Universal Studios Orlando

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

We went for my birthday in June to Disney/Universal. Harry Potter stuff is awesome and Velicoaster is probably the best coaster I've ever been on. (Done most the big ones as Cedar Point too) Other than that a lot of the rides are identical and use 3D screens (It got old real quick). Lots of people around me have passes, last week some friends went and said Hagrid's was virtual queue only, so get on top of that ASAP for your IOA day. The ride inside the castle is not easy on the stomach. I never get sick from rides and I almost threw up on it, and I was warned before. It is cool but if anyone has vertigo or any sensitivity, they need to avoid it.

My advice - two days is enough to see everything at each park. If your worried about this, book only one night at a Universal resort, they include a Fast Pass for everyone. So you can get there a 7am and get a fast pass for that, and get a fast pass for the next day before you head out. OR if you have a young child, you can do child swap to cheat the lines a little.

The wands are cool for kids, but relatively useless else where. Make sure to get everyone some butterbeer, it is really good. ParkHopper is cool if you want to ride the Hogwarts Express, otherwise save a few bucks and go without it.

Each ticket allows you access to a free small locker. We brought a backpack with yeti jugs with water. Put the jugs in one locker and squeezed the backpack to the other locker... no need to pay for one.

Try to make your trip happen on Tues/Wed/Thu. Mondays are super busy for some reason. Fri/Sat/Sun self explanatory.

With that being said, use your other two days for Disney. Disney blows away Universal from almost every perspective. 100% Hollywood Studios no matter what. Rise of the Resistance is by far the best themed and coolest attraction. This is virtual queue, so at 6:58 pulldown like your refreshing your screen and at 7:00 let go. You should get a time to get in, worst case the 1pm slot is alot easier to get, but still need to be quick. Magic Kingdom is phenomenal for kids. And if you have the ability, Animal Kingdom is really good too. Their safari ride will get you closer to animals probably than you ever been, kids love it. The robotics on the Avatar river ride are amazing, you would think it was a real Avatar.

If you have the time, you can drive down to Tampa and check out Busch Gardens. Relatively cheap park with some good rides (lots of coasters). Thats about an hour from Orlando.

 

[Yambers]

My oldest daughter, son in law, and 2 grandkids just came back Saturday from Orlando. both vaccinated and all 4 got Covid bad. They wore masks and tried to be careful but got it anyway.
I would stay away until this thing gets better.
The 3 and 6 year old only got runny noses but the 2 adults are definitely suffering

What he said. Put it off indefinitely. I just got off a call about the Covid #'s in Florida right now, and it is crazy down there. Hospitals have more patients than beds. Nothing would be safe to touch down there.

Finishing a bucket list is not worth potentially getting everyone sick. And trust me, kids never really "leave". I have 2 in the house in there 20's. granted, 1 is in school and one just got out of the service, but you will have time for family memories later.

My opinion of course, and not intended to be a discussion about Covid. Just safety for you and your family.

 

[Neutron]

What he said. Put it off indefinitely. I just got off a call about the Covid #'s in Florida right now, and it is crazy down there. Hospitals have more patients than beds. Nothing would be safe to touch down there.

Finishing a bucket list is not worth potentially getting everyone sick. And trust me, kids never really "leave". I have 2 in the house in there 20's. granted, 1 is in school and one just got out of the service, but you will have time for family memories later.

My opinion of course, and not intended to be a discussion about Covid. Just safety for you and your family.

Yup my daughter is in bed sick and i am going through grandchildren withdrawals not seeing them for 3 weeks and probably not for a few weeks more. They haven't been able to visit to see my youngest daughter (their aunt) who is visiting with me from RI for this week.
Now it will be another year for them to see each other again.
I told them it was a bad idea to go but kids never listen to their parents even as adults

 

[DRAT]

We went in December 2019. If you want to ride anything you'd better get to the parks 30 minutes before they open, Fast Pass or not. That's the bad news. The good news is, if you do that, you'll ride everything before 10am. Then you can go back and stand in lines for the stuff you wanna do again. My kids like thrill rides so preferred Universal to Magic Kingdom, and when I think back on the trip almost all of the cool stuff I remember was at Universal, with the exception of Animal Kingdom. That place is AWESOME.

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

We went in December 2019. If you want to ride anything you'd better get to the parks 30 minutes before they open, Fast Pass or not. That's the bad news. The good news is, if you do that, you'll ride everything before 10am. Then you can go back and stand in lines for the stuff you wanna do again. My kids like thrill rides so preferred Universal to Magic Kingdom, and when I think back on the trip almost all of the cool stuff I remember was at Universal, with the exception of Animal Kingdom. That place is AWESOME.

It has been several years since we at Universal, but this was our experience as well. Getting there when the park opened, we did more rides in the first two hours than the rest of the day.

