May 9, 2019 by ajax

[High Plains Drifter 11054]

My advice is to drink heavily.

[mdmost 43060]

Stay at either Portofino or Royal Pacific so you can get the Universal Express thrown in so you can walk on most rides. You definitely get more bang for your buck at UO. Get the park to park so you can do Hogwarts Express to go from one park to the other. If you stay onsite, you'll get early access to Diagon Alley. HIt up the Voodoo Donuts outside the gate. Get there early, do the wand ceremony at Ollivander's but be prepared to spend around $50 for your kid's interactive wand. She can then use that to activate spells around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. They give you a map and there's always people around to help. Ride the Gringotts ride early and then walk around doing the spells and looking in shops the rest of the morning. Just prepare yourself to be separated from your money. UO does an even better job than Disney at that. When you're ready, take the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure and you'll arrive in Hogsmeade where there's the better castle ride and the new Hagrid ride. Get the butter beer in various forms. The ice cream one is the best, IMO. I'd do one full day of just Harry Potter and then return on other days for the rest of the parks. It pales in comparison to the HP stuff. 

[SimonBolivar 10961]

I liked the Royal Pacific the time I stayed there and the Express Pass was worth staying on site. Universal is fine, but too many screen rides these days.

[ajax 2626]

20 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Stay at either Portofino or Royal Pacific so you can get the Universal Express thrown in so you can walk on most rides. You definitely get more bang for your buck at UO. Get the park to park so you can do Hogwarts Express to go from one park to the other. If you stay onsite, you'll get early access to Diagon Alley. HIt up the Voodoo Donuts outside the gate. Get there early, do the wand ceremony at Ollivander's but be prepared to spend around $50 for your kid's interactive wand. She can then use that to activate spells around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. They give you a map and there's always people around to help. Ride the Gringotts ride early and then walk around doing the spells and looking in shops the rest of the morning. Just prepare yourself to be separated from your money. UO does an even better job than Disney at that. When you're ready, take the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure and you'll arrive in Hogsmeade where there's the better castle ride and the new Hagrid ride. Get the butter beer in various forms. The ice cream one is the best, IMO. I'd do one full day of just Harry Potter and then return on other days for the rest of the parks. It pales in comparison to the HP stuff. 

Thanks. She already has an interactive wand from Hollywood. I hope if works in Orlando too. God I hope she doesn't want another. My son could not care less thank goodness.

I really hope they are absolutely firm on the date of the Hagrid ride (June 13th).

[Wally Fairway 5593]

On 2/1/2019 at 12:44 PM, Updawg said:

 Which is better Florida or Cali?

Plus side of Florida - newer park, better choices for hotels.

Plus side of Cali - you are nowhere near Phlegm.

[CBT 1287]

19 hours ago, mdmost said:

Stay at either Portofino or Royal Pacific so you can get the Universal Express thrown in so you can walk on most rides. You definitely get more bang for your buck at UO. Get the park to park so you can do Hogwarts Express to go from one park to the other. If you stay onsite, you'll get early access to Diagon Alley. HIt up the Voodoo Donuts outside the gate. Get there early, do the wand ceremony at Ollivander's but be prepared to spend around $50 for your kid's interactive wand. She can then use that to activate spells around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. They give you a map and there's always people around to help. Ride the Gringotts ride early and then walk around doing the spells and looking in shops the rest of the morning. Just prepare yourself to be separated from your money. UO does an even better job than Disney at that. When you're ready, take the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure and you'll arrive in Hogsmeade where there's the better castle ride and the new Hagrid ride. Get the butter beer in various forms. The ice cream one is the best, IMO. I'd do one full day of just Harry Potter and then return on other days for the rest of the parks. It pales in comparison to the HP stuff. 

Great advice here. My wife and our nephew (11ish) geeked out all day. Our 4 year old loved it too but not for the same reasons. I didn't hate it cause I got to drink, watch the boy have fun, and we didn't have to wait for rides. 

[Underdog 28809]

Jr was a bit old for Disney by the time we were there, we enjoyed IOA much more as we felt it had more adult oriented rides, plus I had to do the Jaws ride before they discontinued it.  I did the Universal Tour in Hollywood back in the early 80s and the Jaws part of that tour was lame as shit compared to Orlando.  

