First Timer!!

[firechick139]

Just booked a spontaneous trip to Universal! I was debating and debating on where to go this summer. We are going to Disney next year ( and the year after that ) so I was trying to think of something different. We were going to go to Cedar Point, but then it popped into my head to go to Universal. I was planning on going for a day during our Disney trip, but we have never been there, and my daughter adores Harry Potter and Legos. SO, I decided to just plan a whole trip there. What started out as 5 days (actually 3 due to our flight times) has snowballed into 8 days (actually 6, once again due to flight times). We are going from July 29 to August 5. I plan on going to Legoland for one day, then go to (wait a minute, I have to look up the abbreviations ) IOA for 2 days, US for 2 days, and plan on going to CityWalk for a day, also. I have NO IDEA whatsoever about anything Universal, so I don't know if this is too long of a time, or what. In my extremely short time browsing so far, it looks like it is recommended only one day each for IOA and US, and doesn't say anything about CityWalk, so I don't know if it is actually big enough to constitute a whole day. I'm wondering if we should add the Water Park. I have never even seen pictures of anything, yet. I probably should have researched everything first before I booked anything, but I sort of panicked because the trip is in 2 months! We are staying off-site because I don't have enough money to stay onsite right now, since it was such short notice. Maybe next time. We are staying at the Best Western Orlando Gateway. I got it for an average of $60 per night through an AAA 48 hour sale. I thought that was pretty good. I really need a hotel that has free shuttle service to the park because we are not renting a car. I have already purchased the 1 day Lego ticket and our flight tickets. The only thing I haven't done so far is get the Universal tickets. I thought it was kind of expensive when I looked up a 4 day p/p pass, and went to my AAA website, but didn't realize you can't get the AAA rate unless you call them. I will be doing that soon. I looked at other places, but so far, without knowing what the AAA rate is, buying the tickets directly from the website is the least expensive. I'm trying to figure out what to get. Since we have never been there before, (by the way, it will be myself, my 10 year old daughter, and my roller coaster freak brother going on this trip. Guess I should have mentioned that ) I was thinking base tickets would be fine to get because we would have enough to do in each park to not need a park hopper. Opinions? Also, my concern is shuttle service. I don't know if we would be able to go from park to park in the middle of the day. I'm thinking the hotel shuttle will take us there in the morning and pick us up at park closing. Period.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'm going to do some research, but any tips, opinions, or comments will be greatly appreciated for us newbies!

 

[hermionesnape]

Just booked a spontaneous trip to Universal! I was debating and debating on where to go this summer. We are going to Disney next year ( and the year after that ) so I was trying to think of something different. We were going to go to Cedar Point, but then it popped into my head to go to Universal. I was planning on going for a day during our Disney trip, but we have never been there, and my daughter adores Harry Potter and Legos. SO, I decided to just plan a whole trip there. What started out as 5 days (actually 3 due to our flight times) has snowballed into 8 days (actually 6, once again due to flight times). We are going from July 29 to August 5. I plan on going to Legoland for one day, then go to (wait a minute, I have to look up the abbreviations ) IOA for 2 days, US for 2 days, and plan on going to CityWalk for a day, also. I have NO IDEA whatsoever about anything Universal, so I don't know if this is too long of a time, or what. In my extremely short time browsing so far, it looks like it is recommended only one day each for IOA and US, and doesn't say anything about CityWalk, so I don't know if it is actually big enough to constitute a whole day. I'm wondering if we should add the Water Park. I have never even seen pictures of anything, yet. I probably should have researched everything first before I booked anything, but I sort of panicked because the trip is in 2 months! We are staying off-site because I don't have enough money to stay onsite right now, since it was such short notice. Maybe next time. We are staying at the Best Western Orlando Gateway. I got it for an average of $60 per night through an AAA 48 hour sale. I thought that was pretty good. I really need a hotel that has free shuttle service to the park because we are not renting a car. I have already purchased the 1 day Lego ticket and our flight tickets. The only thing I haven't done so far is get the Universal tickets. I thought it was kind of expensive when I looked up a 4 day p/p pass, and went to my AAA website, but didn't realize you can't get the AAA rate unless you call them. I will be doing that soon. I looked at other places, but so far, without knowing what the AAA rate is, buying the tickets directly from the website is the least expensive. I'm trying to figure out what to get. Since we have never been there before, (by the way, it will be myself, my 10 year old daughter, and my roller coaster freak brother going on this trip. Guess I should have mentioned that ) I was thinking base tickets would be fine to get because we would have enough to do in each park to not need a park hopper. Opinions? Also, my concern is shuttle service. I don't know if we would be able to go from park to park in the middle of the day. I'm thinking the hotel shuttle will take us there in the morning and pick us up at park closing. Period.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'm going to do some research, but any tips, opinions, or comments will be greatly appreciated for us newbies!

