Goofy question, but I have to ask... [one or two day tickets for Universal?] - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Goofy question, but I have to ask... [one or two day tickets for Universal?]
We are "planning" a trip in January of next year. We'll be staying on Disney property, but with us all being big Harry Potter fans, US & IOA are a MUST. So...here's my question.
Can you see both theme parks in one day or should we get two day tickets? If we get two day tickets, then we'll have to stay one more night at Disney, (I'm not complaining!!). But we may stay off property and just stay at a local hotel when we got to US & IOA.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I was there this past November. I stayed at the Universal Cabana Bay Hotel and it was EXCELLENT. Very convinient to tthe parks, buses really reliable. I would suggest 2 days; one at each park and plan on the whole day.
Whenever we go to WDW, we leave 2 days open to do Universal and IOA. Now with Harry Potter in both parks, I think 2 days is definitely best! Also, you must remember to get the ticket that allows you to park hop - not one admission for one park per day, because the Hogwarts Express crosses into the other park and you cannot do it w/o having admission to park hop.
Location: Panhandle of Florida - The Emerald Coast
Concierge Level: 4
Posts: 894
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 0
Likes (Received): 13
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 7
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 1
If you stay at one of the luxury hotels onsite there, you'll get front of line passes to the parks. But they won't get you on FJ or Gringotts. You'll have to wait in line for those two. You'll also need the park-to-park passes or you won't be able to ride the Hogwarts Express. We usually do everything we want to do in both parks in two days. I don't think 1 day would be an option if you want to do the Harry Potter rides.
The Cabana Bay resort is new, but it's considered a value resort and doesn't offer the front of line pass. Depending on when you're going in January that may not be a deal breaker for you.
Without a child in tow, I was able to basically see and do all of the Harry Potter stuff at both parks in about 4 hours. The rides, Hogwarts Express, walking, shopping, Olivanders, and butter beer! This is without express pass but the ride lines were not too bad.
But we didn't see anything else. At all. So I would expect you will need two days to see both parks.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
We think 3 days is optimal! And stay onsite to get FOTL passes. It's nit good for Harry Potter, but great for everything else. To see Gringots you must stay somewhere that has early entry privilege like onsite or a good neighbour? Hotel. Or wait 3 hrs on line. At least that was the usual wait when we were there. But with early entry we only had a 30 min wait.
Last August we did both Universal & WDW. So we stayed at Portofino Bay our first 3 nights and did 3 days Universal. Then we used a town car service and transferred to our WDW resort.
Just returned from Universal. We stayed at Royal Pacific and took full advantage of Express Pass. Spent two leisurely days (one short and one long day with a lunch break at hotel) plus a few hours on departure day to revisit favorites. In January you might elect to skip one or more of the water rides at IOA -- giving you more free time. Many years ago my (then) teen daughter and I were able to hit favorite attractions at both parks in one day -- but that was before the Harry Potter rides were there.
Last edited by jeneane; 06-12-2015 at 05:38 AM..
Reason: add more info
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
This is also a very old post but it's good to know that the advice still holds true!
DH and I will hopefully get back there this year! We haven't been in quite a few years, and we really want to see all the HP stuff. I imagine that could add a bit more onto what there is to do each day, but by the sounds of things, 1 day per park is still a good plan.
We agree two days is needed...three is nice because you can repeat the faves or catch the things you missed.
But, honestly, 3 days is enough...plenty for both parks even with crowds.
Can you imagine trying to do Disney in 3 days? Never! (OK...I would take just three days and make it wonderful...but we need way more days to do Disney!!!)
__________________
"Disneyland has that thing - the imagination and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid."
--Walt Disney
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
I imagine that could add a bit more onto what there is to do each day, but by the sounds of things, 1 day per park is still a good plan.
Linear Mode
