Universal Studios holiday - advice please!

[takethathatoff]

DH and I (yes, we're giant children 😂) are hoping to go to Universal Studios in Florida at some point this year. Just looking for some advice.

We definitely don't want to go to Disney, only Universal Studios. What hotels are good? (Mid range pricing) Where can I book tickets to the park? Is 5 nights enough for such a long flight? Are the hotels within the Universal 'complex'? Please speak to me as though I know nothing! 😂

We've never been before and I'm keen to do all the Harry Potter stuff but feel totally unprepared! We are looking at the last week in September (around 25th).

This will (hopefully!) be our last child free holiday for a while as we're planning to TTC next year (only married last year!) so want to have as much fun as possible. Any advice? 😊

We went before Covid for about 10 days and did a lot of on site and off site touristing. And we’re Harry Potter geeks so went there at opening and in the evening for the light shows and photos.

We ended up booking a package (flight, hotel, park tickets) via Virgin which was easier as we had everything in one place and it wasn’t more expensive. Universal has lots of on site hotels and almost all are 20 mins gentle walk to the park. We chose Royal Pacific purely because it was the cheapest one to offer express passes included with your park ticket. Not having to queue for ages was worth the extra cost of the hotel. It also has a great shop for snacks and milk. We’re British so brought our own tea to be able to avoid Liptons. The hotel was beautiful and the restaurants had a great selection. If we didn’t feel like Asian food at Royal Pacific we went next door to Sapphire Falls for steak. Too many thunderstorms for us to be able to use the pool and sun loungers, though it looked good. We spent more time eating ice creams (apple and shortbread) from Florean Fortescue over in Diagon Alley.

Universal is also well served by buses if you feel like a visit to Target or one of the big malls. Hire car prices were stupidly high, so we saved the money for shopping and there are always taxis.

Definitely stay in one of the resort hotels as you can get your tickets and smart passes (essential) in advance, plus resort guests are able to access the park one hour earlier. We have been twice.

We originally stayed in the Loews Royal Pacific resort and loved it. It’s further out than the other resort hotels but there are shuttle boats and the walk to the resort takes 20 mins door to door.

We then stayed at the Portofino hotel as that had been recommended to us by two different sets of friends but we found that a disappointment after the first hotel. I’d like to stay at the Hard Rock Hitel if we go again as the Hard Rock Hotel in Amsterdam was fantastic. You can mooch about all the different resort hotels and use their pools and bars etc.

When are you going? October is cooler but does cross over with hurricane season.

And avoid the summer school holidays as that will be stuffed full of children. As per the PP we booked via airlines: a) via BA which was great as we had access to the VIP lounge at the airport. This was fantastic as the flight was delayed by 5 hours (hurricane) and DS ate his entire body weight in croissants for free b) Virgin - no VIP lounge and adequate. This was years ago and I would be hesitant to book BA these days due to their technical difficulties (we experienced this in Toronto about 5 years ago before all the chaos happened) plus the flight cancellations, IT problems would sway me more to Virgin these days.

Will you have a car?

You can buy park tickets direct from their website with or without a hotel booking. You can buy tickets that cover parks individually or all three in one. You can buy individual days or multi day tickets, which usually offer a saving. You can also buy express (skip the queue) tickets. These have two types iirr / one that allows you to do each ride once via express and a dearer one which allows you to ride unlimited times via express lines) Whilst Universal is usually less busy than Disney I'd recommend one day of express tickets (if not staying at a hotel which includes them and you can afford the extra) for you all. You then do all your must do rides with that and other day(s) be more relaxed. Not sure how the water park tickets work as bit been.

The higher end hotels include an unlimited express pass to go on the rides through the express channel. This covers you from your arrival day to your departure day and you can collec lt them before check in time. This covers most, thought not always all, rides.

The mid range hotels don't include this.

There are also other hotels not affiliated to the park in the area.

If you have a car you need to pay to park whether this is in the car park or in the hotels.

