Ditching Disney for 1 day to experience Harry Potter - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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:
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We go on
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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.
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One thing I noticed, the ticket prices are up this year from last, I'm sure due to the interest in Harry Potter. I know last year they had 2 park, multi day passes for $99 online. That option is gone now. Tickets are still less than WDW, but not as cheap as they have been in the past. I would think they will stay higher this year while HP is still new, but this is just my best guess.
Universal ticket prices have gone up, particularly with the Harry Potter announcement. For example, my AP renewal fee has been $109 for years. This year, it went to $149! Theme park ticket prices seem to go up every year anyway, but Universal's prices have gone up quicker than I'm used to.
We're debating this, too. Originally, this year was supposed to be our US/IOA vacation just to experience the WWoHP. Then we decided that the crowd levels would be too crazy and decided to wait until 2011.
But with our trip getting closer and closer, I'm trying to decide if we should skip MNSSHP and do a day at Universal instead.
I think for now, there are just too many variables I'm not certain about. As much as I'm dying to go, I think it may be in our best interests to wait and see... If money was not an issue and we lived in the area, I'd be there in a heartbeat. But I'd rather enjoy myself and not try to rush and squeeze a day in the middle of Disney.
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I planned a much longer vacation this year due to WWoHP. Harry, Hermoine and Ron are old treasured friends here and if I had to I would have cut down our time in WDW in order to see them. From everything I've read it is a beautiful, detailed and immersive experience.
It's only money, right??? The more we talk about it, the more we think we can't pass up the chance to visit the wizarding world. I'm reluctant to schedule our day at Universal in the middle of our Disney week -- do you think it would break the "Disney magic?" Should we try to go at the end of the trip instead?
We just booked a US/IOA package for Nov. We're staying offsite. In reading the fine print, the HP attractions aren't included in the front of the line pass, so we aren't going to add those to our tickets. We were going to do the cheaper versions that are one pass per attraction, but even so...
If your family wants to go , drop down from deluxe to a mod or value resort. That would be a lot saved that you could put towards your Universal trip. Or even stay off property where you can drive or shuttle between the two.
We (3 adults) had booked a disney vacation for August. As I was looking for MCO airfare I ran across this deal from Southwest Airlines. For about 30 more $$ per person of what most airfare is from our area I was able to book my disney vacation thru Southwest vacations. We have our original disney vacation plus air fare and a 1 day 2 park tix to US/IOA including Mears transportation from WDW to US. Since I was going to buy air fare anyway I figure I got US tix for 30 each.
It's only money, right??? The more we talk about it, the more we think we can't pass up the chance to visit the wizarding world. I'm reluctant to schedule our day at Universal in the middle of our Disney week -- do you think it would break the "Disney magic?" Should we try to go at the end of the trip instead?
2 of our 4 trips to WDW have included ventures to US/IOA, another DC, BG, SW, and Kennedy. We go to parks based on UG crowd calendars and would break up Disney time. In an odd way it makes Disney better. From the detail to the service, Disney does a much better job and after going offsite for a day we appreciated it even more. Others in our travel party enjoyed the more 'adult' environment of the other parks. We are putting WWoHP at the beginning...just in case we want to go back for more time .
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