Universal Orlando

[jgenie]

I’m contemplating a trip this summer. I’m thinking 4 full days. Is that too long? I looked at rates - it’s a $1,200 difference between the basic on-site hotel and the on-site hotel that includes the skip the line pass. We would pay $99 per person per day so it’s the same to just book the nicer hotel. Anything I’m missing? They have airport transfers at $110 for all of us. It looks like Uber XL would be $40 each way so cheaper plus it would only be us not a bus of people. It looks like the resort is super close to the airport. Is it as easy as it seems or am I missing something. We’re mainly going to see Harry Potter. Which other rides do you recommend as not to be missed? Which rides aren’t worth the effort? TIA

ETA: Is the Universal photo pass worth the price? Looks like it’s $100 for 5 days.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Are you going to go to Volcano Bay? If so, 4 days is a good amount of time. Staying onsite with express passes mean you can take breaks mid-day for the pool and relaxation. Unlike Disney, you really can blend a theme park vacation with a leisurely one.

FYI- that $99 for express passes is the starting price- it can be as high as $140+ per person based on how busy it is. So, staying in the fancy hotels is the better choice.

Uber or Lyft make a lot more sense. They are readily available. That's what we used. Easy.

See if their buy 2 get 2 day ticket promo is running while you are there. I know they recently extended it.

All rides are worth it as while some may think they are either boring or they don't like motion simulators, other people really enjoy them. Who knows what you'll personally like! The theming of the simulator rides is really fun.

Must dos- buy interactive wands, all Harry Potter stuff, ride the Mummy, ride Men in Black, see Animal Actors, ride all the water rides (though you'll get soaked!), pick a fun song on Rip Ride Rockit, do some meet and greets especially with the Transformers, play in Camp Jurassic

Read the Orlando Informer website to learn a bunch.

[TwinFoxes]

If you're just going to the two parks, I think 4 days is too much. We went for three days, and on two of them the park closed at 8pm and we left by like 5pm.

I would definitely stay at the onsite hotel that include express passes.

We took an Uber XL both ways and it was <$40. Super easy. I requested one once we retrieved our bags, and it arrived in about 7 minutes. The drive to our hotel was maybe 20 minutes.

Get Park to Park tickets so you can take the Hogwarts Express.

Have fun!

[newnana]

For us, 4 days was perfect. DD is a HUGE HP fan and she doesn't like rides. Everything I looked at said it would be too much, but it was great for us. It gave her time to absorb every teeny tiny detail of the HP areas at her own pace and then worked up the courage to do the rides and gave me a little downtime to actually have a vacation.

We would go to the park for the early morning hours before the crowds arrived and head straight to one of the HP areas.

Day 1 was just about absorbing it all for DD. She also really wanted to do the castle tour where you have more time in each of the rooms and not do the ride, there is a separate line for that. Once it started to get crowded, we took the Hogwarts express to the other park and did something else (MIB, transformers, just explore...)

Each day after the parks got crowded we went back to the hotel either to nap (time zone difference for us) and head to the pool. Then early dinner and back to the park after the lines died down and to see different fun stuff at night (frog choir, the Gringott's dragon at night, etc etc. )

I let DD pick what to prioritize the next 3 mornings so we didn't ever have to worry about fast passes since her ride interest is so low. She could have spent 2 days just doing exploring the shops and the magic wands. Because she is so HP obsessed and the parks are so small, 4 days was perfect for us to let her explore at her own pace. We did not feel rushed and we left feeling like we had done everything we wanted to do. She did do the Gringott's and castle rides and LOVED the little roller coaster by Hagrid's hut). With focusing on avoiding the crowds and really only being in the park morning/evenings we never really waited in lines even though it was a long holiday weekend. Enjoy!

[jgenie]

Thanks for the tips. Are all the resorts mostly the same? I’m looking at Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino Bay Hotel. TIA

[nfceagles]

Thanks for the tips. Are all the resorts mostly the same? I’m looking at Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino Bay Hotel. TIA

On the whole, they are very comparable luxury hotels with varying themes. Portofino is Italian themed, runs the most expensive, has slightly more sq footage I think, and is the longest walk. Royal Pacific is island themed, the cheapest, and typically smallest rooms. Hard Rock is more contemporary and rock themed (obviously), the shortest walk, and middle of the price range.


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[jgenie]

On the whole, they are very comparable luxury hotels with varying themes. Portofino is Italian themed, runs the most expensive, has slightly more sq footage I think, and is the longest walk. Royal Pacific is island themed, the cheapest, and typically smallest rooms. Hard Rock is more contemporary and rock themed (obviously), the shortest walk, and middle of the price range.

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Thank you!!! How much of a difference is the walk? Like 20, 15, 10?

[SnuggleBuggles]

10. It’s just that RP and HR are so, so close. PB really isn’t that far away. It’s a sprawling resort too though so you can chalk up a fair amount walking at the hotel.


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[KrisM]

10. It’s just that RP and HR are so, so close. PB really isn’t that far away. It’s a sprawling resort too though so you can chalk up a fair amount walking at the hotel.


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Yes! We stayed there last June and were near the end of a section. It was a long walk to anything - restaurant, store, boat, etc. We found some shortcuts, but the signage isn't great, so you have to figure out those yourself. I'd try somewhere else next time.

We did not walk to Universal at all. We just used the boat.

[andie16]

We stayed at PB last month and had a great time in one of the Minion Kids Suites. The extra space was great. I guess we got lucky with our room location (I think it was called the East Wing, but would want to double check that) - we were about as close as you could be to the boat and right there where the restaurants were too. It was also a great spot for walking to or from the parks which we did several times.

We had 4 day passes (with the original intent to go to Volcano Bay one day but it was closed because of bad weather the whole time we were there) and I thought we would get bored, but it was nice to go at a relaxing pace. Even though it was cold, my kids still had fun at the pool. One day it poured and we just went to the parks for a couple of hours and the kids rode the water rides (since they were soaked anyway) and then we went back to the hotel to change into dry clothes, have lunch at the hotel, and then back to City Walk to go to a movie and had dinner at the NBC Grill and played foos ball - it turned out to be a really fun day!

We took Lyft from the airport and Uber XL back and worked out fine for our family of 5.

Favorite things to do were all of the HP stuff for sure. For other rides my big kids liked the Hulk and everyone liked the Rip Ride Rockit, even my newly turned 9 year old who had never really done a roller coaster like that before. We all liked The Simpsons and Men in Black better than the Mummy, but liked that one more than Transformers (that one made me feel sick) and the Minions and Shrek "rides" are fun too as are Spiderman and King Kong. We thought Fast and the Furious was a waste of time. Camp Jurassic was fun for 9 and 12 year olds and they even liked the little play area near the E.T. ride, which is a very nice, enjoyable ride. Both evening light shows were hits as well.

Have fun! It was the right trip for us this time vs going back to Disney, but overall I do like Disney better. This was by far much easier and the HP experience is very well done.