Universal Studios

We wanted to celebrate the New Year in a big way, so we booked a 4 day, 4 night trip to Universal Studios Orlando.  Because of all the appointments with ending treatment and planning for Christmas, I didn’t have time or energy to do a lot of research beforehand.  We’ve done Disney and SeaWorld many times, but this was our very first Universal trip.  I’m normally that Mama who plans every minute of every day so this trip was a little daunting without knowing what I was getting into.

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Here are some tips I learned on the way!

Stay on Property

When we go to Orlando, we always stay at a time share or an off-property hotel and go into the park each day for a very busy and extremely fast- paced day.  This can be a great way to save money.  However, we’ve had a crazy year and didn’t want to NEED a vacation after our vacation, so we were looking for a slower pace.  We found it at Lowes Portofino Bay Hotel.  They shuttle their guest via water taxi over to City Walk and the park entrances.  It’s super convenient and a really fun way to get around.

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During busy times (like Holiday Breaks), the parks are out of control from 12-4.  Luckily, one or both offer early admission at 7 a.m. for guest staying on property. We found that heading over early was a great way to enjoy the popular attractions.. Hello Wizarding World of Harry Potter!  After lunch when the park filled up with millions of muggles, we’d head back to the serenity of the hotel pool.  At dinner time, we’d head to City Walk to eat and then hit the park for more rides. We really enjoyed the evening hours as the park cleared out the closer it was to closing time.

Stay at a Hotel that includes Universal Express Passes

I’m not going to lie, I can’t imagine navigating those long attraction lines without having express passes. Unless you have the patience of Job, do not attempt it.  While we were there almost every line was an hour or longer.  With the express passes you are in a separate line.  You will still wait for the bigger attractions, but it’s a fraction of the wait that everyone else has.  The Hard Rock Hotel, Lowes Portofino Bay Hotel and Lowes Royal Pacific Hotel are the three hotels that offer each guest a Universal Express Pass. If you are not staying at one of these hotels, you will shell out a minimum of $89 per person per day for this extra perk. I am one of the most frugal people you will ever meet and I think three things are certain in this life… death, taxes, and that you will never regret having a Universal Express Pass.  

If you decide not to do express passes- and you don’t mind splitting up to actually ride the rides, I suggest doing the single rider lines.  You still stay with your family in the queue, but split up on the ride as you fill in empty seats from the regular lines.  At Universal Studios the following have single rider lines: Harry Potter and there Escape from Gringotts, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Men In Black Alien Attack, Revenge of the Mummy, Transformers: The Ride 3-D.  At Universal’s Island of Adventure the following attractions have single rider lines: The Amazing Adventure of Spider-Man, Doctor Doom’s Fearfall, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and Skull Island: Reign of Kong. 

Purchase Park-to-Park Tickets

For all the big Harry Potter fans, I recommend purchasing the Park-to-Park tickets.  You must have them to ride the Hogwarts Express between Hogsmeade Station in Island of Adventure and King’s Cross Station in Universal Studios.  Another tip… the ride is different each way, so be sure to ride it departing from both Universal Studios and Island of Adventure.

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Keep breakfast items in your hotel room

Food in the park is expensive.  It cost a lot of money to offer the amazingness that is Universal Studios, therefore, you pay for it whenever you get hungry or thirsty.   Having a muffin or fruit before you head out to the park will save you quite a bit of money.  Also, if you take advantage of early admission, you can get more accomplished if you don’t have to stop to eat.  

One exception to this rule would be if you have picky eaters that wouldn’t enjoy the English food at The Leaky Cauldron or Three Broomsticks in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  My kids will not eat the likes of Shepards Pie or Fish and Chips, so breakfast options make more sense for our family.  Both restaurants are similar and loads of fun!

Skip the Counter Service Restaurants if you have Time

Unless there are quick service restaurants you are really excited about (maybe Leaky Cauldron, Three Broomsticks and Bumblebee Man’s Taco Truck), consider going to full service restaurants.  You will pay about the same (except you’ll have to add the tip) but will most likely have better food and a chance to sit and relax for short bit.

Reservations

I nearly freaked out when we were unable to get the restaurant reservations we wanted.  When you stay on property, you can text the concierge to set up or change reservations.  It’s another perk that makes staying on property a fantastic choice. However, by the time we determined where we wanted to eat, the reservations were either not available or at such a bad time it would have really thrown a wrench into the evening.  I suggest trying to get reservations ahead of time and being ok with canceling them if the time ends up not working.  Every restaurant has walk in seating available if you don’t mind waiting.  If you stay on property, you get priority seating.

We wanted to make sure we didn’t miss Mythos and there were NO reservations available during our entire stay so we went for an early lunch. We arrived as the doors opened right at 11:00.  Lunch was delicious and all was right with the world.  The moral of the story is.. do what you can do, go with the flow and the meals will work themself out.  Don’t lose sleep over it.  

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Check out Volcano Bay

We’ve done Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon at Disney and Aquatica at SeaWorld.  Volcano Bay is right up there with Disney’s Waterparks and it might even surpass them slightly.  When we were there, the park was empty.  However, if it were packed, Universal has come up with a genius idea to enjoy the park.  Everyone gets a TapuTapu at entry.   It is a waterproof wristwatch type gadget that holds your place in a Virtual Line.  So, you can hang at Waturi Beach or float on the winding river until the devise counts down the minutes to your return time. You can only use it for one attraction at one time and it will vibrate when it’s you turn to head to the attraction where you will only find a very short line. In addition, the TapuTapu holds your credit card information so you don’t have to keep track of money while you are there.

We only got to try our TapuTapus once when we were there.  The only attraction that had a wait was the Krakatau Aqua Coaster.  And believe me it was worth it!   What a fun and unique family ride!  It was the highlight of the park for us.  The kids also loved TeAwa, The Fearless River.  We just threw on our life vests and floated through its waves and rapids.  It’s like a fierce lazy river without the tubes. Or the lazy..

Familiarize Yourself with the Park Maps and Attractions

Two parks can be be overwhelming.  Know what rides are the most important to you and your family in each park and where they are in relation to other things you want to do.  The parks are well marked, but it’s good to have an idea of how you should start your day.  

Some of the older 3-D rides upset my husband’s stomach.  Transformers was one of these rides.  Knowing that ahead of time, we knew that wouldn’t be a good bet after a meal.   

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Our best decision was to do all the water rides in the same block of time.  After leaving Volcano Bay, we took the shuttle right to City Walk so we could enter Island of Adventure.  The three water rides are at  Islands of Adventure.  They are Jurrasic Park River Adventure, Popeye & Bluto’s BilgeRat Barges and Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls.  After riding Rispsaw Falls, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so wet and cold.  We had already planned on only doing those three rides and then heading back to the hotel to shower and get cleaned up for a late reservation for dinner.   

Merchandise

The shopping at the parks is amazing! There is loads of cool merchandise for every kind of fan. If you are into Marvel- they have you covered. The same goes for all the Jurassic Park fans out there. As I mentioned earlier, we are Potterheads and the commodities did not disappoint. The kids were so excited to pick out their wands from Ollivander’s and get their chocolate frogs from Honeydukes! Although we could have bought and bought, we purchased what was going to be the most special for the children and purchased our Harry Potter shirts at Target before our adventure even started.

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