A week at Universal? and a few more questions...

Really? So are their long lines to get a table at the restaurants?

We never make reservations.........if somewhere is too busy, we go somewhere else.....but even Mythos we have never waited longer than 10 minutes at peak lunch times........it can’t just be luck as we have gone many times.....

It is very different to Disney........which is why we love it!!!

We plan on doing Sea World and MK for 1 day each. 3 days Universal, 1 day Sea World, 1 relax day at the pool, 1 day Magic Kingdom, 2 days back to Universal. But, we plan on doing shorter park days and taking our time. We may even throw one day of parks and drive to the beach or add the beach day for a total of 9 days.

Sounds like a good plan.......little bit of everything.......we tend to do shorter park days too as we stay for longer, and it’s perfect for us.........

I wouldn't be able to spend more than 3 days at the Universal Parks. They have their two standard parks and now a water park. If you had a casual hotel day with shopping/swimming that might fill one more day. Universal is aimed at older kids, but I think a 6 and 8 year old would like it. I don't think it has much for the 4 and under crowd.

If you want a break from Disney you could also try SeaWorld, Discovery Cove, LEGOLAND, Busch Gardens or Kennedy Space Center.

Check the website. There are quite a lot that younger kids can do........play areas seem pretty popular and we see lots with younger children posting they are pleasantly surprised how much the younger ones loved it........

Am I on the right board? Pretty sure this is the Universal side, but I sure see a lot of people saying three days at UO is plenty. FWIW, I 100% disagree. We usually spend 7-8 days there and always leave wanting more. Three days would just be a tease for me.

Absolutely!! I couldn’t even begin to touch the surface of Universal in 3 days,.....especially if I was like the OP and hadn’t been for such a long time.......we also don’t go near the water park as it’s not our thing, so shock horror.......we can survive and have a blast just doing 2 parks.......lol.......

I love Universal but 7-8 days is just way too long in my opinion. Nothing to do with Disney, it’s just redundant past 3 days for me.

You seem to mention Disney a few times when the OP has said he doesn’t want to focus on Disney.......some of us see that there is more than Disney in Orlando.........I see you enjoy Universal also, but for some us it really can be a long destination vacation........without Disney. Many of us on these boards spend longer trips at Universal.....and never get bored..........

My DH and I are currently here at Universal on a 5 day trip and as of day 3 we are loving having the time to take a leisurely pace, really relax, ride things multiple times, try different restaurants.

We love the EP. Staying at hard rock and it is a fun vibe. I think your kids would love it and I don't think that's too long to spend here. With a few off-site days for the space center, etc, your length of time sounds great!

So glad to hear it.........we really feel we are on vacation when we can choose to take our time and do what we feel like doing, whenever we feel like doing it.........EP is a godsend.........and unlimited is even better.......

Want to ride Hulk or Mummy 48 times in a row.......yep.......and no dining reservations are perfect for us.......we eat when we’re hungry not when we have made reservations 8 years ahead........that’s not a vacation.....

Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip, sounds like you are having an amazing time.........
 
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We went for 8 nights this past September (16th-24th) staying RPR. We did another 7 days the first week of December to get the most use of our APs. We stayed at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes, but we had friends staying at RPR and they added our names to their room to get my daughter and I EPs. We also had a 7 night stay last April which is when we purchased our APs and I have another 7 night stay coming up the first week of February. All totally at Universal with no thoughts of Disney or other venues. We love it and now with the VB water park, we had no problems enjoying every day there. We did VB twice during the September trip (and those were the only 2 days we got up early because we really wanted that extra early hour of access.)

For us, we would normally get to IOA or US around 10am or so and only stay till around 4pm. One morning we did the IOA water rides all morning (Jurassic Park, Popeye & Bluto's Barge, Ripsaw Falls) and then went back to the room to get nice and dry and have a late lunch in City Walk. One of the days we spent a couple of hours hitting the Men In Black ride trying to figure out how to increase our scores. We found a number of specific targets to hit to get the really high scores. :) We were able to hit the T2 ride (for the last time it seems, so we did it a few times.) While I'm not a big fan of the new Jimmy Fallon ride, I thoroughly loved the barbershop quartet show they have in the waiting area. I missed my color call the first time because I wanted to see the whole thing. :) I actually liked the waiting area for the Fallon ride better than the ride itself. And there are a number of side shows all over the parks that you can watch. Not to mention the shopping and just watching. Back in the April trip, my son and daughter both wanted to participate with the Fear Factor show. They both ended up as the finalists (with my son just edging out my daughter for the win.) Now they can't wait until the 2 year limit is up so they can try again.

