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We will be visiting IOA in December for a day. We will be staying onsite, but after our day of fun we will be checking into Wilderness Lodge for the WDW portion of the trip. The park is open from 9-7, and we will be in at 8 for the early entry to Harry Potter. What time should I schedule our Towncar pick up? Will we be going strong til 7 or should we plan more around 5ish or another time? We plan to do counter service at WDW for dinner that night.
IoA is smaller than WDW parks, and you can tour it in a few hours. When we went there we finished touring at mid afternoon. However, if you're booking a towncar to take you to WDW I'd keep a late appointment - and if finish touring earlier enjoy city walk. We'd great meals there!!!!
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Last year, I think DD and I called it a day around 4pm or so. Then we ate at Moe's on Citywalk before going to our car.
I'd think 5pm just to be safe. And if you get done early, you could eat around the park or Citywalk or get a drink at Margaritaville while you wait for your car to come.
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I am just starting to look into this myself for our Dec. 2013 trip. Never been to Universal or IoA before and we're just going for a day, mostly for HP stuff.
Thanks for posting this topic! I am overwhelmed by the whole Universal IoA thing! LOL
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Hi Tink and Co,
It sounds like we are doing the very same thing. I am checking into Universal on Sat. Dec. 1st and will tour the IOA/Universal parks on Sunday, Dec.2nd - then check into the Wilderness Lodge that evening. I purchased the package for hotel stay/tickets in order to receive the early entry to Harry Potter and the Express Pass - too good of a deal to pass up.
I have been to Universal/IOA once, early in 2011, so I have an idea of what to expect. It is just my husband and I and we are typically pretty fast paced.
I'm expecting to be there at 8am for early entry and will plan to spend the first 2 hours in the Harry Potter area. I am unclear as to whether the shops are open for that early entry, but it seems as though most people don't think they open until 9 (anyone?). So we will ride the 4 open rides during that first early entry hour (hoping to ride the main Forbidden Journey a couple of times in a row at least), then right at 9am be at the shops area before the bigger crowds roll in. Last time we were there, it was shocking how quick every shop and every ride became inundated with people right at the main opening time. We couldn't even get in to see Ollivanders, or any other shop. I'm determined to not let that happen this time! So hopefully the 9-10am time frame will be for enjoying Three Broomsticks and trying a butter beer, and enjoying the shops. Then we plan to spend 10am-12pm enjoying the rest of the IOA park, followed by lunch at Mythos right at noon. After lunch we will head over to the Universal park for the rest of the day. I can't imagine we will spend more than 4 hours over there. So my guess it that we will be ready to head out by 5pm, 6pm at the very latest.
I'm not sure how many are in your group, or if there are younger children that may slow you down a bit - but I do believe that with the early entry and the express passes you will be perfectly fine leaving around the same time frame (5-6pm). The day of the week might make a bit of a difference, obviously a week day will improve your timing.
Have you considered just hopping a cab whenever you are done instead of scheduling a town car?
Thanks for the insight. We're just doing IOA, so I'm sure we will be ready to head out by 5. The Towncar should work out to cost a bit less than a taxi, so I'm willing to give up a bit of flexibility. We will definitely be in for the early entry. Our main focus will be Harry Potter stuff, and then Grinchmas. We are two adults and two teens, so we won't have too much to slow us down.
We did the same thing from WL in WDW to Universal for a day last year. We chose to use the shuttle bus which in hind site was a mistake. In any case we had a relatively early morning pickup and had enough time to get WWHP as well as a large amount of Universal before we had to leave. Or shuttle rolled out around 6:00 pm I believe. We would have gladly preferred another 2 hours at least plus dinner time, so I would say get there as close to gate drop, then slow down, eat, and enjoy. See a few shows, etc, then grab lunch, then more rides, etc.
Yes, Universal can all be done in a hurry in half a day, but why would you want to? Why not relax and take the whole day and into the night since you are scheduling the car anyway.
D
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We're just doing IOA, so I'm sure we will be ready to head out by 5. The Towncar should work out to cost a bit less than a taxi, so I'm willing to give up a bit of flexibility. We will definitely be in for the early entry. Our main focus will be Harry Potter stuff, and then Grinchmas. We are two adults and two teens, so we won't have too much to slow us down.
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