Help! Totally new to universal

[JnoMoremoney]

We’ve been to Disney a couple of times and would like to try universal but don’t know where to start! Some questions I have:

1. How many days are needed to adequately see the parks?
2. My youngest child is not a rollercoaster fan and not a fan of “scary” rides. Will there be anything to do?
3. What’s the deal with their fast pass system? Is it user friendly?
4. What’s your favorite hotels to stay at?

Thank you!!!!

 

[DisneyMom93]

Hi!

I would say minimum one day per park. If you have Express Pass even better! Of course, it depends on the crowds I guess.

There is plenty to do besides scary rides or rollercoasters. You didn't mention the ages, but there are rides for all ages.

The Express Pass is very user friendly. You just show it at the EP entrance and they scan it it each time.

We stay at Hard Rock or Portofino Bay, but that's because it includes EP. We've never stayed at the hotels that don't offer it.

 

[Skippyboo]

What time of year are you planning for? Age range of kids? Are you big Harry Potter fans?

 

[MousetersInc]

We’ve been to Disney a couple of times and would like to try universal but don’t know where to start! Some questions I have:

1. How many days are needed to adequately see the parks?

Depending what "adequately" means. Two full days can let you do "pretty much everything" at the two main parks; if you want to include the water park, or take a more leisurely pace, you can stretch more. We did two days plus a couple of hours and didn't regret anything that we didn't get to (except maybe the crepes stand!).

2. My youngest child is not a rollercoaster fan and not a fan of “scary” rides. Will there be anything to do?

Certainly. There's an entire Dr. Seuss "land" that might appeal. If they enjoy the Despicable Me/Minions franchise, there's a ride for that and another under construction. Some of the Harry Potter content might be enchanting, like the live shows, though beware: if the movies are too scary for them, the Forbidden Journey ride probably is too.

3. What’s the deal with their fast pass system? Is it user friendly?

Extremely, compared to Disney. There's no getting on an app to reserve anything: you just have it, and use it. At the moment I think there are no significant rides that don't use it (Hagrid's didn't, but it's under construction; and Velocicoaster just gained it, though rumors suggest it might lose it when Hagrid's comes back).

4. What’s your favorite hotels to stay at?

Usually, staying at one of the "premier" hotels that gives you free Express Pass comes out cheaper than purchasing Express Pass. Hard Rock and Royal Pacific are within a very easy walk of the parks. We stayed at Hard Rock but I would have enjoyed the theming of RP more. I've heard people love the theming of Portofino, but it will take a bit more effort to get to the park from it.

Here's a recent thread of mine with general Universal tips: https://www.disboards.com/threads/sons-first-trip-help.3909801/post-64606375

 

[Skippyboo]

Universal is doing a 2 days free with 3 day 2 park tickets promotion . 2 days is minimum, 5 would be good if you want to spread it out.

Big difference from Disney is parks are right next to each other. Treat it as one park. Get park to park tickets as a minimum. Onsite universal hotels will get you 1 hr early access to one of the parks.

3 Premiere Hotels (Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, Portofino Bay) are ones with free express passes for everyone on reservation.

Next tier- Preffered: Sapphire Falls,- Caribbean themed

Above hotels have table services, a qs/market, boat service to Citywalk which is shopping/dining right outside parks.

Prime Value Tier: Aventura and Cabana Bay,
Bus service to Citywalk, food court, CB has multiple pools, lazy river, bowling alley- themed in early 60s think Mad Men.

Aventura is modern tower so sort like a regular hotel.

Value tier : Dockside and Surfside- these are south of I-4 so have to take the bus. Newest hotels, food court, have 2 bedroom suites rooms available.

 

[Kit Jackson]

I would 2-3 days if you are rope drop to close, 4-5 days if you want to take breaks and have time to see all of the shows and do favorite rides twice. I am a total ride coward, and I do not like roller coasters, but I have always had a wonderful time at Universal Orlando.

What counts as scary? Drops, things jumping out, rides that are very dark, or something else? (The people here will be able to give better recommendations on what to skip and what to ride with more information). Also, rides at Universal can be more intense. Anyone in your travel group have issues with motion simulators, spinning, 3D rides, other things like that?

Figure out your budget, but if you are thinking about ExpressPass, it is usually less expensive to stay in a hotel that includes it as opposed to staying in a less expensive hotel and buying the pass seperately. In the parks, you get in the ExpressPass line, you show your pass, someone scans it, and that it is.

Also, are there any Harry Potter fans in the group and how into it are they?

