2024 Universal Orlando Planning Guide
Our 2024 Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure planning guide offers park & ride strategy. It features tips & tricks to help you save money & time, avoid crowds, and have the best vacation or side-visit from Walt Disney World as possible. (Updated January 7, 2024.)
We’re Universal Orlando Annual Passholders and huge fans of those parks in addition to Walt Disney World. Universal has improved a ton and upped its game in the last decade. This began with the Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade lands of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which were further enhanced by Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.
That has been taken to the next level with the debut of Jurassic World VelociCoaster, and to a lesser extent, with the new Minions mini-land last year. This is once again going to be another big year thanks to the DreamWorks Animation Land Opening in 2024 at Universal Studios Florida. These recent and upcoming additions, not to mention an all-new theme park in 2025, are among the reasons why some Walt Disney World fans are openly asking: Is Universal Beating Disney?
Suffice to say, we highly recommend spending a couple of days at Universal when vacationing at Walt Disney World. This is guide to Universal Orlando Resort contains everything you’ll need to know. Whether you’re doing both parks in a single day or making a trip of it with an on-site hotel stay and multiple days at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, we have you covered with info and advice about attractions, dining, resorts, strategy, crowds, and more.
In this guide, we’ll cover how to make the most of a visit to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. We’re going to take a counterintuitive organizational approach to this guide, as we’ve found that many readers consult it while visiting Universal rather than during the planning stages of a trip. Accordingly, we’re going to front load with info you need to know if you’ve already touched down in Central Florida.
If you’re a Disney fan simply trying to determine whether a trip to Universal Orlando Resort is right for you in the first place, you might start by reading our Universal vs. Walt Disney World post, which covers some of the pros and cons of each, plus the differences between the two vacation destinations. Although they’re all theme parks located in Central Florida, each have strengths and weaknesses that will make them better or worse for certain types of families–ages, demographics, etc.
Similarly, if you’re debating between resorts at the two main theme park complexes, see our comprehensive breakdown: Universal Orlando vs. Walt Disney World Hotels. That should help you determine which is the better option for your vacation–or if a split stay might be best!
For what it’s worth, neither of these versus posts nor the one about whether Universal is “beating” Disney are pointless fan cheerleading or theme parks as polarizing team sports. The two versus posts are practical planning that objectively weigh pros and cons, whereas the “beating” one is an editorial (not useful for planning, but potentially interesting).
Anyway, here’s everything else you need to know about visiting Universal Orlando Resort…
What’s New & Next at Universal
If you have not been to Universal Orlando in a while (or ever), a lot has changed in the last several years. This includes a few attractions that have been added in the last several years: Bourne Stuntacular, Fast and the Furious: Supercharged, Race Through New York starring Jimmy Fallon, and Skull Island: Reign of Kong.
In terms of what’s new, there are two hugely popular coasters in Islands of Adventure: Jurassic World VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure in the Hogsmeade side of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Without question, VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s are two of the very best roller coasters in Orlando. (I’d personally put both above TRON Lightcycle Run at Walt Disney World, but to each their own on that.)
As noted above, there’s also the new Minion Land at Universal Studios Florida. As the name suggests, this is an area based on the Despicable Me film franchise, and builds on the popularity of the existing Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem attraction. This is now an expanded avenue with the new Villain-Con Minion Blast ride and Minion Cafe restaurant, plus more retail, snack spots, meet & greets, placemaking, and more.
Next on the horizon is the aforementioned DreamWorks Animation Land that will feature characters like Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse and explore themed, interactive play spaces and attractions that bring popular franchises like Shrek, Trolls and Kung Fu Panda to life.
Although unconfirmed, this is expected to feature a “Trollercoaster” (a Trolls-themed roller coaster, hence the name) and a Shrek’s swamp area. Construction permits put the end of work in March 2024, which makes sense–have the DreamWorks land open by Spring Break. (That opening timeframe is also unconfirmed, though–permits can be extended, but construction appears to be progressing quickly.)
These new additions are appetizers to the main course, which comes in Summer 2025. Universal is building a third theme park in Central Florida and construction is progressing fast. It’s full steam ahead on this project, and Universal’s Epic Universe Park is Opening by Summer 2025! This will bring Super Nintendo World plus more Harry Potter, Universal Monsters, How to Train Your Dragon, and much more to Universal Orlando in the coming years.
In the here and now, another thing worth addressing in terms of what’s new is a return to normal in terms of attendance and crowds. After nearly two full years of pent-up demand driving wait times and prices higher, both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando have seen a slowdown.
With this, both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando have gotten more aggressive with discounts in an attempt to entice more people to visit their parks and stay in on-site hotels. We’ve mentioned repeatedly that Walt Disney World already has released a dozen different discounts for 2024.
Universal has followed suit, shifting from discounts aimed almost exclusively at Annual Passholders and Florida residents to general public offers. There’s currently a “buy 2 days, get 3 free” ticket deal, resort discounts offering 20-35% off, and package deals offering up to $650 off.
These are worth pricing out for yourself, but we should warn that many have length of stay requirements of 5 days. That’s longer than most people will spend at Universal Orlando (which is part of why it’s being offered–to increase visit durations). In any case, we recommend using a travel agent–such as Be Our Guest Vacations–to price out different packages and deals, and help you figure out the best way to save, plan your trip, etc.
Now let’s turn to Universal Orlando’s advanced planning topics…
Where to Stay
There are a number of questions you have to ask yourself when planning a trip, and many of them will dictate where you stay. Do you want Unlimited Express Pass by staying at an eligible Universal Orlando hotel? Do you want to stay at a Walt Disney World hotel for the duration of your trip, or change hotels? Do you want to stay an an off-site hotel in the general vicinity of both Universal and Disney to save money?
