First Family Trip to Universal Questions

[missmickey]

My husband and I just decided to book our first family trip to Universal with our two daughters (11 and 8).

We are thinking April 23rd to the 27 ( a Friday night to Tuesday evening). What are your thoughts on a late April weekend as far as crowds and weather? And will three and a half days be enough time to do everything in the 2 parks?

We would like to stay in one of the hotels that offer the Express Pass. Which do you like the best and why?

What is the one ride (in each park) that's a must do every time you go?
What is your favorite thing to do at Universal that is not ride related?
What is one must try restaurant?

 

[TommyJK]

If you're staying in one of the hotels with EP, then 3 1/2 days should be good and you don't need to worry about crowds so much. With EP you can likely do mid-day breaks each day to enjoy the pools too.

To answer your questions:

We would like to stay in one of the hotels that offer the Express Pass. Which do you like the best and why?
- Personally I like Royal Pacific the best. To me it's best bang for your buck as it's the least expensive of the 3. It has a short walk if you feel like walking (whereas Portofino is a bit of a hefty hike), and I love the Polynesian theme as you feel like your in an exotic South Asian locale

What is the one ride (in each park) that's a must do every time you go?
- At Islands of Adventure for me it's hands down Forbidden Journey and Spider-man is a close second
- At Universal Studios It's probably The Mummy. Although when my younger one was 8 it scared him and he doesn't want to ride it anymore (even when we went last and he was 11)

What is your favorite thing to do at Universal that is not ride related?
- So many things we love. At IOA we love the Raptor Encounter. We also love the night time lights at Hogwarts (although they haven't been running this with Covid restrictions I believe). At either park (either in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade) we always like doing the Wand Choosing ceremony at Ollivanders (a must if you're Harry Potter fans). We love the Hollywood Horro Make-up Show on the Universal side - It's hilarious. But also just wandering all around Diagon Alley. For me it's the best themed land in any Theme Park anywhere, and the kids love casting spells with the interactive wands.

What is one must try restaurant?
- It doesn't get too high marks on this board, but we love getting dessert at Toothsome. They are ridiculously huge and oh so tasty. I also love the Steam Punk theme and characters in there.

 

[macraven]

I stay at Royal Pacific or Hard Rock for all my visits as I prefer their locations to the parks, hotel onsite dining and the free EP pass

RP is closest to IOA and HR closest to the other park

Both have the shuttle bus and boat taxis.

Even with the hotel EP, parks on the weekends, do have crowds and line waits

if you go Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you probably will have some line waits and more peeps in the parks

Is it possible to make you trip Monday thru Thursday?

I enjoy many of the rides
Some I do many times are Spider-Man, Dr Doom, Mummy, potter rides, Cat in the Hat.
Can’t think but a few that are not for me
( rip ride rocket)

I never miss the shows
Bourne adventure, Horror Make Ip show, Animal Actor show, Blues Brothers show are repeats each day for me.

Dining is changeable for me
Some visits all the restaurants are good
When menus changes, I May take a few off my to do list

For a cheap lunch, I quite enjoy Blondies at IOA
Sandwiches are quite good

I did not like the food at Finnegans in October but loved the food there last week (February)
All due to a menu change

Check the stickies for other opinions on the eateries

 

[Bethany10]

I can speak as a non rider, Seussland was unexpectedly charming and my thrill loving kid (10 at the time) loved it too. Cat in the Hat is a delight, and totally indoors if you need a break from heat.

Thrill seeker's favorite ride was Spiderman, and I've heard Hagrid's is amazing. It literally opened about half way through our trip, so we were not going to spend 6 hours in line to ride it.

Food for us, Vivo was amazing (pricy Italian, but worth the cost). Dessert at Toothsome was delicious.

We are staying at Royal Pacific this summer, a first for an EP hotel for us. I love the theming and am excited to have the EP.

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

We would like to stay in one of the hotels that offer the Express Pass. Which do you like the best and why?
If we are spending most of our time in parks, then we'd pick Royal Pacific. However, if we are planning for a decent amount of pool time, then we definitely like Portofino pool the best.
What is the one ride (in each park) that's a must do every time you go?
Too many to list just one. Favorites are Hagrids, Hulk, Spiderman, and Mummy.
What is your favorite thing to do at Universal that is not ride related?
I've read wonderful things about the Bourne show, but havent seen it yet. I'd vote for relaxing at the Portofino pool.
What is one must try restaurant?
It's expensive, but the Palm is the best in my family's opinion. For in park lunches we like Louie's for pizza/italian or Blondie's for sandwiches.

