Enjoying the Sunlight: Preparations (WWoHP part 2)

Disclaimer: This is a lot of information that I gathered while planning our trip. Unless you are planning to go, it probably will not be all that interesting. I wanted to make sure to record it all for my records, and just in case someone else might find it helpful.

Since we have never really done a vacation this big before, I wanted to really take my time and make sure everything was perfect. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is one of the busiest theme parks in the world right now. According to tons of internet sites, it is almost always busy. With the opening of the Diagon Alley section, even more people are going. I did tons of research and came across an article about how to guarantee a successful trip to WWoHP (article found here: Orlando Informer Tips). It is actually a big collection of articles that explain almost everything you could ever need to know. It is such an awesome resource. If you are planning a trip to WWoHp, read this article and then check out all of the other links at the bottom of the page.

One of the key things that made our trip a success was going at a slow time of the year. Even the slow days are pretty busy in Harry Potter Land. I checked out the Universal Studios Crowd Calendar and found that the beginning of November was a great time to go. The crowds were predicted to be low, and the weather in Florida is usually ideal. Luckily, we were able to find 4 tickets for the first week of November that worked with our frequent flier miles. The tickets only cost us $10 each. It took us 10 years to save all of those miles, but there is no way we could have done this without them. Yay!

After we booked our tickets, it was time to find a hotel. One of the unique things about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is that guests who stay in an on-site hotel get early admission to that section of Universal Studios. From everything that I read, I learned that if you get early admission, and then get to the park early, you are often allowed to enter over an hour before the general public. That means that you can make a beeline for the most popular ride (Escape from Gringotts) and be one of the first in line instead of waiting for over an hour like most people have to. It also means that you can explore the shops before the huge crowds of people come. We decided to spend the extra money and stay at The Cabana Bay Beach Resort located at Universal Studios. It is a new, moderately priced family hotel that can sleep 6 and had a kitchenette that we used to prepare and store our own food. It ended up being only slightly more expensive than the other hotels in the area. I waited and found a 20% off discount code for cheaptickets.com and ended up getting a great deal on the hotel. It came out to about $140/night. That is quite good when you consider that at most hotels we would have had to book 2 rooms. It also had the perks of early park admission, 2 huge swimming pools and a waterslide, and a free shuttle that runs to Universal every 10 minutes. AWESOME!

Next, we needed to find theme park tickets. The Official site for Universal Studios sells tickets cheaper than gate prices, but after some research, I found even better. Mousesavers.com is a site mostly dedicated to discounts and tips for DisneyLand, but they also have info on Universal Studios. On their website, they say that the cheapest place to buy theme park tickets is through Undercovertourist.com. They even have a special deal with Undercovertourist where they send discount codes to anyone signed up for their newsletter. So, I signed up to receive the newsletter. Sure enough, on the 15th of the month, I got the MouseSavers newsletter with a discount code. I used that at Undercovertourist.com and saved a bunch of money on every ticket that I bought. I was wary at first if it was legit, but I checked into tons of review sites, and even the BBB. Everything I read was extremely positive about the company. The amusement park tickets arrived one week after I bought them, and I was thrilled with the whole process. Everything worked out perfectly.

Once all the major stuff was taken care of, I started focusing on how to enjoy our time in the parks to the fullest. The Universal Studios app from the App store was awesome. It has a great park map, show times, parking info, wait times and details for all of the rides, and tons of other info. It was a huge asset once we were there. I also read several articles with tips about all of the cool things you can do in the two parks. WWoHP: Diagon Alley is brand new and is located in Universal Studios. WWoHP: Hogsmeade has been open for a few years and is actually in Islands of Adventure. The new Hogwarts Express connects the two areas, and you can only visit both lands if you buy park-to-park tickets. These articles were full of great advice and ideas for both areas. I was so glad that I spent the time to read them before we got there.
Newest tips for Diagon Alley
Tips for Hogsmeade

Lastly, we also prepared some fun stuff for the trip. We made a chain to countdown the days to the trip. We used all of the colors from the different Hogwarts houses. The kids enjoyed taking the pieces off as we got closer to our trip.

Hannah made us all awesome shirts. She cut the pictures/letters out of freezer paper and then sprayed bleach on the shirts to make the designs stand out. They turned out super cute, and we all wore them the first day. Thanks Hannah, we LOVE them!

The flash made the orange very bright in these pictures. The actual color is more like the above pics.

Andrew and Sarah

Christian and Hannah

Ben and Jonathon

I made luggage tags for everybody to put on their carry-ons. Of course I made them all Harry Potter themed. Each person had their own design. One side had their name and phone number with a Hogwarts crest, and the other side had something fun that fit their personality. Here are a few examples:

Sarah