My friend and I used the package back in May, we were staying at POP. It was very simple to book and the day before we wanted to go to Universal we phoned up Mears and booked our transport. We asked to be picked up around 8:30am, and they said that they had a pickup time of 8:25am- which was just right. We were sent an email confirming our package from
Dreams Unlimited, which I had printed off- however universal sent us an email voucher that we had show to the driver, we waited until a few days before we were due to go to Florida to book the package as we had the whole Volcano incident and didn't want to book the package in case our flight was cancelled. Because of this, Universal didn't send the voucher in time for me to print off, however I managed to pull the email up on my phone, along with my original print out of the booking and showed the Mears driver who said it was fine, and commented how cool my phone was instead
He gave us a return ticket to show when we got picked up- the transport also stops off at the SeaWorld parks, however the driver asks everyone where the are heading first- so he doesn't make unwanted stops.
I would say we got to the Universal resort just after 9 when it opened, and we headed straight to IOA. I'm not really one for rollercoasters and my friend said she wasn't bothered about riding them, so we skipped Hulk, Dr Doom etc. We had done the park within 2 and half hours (WWOHP was not open at this point) This included 5 rides, with riding a couple of them twice as well as taking in the atmosphere and browsing the shops (and having an peak through the cracks in the gate at the WWOHP!). It was pretty quiet that time of the morning. We then hopped on over to Universal and rode around 6 rides (including a 40 minute wait for the mummy, Shrek 4D show) At a leisurely pace.
It got to around 4:15 and we decided we were hungry and so were gonna head out to City Walk for some food. Before this we headed back to IOA and rode 3 rides again. When you want to be picked up you have to phone Mears at least 2 hours in advance, we phoned them at 5:15 and asked for a 7:15 pick up, only to be told that they don't pick up at universal and 15 minutes past the hour, only at 15 minutes to the hour. This was kind of annoying that they didn't tell us in advance as we would have phone earlier. We then left the parks and went to eat in City Walk, we then had to hang around a while to wait for our pickup. But pickup was easy when it arrived, and we were back at the resort by 9pm, as the transport didn't leave exactly at 7:45pm and we stopped off at other resorts first.
We pretty much saw everything we wanted, the only exceptions were that Jaws was closed for a refurb, and disaster was a 40 minute wait- which I didn't think was worth it, especially when the line is outside. For most rides we never waited longer than 10 minutes, but we didn't go commando either.
It wasn't the most ideal situation, but we were only visiting for the week and the deal seemed pretty good value considering it includes transport (it is the same price as the 1 days 2 park ticket on Universals website) As we are both under 21 we didn't have the option of renting a car (plus I don't know how confident I would feel driving in another country!), and the price was better value then calling a cab.
Oh and another thing, when universal send you their confirmation email they inclose a booking ref number which is different than the one dreams unlimited give you. You take this booking number and put into into the willcall machines, along with swiping the credit card you paid with and it gives you your tickets for the day.
I hope this helps you get a rough idea of what you can accomplish in a day at both parks. In May both parks were open 'till 7pm. I am heading back out to Florida at the end of the moth, and I plan on using the package again- this time though I will have to fit in the WWOHP
Have a Magical trip!