 

[cfoxga]

Looks like you are coming after Spring Break ends, so that should be a great time to be in the parks. We are also a family of 4 and our daughters were about that age on our first family trip. I wrote down my thoughts on planning a trip here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/how-i-plan-a-universal-trip.3794121/

You will definitely want at least one Annual Pass, which will save quite a couple hundred dollars on the room. Definitely worth the $15 upgrade. You can see the APH rates for your dates here: https://res.windsurfercrs.com/ibe/d...ls=&ada=0&currid=0&vouchercode=&attendeeCode=

If you think that you might be able to return, then getting APs for everyone is a great idea. We got 2 trips on our first APs and 3 on this set.

We watched all of the Harry Potter movies prior to our trip, and our girls fell in love with the HP areas at Universal. They really did a fantastic job there. We still have our wand and robes from the first trip.

All of the deluxe hotels are great, and each has advantages over the others. But in general, you can't go wrong with any of them...

 

[mvansear]

My husband and I just decided to book our first family trip to Universal with our two daughters (11 and 8).

We are thinking April 23rd to the 27 ( a Friday night to Tuesday evening). What are your thoughts on a late April weekend as far as crowds and weather? And will three and a half days be enough time to do everything in the 2 parks?
A few thoughts....Crowds have been strange with COVID... went in October and January both times seemed crowded, with express pass it didn't matter
The last two times we have gone we have stayed 4 nights/5 days. We feel like that is a good amount of time to enjoy the parks and have pool time too. With the deluxe hotels, your express passes are good for all-day on check-in and check-out day. If your room is not ready when you arrive they will hold your luggage and give you keys (the keys are the express pass) so that you can run to the parks.
We would like to stay in one of the hotels that offer the Express Pass. Which do you like the best and why?
My family is mixed for which hotel we like the best. I like Royal Pacific for the tropical resort feel. It is a further walk to the parks. My family prefers Hard Rock (I like it too) Closer to the parks, a bigger pool with a slide, hard rock laid back atmosphere. Agree with the previous post about annual passes. Check out the pricing as many times it is the same or just a bit more for the AP. All tiers of the pass offer discounted room rates (see the link above to book ap rates) Right now one 4 day pass is 289.99 and an seasonal pass is 304.99. We just do the season pass for 4 of us and one upgrades to the tier of Preferred pass 394.99. With that pass you get discounts on food, merchandise, and specialty items in the parks and city walk. The discounts more than pay for the upgraded pass.
One other thing that my family of 5 does is we stay club level in the hotel. Years ago we stayed 7 nights and ate at a restaurant twice, had snacks in the parks and ate from the club the rest of the time. Another way that an upgrade more than pays for itself. Check out the club benefits more on these boards... basic rundown... Soda juice and water available all day, continental breakfast, snacks, uncrustables at lunch, evening hot appetizers, nightly adult beverages, and a sweet treat later in the evening. Refrigerator in rooms to store things for later.
What is the one ride (in each park) that's a must do every time you go?
Universal- Gringotts and Mummy
Islands- Hagrids and Jurassic River ride
What is your favorite thing to do at Universal that is not ride related?
Pool bar and the club. Harry Potter areas at night are really cool to see!
What is one must try restaurant?
Mythos-- best theme park restaurant and they have an award to prove it. It is super good!
Toothsome-- food okay kinda like cheesecake factory, so we eat dinner in the club and then go to Toothsome for wonderful desserts!

 

[kimma11]

We would like to stay in one of the hotels that offer the Express Pass. Which do you like the best and why?
- Our favorite hotel is Royal Pacific. Terrific pool area, and beautiful rooms. Price out the club level rooms as that will get y'all breakfast and snacks. It was cheaper for us to take this option.

What is the one ride (in each park) that's a must do every time you go?
-In IOA our favorite rides were Spiderman and Jurassic Park. We went on both multiple times.
-In Studios our favorite rides were the Mummy and MIB.

What is your favorite thing to do at Universal that is not ride related?
-The horror makeup show is a must see event. I would recommend the Blue Man Group, but they just closed. Not on site, but our family went to a murder mystery dinner and had a blast. We plan on going again on our next trip in September. Don't forgot you will have access to City Walk which has mini-golf, a theater, and Cabana bay has bowling and a terrific arcade. We had fun just walking the stores.

What is one must try restaurant?
-Definetely Toothsome. The desserts there will be your full mean. We love Bubba Gumps as we don't have one in NH. We also found we saved a TON of money by using Grub Hub and ordering delivery to the hotel.