[Baboontyme 2829]

I haven't been to Universal (Orlando) since probably the mid 90's. If your kids aren't into Potter, is there still fun stuff to do there? I have one kid who will ride coasters, and the women primates will likely not be very enthused to try those. Also Springfield will be a huge hit with myself and the junior primates. But outside of that stuff, and the Pottery Barn, do they still have cool stuff like the Earthquake and the Back to the Future Ride and a tour of the Golden Girls house? 

[SimonBolivar 10961]

1 hour ago, Baboontyme said:

I haven't been to Universal (Orlando) since probably the mid 90's. If your kids aren't into Potter, is there still fun stuff to do there? I have one kid who will ride coasters, and the women primates will likely not be very enthused to try those. Also Springfield will be a huge hit with myself and the junior primates. But outside of that stuff, and the Pottery Barn, do they still have cool stuff like the Earthquake and the Back to the Future Ride and a tour of the Golden Girls house? 

They have none of those attraction anymore, but there is still plenty to do at Universal Studios and IoA. I think The Mummy is the 2nd most fun attraction in Orlando after Tower Of Terror and there are plenty of attractions for both coaster riders and non coaster riders. The HP stuff is cool even for those that don't like the franchise like Avatar is at DAK.

[Brew 3049]

3 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

I haven't been to Universal (Orlando) since probably the mid 90's. If your kids aren't into Potter, is there still fun stuff to do there? I have one kid who will ride coasters, and the women primates will likely not be very enthused to try those. Also Springfield will be a huge hit with myself and the junior primates. But outside of that stuff, and the Pottery Barn, do they still have cool stuff like the Earthquake and the Back to the Future Ride and a tour of the Golden Girls house? 

Their coasters are better than anything at Disney in my opinion. Everything else is pretty well virtual. It seems better for older kids and adults than Disney at this point.

[ztejas 43556]

On 5/9/2019 at 1:53 PM, ajax said:

Any recs for Orlando are appreciated.

Besides don't go to Orlando? 

As for your question OP - universal in California is like a one-day park, but it's fun and in a cool part of LA. Haven't been to the one in Orlando, but I know that it's bigger and you could spend a couple days there probably. 

On 5/9/2019 at 1:53 PM, ajax said:

I mean, building a theme park in Hollywood - who knew you'd run out of space.

Do LAites still consider that Hollywood? 

[mdmost 43060]

Yeah, if you're into coasters, UO is pretty good. Outside of HP, it's not very memorable though outside of the coasters and I don't foresee return trips like we do for Disneyland or World. The water park is fantastic though. I highly recommend spending a day there. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by mdmost

[CooterBrown 18034]

HP at Universal Orlando is probably the best realized concept of any park anywhere.  The Simpsons land is visually pretty awesome as well.  The biggest complaint is that Universal developed one ride system and used it for 80% of their rides. However, the HP rides are unique.  Coasters at Universal are definitely more of the scare-the-shit-out-of-you variety than just the thrill ride variety.

Edited May 13, 2019 by CooterBrown

[Knoxtnhorn 6067]

Wait a minute.  You mean to tell me my wife spent $100 (two kids) last summer on those stupid assed wands?  F sakes.

The 3D Jurassic Park ride was one of the better 3D rides I've been.  Even the kiddie rides like the train @ Seussland were pretty cool.

[TBGFL 397]

As people have mentioned, staying on property at Universal comes with more perks than when you stay on property at Disney. If you don't feel like shelling out that much, there are a lot of hotel options to choose from off property. Staying closer to Sea World and the southern end of I Drive is recommended. The further north you go on I Drive, the shittier the hotels.

[South Austin 52639]

I've only been to Universal Studios in California, but I've been to Disney World in Orlando.  My personal preference would be Cali, because (1) better weather during the normal vacation months in the summer, and (2) there's more to do in Cali outside of Universal Studios, where it doesn't seem like there's shit to do in Orlando besides theme parks.

And regarding those expensive Harry Potter wands, let me tell you a story about customer service.  We bought both of our kids an overpriced Harry Potter wand, and we ended up losing my daughter's in the park.  (Okay, it was probably my fault, as I left it somewhere we had stopped for food or rest.)   We ended up shelling out more money to buy her a replacement wand, but on the way out of the park we stopped by customer service to fill out a form for lost and found, with very low expectations that it would turn up anything.  Two weeks later, a package comes in the mail from Universal Studios, and it's our daughter's wand.  We were pretty fucking impressed at that.

