Help with where to start with 2 days- please

[Lucy2939]

Because of great advice from these boards, my adult son and I are now staying at the Royal Pacific Resort so we have express pass for our two days. We will be there on Monday, Oct. 29 and Tuesday, Oct. 30. I also have Park to Park tickets.

Which park should we start at? Do we need to be there for the early entry? Which rides would you do first in the morning to beat the crowds? Or with express path are we okay just to go with the flow

Finally, which Harry Potter attractions should we not use the express path to see everything?

Thank you so much... this forum is wonderful for a first timer!!

 

[bchbetha]

If you're HP fans (sounds like you are!), hit at least some of early entry so you can enjoy low crowds as you stroll around. It's really much nicer than trying to deal with more people.

With EP, just go with the flow.

I feel like they changed some of the lines a bit since I was last there so I'll let someone else chime in on lines to do. I liked the full Gringotts and FJ line though! Happy waiting 30 minutes so I can leisurely look at all of the details!

 

[nkereina]

Which park should we start at? Do we need to be there for the early entry? Which rides would you do first in the morning to beat the crowds? Or with express path are we okay just to go with the flow

Doesn't matter which park you start at, but I've heard of some people who like to start at Diagon Alley (Universal) and then take the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade (IOA) - the same way HP did it in the movies. The train is different in the opposite direction, so catch that at some point too.

IMO, you don't need to be there for early entry, unless you DO want to go through the regular queues for the Potter rides. I think Forbidden Journey and Gringotts would be the only rides worth forgoing EP on to see the entirety of the queue, and I would do both of those right at opening, or during early entry. But other than this, there is no need to take advantage of early entry with EP. We always sleep in and don't set an alarm, and get to the parks whenever we get there. Definitely go with the flow.

 

[gotomu212]

Because of great advice from these boards, my adult son and I are now staying at the Royal Pacific Resort so we have express pass for our two days. We will be there on Monday, Oct. 29 and Tuesday, Oct. 30. I also have Park to Park tickets.

Which park should we start at? Do we need to be there for the early entry? Which rides would you do first in the morning to beat the crowds? Or with express path are we okay just to go with the flow

Finally, which Harry Potter attractions should we not use the express path to see everything?

Thank you so much... this forum is wonderful for a first timer!!

We skip EE now that everything has EP. just our obeservation/perspective but EE seems more crowded now with the new hotels (people who have EE but not EP really need to take advantage of EE so there’s more people there now). So we sleep in a little, strat our day elsewhere in the park, and enjoy the HP areas in the later afternoon/early evenings when the crowds significantly thin out. If you do go during EE I’d use the time to enjoy the shops instead of the rides (the shops are incredible and are more like themed exhibits than souvenir shops) and the jump on the rides as crowds pick up.

You won’t need to worry about planning any rides to beat the crowds. With EP and your dates most things should be walk on (or 5- maybe 10 minute waits) for you. You can just stroll and take rides as you come to them.

I am a huge HP fan and I don’t think there’s anything that needs to be seen in the standby line. The biggest negative for EP to me is that you walk quickly through the neat areas without having to stop for a line but there’s no problem walking slowly or stopping to look around and letting others walk by you.

Only advise is to ride Hogwarts in both directions at some point since the experience is different each way.