Wow at the Universal prices!

[Vegitabeta]

$120 per person for the 1day 2 park ticket?! That is insane isn't it? I don't suppose there is a cheaper way around this?

[3Princesses1Prince]

The only discounts I've seen are on multiday tickets.

[Vegitabeta]

Yeah I had a shop around last night and have come to the conclusion that it is simply far too costly, sadly!

[currence]

Well, a 1-day WDW park-hopper is also $120... If you want to save money, consider only going to one-park? Or as your trip get closer, see if they have a good discount on a multi-day ticket? Right now, a 2-day park hopper is only about $15-$20 more than a 1-day.

The various parks do make it difficulty to see more then one or two different brands on any given trip. Last time we went we wanted to see Sea World, Universal and Disney and after pricing it out we quickly decided that was not going to happen!

[3Princesses1Prince]

We opted to just do IOA. There wasn't much in US to occupy my younger ones. The one park definitely filled our entire day.

[yellowrosedtxn]

You can sign up for newsletters from mousesavers.com, so you can get a newsletter on the 15th of each month or special notifications during the month.

You can also sign up for newsletters from http://www.dwtickets.com/?Click=9 because they periodically send out specials from different places as well. I know that when we went in 2010, it was way cheaper to buy a 7 day pass, because it cost as much as a 1 day pass if not cheaper.

[Vegitabeta]

Oh! That's a fab idea, I'll sign up now, thanks a bunch! There is still hope

[tappenfeat]

We got our tickets thru undercover tourist TICKETS. I agree, the tickets were expensive. And we visited both parks in one day. My main purpose was to see WWHP...and I didn't care for the rest of IOA. We quite enjoyed Universal (no - s at the end ). IOA seemed hyper and busy...and very disorientating as far as the flow of the park.

[Vegitabeta]

Yeah I was there last year but I'm sure I didn't pay quite that much. The main reason for wanting to go back is for WWHP too.

[roosterroo]

we have done both parks in a day but last year went 3 times as we wanted to do the wizarding world several times, we are lucky in the uk to be able to buy a 14 dat ticket for roughly the same price as a 2 day both parks ticket! i guess they want us brits to go lots and spend lots. as far as i know these tickets are for uk residents only but it may be worth googling to see if there is a way round it.

[roosterroo]

vegitabeta! you are in uk sorry just checked your profile, we always do the 14 day uk ticket gives a bit more flexability if you have a car to get up to universal. we are probably only going twice this trip but got the 14 day ticket just incase. you get a real ticket through the post valid for 14days from first use.

[Vegitabeta]

It is funny you mention that because when I went last year, the travel agent said we had tickets valid for 14 days, though we didn't want to hire a car so only went once and I didn't check how much they were. I would definitely only be doing one day sadly.

[roosterroo]

we have done it all in a day in november when its not busy, if it looks busy pay a few extra dollars and get the front of line pass this didnt include harry potter ride and rip ride rockit last time we were there and they were the ones with queues. we tend to do hulk first work our way round clock wise then the mad morning rush has gone at wizarding world by lunch then head to other park in afternoon. we tend to hire a car for 3/4 days mid holiday picking up at dolphin so its easy to get to from disney hotels. longest wait for harry potter ride was 40mins shortest 15 inface it took that long to walk amazing queue line. happy planning, only a week till we go now.

[Vegitabeta]

Ah yeah the line for HP ride was 50mins when we went, love love love the queue! It still does not look as though we are going sadly but I am still working on it!

[mousecanuck]

We went to Universal - four day pass, wish we had used the fourth day. We had it as a 'flex' day (in case Sea World was super fast and boring) - it was only about $5 more for the 4th day. It stormed crazily on that Thursday, even though we wanted a little more time at Sea World, we got next to none as it was just too wet. Universal would have been a good idea as so much of it is indoors, there would have at least been something to do on that very wet stormy day!

We live across the continent and aren't likely to get there again any time soon, if at all, so it was a big deal to us to make sure we did it and did it well. We are all huge Harry Potter fans so that was the 'deal maker' for sure, and we got our fill - DH & kids rode it 10 times in three days; I did it eight times, chosing instead to use our 'early entry' to take photos of the Wizarding World before the crowds hit and you couldn't get a decent photo of anything. My kids were 16 & 12 then, and we may never get another trip with the 16 yr old (gradding this year, then university and who knows what on the horizon) so we HAD to make this whole trip count; that's why we went for 19 days total trip. Anyhow, we enjoyed pretty much all the rides at IOA, and lots of Universal, though we liked Universal California better overall (but they don't have IOA or near as many rides), and no HP!!!

When we went to HP, the lines were 30 minutes at the beginning of the day and then up to two hours until the early evening - crazy. Worth staying on site for the early entry and front of the line on the other rides, though we got some really, really nasty looks with the front of the line pass thing. I like Disney's FP system 'for all' better. And the front of the line did not (in March) apply to Rip Ride Rocket or Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey.

For us, it was worth it to do a few days there. We did 10 days in Disney World and still missed things; we missed things in three days at Universal, though both are because we opted to do what we really enjoyed lots!

[Vegitabeta]

Although I really loved the place, it is a bit of a last minute trip for us, so we haven't had time to save up more $$$! We aren't huge HP fans either, which I think, from the point of view of my parents, means it isn't worth the extra $$. I'm still working on it though! And wow, 19 day trip, that's awesome!