This book is fantastic. https://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-G...The+Unofficial+Guide+to+,stripbooks,87&sr=1-1

 

[CAPSLOCK]

What counts as scary? Drops, things jumping out, rides that are very dark, or something else?

These were my questions. Mummy and Kong have spooky queues and "scary" ride theme/content. If the movie is too "scary," the ride might be also. Many rides have brief "scary" scenes: Transformers, Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Jurassic Park River Adventure, and to a lesser extent Spiderman, MiB, & Hagrids. If you cut out all of those, you're fairly limited. Depending on age, I would hope your youngest will be okay with most of those, again especially if the movie isn't too scary then the scenes will be fine. If in doubt, find ride videos on youtube. Kong's queue is probably scarier than the ride itself.

 

[cschaaf]

Hard questions to answer - a lot of opinion involved.

1. For the 2 main parks, we think 3 days is the right length for our family. One full day for each park then one more to do favorites. After being there a bunch of times, we could drop down to 2 days if we had to for some reason. I think the most we'd want to do is 4 days for the 2 main parks. We've only done Volcano Bay once, but felt it was worth spending a day.

2. As others have said, tell us more about your kids. What rides to they like at other parks? To some kids, I imagine ET could be scary, but that same kid might love dinosaurs and not think JP River Adventure is scary.

3. Express Pass could not be easier to use. If you have Express, go in the park and pick a direction - it really doesn't matter. Start walking. Pass a ride, decide if you want to ride it or not. If so, get in the Express line. If not, keep walking to the next ride.

To use the pass, you just have to show it at the ride entrance, then again part way through the Express queue. Many people, us included, like having lanyards to make that process easy.

The biggest 'negatives' to Express are 1. the price; it ain't cheap. 2. get it once and you'll be spoiled for Universal and any other park you go to from that point on.

4. We prefer the Premiere hotels for the Express Passes. Royal Pacific is our favorite (my 'favorite' is whichever of the Premieres has the best rate the days we're going.) If they were all the same price, we'd choose Royal Pacific first, Portofino next, Hard Rock last.

We also like the non-premiere hotels. We really liked Aventura for the size - it's relatively small and the hub-and-spoke design means you never have a long walk between your room and the busses.

We've stayed at Cabana Bay and both Endless Summer hotels a few times each. They are larger resorts and can be a bit 'sprawling', potentially making for long walks to get back to your room.

 

[HopperFan]

1) I would say define scary because there is a chance there will be minimum for them to enjoy. We waited until my youngest was willing to ride everything. Seemed pointless for them and a parent to sit out most the rides.

2) Are you staying at a Universal Deluxe that includes Express (their FP) because if not the cost of your days has gone way up AND could determine how many days you will need.

 

[Kit Jackson]

1) I would say define scary because there is a chance there will be minimum for them to enjoy. We waited until my youngest was willing to ride everything. Seemed pointless for them and a parent to sit out most the rides.

I agree with you that defining scary/what the issues are is critically important. I don't think you have to be willing to ride everything to enjoy Universal. If someone is unwilling to do roller coaster/intense thrill rides but is willing to do motion simulators or even some of the tamer rides that still includes quite a few options and plenty to fill the trip.

I won't do coasters; I'm a bit of ride coward, but I've never felt like there was a lack of things for me to do because I do enjoy most of the simulators and some of the less intense rides like Kong. Forbidden Journey is my limit.

 

[HopperFan]

I agree with you that defining scary/what the issues are is critically important. I don't think you have to be willing to ride everything to enjoy Universal. If someone is unwilling to do roller coaster/intense thrill rides but is willing to do motion simulators or even some of the tamer rides that still includes quite a few options and plenty to fill the trip.

I won't do coasters; I'm a bit of ride coward, but I've never felt like there was a lack of things for me to do because I do enjoy most of the simulators and some of the less intense rides like Kong. Forbidden Journey is my limit.

Well for us it was a different time frame. Other than Mummy and Hulk there weren't any other coasters. So it was non-coaster rides she was afraid of. So for us it wasn't worth the price of the ticket if she wasn't going to be enjoying the bulk of the attractions.

What a person is willing to ride can vary with their fears and potentially greatly reduce the number of rides they will go on. And then one has to decide if it is even worth the cost if one or two people are not riding or the family is constantly split up.

I asked OP to define fear because while you don't find Kong scary, many do. Transformers, Forbidden Journey, Spiderman, Men In Black, Jurassic Park even the water rides are scary for many.