We’ve recently stayed at every single on-site hotel at Universal Orlando Resort–here are our reviews:
- Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando Review (recommended)
- Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando Review (highly recommended)
- Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando Review (good Express Pass eligible “budget” pick)
- Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Universal Orlando Review (highly recommended)
- Universal’s Aventura Hotel Review
- Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort Review (highly recommended)
- Universal’s Endless Summer Resort – Surfside Inn & Suites Review (good budget pick)
- Universal’s Endless Summer Resort – Dockside Inn & Suites (2-Bedroom) Review (good for larger families)
For insight into all of these hotels, their pros & cons, and how they compare and contrast with one another, see our Universal Orlando Hotel Rankings & Reviews.
We are big fans of Universal’s hotels, and are particularly partial to the two “bay” resorts: Loews Portofino Bay Hotel and Cabana Bay Beach Resort. Both of those are in our top 10 hotels in Orlando, rivaling some of our favorite resorts at Walt Disney World.
Universal’s hotels provide great bang for buck, and even those that don’t include free Express Pass do offer Early Park Admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal’s Volcano Bay one hour before those parks open. That can be absolutely huge!
As for staying off-site, you generally will get the most bang for your buck when staying in an off-site hotel, as there are a lot of non-Disney and non-Universal hotels competing with one another. We have an Off-Site v. On-Site Walt Disney World Hotels article that goes into greater depth about the pros and cons of staying off-site, and it’s marginally applicable to Universal, as well.
As for simply staying at a Walt Disney World hotel for the duration of your trip regardless of where you go, we have written comprehensive reviews with our opinions and photos of the rooms. Check out our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews page, for links to each of these reviews.
Ride Strategy for Universal Orlando
Next, what to know while you’re at Universal Orlando. For starters, we strongly recommend that you do not “wing it” for your daily itinerary due to the aforementioned crowd issues. You don’t need to plan every movement so that there’s no spontaneity in your trip, just make sure you have at least a loose plan of what you’re going to do.
We have the following plans for each park that cover our perfect days:
- 1-Day Universal Studios Florida Park Itinerary
- 1-Day Islands of Adventure Park Itinerary
- 1-Day Universal Park Hopping Itinerary (both Islands of Adventure & Universal Studios Florida)
Those offer step by step touring plans for both theme parks at Universal Orlando, prioritizing the most popular rides and skipping what isn’t worth your time. Those will help you do Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk Coaster, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, and other must-do rides.
If you’d prefer to create your own itineraries and want an overview and review of every attraction at each of the parks, consult our Islands of Adventure Ride Guide and Universal Studios Florida Ride Guide. If you’re a fan spinners, you might want to check those out, as we don’t waste your time with that nonsense in the itineraries.
When to Visit
If you’re adding on a Universal Orlando visit to your Walt Disney World vacation, the answer to this is easy…whenever you’re visiting Walt Disney World. Crowd patterns at Walt Disney World translate pretty similarly to Universal Orlando.
The reasons are two-fold: first, because crowds tend to be predicated upon school schedules, which are the same for both; second, because Walt Disney World is the ‘whale’ in the Orlando market, so crowds for all theme parks are dictated by when guests plan their Disney vacations. In other words, you can refer to our 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars post to determine when to visit, as that’s roughly applicable to Universal Orlando as well.
There are only some exceptions to this, and they’re largely predicated upon special events that are unique to each of the parks. For example, Walt Disney World sees its crowds spike due to runDisney events, when its hotels are hosting conventions or youth sporting events, or during EPCOT festivals. By contrast, Universal sees its own spikes around Mardi Gras, Halloween Horror Nights, and early December when it plays host to the Pop Warner youth football event.
In general, though, the big driver of attendance at both is school breaks. In particular, those of Orange County and other counties throughout Florida and the South. Of course, both are vacation destinations, so breaks for school districts in the Midwest and Northeast also have a significant impact. The obvious times like Spring Break, Easter, Summer, Fall Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve are all busy.
More under the radar timeframes like MLK Day, Presidents’ Day, Mardi Gras, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and more also see pronounced spikes in crowds. Again, reference the aforementioned crowd calendars if you’re looking to choose the best times to visit Universal Orlando.
Due to a surge of locals on weekends, we strongly recommend avoiding Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure on Saturdays and Sundays. Mondays through Thursdays are the best days to visit, with much lower crowds then. However, that goes out the window during holiday weeks or anytime school is out of session, when it’s disproportionately tourists and every single day of the week is busy.
The one exception to this is if you want to see or avoid Halloween season at Universal, namely Halloween Horror Nights (HHN). This is a hard ticket event that has a huge following among locals and fans of haunt season, in general.
During HHN, you step onto the set of some of your favorite horror movies, and walking through those sets as actors attempt to scare you. This event is not for children under the age of 13, and has absolutely nothing in common with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World. See our Guide to Halloween Horror Nights for more.
Aside from this, the only noteworthy events are Mardi Gras and Christmas. See our Guide to Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval at Universal Studios Florida. At this fun event, guests can experience a food festival with cuisine and entertainment inspired by international Carnaval celebrations.
Food booths serve up the flavors of Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Germany, Spain and other regions including, of course, New Orleans. Plus enjoy spectacular floats on display, street entertainment, music, beads and more throughout Universal Studios Florida.
Although HHN gets all the attention from the fan community, an equally popular seasonal event is Christmas at Universal Orlando. During this, Grinchmas and Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s are the main entertainment draws. There’s also the Christmas Tribute Store, which is essentially a walk-through exhibit, plus Universal Studios Florida’s iconic Christmas Tree.
Perhaps the biggest draw is Winter in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which features unique decor and projections on Hogwarts Castle. There are also decorations around both parks in Seuss Landing, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, Hollywood, New York, and San Francisco.
