2 days in Orlando - New Year

[twosoups1972]

We are having a family holiday in Florida this year. At the end we will have 2 days in Orlando and trying to work out the best way to spend the time.

We'll be arriving mid afternoon on New Year's Eve and flying home on 2nd January.

We've been before about 6 years ago and spent the whole holiday in Orlando doing most of the parks. And we've been to Disneyland Paris recently so have ruled out Disney on this occasion.

Has anyone been to Universal on NYE? Dc are still into Harry Potter so that's a possibility.

Or any other ideas please?

What would you like to do ideally?. How old are the children?. New Years eve parties at the Universal citywalk are ticketed party/club based events for 21 years and up only. I would avoid going out NYE altogether and save energies for the next day.

All those places are going to be extremely busy on both NYE and New Years Day (particularly Universal's Islands of Adventure park which contains the Harry Potter themed area).

They are 18, nearly 17 and 12. Even if the older two were old enough, they hate clubbing/loud music anyway!

They really just want to do Harry Potter ideally. Can you buy 2 day tickets for Universal?

You can purchase such tickets for the parks and I would arrive there for opening time if you do go. (Universal charge children adult ticket price if the child is over the age of 10).

This tells you more about Harry at Universal studios (btw the train is very good).

www.universalorlando.co.uk/Theme_Parks/Wizarding-World-Of-Harry-Potter-Hogsmeade.aspx

I would recommend staying in one of the Universal hotels, which will include park tickets for all the parks. We were there last new year and spent all day in the park but didn’t go to the evening events. You will be able to see fireworks from wherever you are. To be honest we were asleep long before midnight due to jet lag.
The Harry Otter stuff is brilliant, but to avoid the queues you need to be in the park first thing on early entry, which you get by staying in one of the hotels.

Just checked and we are staying at Universal Endless Summer resort Surfside Inn. Does that mean park tickets are included?

No park tickets aren’t included. They are always extra. It’s express pass that you need.

Can you have one night at a main universal hotel, ie hard rock to get express passes? If budget allows do that as it means you can use the fast pass lines. Much quicker.

You can check in first thing, go to the park and use express pass all day. You don’t have to wait until the correct check in time at 3.

We can’t change the hotel now, it’s all booked.