How Much Should I Budget For Harry Potter World?

If you are planning on visiting Orlando, Florida from the UK and you want to make sure that you have Harry Potter World on your list of things to do, you more than likely will want to know “How much should I budget for Harry Potter World?” It’s an important question and it’s really something you should know so that you’ll be able to make sure that you’ve saved up enough money to be able to enjoy your entire vacation.

 

Your Visit Can Be Frugal

 If you’re a Harry Potter fan or your family is, there’s no doubt that you are going to want to make sure that you visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. However, if you happen to be on a tight budget, you might be afraid that you may have to cut it out. That’s not necessarily true, because, you can actually do Harry Potter and it can be done frugally on whatever your budget might be. Here, we’ll try our best to give you some helpful tips on traveling to and saving some of your money when you visit Harry Potter World.

 

Harry Potter World Is Broken Into Two Parks

One thing that’s irritating to some visitors to Harry Potter World is that Universal splits it into two different theme parks, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade both are in one park and then Diagon Alley is in their other park and if you want the full experience you are going to want to visit both of them, otherwise you are going to miss out on  a lot, so here’s something you can think about doing. You should consider visiting during the best times of the year. Those times would be when there is the lowest visitor traffic. Those times would be anytime during the month of September, the first part of February, and anytime in the month of November except of course for the week of the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you choose to go during their busier times you are going to end up spending so much of your time trying to see and do everything it will not be worth the money because you will never be able to see or experience everything. The lines are terrible for everything and that’s everything, rides, restaurants, kiosks, and shops.

 

Visiting On Slower Days

If you choose a slower or more moderately visited time to visit Harry Potter it’s a good idea to consider breaking your visit up in two different days. But, if you can’t for one reason or another can’t do this, you can try to take it all in, in one day if and only if you choose to visit during their absolutely slowest times. When is that time? That would be the week before the Thanksgiving holiday in November. However, this is still not recommended because even on the slowest of days, you still won’t be able to see and experience it all and again, you won’t be getting your money’s worth, because it’s not cheap.

 

Which Tickets Should You Buy?

The best way to see Harry Potter World when visiting Universal, no matter when you decide to visit, is to make sure that you buy the Park to Park passes also known as “Park Hopper” passes. This is going to let you have access to both of these wonderful parks which are Universal’s Islands of Adventure where you’ll find Hogwarts and Hogsmeade and Universal Studios where Diagon Alley is located. When you have the “Park Hopper” you will be able to ride Hogwarts Express caught at King’s Cross Station. You’ll want to take it twice, once to one park and then once back to the other park because the train ride itself is an experience you simply can’t miss, it’s not an ordinary train trip!

 

How Much Is Harry Potter World?

Here’s what you can expect to pay for just getting into Harry Potter World:

 

• Adult 2 Day – 2 Park Pass – $274.99 or £200.37 each.
• Children (3-9 yrs) 2 Day – 2 Park – $264.99 or £193.08

 

It’s important that you buy your tickets online because you will have to pay an extra $20 or £14.57 at the gate. Also make sure that if you do buy your tickets online that you print them out yourself because this way you’ll be able to skip the will call lines at the parks.

If you want to save even more money then you should avoid buying what they call “Express Passes”. On slower days you really don’t need them so it’s really a waste of money because these “Express Passes” will cost you an additional $84.99 or £61.93 each day.

 

Places To Eat To Save Some Money

Of course, you’re going to want to eat so you’ll want to know where you can go that’s not going to kill your budget. Here’s a couple of suggestions:

 

• The Leaky Cauldron –

This restaurant offers good traditional style British food and they offer a breakfast menu and a lunch and dinner menu. The average price is about $10.00 or £7.29. They offer foods like Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, Fishy Green Ale, Tongue Tying Lemon Squash, Butterbeer Potted Cream dessert, and so much more.

• The Three Broomsticks –

This is a rustic restaurant that offers more English food. They offer some great Shepherd’s Pie and Rotisserie Smoked Chicken and you can get enough food for three people that will cost you around $25.00 or £18.22.

 

What To Buy And What Not To Buy

Most people tend to always want to make sure that they buy a wand so they can have it for magical experiences during your visit. However, when you buy them from Ollivander’s Wand Shop you’re going to have to spend a lot of money. What most people don’t know is that you can actually buy them on Ebay for a lot less and just bring them with you.

Of course, you’re going to want some souvenirs, so keep it cheap like any of the following:

 

• Quills
• Key chains
• Coasters
• Mugs and glasses
• T-Shirts