How Many Days?
This one is going to vary widely based on a few variables. The biggest one is how receptive your party is to the type of attractions that are prominent at Universal Orlando Resort, namely, roller coasters and screen-based simulators. That’s reductionist, and there are many more things at Universal than those types of rides, but if your party is averse to either, doing more than 2 days at Universal is going to be tough.
If you love coasters or have teens, you can easily spend 3 days or more at Universal Orlando. Heck, I’m not huge on roller coasters or simulators, and I can easily do 2 days (or even 3) at Universal. Likewise, if you love Harry Potter, several days at Universal will be easy. The two Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter alone can fill a good chunk of the day. I mean, Diagon Alley has a fire-breathing dragon…not liking dragons is distinctly unpatriotic.
Islands of Adventure also has a Jurassic Park area, which is basically a tribute to our greatest national treasure: dinosaurs. It’s not as good as a real Jurassic Park (that would be like the San Diego Zoo meets the Lincoln Memorial meets Tokyo DisneySea), but it’s an enjoyable area to explore. In other words, there’s plenty to do if you’re an “ambiance person” at the Universal parks.
Then, there’s also the question of how much “extra” vacation time you have. Assuming you’ve already allocated your time at Walt Disney World and are looking at “other stuff” to round out your trip to Florida, I’d probably look to spending more time at Universal than other parks like SeaWorld or Busch Gardens. That’s personal preference and all of these parks definitely aren’t trying to accomplish the same thing, but I find the Disney and Universal parks to be in a different league than all of the rest.
Universal Orlando Park Tickets
If you’re looking for a deal on park tickets, Get Away Today will save you the most money on Universal Orlando tickets. This is especially true if you’re doing a longer trip, as Get Away Today has a ‘Buy 2 days, get 3 days free’ special. With more and more to do at Universal Orlando, spending several days in the parks is highly recommended–especially if you’re staying in a nearby hotel and want to do some partial days (also recommended).
I am a fan of the Park-to-Park tickets if you can swing spending extra. This is because Universal did something really ingenious when it built Diagon Alley, and that was connecting the two Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter via the Hogwarts Express.
You can only ride this train from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley (or vice-a-versa) if you have the Park-to-Park ticket. I’m no Harry Potter fan, but the experience of entering a train station in London, walking through a wall, and then taking a train to Hogsmeade is pretty awesome.
If you’re going for just one day and don’t want the park-to-park tickets, the best way to save money on Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida tickets is simply going to be buying tickets online on Universal Orlando’s website. The Universal tickets purchased online can be printed at home and used at the turnstiles–meaning no waiting in line to purchase tickets or exchange vouchers.
Express Pass
Express Pass is Universal Orlando’s version of Genie+ or Lightning Lanes (a way to skip the lines) and is available as a ticket add-on or with select hotel stays. You can purchase two varieties of Express Pass, regular or unlimited. Almost all of the most popular attractions in each park offer Express Pass.
The regular version allows you to skip the line once per eligible attraction in either park, and costs $90 to $350 per person depending on the date. Universal Express Unlimited offers line-skipping privileges, as the name suggests, an unlimited number of times per attraction, and costs between $100 and $380 per person. Even at its most expensive, Genie+ at Walt Disney World costs under $40 per person. So, what’s the difference? Well, a lot.
Unlike Genie+ or Lightning Lanes, there is no tech component to Express Pass. While it’s significantly more expensive, it’s also frictionless. You simply go up to the attraction and use your Express Pass entitlement. There’s nothing to reserve or hassle with in an app. Express Pass involves zero screen time and headaches–but you’ll pay a lot more for it!
Whether Express Pass is worth the money largely depends upon what day of the week and season you’re visiting, and how you value your time versus your money. Personally, we would not pay for Express Pass most days. However, we also avoid weekends and holidays, arrive for park opening, and utilize an efficient park itinerary.
If you really want Express Pass, staying at an on-site hotel that offers Express Pass with your stay is absolutely the way to go. Unlimited Express Pass is available at the Universal Premier category resorts–meaning Royal Pacific, Hard Rock Hotel, and Portofino Bay–which are Universal’s most expensive hotels. Honestly, this is the only way we’ve ever “bought” Express Pass–we couldn’t justify the cost any other way.
All three of these hotels are nice, on par with Walt Disney World’s Deluxe Resorts, and generally cost less. They’re still pricey, but they’re cheaper than Disney’s higher-end hotels, and absolutely worth the money–especially if you want the Unlimited Express Pass perk or a good location within walking or boat distance of Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. If you’d be staying at a nice hotel anyway, this trio is definitely worthy of your consideration.
If you want to learn more about this line-skipping option and how it compares to Walt Disney World’s counterpart, see our guide: Universal’s Express Pass v. Lightning Lanes & Genie+ at Walt Disney World.
Transportation
By far the most common questions we get concerning Universal Orlando Resort is: “what’s the best way to get from Walt Disney World Universal.” The answer is that there are a lot of options, but by far the best is Uber. We covered this in depth in our Uber vs. Rental Cars at Walt Disney World article. Here’s the pertinent portion of that post:
In the past, the best option we’ve found for those who don’t have rental cars the duration of their trips is either renting a car on-site for the day, or taking a pricey shuttle. Neither is cost-effective or all that appealing, especially when you add on that parking fee.
For those who aren’t renting a car for the duration of their trip, Uber or Lyft are the unquestionable best options for getting from Walt Disney World to Universal. The one-way cost of an Uber or Lyft from Walt Disney World will vary depending upon your exact location, typically costing under $25 each way and taking 20-25 minutes.