You can access the shopping/restaurant part (City Walk) without a ticket though would need to park for any parking.

We've stayed at Hard Rock Hotel, with express passes, usually though not always. It's the closest to the theme parks and you just walk to and from the hotel. But you still pay to park at the hotel, it's no cheaper in that sense. It does have a fab pool area and plenty of places to eat and drink. Dd is a big HR fan hence selecting there.

It’s a long and expensive flight for 5 days. I know you said you don’t want to do Disney, but do you mind if I ask why? There are 4 very different parks, amazing experiences, and very little of it is about princesses.

if you definitely don’t want to do Disney you could thinkabout other things like Kennedy space centre, the beach or even a short Caribbean cruise

Thanks for all the great advice! Sounds like we should definitely stay at a resort hotel, wasn't aware you could get a whole package via Virgin so will look into this!

No, we won't be renting a car so we'll be on foot/bus.

@HermioneWeasley I guess I discounted Disney as am not interested in any of the films/characters. Once had to sit through a musical version of The Beauty and The Beast with a friend and almost slept 😂 Have worried that the jetlag will be killer with only 5 days there but less days makes it more affordable really.

Oh, should have asked... if you stay at one of the resort hotels do you still have to pay for entry tickets into the parks?

I guess you do but wanted to check.

Also you can only buy 14 day tickets online 🤯 don't need that amount. Can I buy fewer days somewhere?

We stayed at Royal Pacific. There is a boat that will take you to the parks. It’s really nice in the hot Florida weather to have a nice calm ride to and from the parks instead of crowding onto a bus. Plus you get express line (don’t remember the name).

you need park hopper tickets in order to ride the Hogwarts express. If you are a Harry Potter fan you will not want to miss this. Also be sure to try the butterbeer. We also got interactive wands. Totally silly, but completely fun and highly recommended. They also make a great souvenir.

we had a second trip booked and our bags packed ready to go with another stay at Royal pacific when the parks closed for Covid. We really loved the whole experience.

if you are willing to look at 1 non-park day and have a large budget, look at visiting Discovery Cove.

Just be aware towards mid September the “Halloween Horror Nights” start - this means you will need an extra ticket to the park over and above the daily one - its normally Wed-Sunday, this is fun but only if you like being a little scared - its only at the one park but the other tends to close early. Be sure to get the ticket for both parks so you can use the hogwarts express.

If you stay at a resort hotel yes you still need to book park tickets - the resort hotel is the hotel and complimentary express passes! Express passes are 100% worth it, we went last sept and didn't queue for more than 10 minutes a ride (apart from Hagrids which doesn't accept express!)

14 days is the standard ticket for the parks, even if you don't go for that many days. I think you can get single day or the 14 day, price wise 5 single day passes will cost more than the 14 day pass. You'll want to make sure you get tickets for both islands of adventure and universal studios - there's Harry Potter bits in both! You can use the Hogwarts express then too, between parks.

Royal pacific is fab, you can walk to the park / get the boat. You get early entry to either the parks or the water park depending on the day, if you use this you can get to hogsmeade before the crowds - it's fab! Didn't rate portifono bay, Hard Rock is lovely but we prefer royal pacific.

September 25th will be in the horror nights timings, it's not every night but check before you book your holiday - on these nights the parks close early for horror nights (scare mazes and zones), I think they'll be shipping you out by 5ish if you don't have tickets for horror nights. Last year they did some death eater shows in hogsmeade around horror nights which was amazing and the night lights show on the castle is a must do. Also if you try to go to Ollivanders when the light show is on, you're more likely to get picked to choose your wand!

5 nights I wouldn't say is enough at all - we do 10 or 14! We also just go as the two of us (no DC yet) you end up doing kkk steps a day (we hit 30-40k!) which tires you out and there's so much to do it's best to take it slow and enjoy it.

Would recommend the frozen butterbeer - it's amazing, the pumpkin juice and the cauldron cakes!