[mdmost 43060]

My youngest was messing with her wand and ran it along a brick wall in the Hogsmeade part. She couldn't get it to do any more spells after that so we ducked into a wand shop to see if they could help us figure out if we had to buy another one, something I wasn't thrilled to have to do. They took it in the back and came out with a new one. I'd imagine they do that quite a bit since kids are dumb and the little piece of IR glass can scratch really easily. Pretty nice to not have to drop another $50. In general, the customer service isn't on the Disney level but I can't think of any moments that were bad. 

Oh, get some Duff beer in Simpsonsland. 

[Updawg 2286]

Going in a couple of weeks to the Orlando one. Staying on premises at the Royal Pacific - it seems like a no brainier to stay on prem to get the express pass. Also got the passes for all 3 parks. The water park looks nice. Will update after. Thanks for the advice.

[SimonBolivar 10961]

15 minutes ago, Updawg said:

Going in a couple of weeks to the Orlando one. Staying on premises at the Royal Pacific - it seems like a no brainier to stay on prem to get the express pass. Also got the passes for all 3 parks. The water park looks nice. Will update after. Thanks for the advice.

Really a great resort. Easy walk to the parks and if you don't feel like walking the boat is quick too. Much easier than Disney transportation with UO being so much smaller than WDW.

[PantsTent 2002]

2 hours ago, South Austin said:

I've only been to Universal Studios in California, but I've been to Disney World in Orlando.  My personal preference would be Cali, because (1) better weather during the normal vacation months in the summer, and (2) there's more to do in Cali outside of Universal Studios, where it doesn't seem like there's shit to do in Orlando besides theme parks.

And regarding those expensive Harry Potter wands, let me tell you a story about customer service.  We bought both of our kids an overpriced Harry Potter wand, and we ended up losing my daughter's in the park.  (Okay, it was probably my fault, as I left it somewhere we had stopped for food or rest.)   We ended up shelling out more money to buy her a replacement wand, but on the way out of the park we stopped by customer service to fill out a form for lost and found, with very low expectations that it would turn up anything.  Two weeks later, a package comes in the mail from Universal Studios, and it's our daughter's wand.  We were pretty fucking impressed at that.

Universal Orlando also found my sunglasses underneath a ride and shipped them back a couple of weeks later.  I was very surprised as well.

[ajax 2626]

The new Hagrid ride has a reported 6 to 8 hour wait, and gets shut down all the time. Holy shit, our trip is gonna suck.

On 5/13/2019 at 10:08 AM, Knoxtnhorn said:

Wait a minute.  You mean to tell me my wife spent $100 (two kids) last summer on those stupid assed wands?  F sakes.

The $200 each for a light sabre at Galaxy's Edge has me feeling better about the $50 Harry Potter wants.

[Updawg 2286]

The new Hagrid ride has a reported 6 to 8 hour wait, and gets shut down all the time. Holy shit, our trip is gonna suck.
The $200 each for a light sabre at Galaxy's Edge has me feeling better about the $50 Harry Potter wants.

Is the wait that long with express pass?

[mdmost 43060]

2 hours ago, ajax said:

The new Hagrid ride has a reported 6 to 8 hour wait, and gets shut down all the time. Holy shit, our trip is gonna suck.

The $200 each for a light sabre at Galaxy's Edge has me feeling better about the $50 Harry Potter wants.

Does it shut down often because of the weird reverse track portion that drops you down? Weird that it has such problems and the other rides that would seem much more technically difficult to keep going seem to have good luck staying up. 

[ajax 2626]

59 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Does it shut down often because of the weird reverse track portion that drops you down? Weird that it has such problems and the other rides that would seem much more technically difficult to keep going seem to have good luck staying up. 

I don't know. I just watched a video on YouTube where some guy was waiting in line for a long time and they kept saying the ride was down then back up and then down.

According to this link they had to evacuate people off the ride.

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/attractions/2019/06/21/universal-hagrid-coaster-technical-issues

[MNLonghornFUKM 8823]

That never happened on JAWS, back to the future, earthquake, kongfrontation, twister etc

[ajax 2626]

LOL

Some more info on the new Hagrid coaster. Apparently people with a waistband 40 inches and above will have a tough time fitting in the restraints. What percentage of Americans do you think will be able to fit on this ride?

LOL

Edited June 25, 2019 by ajax