Dining
There are some good restaurants in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, but as a whole, I do not think the culinary experience is on par with Walt Disney World’s. The unquestionable highlights, in my mind, are the counter service restaurants in Diagon Alley (Leaky Cauldron) and Hogsmeade (Three Broomsticks) and the table service restaurant, Mythos, which is a great value.
Other in-park restaurants at Universal Orlando that we like include the Today Show Cafe (for lighter options) and Krusty Burger (for the exact opposite). Actually, there’s something for everyone in the Springfield area, which has a variety of dining options drawn from The Simpsons.
On the snacking front, you’re obviously going to want to try Butterbeer–perhaps all three varieties (frozen, hot, and regular). Most of the other snacks we enjoy are also in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour and Honeydukes.
Another thing you might want to consider is purchasing a refillable Coke Freestyle mug. I’ve done this, but I can really put down the Cokes to make it worth the money. I’m sure some day I will be toothless, but hopefully that’s at least 5 years away. These Coke Freestyle machines located throughout the parks are also a convenient way to get free water that’s cold and tastes great.
Other Things to Do
Volcano Bay is Universal Orlando’s water park. It’s themed to the South Seas and features a giant volcano (hence the name) in the middle with water slides in it. For Walt Disney World fans, it’s a bit like Typhoon Lagoon water park mixed with Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Adventureland.
All the rides at Volcano Bay feature a Virtual Line instead of traditional standby queues. You tap in with your TapuTapu wearable (think MagicBand) to grab a ride time. Then go float, swim, splash, eat, shop or relax around Volcano Bay. Your TapuTapu will tell you when it’s your time to ride.
You will either love or hate the virtual queue system at Volcano Bay. That pretty much comes down to whether you beat the crowds or not. That can be accomplished by arriving and/or staying late, buying Express Pass, or visiting during the off-season. If you don’t do any of those things, you’ll likely think the virtual queue system sucks, and you won’t accomplish much. It’s definitely a system that creates winners and losers–they key is (obviously) to be in the former group and not the latter.
In addition to the two theme parks and Volcano Bay water park, there’s CityWalk. This is Universal Orlando’s shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, which is a lot like Disney Springs. The big difference is that you walk through CityWalk to access Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure, and it’s incredibly easy to exit the parks and eat lunch or dinner at CityWalk. No bus necessary!
There’s also a lot of relatively new dining at CityWalk, such as Red Coconut Club, Bigfire, Voodoo Doughnut, Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, and VIVO Italian Kitchen–among other things. Toothsome is a fan-favorite for its over the top milkshakes and dessert concoctions (as well as the fun steampunk theme), and Voodoo Doughnut is a fun spot. With that said, we think both are slightly overrated.
For our money, the sleeper hits of the list are Bigfire and Cowfish, both of which offer great food at reasonable (by theme park standards) prices. We’d also give honorable mentions to Vivo and Antojitos Authentic Mexican Food. While the latter is not our personal favorite, it’s better than the “blockbuster” touristy restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville, and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Nothing against any of those–but they’re essentially Applebee’s with more wow-factor. Good enough for predictably-prepared comfort food, but absolutely nothing special.
One final note on attractions is that there are numerous attractions that don’t allow bags, but provide free lockers nearby for storing backpacks, cameras, small children, and whatever other random junk you might have on you. These are pretty convenient and there are larger lockers you can pay for at the front of the park, but the point here is for those of you who are used to bringing a small U-Haul worth of stuff into the Walt Disney World parks: you can’t do that at Universal. Pack for the parks a little lighter.
I think this is probably a good starting point if you’re planning on visiting Universal Orlando Resort as an add-on to your Walt Disney World vacation. If you would like to see some of these topics covered in greater depth, please let me know in the comments. We’re planning to tackle more on dining, special events, and Universal Orlando news in the coming months, so stay tuned for more of that!
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide for everything about those parks, resorts, restaurants, and so much more. For regular updates, news & rumors, a heads up when discounts are released, and much more, sign up for our FREE email newsletter!
Your Thoughts
Are you visiting Universal Orlando Resort in 2024? Excited for Epic Universe or other rumored additions in the next few years? What about Jurassic World VelociCoaster, Hagrid’s, or the new rides that have recently opened? Have a favorite on-site hotel at Universal? Do you prefer staying on-site at Universal, or commuting from Walt Disney World? If you’re a first-timer, is there anything else you’d like to know? Chances are if you have questions still, so does someone else! Please share your thoughts in the comments
Thank you for doing this post! I, too, would be interested in your blueprints for the Universal parks. We are doing three days there next October (following an 8-day stint at WDW) so we should have plenty of time to do/see everything we want, but I still like to see what you prioritize. Then again, we are major Harry Potter (and Simpsons!) fans so we may just wander around those lands the entire time, LOL. We booked a 4-night/3-day package at the Royal Pacific with Express Pass and early entry to WWOHP which seemed really reasonable after what we’re spending at Disney 😉 (PS: Thanks for the heads up on the Halloween Horror Nights…will have to see how that impacts our schedule.)
Went to Diagon Alley last summer. The Gringott’s line was atrocious so we thought we’d wait until the end of the day for the line to die down. Turns out they closed the ride 3 hours early so everyone in line could go through without having to keep the park open late, so we got shut out.
Hopefully the lines have lessened since then, but if not, be aware that the “wait until late” strategy that usually works at the Disney parks may not work for Gringott’s.
It does work for Gringotts. Perhaps not on the very busiest days of the year like NYE, but most of the time, it does. Lines have died down since then.
We visited USF the last weekend of June and Gringotts was one of the shortest lines in the park. I don’t think it had more than a 20 minute wait all day. I can’t for the life of me figure out why but I certainly wasn’t going to complain about it. That being said, I did not enjoy it as much as I enjoy Forbidden Journey. Diagon Alley as a whole though is simply amazing.