Can I ride every ride in a 2 or 3 day period with EPs (even during crowded times)? Sure, but the difference with having a 3 day trip and a 7 day trip is we don't plan anything. We just go and do what we want, when we want. If you want a relaxing trip where you can just go and do what you want, when you want, and just enjoy the trip, then a longer, onsite Universal trip really fits the bill at least for me.

But as always, everyone is different. So, YMMV. :crazy2:
 
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You seem to mention Disney a few times when the OP has said he doesn’t want to focus on Disney.......some of us see that there is more than Disney in Orlando.........I see you enjoy Universal also, but for some us it really can be a long destination vacation........without Disney. Many of us on these boards spend longer trips at Universal.....and never get bored..........
And that’s fine. I was just mentioning my opinion, which was shared by a few other posters. For us, 3 days max at Universal. Nobody is right or wrong here, that’s just my opinion on Universal.
 
Really? So are their long lines to get a table at the restaurants?

Not from what I have seen or in my own experience! As PP mentions, you *can* make reservations for the table service restaurants but it's typically not necessary, and you can usually do it days before rather than months. You can typically walk-up to any of the table service restaurants and possibly have a small wait (if anything). Only way I'd make reservations is if I was traveling during a particularly busy time. Also, if you are staying at one of the three deluxe resorts, most City Walk restaurants offer priority seating. Show your room key and they will move you to the top of the wait list so any wait would be minimal.

Others here will probably disagree with me but we had the Express Passes last trip and by the time we got to Day 3 it was becoming redundant.

I tend to agree with this. During a slow time of year with express pass, we can accomplish most of the attractions we ride in 2 days - one full day at each park. We use a third day to park hop and re-ride our favorites. If we have a fourth day, we use it to sleep in and take advantage of the resort pools because all of them are awesome. If we had more time than that, I wouldn't do full park days and plan to sleep in, do a few hours in the park each day, and go in the pool!
 


We are headed to Universal for 8 days in June. I think there is plenty to do there. Last year we went for four days and had express passes and still felt like we did not get to do everything. Yes, we rode all the rides we wanted but did not get to see shows or really "stop and sniff the roses". I was always a huge Disney fan but after experiencing Universal my gaze has shifted some. Yes, Disney surpasses in the "magic" department but my son who was six last year when we went to Universal absolutely LOVED the rides at Universal over Disney. His request was to skip Disney again this year and head back to Universal. For me I loved it so much, as I am the planner and always had spread sheets and folders for what day and what park we would be in for Disney 6 months in advance. Universal is not like that at all. I actually felt like I had a vacation last year, it was so great! You can take your time, do a few early hours, leave the park when it gets crazy and head back later in the evening if you would like. The dining alone was so good because you did not need reservations 6 months in advance. We loved knowing that we could change plans at any time during the day and it would be ok.......that would never happen in Disney. We are having dinner one night at Ohana this June just because this is my husbands favorite and we will be heading to Disney Springs for dinner for one evening during the week. My son started pin trading on our Disney cruise last August and he still would like to do that this Summer. I must admit I did contemplate during a spit trip between Universal and Disney but I hate packing up and moving to another hotel and I feel like you lose time out of your vacation doing that....that is just my opinion. I hope you have a fantastic stay and I bet you will feel like you are really on vacation with more time to spend in the parks and when you get home you will not need a vacation from your vacation!
 
And that’s fine. I was just mentioning my opinion, which was shared by a few other posters. For us, 3 days max at Universal. Nobody is right or wrong here, that’s just my opinion on Universal.

Spot on!

Why I gave mine right back..........for most on here, the answer to the OP’s question is he’ll be good with as many days at Universal as he’s planning :thumbsup2
 
