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That's my biggest worry [emoji17] the timing of this trip just happened to fall a month after a new attraction opened. I'm hoping to get to ride Gringotts but if the line is outrageously long I won't let it take away from experiencing the rest of the park. To put it in perspective, I haven't been to Universal since I was a three year old Florida resident. Not sure when I'll get the chance to go again. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you SO much for the advice! I really appreciate it. I wanted to get park-to-park tickets, but I'm using the tickets my mom and brother were going to use on spring break (my brother broke his ankle in the ocean the day before Universal), so I have two one-day admission tickets. Kinda bummed about not getting to ride the Hogwarts Express, however I'm just grateful I get to go at all.

I'm finally, finally getting the opportunity to visit Universal the first week of August. Lots of planning to do, but the general plan is to spend Monday getting to Florida, Tuesday/Wednesday at Universal, and head home Thursday. My best friend and I (huge Potter fans) are VERY excited to see The Wizarding World! However, I couldn't help but notice that Hogsmeade is in one park and Diagon Alley is in the other park. Is it better to get a two-day single park ticket (Hogsmeade one day and Diagon Alley the next), or get a two-day park-to-park ticket? I bought the Beyond Disney Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, and the Best of Central Florida a while ago, and as I'm sitting down to plan my trip, I'm finding myself extremely overwhelmed. I know I'm not going to get to do everything in two days, so I'm trying to maximize what I can do. What other Universal tips do you have? What are the "must rides," and what should I skip? I really appreciate any advice I can get.

When I saw the title of this I thought it was going to be one of those "99 ways to get kicked out of Walmart" type things. Like hiding behind the tombstones in Banshee's queue and screaming like a Banshee when unknowing park guests walk by. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^^As someone who works in retail, I must say I am amazed at how often people use bad language in public. When I hear customers drop f-bombs in front of their own children, I am bewildered. It's called decency, and being in a public place. Cuss at home all you want, but not at a place primarily full of families. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm going to start saying "Yipee Skippy" before I ride Banshee [emoji1] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I get annoyed when guests reference Final Destination 3 while in line for a coaster. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As someone who has spent many hours in the Montu/Gwazi kid corral as a tiny one, I agree.Edit: maybe not HOURS, but it felt that way Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I see what y'all are saying. Guess that's why I was a kids' camp counsellor every summer and not a ride op. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's not creepy or anything. Okay, maybe not followed, but we were headed for Banshee. I saw them meet up with all their mothers and I could've said something. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Or people who stop right outside the ride's exit and clog the traffic. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Add to that: the tweens whose mothers let them go off on their own and reap the benefits of being discipline free for a few hours by causing a ruckus. One time while in a 40 minute FoF queue, about five 12-13 year old boys kept shoving each other into me on purpose. I followed them back to their parents and about told on them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love when the ride ops are entertaining. That would be me as a ride op. I'm sure it gets old doing the same thing over and over so you gotta make it fun somehow. I would want to guests to be as psyched to ride a coaster as I typically am. Plus, normal is boring. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What irks you when you're at the park? For me, it's the guests waiting in line for Delirium. The ride ops CLEARLY say to STAND on your assigned number, and when I go to stand on mine there is a pod of guests carelessly hovering over where I'm supposed to stand. It makes me so mad that they lack the ability to listen to simple instructions. Just. Ugh. My blood pressure is rising just thinking about it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So THIS is what we were hearing during Coasting for Kids registration! My friend and I kept wondering why they were playing little tidbits of a "Best Song Ever" spinoff. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

WOW. 5:30 every morning for four hours walking the track. That is dedication. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had no idea they replaced entire sections of track during the off-season. HW in general looks like a place where upkeep is a priority. Everything looked so clean and polished. Sure, I'm sure a lot of people would love it if Voyage wasn't so rough, but it IS still a woodie. It combines the twists and turns of a steel coaster with the familiar brain-rattling of a wooden coaster. Definitely one of the most unique coasters I've been on (which isn't THAT many because I've only been to a few parks outside KI) and it was well worth the trip. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh I thought you meant KI. I've never been to KK. We passed through Louisville to get to HW but we couldn't go to KK sadly. Maybe sometime this summer! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting. Especially that they used one of Raven's trains at one point. Seems dangerously similar to Son of Beast's situation when they figured new trains would help with the ride. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