I usually purchase the express passes when my girlfriend and I visit, however I am never really happy about doing it. Unfortunately the only time we really visit Universal is in late June / early July when we take a few days as a side trip while visiting family in the Tampa area about an hour away. We do not like to take time out of our May WDW trips each year as we never feel we have enough time there no matter how long we stay. Plus we do not usually rent a car when staying on Disney property. The past 3 times we have been to Universal, average standby waits for most rides were easily around an hour (Dudley Do Right was 2 hours most of the day). Without the Express passes our days would have been downright awful. This leaves me both to both liking that I have the express pass, but hating that I need the express pass.
Even with the express passes saving time though, I still was not 100% happy with them. We waited 20 -30 minutes for several rides even with the express lines. It seems when standby lines are very long the workers there are instructed to move the standby line as much as possible; almost reverse of the way that the fastpass lines get priority when the start to back up at WDW. I know it may sound silly to complain when my wait times were still being shortened by 30 minutes to an hour, but when I am paying an extra $150 per person to have express passes I get a bit more impatient (In comparison, we always buy much cheaper quick queue passes at Busch Gardens / Seaworld an pretty much are able to walk on the rides.) I would much prefer the 3 + free choices that WDW includes, or even the return time machines ala Disneyland (or WDW pre my magic plus).
Have you ever thought about staying in one of the Universal hotels? If you’re paying that much per person, it sounds like one of those hotels that offers Unlimited Express Pass included in the price of the hotel would definitely be worth it for you.
As for the Express Pass v. standby distribution, I’ll bet it’s about the same as Disney. I always find myself waiting longer in FastPass lines when the crowds are heavier there, too. I think it’s a necessary thing. If the ‘express’ queues were always given absolute priority, the standby line would balloon out of control, and you’d have some really dissatisfied guests. There has to be some degree of balance.
I have considered the hotels but decided against them in the end. I think the Hard Rock is the cheapest hotel that offers it and it was close to $400 a night the weekend we were there. If we had stayed 2 nights plus bought park tickets it would have been around $1100 bucks. However, I did read Erin’s comment above about staying only one night and still receiving passes for both check in and check out days. I never knew this was the case and I would definitely consider this as a great option for future trips. As you stated, it really makes the one night a great value.
“Of significant note is that none of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter attractions are eligible for Express Pass.”
This is not exactly true. Diagon Alley has no express pass attractions, but Hogsmead does and they’re both called the ‘Wizarding World of Harry Potter.’ Dragon Challenge does get crowded, and it’s worth using express pass for it.
Ahhh, I was just thinking about the main attractions. I always forget about that one. Thanks!
We went to universal in June. One thing I noticed is that the rides were down. A lot. Mummy went down right as we were getting on the vehicle. For over an hour. During the time we were there, Minion Mayhem, Mummy, Gringotts, Rip Ride Rockit, and one more that escapes me at the moment, we’re all down. A majority of the time off and on. Plus, while we were in Mummy, our locker section went down. We had no diaper bag, no money, no camera, nothing, for over 2 hours. They wouldn’t manually open them because they would “all open at once”. It was a horrible pain.
However, even though we had rotten luck, we still had fun. My husband said Transformers was one of the coolest rides he has ever been on in his life. I could have spent days just wandering Diagon Alley. I would note though that I get somewhat motion sick. Not to Sarah’s extent, but I do. And Simpsons literally did me in. All I could think the whole time was “get me the *bleep* outta here”.
I suspect you just got unlucky. I’ve received emails and comments from first-time visitors complaining about how virtually everything was down at Walt Disney World on certain days of their visit. Just as WDW can have bad days, so too can Universal. The one attraction that I know goes down with some regularity is Escape from Gringotts.
My kids would not stop with the Simpsons. The first and subsequent times made me a little green. Same with start tours. The magic solution for me was to just close my eyes. Felt so much better! LOL
I have been to Universal twice in the last three years (combined with trip to Disney World on each occasion). I stayed at Portofino each time and cannot praise it enough! It has the most beautiful atmosphere, lovely rooms and the pizzeria (which doubles as a little grocery store) is fantastic. It’s so easy to just get on the boat and head straight the park. It’s definitelt worth the money to stay here.
I was incredily excited to have lunch at The Leaky Cauldron, so I was a little devastated when my ‘sandwich’ there turned out to be the worst meal of the entire trip. Neither of us could finish our food because it was so bad. Top points though for recreating something so magical from the movie and maintaining the right atmosphere.
The butterbeer ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s on the other hand….top notch!
I would really, really like to stay at Portofino Bay sometime soon. It looks amazing, and actually reminds me of Hotel MiraCosta (the coolest Disney hotel in the world) a bit. Everyone I know who has stayed there seems to love it. I just think Cabana Bay is probably more within my price range unless I can score a crazy deal.
I agree about the Butterbeer ice cream…somehow I totally forgot about that!
It was a fair bit out of our price range too, but we were travelling from Australia and saved for a long time in order to make sure we’d make it there! It is definitely worth saving for in my opinion!
Great post, and beautiful pictures! WDW first-timer here. I’m going to WDW with my boyfriend in the second week of December (6-day visit), and we really want to see Universal while we’re in Orlando as well. So I’d love to read a 1-day itinerary for a Park-to-Park visit at Universal. Your 1-day itineraries for WDW have been such a great help to us newbies already. 🙂
I think those itineraries will probably be the next posts that I’ll write. I feel I’ve been enough times now to have a pretty good understanding of a good plan that balances efficiency and enjoying ambiance/dining/etc.
Awesome! I’ll definitely keep an eye out for them, thanks!
That is exactly what I’m looking for! I managed to persuade my extended family to spend one day at an amusement park. I’ve been to WDW many times but not Universal and I’m struggling to find the equivalent planning info for park to park.