We are headed to Universal for 8 days in June. I think there is plenty to do there. Last year we went for four days and had express passes and still felt like we did not get to do everything. Yes, we rode all the rides we wanted but did not get to see shows or really "stop and sniff the roses". I was always a huge Disney fan but after experiencing Universal my gaze has shifted some. Yes, Disney surpasses in the "magic" department but my son who was six last year when we went to Universal absolutely LOVED the rides at Universal over Disney. His request was to skip Disney again this year and head back to Universal. For me I loved it so much, as I am the planner and always had spread sheets and folders for what day and what park we would be in for Disney 6 months in advance. Universal is not like that at all. I actually felt like I had a vacation last year, it was so great! You can take your time, do a few early hours, leave the park when it gets crazy and head back later in the evening if you would like. The dining alone was so good because you did not need reservations 6 months in advance. We loved knowing that we could change plans at any time during the day and it would be ok.......that would never happen in Disney. We are having dinner one night at Ohana this June just because this is my husbands favorite and we will be heading to Disney Springs for dinner for one evening during the week. My son started pin trading on our Disney cruise last August and he still would like to do that this Summer. I must admit I did contemplate during a spit trip between Universal and Disney but I hate packing up and moving to another hotel and I feel like you lose time out of your vacation doing that....that is just my opinion. I hope you have a fantastic stay and I bet you will feel like you are really on vacation with more time to spend in the parks and when you get home you will not need a vacation from your vacation!

That is so lovely to read.......

Glad your son especially loved Universal........we read that so often on here.....once kids experience what Universal has to offer they love it.......

Sounds like a perfect vacation for your family........:)
 


I live in Georgia and for short trips drive down with a son
I always do stays at the motherland and the darkside

For my annual fall trip I always go solo and fly down
Over the years have meet many Disers and love to set up meet and greets with those that have trips overlapping with mine
Sometimes this turns into hours instead of a quick meet up

Always great to put a face with a name and make a new friend

I stay onsite at the motherland for 5 nights and take in what I can and some dates are full days with rushing around
The busses / monorail can be time consuming

It’s a fun time there but I need to keep a set schedule due to my adr’s and fast pass times
I do include onsite hotel restaurants and use the Disney busses

I’m on a mission when at the mouse as I cover all the parks and don’t take much of any break
I tell myself I can sleep later after I leave
Lol

I then move other to rpr at the darkside for 14 days
I take my time and can completely relax
No rushing or needing to keep my eye on my watch

This is what I call a vacation
My time is my own to call

Totally stress free and can decide on the day I wake up what time to hit the parks
If I miss something, can always do it later or another day

I enjoy everything in the UO complex

Parks, city walk and hotels (shops/eateries/stores/movie complex/mini golf/weekend outdoor entertainment
Hotels and live music in some of the onsite entertainment, pools, hot tubs, shops, dining, catch dueling pianos or bob Marley band in city walk evenings, etc)

I try to catch the opera singer at PBH some evenings
I stay at RPR but do things at the other two deluxe hotels
I find entertainment at the hotels a nice way to chill out from the day

Everyone will do parks the best way it suits them
Many have planned what they must do and what won’t break their hearts if they can’t get done

When a ride goes down in any park, it complicates a pre set schedule
Having additional days for your trip, does help for any of your time in Orlando

Some peeps do repeat stays at the darkside
Others it is the motherland

And quite a few have SW/ Discovery Cove/BG as the main destination

Families go to what suits them

For me, SW is a one day and done while others do repeat days there

It’s a fine park but I prefer a different one to spend many days at

No matter what your main destination will be, have fun and enjoy your family time






 
reservations for dining can be made in the dining section of the website and thru open table

Have made them for city walk, hotel and some places in the park


If I’m in a large group, I always set it up in advance for a weekend in city walk

When I’m solo I do walk up for mythos, lombards, finnegans as I try to eat at the off times (2:00)
 
Correct me if I'm wrong. If we stay at Hard Rock and book Club Level, we get the Max passes included? And I believe someone said we get priority seating for meals? If this is true, it sure does sound like a better deal than WDW.
 
Just staying at any of the hotels gives you early entry one hour to the designated park one hour before it is open to the general public

Park will have 3 rides open for you
Potter is included on that list

Stay at rpr-hrh-pbh and the guests are allowed free unlimited express pass for rides and shows in the park

You don’t have to stay club level
for that perk
All in your room/listed on your reservation have the ep
Your room key is coded for this free perk

Some eateries at city walk will allow you priority to be seated

It is not that you can walk right in if there is a long wait line but you will be on a priority list for next available table for your group size

But good to make reservations if you go on a weekend

If you are club, you can request and they will make your dining reservations

I stay at rpr and have shown my room key at a few places and have a limited wait
 
Just staying at any of the hotels gives you early entry one hour to the designated park one hour before it is open to the general public

Park will have 3 rides open for you
Potter is included on that list

Stay at rpr-hrh-pbh and the guests are allowed free unlimited express pass for rides and shows in the park

You don’t have to stay club level
for that perk
All in your room/listed on your reservation have the ep
Your room key is coded for this free perk

Some eateries at city walk will allow you priority to be seated

It is not that you can walk right in if there is a long wait line but you will be on a priority list for next available table for your group size

But good to make reservations if you go on a weekend

If you are club, you can request and they will make your dining reservations

I stay at rpr and have shown my room key at a few places and have a limited wait
That’s broke down pretty good. Thanks! And thanks to everyone else!
 