We have just come back from 10days, we stayed at sapphire falls which is a great resort but does not include express passes, 5 days is enough if you only want to do universal but if you want time out from the parks and to do volcano bay and shopping you may find it a bit rushed

Glad to hear that the Royal.pacific is a good hotel. We're going in August for 2 weeks in an air bnb but have booked for 1 night at the Royal pacific to get the unlimited express passes (cheaper than buying the express passes on there own !)

Does anyone know what the earliest time is you can check in and get the room key/express pass? (Not necessarily use the room i know that wouldn't be ready first thing.) Obviously want to get into the park as early as possible with the express passes.

Stay at the one of the "better" universal hotels- this comes with a free express unlimited which makes is incredibly useful for skipping all the queues! Totally worth the slightly higher price range. You also get early access to the parks. recommend hard rock, the pool is brilliant and has a huge slide.

Also make sure to book bubbq gump for food and get the boil- best thing ever!

You need to do Busch gardens too, maybe NASA and if you can afford to go longer I would. I mean Disney also has some amazing parks and rides so I wouldn’t necessarily discount it. We used to go every three years before kids, and still did with the first when she was 15 months old and again, when she was just over 4 yes and her sister was 4 months.

Pricing wise we won’t be back for four years as we want them both to get the most out of it. But it’s an amazing place!

You can "check in" pretty much any time in the morning to get your express passes, they'll just tell you the room isn't ready yet! We'd be walking down at 8am ish and there would be people waiting to check in for the express passes 😊

@takethathatoff I am incredibly jealous. We were last there 2019. Hotels within Universal are totally separate from entry tickets. We got ours from Attraction Tickets.

So there are 3 parks at Universal if you include the incredible water park Volcano Bay. You get early entry for staying at the hotels. We have stayed in 3 of the Universal hotels (been a few times) Hard Rock is closest walking distance to both theme parks (check out YouTube because there are videos of people walking it) it has a loud and vibrant feel to it, live band or music playing all the time. We have also stayed in Cabana Bay (not Front of the Line hotel FOTL aka unlimited express pass) and our favourite is Royal Pacific Resort. It is easily walkable but also you can get a boat to it as it is on the water. We do stay in the Club Level which includes food but the price may be eye watering as it is per room. For us with 2 teen children and going in August due to school holidays this worked well for us.

@Meerkitkat we used to drop our luggage in mid morning and they store it as we were transferring from another hotel but I think that you can do it before the park opens, then you get your room key which will work later for the room. This key is also your FOTL "ticket" that they scan, so if you get a lanyard you usually have the ticket bar code facing one way and the hotel room key facing the other side so both can be scanned. Ticket is just on entry, room key is every time you join the FOTL queue. Everything, everything goes into a locker before you ride any ride except the lanyard for that FOTL scan so if you aren't using a lanyard then that room key needs to be in a zipped pocket. Someone lost an eye to a coin flying out of a pocket whilst on a ride so they do not take chances, you pass through metal detectors and they wand you/search you to make sure you have used the lockers. Small lockers if I remember are free, larger ones for larger bags are not. Try not to take a million items into the park. Lots of videos on YouTube showing lockers etc.

The other FOTL hotel is Portifiono which is the most expensive hotel there. Please look into the whole City Walk bit, ie if you have to get a resort bus back to the hotel look at how far you have to walk through City Walk to get to the buses. This is why staying at usually Hard Rock or Royal Pacific pays dividends in saving your legs. Royal Pacific has a short cut next to MargaritaVille. Citywalk is a great place for food. CowFish is our favourite although Toothsome is just decadent for a "milkshake".

Wizarding World of Harry Potter is amazing, especially Gringotts and the fire breathing dragon, plus Knockturn Alley. TheTim Tracker on YouTube is a very frequent visitor to all the parks and I find his videos are a great resource. We did the whole once in a lifetime trip to Disney and Universal when the children were in primary and then have returned several times. It is a truly amazing place.