I thought about this in some detail on my last visit, and I think 1.5 days is the right amount of time for a ‘repeat visit’ Universal. It sounds like an oddly precise amount of time, but if you go for a day you end up feeling like you haven’t stopped to smell the roses (even though you’ll have done most of the attractions), and if you go for two… well, you run out of ambiance (in my opinion, the Harry Potter areas and parts of Islands Of Adventure are the only areas that qualify here), and the frenetic rides leave you longing for a stroll around Epcot!
Mythos is great value, but looking back, was it great food (ignoring the price)? I would say it’s OK, but not great. It seems like an unfair criticism when nobody can argue it’s bad value, and it’s well-themed too (definitely a do-once), but I can think of a large number of WDW restaurants that out-do it. It’s part of what stops Universal being a multi-day resort. (I’d be very interested in your opinions in a longer review on TravelCaffeine though!) So I would definitely agree with your general assessment on dining, and saving the $$ for Disney.
The other thing I would give thought to is whether to do the Universal visit before the Disney trip, after the Disney trip or in the middle. For shorter vacations, it’s a bit crazy to do it in the middle, which leaves the start or end. Doing it first means you can leave at Universal park close (usually earlier than Disney) – or whenever you get bored – and head to Disney via your resort, potentially for more park time. It just gives a little more flexibility.
One disadvantage of going the Uber route is that a rental car doubles as a luggage storage facility. This means you can go straight to the parks on arrival, and straight to the airport on departure. I did have a good go at getting all my luggage into lockers, but ended up having to rent two and split the contents across. It worked out, but I am wondering if a better strategy for next time would be to rent a car from the Dolphin with final drop off at the airport.
I think the problem with a 1.5 days recommendation is that it means forfeiting a half day of admission for which you paid. With that said, I understand what you mean and how you arrived at that number.
As for Mythos, I agree. To me, it’s akin to The Plaza Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. Not the best table service at Walt Disney World, but such a good value that a lot of people love it and rate it highly. For me, ‘value for money’ is such an integral part of anything that I tend to rate things very favorably if they score well in that department. That’s sort of the reason why I dislike Le Cellier so much–it’s not a bad restaurant by any means, but the value for money is atrocious (and the hype is just too much).
Good points about luggage storage!
I would personally go to Universal first. The service at Disney is superior and really is a big part of the experience. Universal is fun for what it is, but the cast at Disney just goes so much further to making it a great time for you. If you are used to Disney Service, Universal will probably disappoint you.
Hi,
thank you for this great article. We are from Germany and great Disney Fans. Last year me and my daughter spend one week in a Disney Hotel and visited all the parks. When we travel to Orlando next Thursday we won’t go to Disney. We only heading to Universal and Sea World. So we got the chance to compare WDW with Universal. If you like, I’ll give the comment, when we’ll get back.
Yes, that would be great. Hope you have a great visit to the US!
My life might be better if this was a Seinfeldtouristblog.
Mine too. 😉
My boyfriend and I just came back from a week long vacation in Orlando and being big Harry Potter fans, we easily spent almost one full day just experiencing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Overall, we spent roughly 2.5 days at Universal and 4.5 days at WDW (we were both first timers to Orlando).
When it comes to food/beverages, we agree that the Harry Potter locations are the highlights. There are some really cool drinks available in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, including specialty beers and nonalcoholic beverages. I especially Otter’s Fizzy Orange Juice and Fishy Green Ale (complete with popping boba!). Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Shop had the best ice cream out of all the ice cream places we went to at both Universal and WDW! Loved the chocolate chili flavor, as well as the butterbeer soft serve.
My boyfriend is a big Simpsons fan as well, so he got a real kick out of Springfield. It was fun to try a Flaming Moe’s beverage, Lard Lad donut and Duff beer. We felt the overall quality was perfectly fine and it was just really cool to say we’ve tried this stuff from intellectual properties we love.
I could totally see spending that much time in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter if you are fans of the books or movies. I am neither, and I still spent a ton of time in the Harry Potter lands. I’m sure a ton of stuff went over my head, but oh well.
As for Springfield, I like it for what it is, and as a fan of (the early seasons of) The Simpsons, I appreciated a lot of the in jokes. However, I thought the food there was some of the worst theme park food I have ever had. Maybe that’s part of the ‘joke’ (I doubt it), but it just did nothing for me.
Try the taco truck – I am not sure if it was considered in Springfield. If not – it was just outside of. Wasn’t horrible =)
Just wondering what order you would rank the following: dinosaurs, dragons, goats, baby Sinclaire, ‘Mater.
5.
4.
3.
2.
T1. Dinosaurs, Dragons, Goats, Baby Sinclair, Mater
😉
Hey Tom! Love all of your stuff! Just a tip for you guys for Sarah’s motion sickness…try Bonine. I too, get sick on Everest and several Uni attractions. Bonine is over the counter and two tablets an hour or so before hitting the rides works wonders. Now that I live in the Orlando area and have AP’s to most of the local parks, I keep a steady supply of it lol. Thanks for all of your awesome work!
The Universal trip was a last minute decision, so Sarah didn’t have a chance to get the normal motion sickness patch she uses (I think it’s a behind the ear thing?), but thanks for the tip!
Great post Tom.
Next time make sure to check out the CityWalk and hotel restaurants. While WDW might have some better in park restaurants, the ones outside are just as good if not better. Personal highlight include Vivo, Cowfish, Tchoup Chop, and the Kitchen.
Thanks for the recommendations. I’ve actually never heard of Vivo, Tchoup Chop, or The Kitchen. I hear a lot about Cowfish, and the general jist of it has been, “the food is great but the service is so awful that it’s not worth it.” What has your experience with service there been?