Correct me if I'm wrong. If we stay at Hard Rock and book Club Level, we get the Max passes included? And I believe someone said we get priority seating for meals? If this is true, it sure does sound like a better deal than WDW.

We had an over 50 minute wait go down to less than 10 minutes one night at Citywalk thanks to priority seating........made such a difference.
 
We just took the kids there for 4 days and did not do everything in either park. We didn’t even go to VB. I think if you’re ride people it’s easier to consider a park ‘done’ quicker. We meet characters and see shows and spend time doing spells and browsing in HP

OP, our oldest 2 were 6 and 8 when we first went and really enjoyed it. There were rides they were too short for though.

One suggestion. We started reading Harry Potter out loud to our kids when they were about 5 so maybe you can get in a book or two before you go which will really help with their enjoyment of the HP areas.
 
It really depends on how you define "vacation" for your family. An 8 day stay at Disney may get you one day at each park, a little pool time, and a trip to Disney springs. Jam packed, lots of fun, but you need to rest after your week. That is not how my family defines it. I keep bringing up another full immersion Disney vacation to my kids, and they keep saying no. There are really only a dozen rides in all of WDW that they get excited about.

At Universal - we sleep in, eat the breakfast buffets and spend an hour or two at the parks, go back and swim at the onsite hotel. We eat dinner on CityWalk, then spend the evening in parks. We spend a half day in our swimsuits riding the 3 water rides at Islands of Adventure. We spend 90 minutes doing loops at MIB in a friendly (most of the time) competition for the high score.

If the budget allows, we love Discovery Cove and that includes my family's favorite park - Aquatica. I know, we are weird, but we spend hours in Roa's Rapids and always look to going back.

We have also gone to Disney's Christmas and Halloween party, so we get enough exposure to Magic Kingdom, and we love TRex at Disney Springs, so we spend a few hours there. It's enough for us.

So, we like to feel rested while we have fun - that is what vacation is to us. We accomplish that staying onsite at Universal. We stay as long as the budget, and work, will allow.

Hope you enjoy no matter what you decide!
 
We just took the kids there for 4 days and did not do everything in either park. We didn’t even go to VB. I think if you’re ride people it’s easier to consider a park ‘done’ quicker. We meet characters and see shows and spend time doing spells and browsing in HP

OP, our oldest 2 were 6 and 8 when we first went and really enjoyed it. There were rides they were too short for though.

One suggestion. We started reading Harry Potter out loud to our kids when they were about 5 so maybe you can get in a book or two before you go which will really help with their enjoyment of the HP areas.

We just started reading Harry Potter every night to our 7 year old. He is so excited to go back to Diagon Alley now that he understands what it is. Of course now he also wants a wand.
 
So glad to hear it.........we really feel we are on vacation when we can choose to take our time and do what we feel like doing, whenever we feel like doing it.........EP is a godsend.........and unlimited is even better.......

Want to ride Hulk or Mummy 48 times in a row.......yep.......and no dining reservations are perfect for us.......we eat when we’re hungry not when we have made reservations 8 years ahead........that’s not a vacation.....

Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip, sounds like you are having an amazing time.........

By your own admission, you never go to Disney, yet you make erroneous statements like the bolded above all the time. We rarely make dining reservations more than 24 hours in advance and more often than not, we book no more than two or three hours ahead. We always eat where we wish. And this is with visits of more than forty days per year.

Disney does not have to be the rat race that some people portray it as. I’ve just returned from sixteen nights on property—so very similar to your trips. Beyond our three fastpasses per day, I never planned anything. Those fastpass plans were always soft, depending on our mood. If we felt like doing something else, we did. There was plenty of pool time and relaxation, jogging around Crescent Lake, leisurely meals in Epcot, concerts, etc, etc— most of it unplanned.

The beauty of the fastpasses, however, was those plans were in place should I desire and I had front of the line access. We’d usually dip into a park, hit our fastpasses, grab a meal and spend the rest of our day relaxing.

In contrast, our time at Universal was not nearly as easy. Last year, Express Pass worked brilliantly during the quiet of late January. However, this year, during the busy first week of January it was a disaster. Seventy five minutes for Gringott’s. Thirty five for Forbidden Journey. Forty for Minions. Nothing Express about that. Universal just couldn’t move people. That’s not a vacation.

