Disney family planning first trip to USO completely last minute - Please help with your BEST tip!

[kupair]

We have done several trips at Disney, but realizing this is our daughter's last spring break trip before college with us, we are trying to plan something last minute. We have 4 kiddos - ages 9-16. My kids like rides, but aren't huge thrill ride seekers. (they like Thunder and Space mountain - those might be the height of their thrill tolerance!) We love the Tampa area and were going to go to the beach and relax, but OH MY GOSH! The same condos have like tripled in price since a few years ago! So...I'm wondering if USO is a doable trip with about 3 weeks to plan? I'm reading the boards, but if I could get your one best piece of advice (even if it's that the trip isn't doable) please drop it here. I would be totally grateful!

 

[Skippyboo]

Universal Orlando is pretty easy. It’s basically booking tickets and picking a hotel. Tickets are basically like Disney how many park days, you want. They may have some sort of ticket special going on. Then how many parks. Definitely do 2 park to park tickets ( Studios and IoA). Those 2 are right next to each other and you need park to park to ride the Hogwarts Express. You could also add Volcano Bay if you want a water park.

As for hotels, you could price out the premiere hotels (Portofino, Hard Rock and Royal Pacific). They are going to be pretty expensive but you get unlimited express passes for every one. On cheaper side, Dockside/Surfside have 2 bedrooms suites. The onsite hotel will give you 1 hr early entry to whatever park is open early and free transportation to and from the parks.

You could also stay offsite and park in the parking garage. Other than Toothsome, dining reservations can be made a couple of days before or even during the day.

 

[MousetersInc]

Here's my grab-bag of tips from another "long time Dis, first time UO" thread: https://www.disboards.com/threads/sons-first-trip-help.3909801/#post-64606375

And yes, go for it! As long as you can get the right hotel reservations, 3 weeks seems fine. There are no ADRs to worry about, no 60-day FastPass+ reservations (resquiat in pace).

If your party is averse to intense roller coasters, you might want to skip the Hulk; you might want to try Velocicoaster though since it's so fun and smooth. And you for sure might want Hagrid's, which is heavily themed ala a Disney ride.

Hm, single best piece of advice? I'd say "even though these parks are smaller, don't be afraid to take a nap." Or maybe "even though dining reservations are easier, don't wait until 5pm to decide where to have dinner, or you might wind up eating at 9."

 

[UOAP-Naples]

You have plenty of time for hotel and any meal reservations you decide to make. Decide on your park tickets and that’s all you have to do.

You don’t have to “plan” universal very much. You can go tomorrow and have fun. With a group of 6 I would definitely plan on getting some reservations, maybe one restaurant per day.

Best piece of advice for your family: Use single rider lines if you don’t have express pass. Your kids are all old enough to ride by themselves so it will save a lot of time standing in line at spring break. The only rides where it doesn’t really help are the two seats per row roller coasters: Hagrid’s, Velocicoaster, and Rip Ride Rocket

 

[Kit Jackson]

It's totally doable. I would take into consideration any sensativities people may have to rides (drops, spinning, motion simulators, 4D rides, other issues), because the rides at Universal Orlando are more intense. I am a total ride coward and I've had a great time, so don't worry about going with people who are not absolute thrill seekers. There are plenty of tamer rides and shows that are enjoyable. If there are any classic movies fans, there are some shops they will love. Any Harry Potter fans in the group? How many days are you planning?

This book is fantastic if you want a little more help in planning. https://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Guide-Universal-Orlando-Guides/dp/1628091355

 

[wdwrule]

If you’re into YouTube, there’s a great, very detailed video out by The Frugal Brit (he just posted it today). It’s nothing exhilarating but he gives a detailed overview of the parks, resorts, restaurants, tickets etc. He shows you maps/areas of each park and provides snippets of each ride so you get an idea. Each of the main 4(?) parts of the video are time-stamped so you can fast forward to what you’re interested in. I just watched it and it seems like a very good overview for first-timers.

 

[Dawn Peterson]

It will be busy. We opted for a hotel with express passes for our Spring Break trip. I would recommend them, if you are doing a shorter stay, have not done Universal before or have a long list of must do attractions. That being said, my daughter and I did a trip during the summer with days of 10/10 on crowd calendars and had a blast. You can do it without express, just set expectations on what you have to ride and make those a priority. Mornings and after weather rolls through are good times for shorter lines. End of the day has shorter lines as well.