[houseofmouse]

Well, a 1-day WDW park-hopper is also $120... If you want to save money, consider only going to one-park? Or as your trip get closer, see if they have a good discount on a multi-day ticket? Right now, a 2-day park hopper is only about $15-$20 more than a 1-day.

Doesn't a $120.00 at WDW get you 4 parks? Verses only the 2, IOA and Uni? If you wanted to do an more accurate comparison, it would be comparing a DL, DCA park hopper to the price of a Uni, IOA hopper. DL/DCA is $105.00 so UNI/IOA is $15.00 more.

[heidiwhr]

Can you really do IOA and Universal in one day? We are huge HP fans, so that's a must, but the kids - 6 and 10 don't yet to roller coasters. the 6 y/o will probably like the Dr Suess area, and I'm not sure what else there is. Should we plan on 2 days - one at each park?

[tappenfeat]

Can you really do IOA and Universal in one day? We are huge HP fans, so that's a must, but the kids - 6 and 10 don't yet to roller coasters. the 6 y/o will probably like the Dr Suess area, and I'm not sure what else there is. Should we plan on 2 days - one at each park?

We did both in one day. We also LOVE HP, so our visit there was ASAP in the am before the crowds got too thick. We don't do the over the top roller coasters, so we skipped a lot of them. We actually enjoyed Universal over IOA (minus WWHP)...so by the end of the evening, we had enough and were ready to go back to Disney.

[currence]

Can you really do IOA and Universal in one day? We are huge HP fans, so that's a must, but the kids - 6 and 10 don't yet to roller coasters. the 6 y/o will probably like the Dr Suess area, and I'm not sure what else there is. Should we plan on 2 days - one at each park?

It really depends on what time of year (crowds) you are going. We have been at off-times and done nearly everything in one day. But if you want to experience the best in Harry Potter, I read an article suggesting that the more crowded it was, the better, because that created a feeling of belonging and being part of a group experience. Obviously, if you spend 1/2 day soaking in the aura of Harry Potter, you will have that much less time to do everything else.

We just took our kids to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I had asked my parents, longtime Zoo society members, how long they thought it would take until the kids reached their limit. My mom guessed 3-4 hours. We got in and almost immediately spent about 10 minutes staring at ducks. My mom laughed that it had been so long that she had come with first time visitor/kids that she had not budgeted "stare at ducks" in her time estimate. Back to Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios, part of the HP area has a Hogwarts express. It will take you about 30 seconds to look at it, acknowledge it exits, and move on. It will take considerably longer if you want to stand there in awe of it and possibly snap a few photos. You can probably do it all in one day, but it will be a different experience than it you slow down and enjoy the scenery. That said, your time on vacation is likely limited so you have to decide what the priorities are.

[heidiwhr]

[QUOTE=currence;1705463]It really depends on what time of year (crowds) you are going. We have been at off-times and done nearly everything in one day. QUOTE]

Sorry - I probably should've explained we will be there 4/28 - 5/5. Depending on if my in-laws want to do it too or not, we will probably go Saturday 4/28 and/or Saturday 5/5, the first/last days of our trip with WDW in between. (The in-laws will only be there 4/29 - 5/4.)

I'm thinking now that we might take 2 days and just go back to the pool (We are staying at AKV - Kidani Village) and relax after we are done at IOA or Universal, or maybe take in the Mk fireworks, Illuminations, or Fantasmic that evening. Taking our time sounds a little more relaxing, and the kids are really excited about the pool.

[tappenfeat]

Sorry - I probably should've explained we will be there 4/28 - 5/5. Depending on if my in-laws want to do it too or not, we will probably go Saturday 4/28 and/or Saturday 5/5, the first/last days of our trip with WDW in between. (The in-laws will only be there 4/29 - 5/4.)

I'm thinking now that we might take 2 days and just go back to the pool (We are staying at AKV - Kidani Village) and relax after we are done at IOA or Universal, or maybe take in the Mk fireworks, Illuminations, or Fantasmic that evening. Taking our time sounds a little more relaxing, and the kids are really excited about the pool.

There ya go. I'm glad you guys are taking it easy. We really pushed ourselves to do one day. We were ok with it...but we were exhausted. You'll be able to see more and relax as well. I'd like to go back and visit again and take my time with what the parks have to offer other than the attractions. The big roller coasters just scare me anymore these days. lol!

[mkraemer]

We did both in one day. We also LOVE HP, so our visit there was ASAP in the am before the crowds got too thick. We don't do the over the top roller coasters, so we skipped a lot of them. We actually enjoyed Universal over IOA (minus WWHP)...so by the end of the evening, we had enough and were ready to go back to Disney.

On our trip in June, my girls really wanted to see WWoHP, so we got one-day park-to-park tickets for Universal. I also strongly suggest that if it's your priority, go there right away when you enter the park. And if you want to have any hope of getting into the wand shop, get in that line first! I know, it seems odd, but it's so popular and the line moves (actually, I don't recall seeing it actually move) so slowly, it will be a very tedious and long wait to get in there otherwise.

I'm middle of the road when it comes to the crowd level for best experience at Forbidden Journey. Too few people in line means that you'll walk through a lot of very excellent theming, and really, it all is very worthwhile to see (if not downright amazing). Don't miss some of the great features in the castle in your rush to get to the ride! Even if a child is too small for the ride, you should still go through the castle to see everything together.

We didn't do all the coasters either, but we covered both parks thoroughly enough to be satisfied in one day, and that was including a mid-afternoon break. It was June during our visit, so summer crowds were in full swing, and we did not use ExpressPass either. Your mileage, of course, may vary.