Date Night Ideas

[Jess_S]

We are taking our first trip to Universal in August. We are staying at Royal Pacific for a week, with 4 days worth of park tickets. Since it is an intergenerational trip, my husband and I are going to do a child-free date night. I would love some suggestions for what to do and where to go. We are open to staying on property or taking Uber/Lyft somewhere (but my assumption is that the date night will line up with a day that we have no park tickets). It would also be useful to know if we need to prebook anything. I know that might require a crystal ball as to what policies will be in effect in August, but I thought I would ask anyway. Thank you guys!

 

[Daisy7425]

What are you into? Sports? Wine? Exercise? Art? If you already have four day tickets, check out the price to bump up to five days, which wouldn't be all that much more expensive. Subsequent days added to a ticket are not the same price as a one day ticket.

If it were my husband and I, we would get a glass of wine on City Walk, maybe at Vivo then we would have dinner at Toothsomes, then we would go into the park and probably just walk once or twice around the whole property and check things out at night/dusk. Then we would go into Diagon Alley and window shop and then get a butter beer for dessert.

Regarding booking things in advance, you will need dining reservations at the two restaurants I mentioned above but those can be make two or three weeks in advance.

 

[davper]

Date night for my wife and I is drinks at Pat O'Brien's Piano Bar. We have a blast when we go.

 

[Jess_S]

Thank you guys. As far as what we are into, it is hard to remember a time when we had interests other than sitting on our couch. But I do know that I have no interest in sports and my husband hasn't voluntarily exercised these last 20 years -- so I would say sports and any sort of strenuous exercise are out. (We are both fine with walking though). We like food, drinks (beer, wine, cocktails), music, art, history, books, the outdoors, and probably other stuff I am not remembering. So everything that has been suggested so far sounds potentially fun.

Is it possible to add a day to our tickets once we are already there -- or is that something we would need to do in advance?

 

[Mr. Drauer]

just be aware that everything at CityWalk now requires reservations - no walk ups, not even to sit at the bar at Pat O'Briens. Even places like Toothsomes would not allow walk ups for lunch. Staffing is so bad that they are limiting capacity at all restaurants and bars. You could go to the Melting Pot over off Sand Lake road for a romantic night - fondue is always good for that. But there are a million restaurants over there (it is called restaurant row) from super expensive (Mortons) to fun (Rocco's Taco's, Bar Louie) etc.

 

[TwoMisfits]

We are taking our first trip to Universal in August. We are staying at Royal Pacific for a week, with 4 days worth of park tickets. Since it is an intergenerational trip, my husband and I are going to do a child-free date night. I would love some suggestions for what to do and where to go. We are open to staying on property or taking Uber/Lyft somewhere (but my assumption is that the date night will line up with a day that we have no park tickets). It would also be useful to know if we need to prebook anything. I know that might require a crystal ball as to what policies will be in effect in August, but I thought I would ask anyway. Thank you guys!

So, if you haven't done anything "fun" in awhile, I'd probably have a nice meal on City Walk and then grab an Uber and a Groupon and do a fun escape room offsite. It's more brains than brawn, and it's a lot of fun. If you've never done one, always pick the "easiest" room b/c none of them are truly easy...

If that's too much scheduling, grab a "dinner and movie" voucher or "dinner and minigolf" and spend a night doing both at City Walk for a decent price...you'll be able to see and hear some "nightlife" while enjoying the vouchers...

 

[Travelgrrl]

How about dinner, and then bowling at Cabana Bay; or dinner and then night time mini putt at the place at Citywalk?

 

[Mr. Drauer]

How about dinner, and then bowling at Cabana Bay; or dinner and then night time mini putt at the place at Citywalk?

You need to wait in line 1 hour before opening just to try and get a bowling reservation. That hardly seems romantic.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Honestly, you can bowl anywhere. The mini golf is really neat, or there are really good escape rooms in Orlando.

Unrelated, but have you considered upgrading your tickets to APs? You'd add 3 days in the parks for cheap, while you're onsite at RP w/ included Express Passes already...

 

[Jess_S]

Thank you guys. There are lots of good ideas here. It sounds like we would need to prebook most of them, so I will have to sit down with my husband and see what interests him.

On tickets, people on the boards did advise us to look into APs, but I have not really done the work to figure out which type of AP we would need and the price differential. (My mother booked this trip, with my contribution being to recommend my DU agent. I am usually more involved in trip planning, but I was fairly droopy and unmotivated this year).

 

[keishashadow]

OP - Lots of great, adult oriented dining & activities outside the parks depending on your preferences. Some great steakhouses among others, along with the in-house Palms at HRH

just be aware that everything at CityWalk now requires reservations - no walk ups, not even to sit at the bar at Pat O'Briens.

Early May on a Friday night had no problem walking up to 5 pmish dinner at NBC in city walk without a reservation