On January third, I was at both Animal Kingdom and both Universal Parks. What a difference. Thirty minutes to gain park access at Universal. Maybe two minutes at Animal Kingdom, thanks to their annual pass holder line.

The Universal Express pass wait times as stated above. Fast pass wait times—zero to two minutes.


And that’s fine. I was just mentioning my opinion, which was shared by a few other posters. For us, 3 days max at Universal. Nobody is right or wrong here, that’s just my opinion on Universal.

I agree. We spent three days at Universal last year and hit every ride, had pool time, ate some nice meals, enjoyed the hotel. Two days would have been the sweet spot, three was too many.

With the OP’s travel budget of 10-12 thousand, I’d give Universal three days tops and spend your travel dollars elsewhere.
 
By your own admission, you never go to Disney, yet you make erroneous statements like the bolded above all the time. We rarely make dining reservations more than 24 hours in advance and more often than not, we book no more than two or three hours ahead. We always eat where we wish. And this is with visits of more than forty days per year.

Disney does not have to be the rat race that some people portray it as. I’ve just returned from sixteen nights on property—so very similar to your trips. Beyond our three fastpasses per day, I never planned anything. Those fastpass plans were always soft, depending on our mood. If we felt like doing something else, we did. There was plenty of pool time and relaxation, jogging around Crescent Lake, leisurely meals in Epcot, concerts, etc, etc— most of it unplanned.

The beauty of the fastpasses, however, was those plans were in place should I desire and I had front of the line access. We’d usually dip into a park, hit our fastpasses, grab a meal and spend the rest of our day relaxing.

In contrast, our time at Universal was not nearly as easy. Last year, Express Pass worked brilliantly during the quiet of late January. However, this year, during the busy first week of January it was a disaster. Seventy five minutes for Gringott’s. Thirty five for Forbidden Journey. Forty for Minions. Nothing Express about that. Universal just couldn’t move people. That’s not a vacation.

On January third, I was at both Animal Kingdom and both Universal Parks. What a difference. Thirty minutes to gain park access at Universal. Maybe two minutes at Animal Kingdom, thanks to their annual pass holder line.

The Universal Express pass wait times as stated above. Fast pass wait times—zero to two minutes.




I agree. We spent three days at Universal last year and hit every ride, had pool time, ate some nice meals, enjoyed the hotel. Two days would have been the sweet spot, three was too many.

With the OP’s travel budget of 10-12 thousand, I’d give Universal three days tops and spend your travel dollars elsewhere.

Wouldn’t describe it as an erroneous statement. More fact with maybe a hint of irony mentioning 8 years booking ahead........one of our neighbours is going in March this year and mentioned her issues with the reservations of places they want to eat.......this is their first visit and are already disillusioned by the thoughts of booking of FP and restaurants. Thing is you are obviously someone who has been going to Disney a long time.......it looks quite daunting for first timers who don’t read boards like these.......

The thing is. I have many, many friends.....many posters and numerous acquaintances who do still go to Disney......many times.......and this by far is their biggest complaint.......well one of them as Disney seem to keep upping the stakes in giving folks thing to complain about......lots of people are not experiencing what you are.

I’m so glad you found Disney so much better than Universal this year. You seemed to very unlucky with your EP times.......we had friends who stay the same time period of 3 weeks and they didn’t have the same experience as you. But, I tend not to judge the whole experience over one or two peoples experience from a message board. You did really well having no wait time at Disney!!! Glad to hear it.

Message boards are all well and good but it’s a limited quota of the public to judge opinions on. I tend to listen to folks I know personally and talk to many friends I have that work in the parks and hotels.

You have stated many times your disappointment on what Universal has to offer.......well, it’s not for you that’s ok. But I’m hearing plenty of folks dissatisfied with what Disney are offering.......I have no desire to go back to Disney so can certainly understand your previous comments if I remember correctly that after the trip you just had you likely wouldn’t go back.

Universal has always been a vacation to us........we certainly haven’t experienced the waits you say you had. Again, maybe we’ve just been lucky.......

You’re correct, Disney doesn’t need to be the rat race some experience........but it is happening.....and can only imagine what it’s going to be like in the future if they change the Fast pass system again........selling FP! Many said that would never happen........well it is.......and that ain’t gonna go away.........

Each to their own.

Still, at least you know Universal isn’t for you........hope you managed to enjoy at least some of it........
 

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