A couple of things to consider is:

1) VIP tour. We did the group VIP tour which was made up of us 3 plus 5 other people. The VIP experience was incredible. We decided to only do 1 park and chose IOA. The tour guide took us to all the rides we requested and gave us back information on the whole park. The first ride my kids went on was the Fire and Ice roller coaster. They were lead to the front of the line and allowed to choose any seat on the ride. Once they were done, they were allowed to cut back in front and reride it again. On the water rides, the tour guide held our bags and gear so we didn't have to worry about anything getting wet. And on Harry Potter (we were only allowed on that ride once), he took us in through the staff hall to get to the front of the line which was really cool. I would love to do the VIP tour again this coming September.
2) Do not bring a car or rental on site if possible. The daily parking fee at the hotel is ridiculous.
3) Cotton candy shrinks in the humidity. My daughter cried after her cotton candy shrunk to almost nothing. LMAO..... (she is 20)
4) When we went you could use the pool at other resorts, and the pool at Cabana bay is AMAZING and has a lazy river. If that is an option it was awesome.

Have a great trip, and continue reading the tips and ideas to make it even better.

 

[shawthorne44]

We will be there at that same time period! That is how much I like it. First week of Feb is my absolute favorite, but I dithered and didn't get AP rates for the hotels. Late April - Early May is second favorite.

I second Seussland love. I don't know why people don't talk about it. Normally cheery background music becomes annoying after about 15 minutes. But, nope, that stays charming. In fact, I am still a little peeved at it for being so charming. Our very first visit, we arrived early afternoon and in the parking lot I see Hagrid's is 30 minute wait. This was over a year ago when 90 minutes was low. I was trying to hustle my family along. They went along until we hit Seussland and they refused to budge. We didn'tget to Hagrid's until evening, and then DD thought it was scary. She eventually rode again during the day and liked it.

With the EP's you will be able to try everything and decide for yourself. Definitely get one of you an AP for the discount, and it will probably be about the same price to get everyone an AP as tickets.

I like bringing one lanyard with multiple plastic pouches on it. You need your ticket/pass to open the locker, and they want one person from each group to go to the lockers. Lockers are very small, so you will probably need more than one for a family. I bought a pack of the plastic parts that had ziplocs on them from Amazon. You want it to be water-tight for the water rides. We have the sherpa, aka Dad, carry the stuff and handle the lockers.

 

[shawthorne44]

If you see a Dad at Universal in a Jedi robe with a Ravenclaw wife and daughter, that is us.

 

[Dawn Peterson]

We are thinking April 23rd to the 27 ( a Friday night to Tuesday evening). What are your thoughts on a late April weekend as far as crowds and weather? And will three and a half days be enough time to do everything in the 2 parks?

with an express pass 3.5 days sounds about right. You will probably miss the Spring Break crowds which will be nice, but even when we went in early November, the weekends were crowded. It all depends on your tolerance level.

We would like to stay in one of the hotels that offer the Express Pass. Which do you like the best and why?

my 8 and 11 yr old loved the water slide at HRH and their parents loved having food and drink brought to them while they watched the bottom of the slide . RP was nice too but too hard to survey the whole pool and no water slide.

What is the one ride (in each park) that's a must do every time you go?
What is your favorite thing to do at Universal that is not ride related?
What is one must try restaurant?

We have to ride ET as a family but my 11 yr old demands all HP rides too. One of our favorite thing to do is wander around in both HP sections. Those wands are fun if the crowds are low. My 8 yr old hates thrill rides but she loves the wands and Seussland.

our favorite restaurant is Big Fire. Lovely outdoor seating and table side s’mores. Food is really goo.

 

[Monykalyn]

My husband and I just decided to book our first family trip to Universal with our two daughters (11 and 8).

We are thinking April 23rd to the 27 ( a Friday night to Tuesday evening). What are your thoughts on a late April weekend as far as crowds and weather? And will three and a half days be enough time to do everything in the 2 parks?
Three and half days should allow a nice relaxing schedule, If you want to do water rides wear shoes/clothes that can get wet, then ride right before you want to take a break and go back to resort.
We would like to stay in one of the hotels that offer the Express Pass. Which do you like the best and why?
Have only stayed at Royal Pacific for EP but our family really likes it when we all need the EP. If it is just me and my middle-we have the AP with the Express after 4 built in-my first choice then is Sapphire Falls (when open) or Cabana Bay if hot out - the pools, slide, lazy river just can't be beat-for a supposedly lower tier hotel.
What is the one ride (in each park) that's a must do every time you go?
Mummy, Hagrids, Spiderman, Forbidden Journey. Usually Men in Black as well and I love Seuss Trolley!
What is your favorite thing to do at Universal that is not ride related?
Raptor Encounter! Meeting Blue or Sierra is so fun!, I like the Bourne Stuntacular as well, and LOVE the Horror makeup show! Plus the Beat builders, talking to Knight bus conductor, listening to the fountain (near the mask rest area in Lost Continent), watching Blues Brothers shows-there is so much!