Well, first your going to have fun! Universal is great. Since you already have the flights and nights booked I think you should check out undercover tourists website. The tickets I would rec

 

[hermionesnape]

Just booked a spontaneous trip to Universal! I was debating and debating on where to go this summer. We are going to Disney next year ( and the year after that ) so I was trying to think of something different. We were going to go to Cedar Point, but then it popped into my head to go to Universal. I was planning on going for a day during our Disney trip, but we have never been there, and my daughter adores Harry Potter and Legos. SO, I decided to just plan a whole trip there. What started out as 5 days (actually 3 due to our flight times) has snowballed into 8 days (actually 6, once again due to flight times). We are going from July 29 to August 5. I plan on going to Legoland for one day, then go to (wait a minute, I have to look up the abbreviations ) IOA for 2 days, US for 2 days, and plan on going to CityWalk for a day, also. I have NO IDEA whatsoever about anything Universal, so I don't know if this is too long of a time, or what. In my extremely short time browsing so far, it looks like it is recommended only one day each for IOA and US, and doesn't say anything about CityWalk, so I don't know if it is actually big enough to constitute a whole day. I'm wondering if we should add the Water Park. I have never even seen pictures of anything, yet. I probably should have researched everything first before I booked anything, but I sort of panicked because the trip is in 2 months! We are staying off-site because I don't have enough money to stay onsite right now, since it was such short notice. Maybe next time. We are staying at the Best Western Orlando Gateway. I got it for an average of $60 per night through an AAA 48 hour sale. I thought that was pretty good. I really need a hotel that has free shuttle service to the park because we are not renting a car. I have already purchased the 1 day Lego ticket and our flight tickets. The only thing I haven't done so far is get the Universal tickets. I thought it was kind of expensive when I looked up a 4 day p/p pass, and went to my AAA website, but didn't realize you can't get the AAA rate unless you call them. I will be doing that soon. I looked at other places, but so far, without knowing what the AAA rate is, buying the tickets directly from the website is the least expensive. I'm trying to figure out what to get. Since we have never been there before, (by the way, it will be myself, my 10 year old daughter, and my roller coaster freak brother going on this trip. Guess I should have mentioned that ) I was thinking base tickets would be fine to get because we would have enough to do in each park to not need a park hopper. Opinions? Also, my concern is shuttle service. I don't know if we would be able to go from park to park in the middle of the day. I'm thinking the hotel shuttle will take us there in the morning and pick us up at park closing. Period.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'm going to do some research, but any tips, opinions, or comments will be greatly appreciated for us newbies!

Well, first your going to have fun! Universal is great. Since you already have the flights and nights booked I think you should check out undercover tourists website if the AAA tickets are not less then the prices below.

The tickets I would recommend to you are either the 4 day park to park ticket ($159.95 inculdes tax and shipping) which will let you go to either IOA or US as much as you want for 4 days of your stay. I found on my first trip that some of my family took longer in one park over the other and the last day we jumped between the two parks hitting our favs again (they are literally right beside each other, only a restaurant sits between the entrances).

If your DD likes water parks the there is a 3 Park Unlimited ticket ($179 includes tax and shipping). This ticket is good for 14 consecutive days and you can go to IOA, US, and WnW (water park) as much as you want to for your entire stay even multiple parks in the same day . This is the ticket I plan to buy for my next trip. I have never been to WnW put my DD (who was 11 when she went) loved it.

I don't believe city walk needs an entire day. It's right next to the parks. You just walk out and you are in city walk. You can explore in the middle of the day when lines in the park get crazy. It's mostly shops, restaurants, a movie theater, mini golf, and 21+ clubs at night.

The shuttle drop off area is close to the parks and simple to navigate. You should call your hotel directly to ask about times for the shuttle from your hotel.

Since your are staying at the parks for 4 days just take your time and try not to rush. If you start to fill over whelmed by the crowd and want to take a break in the middle of the day for a few hours then come back later do that. You have plenty of time.

Do HP first thing in the morning (less crowds), drink lots of butterbeer (plastic mug for cheap refills), and HAVE FUN!

 

[DCTooTall]

While you might be able to get each park done in a day (not sure how crowded it'll be during your time there, and if that will be enough to impact your ability to see everything in the park), I might recommend considering adding a 3rd day just so you can go back and hit anything you missed and rehit those favorites. If you aren't sure and want to play it safe, You can always go with a base 2 day ticket and upgrade with either the extra days or park to park option once in the park. There are several places you can do the upgrade within the park and all you'd end up paying is the price difference between the tickets.

The universal parks are located virtually right next to each other. Its a short 5min walk between the US and IOA entrance, and the primary shuttle drop off for all offsite shuttles are located between Citywalk and the parking garage, so you'll be dropped off the same place for both parks. (Therefor, drop off and pick up won't be an issue if you decide to park hop.). The Water Park (Wet and Wild) is across I-4 from the Universal parks.

Citywalk wouldn't really have enough to kill an entire day. You have a few restaurants, a few shops, 2 mini golf courses, and a movie theater. At night the dance clubs open and a couple of the restaurants convert into a club atmosphere. Honestly, while I can spend a lot of time at Citywalk, it really doesn't get interesting and worth hanging out at until closer to park closing times. the Clubs are usually open until around 2am.

 

[macraven]

you will need to call your hotel to check the shuttle schedule they have for the darkside.

not all of the offsite hotels have frequent shuttle times to the UO park.
most have a morning and early evening shuttle.


will your hotel have a shuttle to legoland?
you mentioned you aren't renting a car.


since your trip is during mid summer, i'm hopeful they will have numerous shuttles to the places you plan on hitting!

 

[glocon]

I think that 4 days at UO sounds about right if you are going in two months. The summer months are very busy at theme parks so you will need more time to do all the rides and shows. There are some great places to eat also, at both parks, the resorts, and Citywalk. You will not be bored.

Hope you have fun!

 

[firechick139]

Thanks, everyone! I took the advice and got 4 day park to park tickets. Now we are all set to go! Thanks for the info that you can just walk from park to park. With never being there, I thought you had to take a bus or shuttle. I'm glad to hear we don't have to worry about that. Our hotel has shuttle service to the parks, we just have to reserve a space the night before. As for Legoland, I'm hoping the hotel either has a shuttle to the Orlando Premium Outlets, or we can take a cab. Legoland has a shuttle that leaves from there to their park every day at 9:00 am. Has anyone else experienced this?