Oh and we fly from Dublin on Aer Lingus because it works out cheaper as not UK and you clear customs and immigration in Ireland so land at MCO Orlando, collect cases and leave, the flight is later so you land around 8pm, remember that 5 hour time difference. Other UK flights land mid afternoon.

Try Epcot. Technically a Disney Park but it is bonkers.

Park tickets are expensive if you just buy one day ie for Universal for one person for one day it starts at $109 up to $159 so a 10 day or 14 day ticket price works out much cheaper. Just found another site £180 for one day for one person. This is why UK get 14 days for the price of 7 for Disney etc.

Re the 5 days you have planned, you will lose an entire day just travelling to get there. Depending on flight times you lose part of the day to packing up the room and checking out, storing luggage then travel to the airport. Epcot is brilliant but I don't think a day is enough time to experience it properly.

September is a great time to go to Orlando. That’s when I usually go, but I went in January this year for a change. If all you want to do is go to Universal then 5 days will be fine.

Ive never stayed on-site at Universal, but have stayed just outside across the road in the Hyatt (Caravan Ct) and walked 15mins to the park entrance and at other hotels on International Drive. A cousin has stayed at the Portofino and loved it & a friend has stayed at the Aventura and loved that one too.

I sometimes buy my tickets from Attraction Tickets. Their site currently has 14 day unlimited park to park access for £329 which is decent value. And getting park to park tickets means you can visit both parks on the same day and ride the Hogwarts Express train between parks (the train is not available if you only have access to a single park). When I went in January, I paid around £300 for 2 x single day 1 park entrance fees!!

Totally agree you need to try the frozen butterbeer. It is delicious!!

https://www.attractiontickets.com/en/orlando-attraction-tickets/universal-orlando-resort/universal-orlando-3-park-explorer-ticket

Oh, meant to say Volcano Bay water park is fantastic & not to be missed!!

I went about a month after it opened a few years ago. Went first thing in the morning on a weekday & basically had the whole place to myself for the first 3 hours. Best water park I have been to!

Thank you everyone! We have decided on Royal Pacific from all of your recommendations. 😁😁

You’ll have a wonderful time. Hopefully the main restaurant still does the pineapple doughnut dessert as that was delicious (shared).

Useful for planning trip:

https://touringplans.com

Came on to recommend Royal.pacific.

Volcano bay is fab.

Book the chocolate factory and hard rock for meals in city walk. The asian food at Royal Pacific is lovely too.

I'd also go disney. Get a joint disney universal ticket. You need to go to Hollywood studios and animal kingdom. They are fab parks.

Pandora at DAK is such a fab area and Flight of passage an essential ride. Ive never seen avatar but i loved the floating mountains.

DHS has the star wars area that is fabulous even for a non star wars fan like me and rise of the resistance is great fun. Then you have the classics like tower of terror and rock and roller coaster. Slinky dog dash is kind of fun too. Such a fun park.

Epcot has lovely gardens and at least one essential ride. I liked the new guardians of the galaxy and seeing the ball and the fireworks, plus wandering around the world showcase. I do not like mission space as it is easily the most intense ride in florida. I'd you book well in advance you might be able to get into the space restaurant. We really want to go next time. Expensive novelty but there you go.

Magic kingdom has got fabulous fireworks as well. You can skip all the rides if you want but I'd go for a wander, go on the paddle boat steamer and personally I like the new Mickley and Minnie wild west coaster and I'd do the 3 classic "mountain" rides.plus the carousel.

The disney waterparks are great too.

You don't need more than say 5 days At universal including 2 volcano bay days. You can "do" the studios and IOA in 3 days easily with an express pass and picking a quieter time to go.

Sorry I know you said no disney but I think you Need to look into it. I'm a universal fan but disney and universal together make for a great holiday.

If you are only doing universal perhaps add the Kennedy space centre and a beavh stay at clearwater.