A Harry Potter Fan’s 3-Day, 3-Park Orlando Universal Guide

🏨 Accommodation: 1 night at Loews Royal Pacific + 1 night at Terra Luna 🎫 Tickets: 2-day Park-to-Park Pass (original parks) + 1-day Epic Universe Be sure to check park hours in advance! First two days: 9 AM – 7 PM (Adventure had 8 AM Early Entry) Epic day: 10 AM – 10 PM (9 AM Early Entry) 📅 Day 1 – December 1 | Pure Wizarding World Fun! Left Miami in the morning, arrived at 1:30 PM, checked into Loews Royal Pacific. The Avis counter is right next to the front desk, and the room key serves as your 2-day Unlimited Express Pass for the original parks! Took the hotel’s water taxi straight to CityWalk and the park entrances. The hotel and parks are all within walking distance—the two original parks are quite compact, so no need to overthink transport. Entered the park at 3 PM and headed straight to Diagon Alley 🏛️: Rode the Hogwarts Express round-trip Escape from Gringotts ×2 Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure ×3 Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ×1 Flight of the Hippogriff ×1 💡 Tips: Hagrid’s Motorbike has much shorter waits after 6 PM – a must-ride and my #1 favorite! Gringotts stays open after 7 PM – if the app doesn’t say “closed,” you can enter with almost no wait. Forbidden Journey and Flight of the Hippogriff are also in Beijing and Osaka—usually short lines here. 🍔 Food: Dinner at The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley – tried both sandwiches and Frozen Butterbeer – absolutely delicious! ❄️ 📅 Day 2 – December 2 | Conquering the Original Parks Checked out early and stored luggage. Used Early Entry + Express Pass to tackle all rides in Islands of Adventure, finishing by 1 PM. Took the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley and continued exploring Studios, wrapping up around 5 PM. Returned to Hogsmeade via train, watched the castle light show, rode Hagrid’s and Forbidden Journey again, then took the train back to Diagon Alley for another round of Gringotts. Even my interactive wand from Osaka 6 years ago still worked! ✨ 💡 Tips: VelociCoaster is a must-ride – you’ll fly ahead while your soul chases behind! 🦖 Hulk Coaster wasn’t too crowded and packs a punch – worth using Early Entry for. Doctor Doom's Fearfall – not fearful at all, just a quick drop. Skip if there’s a line. The three water rides are grouped together – wear a raincoat and shoe covers or you’ll get soaked! We skipped them after getting drenched on Jurassic Park River Adventure. Studios rides are more kid-friendly. Memorable ones: Revenge of the Mummy (real fire effects!) and a delayed Transformers 3D ride that gave us a useless pass. The rest were forgettable. 🍗 Food: Lunch at Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade – roasted chicken, ribs, baked potato, and corn. Tried hot Butterbeer – not as good as frozen. Dinner at Panda Express in CityWalk. Special recommendation: Freestyle cup – endless drink choices (yes, it’s flavored syrup, but still fun!). Works across all three parks. Holiday edition: buy 2, get 1 free – $22 each, refills $13/day. #HarryPotter #UniversalStudios #UniversalGuide #Orlando #UniversalOrlando #OrlandoTravelTips