See I was gonna do this, but they're just completely different parks. But I'll attempt What I liked about HW was that I could get the whole park done in a day, due to its smaller size. However, if I were driving 3.5 hours to Kings Island, I would have definitely gotten a two-day ticket. Holiday World had some thrills, but not near as many as KI does. HW is mostly water park, while KI is mostly theme park. HW can do things like free drinks since it's a smaller scaled park. It was nice to get a small cup of Gatorade or something and toss it before getting on a ride instead of lugging around my souvenir cup on every ride. Loose articles were definitely easier to manage than at KI. You could bring your sandals and sunglasses on every slide and there was a place for them ( Mammoth's was the best for this). If you wanted something secured in a locker rather than a cubby, you just asked the ride attendant and they locked it up for you and gave you the key to put around your wrist for the duration of the ride. Very neat idea, but made loading/unloading take longer. We were amazed at how much cleaner HW was than KI. Trash cans every ten feet it felt like. Not a big water park person, but I must say Splashin' Safari has more to offer than Soak City. The water coasters were just great. However the whole time I was there, I just kept thinking "Man, this makes me so excited to get to KI on my day off this week." Like an appetizer to the main course Both parks have different strengths. Overall it was just nice to see something different. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was moseying around different amusement park websites and planning imaginary road trips in my head via google maps one slow January afternoon in my communications class. I realized that I had often overlooked Holiday World as a road trip destination, and that I had always wanted to go. I texted my mom right then and told her that the whole family should consider Holiday World for a mini-road trip since they had a big water park and were reasonably priced. My mom feeds my theme park enthusiasm and often tells me my pointless knowledge of coasters and parks "entertains us all," so she agreed to consider a trip out to Santa Claus, Indiana. Fast forward to 6/22 and we are departing for Louisville and then Santa Claus. We wanted to stop at the zoo on the way there, and our whole family even made matching tie-dye shirts for the occasion (my family is a goofy bunch). And hey, look how up close and personal I got with these lorikeets! Holiday World: We arrived at 8:15. Yes, all of us had forgotten that we were in a different time zone and thought it was actually 9:15. But hey, we were first in line to get in. When the gates opened, we headed straight for The Voyage, a coaster that I had been told many times by many enthusiasts that I just NEEDED to ride. However, upon arriving at TV, we were informed that the ride wouldn't be opening until later that day. Slightly crestfallen, we headed to The Legend, or as my younger brother called it, "The One That Only Runs One Train And Takes Forever." We rode front seat. See, I like woodies, so I liked The Legend. Noah wasn't a fan. After checking TV again and finding out it was still closed, we headed to Splashin' Safari. After getting a locker (I LOVE how they handle lockers! The wristband with the barcode on it was very convenient!), we decided to start with Mammoth. I'm not a big fan of water parks and slides, but I must say, Mammoth was great. It was my favorite of all the slides we rode. We went from Mammoth straight to Wildebeest. Wildebeest was fun, too, but the raft made me a little nervous. I liked the big six seater on Mammoth better. We made our way to Zoombabwe until I noticed that The Voyage was running test trains. I excitedly urged a few of my family members to join me. The line was only barely outside the station so the wait was about ten minutes. I noticed Voyage only runs two trains, which makes the wait a little longer than I'm used to with KI's coasters. I waited for the front seat. Voyage was without a doubt the roughest woodie I've ever ridden! Those trains flying past the station aren't an illusion; you truly are flying on this ride. With all the sudden changes in direction and those infamous 90 degree banked turns, Voyage was wild from start to finish. My back, neck, and hip bones are still suffering from those three rides I took, but it was worth it. It was great to finally experience that airtime everyone's been talking about! We were always laughing when we pulled back into the station because of the sheer roughness and intensity of it. I would find myself, a hands up rider, gripping the lapbar for just a tiny bit of stability when the track banked and twisted suddenly. Every time I'd get off, I'd always say, "That was so painful and stressful. I LOVE it." I rode front, toward the back, and toward the front. Front seat was my favorite, and towards the back was impossibly rougher than my rides toward the front. We also rode The Raven, or The Other Ride That Only Runs One Train. Though the ride itself was barely over a minute long, I was pleasantly surprised at how unique and dynamic the track's layout was. Going over the edge of the water was neat, and the woods added to the Poe-esque theme of the coaster. Sometime during our hours at the waterpark, a nasty storm rolled through. I liked how clear the PA announcements were regarding severe weather. The rides closed a total of three times today, all for less than thirty minutes, which was good. During one of these times, my stepsister and I went on the Gobbler, which is essentially Boo Blasters except it's Thanksgiving themed and the cars sit four people. Also, BBOBH doesn't have this creepy old lady in the queue. I should also add that I must be slacking in my HW knowledge. I kept looking around looking for Pilgrim's Plunge. I had to look it up and find out that it was removed. I cringed at how tourist-y that was of me Overall, I loved Holiday World! It was so clean and picturesque. Having only woodies gave it a traditional theme park feel. Free drinks all day was a nice perk as well. Anyway, that's my lengthy spiel about my first trip to Holiday World. I'm writing this on my way home so it definitely could have been more elaborate but I'll spare you all any more of my overflowing enthusiasm.Thanks for reading of you read it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I keep seeing pics and videos from the preview and it looks amazing! The attention to detail is remarkable. They've got the shrunken head in the Knight Bus that moves and talks and the inside of Gringotts looks just like the movie. Gahhhhh. I want to go. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Those water coaster DO seem fun, I just have a thing about body slides that a scar on my back can validate. Raft/tube slides are okay too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe. I'm not a big water park person but the rest of my family will be spending a lot of time over there so I may go for a bit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am finally taking my (long overdue) first trip to Holiday World next Monday. What advice do you have as far as which rides have the busiest lines at which times, etc.? I'm only going for one day, so I want to get as much in as possible. Thanks!