Service has improved. Trip in April with friends improved a lot. My advice is to try it for lunch.
I had great service at Cowfish back in January and it was for dinner! So it must be hit or miss.
For when to go, unless you are a massive Potterhead, DO NOT GO DURING HARRY POTTER WEEKEND! It’s normally in the Winter. My friend who works at Royal Pacific was stuck in traffic for an hour trying to get in so she could start her 4am shift, because so many fans were trying to get in so that they could wait in line for a Q&A with the Weasly Twins. I was going to go that day, but didn’t know about the Harry Potter event, so she texted me, and my fiance and I switched to Disney instead, and went to Universal a couple days later after the crowds died down. All the Universal employees said that it was the worst event they ever had to work, due to huge amounts of screaming fans in Wizard costumes. This was the first year they did it, so hopefully they will fix the traffic and parking situation in the future, but for now it’s best to stay away.
I’ve heard it’s bad during ‘A Celebration of Harry Potter’, but I didn’t realize it was *that* bad. Wow. Thanks for the tip–I’m sure you just saved someone a major headache! 🙂
I am a massive Potterhead and I’d still probably not go on a Potter weekend. As much fun as it would be to celebrate with other fans, it’s not worth the wait times. My family went to Hogsmeade a month after it opened and we were turned away right after opening time because they had already reached capacity. We were told to go do something else in the park and come back after 3:00 p.m. when things “died down” a bit and we’d be able to get in. We did, and it was STILL so packed that there were wait lines just to get into the stores. The shortest wait time was 15 minutes to get into honeydukes. The Forbidden Journey ride had a 3 and a half hour wait time, Ollivanders had 90 minutes, and the rest of the stores were all at least 45 minute waits and once you could actually get in, there was no room to swing a Kneazle and you couldn’t see all the AWESOME theming. We left, disappointed, without having done a single ride or experience. Guest relations DID however give me a free wand when we complained about the experience. I have heard that it’s not that bad anymore, but I can imagine that a Potter weekend would probably regress the situation. Unless you can handle large crowds and do NOT have small children, even if you are a major Potterhead, I wouldn’t recommend going at that time. You have to weigh how much it’s worth spending time with other fans against spending WAY more time in the lines and not being able to do/see as much. If the camaraderie is more important to you, by all means, take advantage of it. But considering how much it costs, I want to EXPERIENCE it, and I couldn’t really do that when we couldn’t even walk down the pathways much less get into the rides. But then, I am not a coaster fan so the only thing I really wanted to do was the Forbidden Journey and the Ollivander wand choosing, neither of which I got to do. Maybe if you love coasters, it would be worth it.
It’s not like that anymore. I mean, wait times can get crazy, but not anywhere near that. Also, Forbidden Journey, to me, is more intense than a roller coaster. I love it and I love roller coasters, but that ride is not great for people that get dizzy or motion sickness easy!
We have always done a few days in universal before heading to disney when we come over to Orlando from the uk.
Last time we stayed in the royal Pacific and we LOVED it! It’s not really that long a walk to the park, I’d say 15 mins brisk walk and there are river taxis too. We never took the taxi though as the walk is so beautiful, I think you would love it as the flora and fauna is lovely! And it’s so peaceful.
It’s also a great running route (if you’re in to that)! Although once you get to the parks you have to turn round. We were training for tot10m last year so we had to fit in a few runs!
We’re staying at cabana bay next year and can’t wait!
I’d love some more posts about Universal in the context of adding it on to a Disney trip. We’re planning on taking a one day trip in December, we last went before they built all the Harry Potter stuff. We’ll definitely use your tip about Uber to get there/back. I’m going to investigate the dining plan now.
Could you be more specific as to what types of post you’d like to see? More in-depth hotel coverage? One-day itineraries for each park? Attraction ratings and overviews? Something else? I’m just trying to get an idea of what people would want. I’m not going to get into nitty-gritty stuff here as this is a *Disney* blog and I don’t want to push it too far into Universal territory (some coverage is okay, a ton of coverage isn’t), but I can always do the more in-depth stuff on TravelCaffeine.
One day itineraries would be great and I think they would fit here because it would be about taking one day out of your Disney vacation. Personally, I’m not interested in the hotels because I booked a package to go to Disney with the hotel included (I’ve seen the split your stay recommendations on forums but I’m too lazy for that) so it is really a one day to Universal and done from my point of view. However, I think I’m an anomaly because we’re looking to go when it’s quiet and do both parks in a day.
A Universal Trip Report covering hotels, City Walk, restaurants etc. would be interesting to read but probably on your other site, not here from a “branding” point of view (please note I am not a marketing person in any way shape or form so I could be talking nonsense).
A one-day itinerary for both parks in one day would be extremely useful… I say that selfishly because that’s what we’re planning to do in November 🙂 One day is all my husband wants to cut from Disney (he doesn’t really like Marvel or Harry Potter, so going at all was kind of a tough sell).
YES! I agree one day both parks itinerary. This isn’t our first time to Universal but everything I’ve read says it can’t be done. It makes me nervous because that is all I have allotted. Last time we drove and did 2 days. This time we are flying and its not as easy to cab or uber with a family of five. We are going in December so I figured we would for sure skip all the water rides. Those got us soaked last time. Had planned to start in IoA in Marvel work around to Hogsmeade – do all of that lunch at 3BS, Hogwarts express make the loop ending in Diagon Alley again spending more time. Don’t know if it’s gonna work. I’ve tried both ways on touring plans starting ing USF on despicable me. Tips would be helpful!
I would love to see an article from your wife’s perspective on how she feels about each ride in regards to motion sickness. It would be super helpful if she compared them to Disney rides, as in “if you can handle riding Soarin’, you will be fine on…..” Because unknowing going on certain rides can really ruin your day if you’re prone to motion sickness.