Jim

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

We went in December 2019. If you want to ride anything you'd better get to the parks 30 minutes before they open, Fast Pass or not. That's the bad news. The good news is, if you do that, you'll ride everything before 10am. Then you can go back and stand in lines for the stuff you wanna do again. My kids like thrill rides so preferred Universal to Magic Kingdom, and when I think back on the trip almost all of the cool stuff I remember was at Universal, with the exception of Animal Kingdom. That place is AWESOME.

I was able to do all rides at both parks in 1.5 days on two very busy days, gotta use the apps to judge where to go next.

 

[HangOutdoors]

We were able to book a 5* all inclusive in Punta Cana for 7 days and $2000 less. Seemed like a no brainer. Two extra days, less $$$ and no driving/buying food responsibility.

Dominican Republic can get dicey. Have heard of people having a great time and minimal issues. Some family just got back from Punta Cana and they were accosted on more than one occasion and once at gun point in the resort they were at which was an upscale resort I was told. Make sure you up to date on your diphtheria vaccinations as well before you go, outbreaks are occurring and happen all the time there. It is very beautiful there from what I saw of their pictures.

 

[BlkGS]

I'm going to disney in September. Got great deal because I booked it a while back. The closer it gets the crazier prices go

The week after labor day was our favorite time to go. It's insanely hot and if you're not tough you might die, but it's usually very empty and a great time.

 

[BlkGS]

@dbfl Yeah Epcot took a chunk out of me and my wallet, was awesome though. There is a German Restuarant there that I was introduced to Schöfferhofer (schofferhofer.us) , Ever since then it has been a go to drink for me when I want something refreshing and want to relax.

Lowes food stores and sometimes Sam's club sell that ?

 

[F.M.]

My daughter (20yo) just went to Universal last week with a few friends. She said the park was great, lines weren't too bad, about 1.5hr lines for the newest rides. They stayed off site for quite a bit less than on resort, less that $1k for a 3 bedroom house with a pool. One of the friends lives in Orlando and had a season pass with free parking as well so that helped too. She says that that I would really like it and that I need to take her again. We're an amusement park family, usually doing six flags and dollywood a few times a year, and she liked universal more than both.

 

[DogDadDave]

Trying to take the family down in December for 5 days. The prices are crazy. I had a package in my cart and then when I clicked checkout it told me my session timed out. Went back through the process and now the package is $1018 more, with economy resort and 4 day park passes. Now I am afraid that if I wait the prices will go up again or they will be all booked. What a scam.

Did you try clearing the cookies in your browser between these attempts?

 

[HangOutdoors]

Yes. I also used my ghost server, which cant be tracked. Same price, so we just went ahead and booked it

 

[DogDadDave]

Yes. I also used my ghost server, which cant be tracked. Same price, so we just went ahead and booked it

Hope it's a great trip! I've been a few times as an adult and it's a significantly nicer park than when I was younger. We were impressed with the level of detail in the Harry Potter areas, especially the significant step up in immersion from the older HP side to the newer area on the "studio" side.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Been to disney once loved it 2 years ago. Figured we would try universal although we had it booked for spring of 2020 but of course cancelled. Gonna take 1 day to cruise over to disney and do Galaxy"s Edge, since we havent done that yet

 

[HangOutdoors]

My daughter (20yo) just went to Universal last week with a few friends. She said the park was great, lines weren't too bad, about 1.5hr lines for the newest rides. They stayed off site for quite a bit less than on resort, less that $1k for a 3 bedroom house with a pool. One of the friends lives in Orlando and had a season pass with free parking as well so that helped too. She says that that I would really like it and that I need to take her again. We're an amusement park family, usually doing six flags and dollywood a few times a year, and she liked universal more than both.

We have done Dollywood several times since we like Gatlinburg alot. We are in Cedar Point today and tommorrow.

 

[F.M.]

We have done Dollywood several times since we like Gatlinburg alot. We are in Cedar Point today and tommorrow.

Cedar point is great also. The top fuel dragster ride is amazing.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Cedar point is great also. The top fuel dragster ride is amazing.

I find it to be relatively boring. Yes it’s tall and fast but it only lasts like 30 seconds but it doesn’t really do much outside of that. (That’s what she said)

Millennium Force is a better coaster there IMO

 

[F.M.]

I find it to be relatively boring. Yes it’s tall and fast but it only lasts like 30 seconds but it doesn’t really do much outside of that. (That’s what she said)

Millennium Force is a better coaster there IMO

Millennium Force is great too. It's hard not to be a good ride at 70mph.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Millenium force now runs 93 mph, i believe. Its great we road it. Our favorite is steel vengence. It was fantastic.

 

[Tgen2013]

Theme parks in general are highway robbery. Pre Covid my eldest daughter and her husband an one child went on a "all the frills" Disney trip. 5 freakin days,...............it was 12,000 $
WTF !!
( And I thought I was being generous giving them 3500 $$). WTF !!!! Screw Mickey Mouse !?