The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

[Gazza]

Walking is an option, but even the Hilton (at the entrance to the complex) is quite far.

Hotel 6! That place was only 2km away (Come on, don't be lazy, you can jog that distance in 10 mins) from the park right near the junction of Universal Blvd and International Drive was cheap, plus it had a Wallgreens just around the corner. There's a Days Inn pretty much opposite the Hotel 6, so another cheap and close option there too. How did you enjoy IOA as a park anyway?

[BNErider]

I have a bad knee at the moment, so maybe that's why I'm bitching The park was amazing. In fact, both parks were. Spiderman and Hulk were my favourites. Also enjoyed Disneyland. On the trip I did a lot of parks and coasters; I think upwards of 120-30 coasters. I found Dollywood and Silver Dollar City to be very nice, as well as Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun. Wasn't a big fan of the Six Flags parks. Yeah, they're good for credits, but not much else. I thought SFMM to have some decent coasters, but also a lot of ones that weren't that great. Lastly, I thought USH was a bit of a let-down. It had some good attractions, but I wasn't a fan of the layout.

[downunder]

I went the opposite of the resorts (which I seriously considered), and did a Days Inn across the road for $30 a night. So the pedestrian access is tricky to Universal (distance is not an issue, I'm a runner)? I'm in Orlando for 4 days and 5 nights, I've only got a day and a half to do USH/IOA and the only things I'm interested in are Rockit and Potter because all the other stuff I've done before and I'm only mildly interested in doing again. Here's my schedule: Arrive Sun arvo (3 Oct): go straight to Horror Nights Monday: Busch Tampa (unlimited 7 day Busch/SW pass was only $100, includes free bus to Tampa) Tuesday: Sea World Wednesday: Behind The Screams (half day) & ???? Thursday: US and/or IOA??? plus Horror Nights Friday: Head to Tampa morning, Busch & Howl O Scream Sat: Fly home from Tampa via LAX

[Gazza]

I went the opposite of the resorts (which I seriously considered), and did a Days Inn across the road for $30 a night. So the pedestrian access is tricky to Universal (distance is not an issue, I'm a runner)?

I'm presuming you're staying at the one on International Drive? Here is the walking route: Its footpath all the way, so you wont be forced to do anything risky as sometimes occurs in US cities with their lack of footpaths/shoulders to walk on. That bus parking area you can see between citywalk on the left and the multidecks on the right is where you catch the bus to Busch. The most satisfying part is where there is a pedestrian crossing where the main exit to the multidecks are. After the parks have closed and the traffic is streaming out you get the power to cause that traffic to bank up in seconds by pushing the button.

It's pretty cool, but Disney still would have done a better job.

If Disney had done it I'd imagine it'd be considerably toned down, no spiders, no robo arms, I'd even go so far as to say a Disney Potter ride would end up using a similar system to Haunted Mansion. Edited September 6, 2010 by Gazza

[downunder]

^I'm staying at a Days Inn much closer, from mapquest it looks like no more than 400 metres walk to the park. What I was worried about is whether I could get across the main road (s Kirkman Road) outside Universal i.e. if the different directions are separated by barriers and I've got to walk for miles to find a place to cross. http://www.daysinn.com/DaysInn/control/Boo...ropertyId=06930 I'll investigate closer to when I go.

Edited September 6, 2010 by downunder

[MaxThrust]

Normally stay opposite wet and wild. Both the rodeway and movieland do a free bus to universal, and its still walkable if you want to stay late. Off there for the 20 days in december. Thinking about not getting a car this year, and just using the buses as cars appear to be getting much more expensive, and you still pay car parking. What did everyone do about ticketing. Think about just get the 14 day orlando flex, but wondering where to get it from.

[Gazza]

The Orlando flex is a a good deal, but when I went I found it worked out cheaper to buy Busch/SW's and USO/IOA's own 'two park' tickets separately. Granted, both parks were running special offers at the time so I was probably lucky, but be sure to check it out.

[MaxThrust]

The Orlando flex is a a good deal, but when I went I found it worked out cheaper to buy Busch/SW's and USO/IOA's own 'two park' tickets separately. Granted, both parks were running special offers at the time so I was probably lucky, but be sure to check it out.

Thanks. I know we did 12 out of 14 days of the flex tickets in the parks. $300 USD each for full flexi, and the wife wants to do discovery cove this time ( ekk $200 for the day ). Its not going to be a cheap holiday.

[downunder]

I did the Busch/Seaworld 7 day pass for $104 as that worked out very well for me as I'll be 2 days at Busch and 1 day at Sea World plus the Busch Bus to Tampa is free, when it is normally $10 return, so that saves me $20. I'm still mulling over my options for IOA / Uni, originally I had 2 days set down for them but HHN has a 3 hour Behind the Screams tour that I can only do on one those days at 2pm now. I might have to just jam in IOA around that, I've been to IOA before so there isn't a lot I want to do there. If you're a member of Club TPR, it's worth checking out if there's any discounts that work out well. I considered the Flex Ticket but I agree the doing Uni/IOA and Busch/SW separately works out cheaper. Also the flex ticket has to either be mailed or delivered to your hotel which they charge extra for, no e-Ticket for that one.

Edited September 12, 2010 by downunder

[downunder]

Well, been there rode that, I got there as early as possible (for a non-resort guest) and walked on from the single rider line. Though I found the line had built up considerably by the time I got out, like 30 - 45 minutes. HP is definitely the next step in this type of ride, the robot arm allows for more extreme movement than say a ride like Spiderman. It transitions well from real sets into the projected stuff. The real sets were well done though I didn't think they were very lively, there wasn't a lot of movement, mostly it was like caves but not a lot happened. Riding HP twice was more than enough for me because I'm more a thrill ride fan and I get sick from motion simulators but it's definitely top of the class for what it is. Tried out Butterbeer which was surprisingly good. Duelling Dragons/Dragon's Challenge was running great on both sides. I think the entry has been moved since Duelling Dragons (can't remember for sure) but the open air part gives you a far better view of the coasters in action.

[aussienetman]

HARRY Potter fans are buzzing after creator JK Rowling launched a mysterious website counting down to the announcement of a new project. A spokesman for the multimillion-selling writer said the new enterprise was not a new book and was not related to the upcoming release of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the final film in the epic saga. Surfers visiting www.pottermore.com are welcomed by a screen containing two owls and the scrawled message "Coming Soon". A click on an owl then redirects the user to a Youtube page with a clock marking down time until June 23, and the message "The owls are gathering - find out why", fuelling fevered speculation about the form of the new venture. Rowling's spokeswoman, Rebecca Salt, said: "There is a holding page up at the moment. It is a new project and not a new book and it's not directly related to the film. The "Pottermore" trademark is owned by Warner Bros, the films' distributor. Fans were led to the site late Wednesday by a "Secret Street View" hunt. In the challenge, 10 Potter fan sites were each given a coordinate relating to a letter of the web page address. A Twitter account set up for the project has already attracted almost 40,000 followers. Initial predictions for the project included a long-awaited Potter encyclopedia, an online role-playing game and a "giant theme park". A member of the fan site www.the-leaky-cauldron.org claimed to have seen a preview of the product and said it was "in a word, breathtaking". 0--------------------- Could this be the rumoured additional areas of the Wizarding World? Or something to do with the "museum" type attrachtion opening in the UK??? I guess we'll find out in under a week!

Edited June 17, 2011 by aussienetman

[aussienetman]

No. Nothing to do with themeparks.