Also-you have the age kids where Harry Potter may be big-the wand ceremony is fun as is spending time doing spells around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade-don't miss out on Knockturn alley either-so many miss it!
What is one must try restaurant?
Ours is NBC Grille-but really-all of them are good in some way (toothsome food has declined). Antijitos tabeside guac is great, Vivo has really really good food, love the nachos at Margaritaville-those are Citywalk. Inside the park we gravitate to Confiscos or Finnegans usually. Thunderfalls terrace is good too and the entrees are big enough to share-you've been warned LOL.
Grab some Voodoo donuts on way back to resort for am (or snack later

Dang it-now I miss Universal and I was just there last month!!! Have a fantastic trip!!!

 

[missmickey]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all info! I appreciate it so much!

I just booked it! Staying at the Royal Pacific and got annual passes. Did three seasonal and 1 preferred. They are 15 months so I’m hoping to get back again if we love it (which I’m sure we will). And it was actually less by few bucks to do it that way because of the room discount! crazy!

I cannot wait to try all your favorites

 

[Magical2017]

Looks like you are coming after Spring Break ends, so that should be a great time to be in the parks. We are also a family of 4 and our daughters were about that age on our first family trip. I wrote down my thoughts on planning a trip here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/how-i-plan-a-universal-trip.3794121/

You will definitely want at least one Annual Pass, which will save quite a couple hundred dollars on the room. Definitely worth the $15 upgrade. You can see the APH rates for your dates here: https://res.windsurfercrs.com/ibe/default.aspx?hgID=641&langID=1&checkin=4/23/2021&nights=4&rooms=1&adults=2&children=2&promo=aph&iata=&group=&hotels=&ada=0&currid=0&vouchercode=&attendeeCode=

If you think that you might be able to return, then getting APs for everyone is a great idea. We got 2 trips on our first APs and 3 on this set.

We watched all of the Harry Potter movies prior to our trip, and our girls fell in love with the HP areas at Universal. They really did a fantastic job there. We still have our wand and robes from the first trip.

All of the deluxe hotels are great, and each has advantages over the others. But in general, you can't go wrong with any of them...

Your information was extremely helpful in planning our trip. Thank you!

 

[PantherPete]

Hard Rock. Kids will love it. Hopefully they’ll have entertainment at the pool by then.

Forbidden Journey and Spider-Man at IOA although if you plan to get wet then head back to your hotel to get dry afterwards, you will love Dudley Do Right, and Jurassic Park are great. But you will get as wet as you would if you jumped in a pool.

MIB and The Simpsons are my favorites at USO.

Non rides, I’ll go with seeing the Superhero’s at IOA and The Blues Brothers at USO. That’s a great show if you are Gen X or older.

The best restaurant is Mythos, although I love the dueling pianos and a hurricane at Pat O’Briens.

 

[cschaaf]

And will three and a half days be enough time to do everything in the 2 parks? Everything? Probably not. Most things, yes. If you have Express, you'll get a lot more done than without. Even with Express, there are shows that you might miss due to timing or whatever if you don't plan around them. We usually go for 3 days with Express and we're always able to get in everything we want - including multiple rides on favorites.

We would like to stay in one of the hotels that offer the Express Pass. Which do you like the best and why? Royal Pacific - it's almost always the cheapest of the three. We don't use the resort for anything except the room, so we've never worried about any amenities.

What is the one ride (in each park) that's a must do every time you go? Just picking one from each - Islands = Hagrid's. USF = Mummy. I'd add Men In Black from USF if I could choose another.
What is your favorite thing to do at Universal that is not ride related? Probably eat. Horror Makeup Show is fun. The Bourne show has amazing technology.
What is one must try restaurant? Tough one - In City Walk, we love Red Oven Pizza. It's good pizza and is a great deal, but if I could only recommend one place, that probably wouldn't be it. You can't really go wrong choosing between Cowfish, Toothsome, NBC, Vivo... we like them all. There are many others that we haven't tried. We wanted to try Big Fire, but nothing on the menu spoke to us - so I'd say, choose that way. Take a look at menus and see what might work best for your family.

In the parks. we like Finnegan's, Today Cafe, Fast Food Blvd, Mythos, Confisco, Doc Sugru's.


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