I also agree that a one day 2-park itinerary, with a focus on seeing Harry Potter plus the top choices in the rest of the parks, would be helpful for those of us not wanting to give up any more days that that from Disney.
So many of your posts have been so helpful and very entertaining reads!
Thanks for the overview…some members of our family added Universal to their schedule last Sept. & felt it was well worth it. (I am not a big fan.) AND…I Love the new blog look! Crisp, clean, bright, condensed, engaging. It showcases your photos even better… It even made me read about Universal!
I love Universal. Some of my absolute favorite attractions in Orlando (Disaster, ET, Spider-Man, both Harry Potter attractions, Revenge of the Mummy, etc.) are at Universal. My biggest complaint is there are some areas that are very weak thematically, but Universal seems to be working harder to make sure its new areas are immersive, so I think that will change over time.
Glad you like the new look. It might be a temporary design until I can get a “real” web designer to put together something that really looks good, but I’m pleased with it for something I did on my own (I know little to nothing about web design).
Thanks for this along with the links to other blogs.
Adding Universal to a WDW trip for the first time in March for HP and feeling like a total newbie.
I too think the new blog format looks fantastic on my iPad. I do love your logo though and would like to see it a bit bigger at the top. It looks disproportionately small compared to the titles etc. My 2 cents for what they’re worth 🙂
The plus side, I think, is that Universal requires way less advance planning than Walt Disney World to have a good time. You will still have a better time if you do some basic planning, but it’s far less intimidating.
Thanks for the kind words on the new design. Glad people are liking it! 🙂
Fun fact, I rode front seat on the first ride of the soft opening of Revenge of the Mummy. My 8th grade concert band was visiting Orlando for a competition and we were at Universal Studios and as we were waiting to get in, an employee walked up to me and my friends and asked if we wanted to ride a new ride and give feedback. So we said sure and they took us to the building (the sign was still covered) and we rode the ride. We were so blown away by it, we asked if we could ride it again, and they said, “sure”. As much as I love the Harry Potter rides, that made Mummy my favorite ride at Universal.
Thanks, Tom! I went to Universal last year for the first time in 15 years and was delighted by it. I’m going again in a few months with my husband and daughter (who’s only 3 and probably too young, but we grown-ups very much want to see Diagon Alley). We stayed at Royal Pacific last time, and we thought it was very good, but not quite great. We are staying there again on our next visit (in the refurbed tower, fingers crossed!). We love being able to be within walking distance of literally everything Universal offers.
A couple of quick points. Staying on-site at any Universal hotel (including Cabana Bay) gets you into TWWOHP (at least on the IOA side and sometimes on the USF side) an hour early. This is sometimes extended to annual pass holders and people staying at other hotels. But generally, there are MANY fewer people who qualify for early entry at Universal than at WDW. It’s kinda great to see Hogsmeade “wake-up.”
Additionally, a quick word about the Ultimate Express Pass you get for staying at a on-site deluxe (e.g., not Cabana Bay). I don’t equate it to FastPass because it is good for just about every ride/attraction except TWWOHP. There’s no need to pull tickets (a la DL) or stay up until the middle of the night to get proper windows for FP+ for three and then hope and pray you can score additional ones by standing in line at a kiosk (a la WDW). You just go to the line, and that’s it. Also, the Ultimate Express Pass allows you to go as many times as you want. My husband fell in love with Men in Black, so we went on it, no kidding, about 10 times with the UEP.
One last thing to consider. The onsite hotels grant their privileges of early entry (to at least TWWOHP at IOA) and the Ultimate Express Pass on the day of check-on AND the day of check-out. So for a family that wants to spend 2 days at Universal, they could “check-in” at 7am at the Universal deluxe hotel, be at the gate in time for early entry, use the Express Pass, spend one night at a Universal hotel, gain early entry on day 2, check-out by 11am, and continue to use the Express Pass for the remainder of day 2. They just have to stay-on site one night. And, with the Ultimate Express Pass and early entry, it is entirely possible to see most everything (at least within the desired demographic set) in two days. It doesn’t make financial sense for everyone to stay the one night, but if you are staying during a high period and you have 4-5 people staying in a room and you are considering Express Passes or Ultimate Express Passes, it’s worth considering.
This is really great stuff, thanks for sharing. I might borrow some of the ideas and expand upon the “Where to Stay” text. I did not know that about Ultimate Express Pass on both the day of check-in AND check-out. That means a 1-night stay is REALLY a good value at one of the hotels.
I totally agree with your husband about Men in Black: Alien Attack. I’m probably going to catch the ire of Toy Story Mania fans, but I think it is far and away the best shooter game in Orlando (or anywhere, for that matter). If I were a local, that is one ride I’d do again and again to really hone my skills!
I remember about 10 or 15 years ago, we did Universal with my cousins, staying at the Hard Rock Hotel. My younger sister and oldest cousin (still younger than my sister) looped Men in Black for nearly an hour, using the UEP over and over while our parents happily sat outside and relaxed. If you want to loop rides like that, UEP is amazing.
Just wondering how the UEP compares to the single rider lines that Universal offers. We’re a group of adults going & were just planning to use the single rider lines instead of purchasing any version of the express passes. Would appreciate some feedback since we’re not seasoned UO visitors and this will be our first time in TWWOHP.
We love Universal! Thanks so much for the tip on their Quick Service Dining Plan…wow! Sounds like a good value – not sure why we’ve never considered it before, but we will now!
It’s not always a good value, so be sure to crunch the numbers in your head, but if you’re going to be being drinks in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you pretty much always can come out ahead.
Yup, we’ll definitely be sucking down the Butter Beers lol.