Universal Studios Florida - give me your best tips!

[katilac]

So my kids heard about the Harry Potter theme park, lol, and we may do this instead of Disney. Do their 'off seasons' line up with Disneys? Where do you stay? How's their meal plan?

 

Do you need more than a day in each park? What else do you do?

 

speak to me!! thanks!!

[sbgrace]

We had so much fun. You can easily get multi-day tickets cheaply as it's the initial entrance ticket that is the main expense so I'd do that in case you want extra days. That said, parking made return visits expensive for us even though we had 7 day tickets and we did both parks in one day in a really off season with no lines. All rides were essentially walk on. I don't think we could have done one day with lines. I imagine some hotels have shuttle to Universal rather than Disney depending on location and that might be good to look into when deciding where to stay. We were doing the Disney thing primarily so we picked location based on that instead. Season wise it will line up with Disney but days of crowding will be different. We did it on the day of the week that was supposed to be "off" for them because Disney had long hours on that particular date or something like that.

 

We adults had far more fun at Universal (Islands of Adventure especially) than we did at Disney. I would say that would be true for many older children and adults. They do have a neat Suess portion for the young crowd that was really enjoyable. My boys only did Disney but my nephews enjoyed it as much or more than Disney and they were very young, 4 and under, at the time. It's a great park! They were building the Potter section when we were there so we didn't get to experience it. I imagine it's fantastic.

 

We've done the park twice. Once was pre-kids and the other this past year. It's by far my favorite park of anything and I think I've seen most major parks on the east half of the US. There are neat things on the Universal side but we enjoy the Islands of Adventure side more. I can't remember which side has Potter but I'd do both sides if you can.

Edited July 5, 2010 by sbgrace

[ktgrok]

We used to have annual passes, so I've been there a LOT. If you can afford it then stay on property, we adore the Royal Pacific personally, but haven't been there with kids. My dh actually proposed to me at Universal Studios, so it's special to us. Anyway, if you stay at a hotel there you get free fast passes that you can use throughout the park,allowing you to skip the lines. If you have those you don't need much more than a day. I supposed if you wanted to make it two days you could do Universal one day and Islands the other. There is stuff for all ages, from Shrek to Jimmy Neutron to rollercoasters. OH, and there is the Seuss part, which is a blast, and in Universal a Woody Woodpecker area with a huge ball fight area....think soft foam balls with airguns that poof them at people. My son and husband could spend hours in there if I let them. That are also has a water play section. Another family hit with my group is the Men in Black ride, you shoot laser guns and see how high you can score. The meal deal is cheap enough, but I've never done it as we only go for a few hours at at time, since we live 25 minutes away.

[3littlekeets]

If you stay on-site, you get into the Harry Potter an hour before the park opens :D, and yet get to cut all the lines in the rest of the two parks, so seasons don't matter all that much. ; once you factor in parking, it is a pretty decent deal!

[michmom]

Definitely check their specials. Often times, their annual pass can work out cheaper than a two day pass. As others mentioned, staying at one of their hotels is a great deal if you can swing it due to the benefit of getting to go in the express line. You can do this on the day you check in the hotel even if your room is not ready as well as the day you leave. We zoomed through all of the rides even when there were long lines of people. It made all of the difference in the world. Plus, we really like all of the hotels - we have stayed at all three on site hotels but they are at different price ranges. They do run specials on the hotels as well so check that. The other advantage of staying at the onsite hotels is that there are several "wet" rides at Universal so we always take one morning or one afternoon and wear bathing suits under our shorts and shoes without socks or other appropriate attire that dries fast and do all of the wet rides and then return to the hotel to change before going back to the parks. That way you do not slosh around the parks all day in wet shoes and wet clothes.

 

We love Disney but Islands of Adventure is now our favorite park. Some rides we ride numerous times, especially Spiderman. In Universal Studios we have favorites as well including Men in Black but there are fun things in both parks. We easily spend two days there just returning to our favorites.

 

Lynn

[AngieW in Texas]

Do not do Blue Man Group without very good earplugs. Their concert is absolutely deafening. If the volume of the music and the length of the show were both cut in half, I would have enjoyed it. As it was, I was miserable until the end. My oldest loved it.

[Mommyof4ks]

We loved US back in May. There were no lines to anything, and I would say one park a day is fine for those that love thrill rides and both parks in one day for those that don't. If you want to see the shows and go in all of the shops, then two days will certainly be necessary. If you have time do those parks each in a day and the Disney parks each in a day. If you plan well and get fast passes to everything with lines at Disney, then one day at each park is very doable.

 

I have no idea about accommodations or meal plans as we did not stay on property. Rental houses off property are cheap in the off seasons.

[katilac]

Do not do Blue Man Group without very good earplugs. Their concert is absolutely deafening. If the volume of the music and the length of the show were both cut in half, I would have enjoyed it. As it was, I was miserable until the end. My oldest loved it.

 

Great advice; my entire family is sensitive to noise!

 

You guys are being so helpful; thank you! I'm taking notes on all these posts.