 

[Skywalker3]

So many great suggestions here. It's do-able. We've planned Universal trips the week before. If at all possible, try and get one night at a premier, although that might be much harder with a family of 6. This last year, ,we had several totally fun trips w/o express/premier, staying at the on site, regular hotels. If just staying anywhere onsite , try and get to rope drop like 1 hr before opening, and blitz. It'll be crowded for sure at spring break.
The one thing I'll recommend is everyone get the Universal app and get familiar with it, and the parks/rides/restaurants. It's not like Disney planning, but it is still a good idea to have some basic plans in case things change, like a ride is down, etc. so you're not standing around trying to all decide what to do next, wasting time, getting frustrated, and half wants one thing, half wants the other. Would also recommend splitting up if need be. Have everyone look over maps, ride descriptions, etc. ahead of time, and discuss some options.
Happy planning and have a great time if y'all do decide to give it a go!
PS, also get your butterbeer early! We were there last spring break, mid March (and Columbus day week,) and WOW, the lines in the afternoon for butterbeer were insane. Ditto lines for most anything in the afternoon, and crowds in general in the WW.

 

[MousetersInc]

Oh—you didn't mention length of stay. Here are some thoughts:

• Even if you only have one day, it's not "too short to bother with." At a crowded time you can't do "everything" in one day, but you can do some of the most important stuff.
• But chances are, if you're paying for a hotel, then you're in a two-day one-night scenario. Honestly, the size is such that you could do everything excluding the water park—or "close enough for your party's purposes"—in two days. We just did a visit with two full days plus two hours on arrival day; we wound up not doing Transformers, Fast&Furious, or MIB, and no water rides were running for us, but we did pretty much everything else (and could have squeezed in more if we pushed harder). 3 days could probably be pretty nice.
• If you want a bit more breathing room, or want to include Volcano Bay, you could consider longer stays. Here's a recent trip report by a first-timer showing how they spent 5 days in the parks.

 

[laughinplace199]

Stay at a premier hotel so you'll have Express Pass. That takes away the need for much planning as far as park attractions go.

 

[rmclain73]

In my opinion UO and IOA has great thrill rides. That’s what makes it stand apart from Disney. If your family isn’t into thrill rides you may want to go to Disney. Most of the 3D motion and simulator rides are just ok at Universal properties. They are pretty forgettable, but the coasters are great!

 

[Kit Jackson]

In my opinion UO and IOA has great thrill rides. That’s what makes it stand apart from Disney. If your family isn’t into thrill rides you may want to go to Disney. Most of the 3D motion and simulator rides are just ok at Universal properties. They are pretty forgettable, but the coasters are great!

I would disagree. I'm a ride coward and I've had a great time at Universal. I'm also a Harry Potter fan so that may have something to do with it too.

 

[keishashadow]

OP - breeze through few Trip Reports here. Go for both the established visitor(s) for color & the disney transplant 1st time ones

I’m sure you are well aware, however, many come back here after their trips and state they were unprepared as to the logistics of park focused trips; it needs to be repeated...

doing the Orlando parks anytime of the year is no walk on the beach Two totally different vacations as to vibe and activity levels. Post pandemic travel crowds are still in place, although it’s reported they are slightly tapering. I didn’t experience that a few weeks ago by any means, normal slow period well before Daytona Race crowd.

your experience will be seriously colored by dealing with the Spring Break crowds. If you aren’t staying onsite at one of the deluxe properties or buying EP, it will be decidedly different. Even with EP, the lines will be longer, make sure to set your family’s expectations accordingly.

FYI most of the decent hotels in MCO tourist areas have also dramatically increased their rates & availability has suffered even at rack rate during popular times. Things are booking up much sooner there over the last year or so. IMO It’s rather late to be looking at securing a good rate at those properties or a beach condo during Spring break. Might have some luck on VRBO, etc.

We were floored how much the Trade Winds/St Pete Beach wound up costing last year when factoring in all the fees, etc. Will say there were many smaller condos/hotel suites in that particular area that were far more reasonably priced, even over 4th of July. Maybe if you do expand your search, you might find something that would work.

good luck

 

[Einstein509]

USO is a lot more chill vibe than Disney IMO. Less planning, no getting up early to get on an app at 7am, can get into places easier.

It's totally do-able from my perspective.