First Trip

[la79al]

Decided yesterday that we are going to be taking our first trip to Universal in March. We are currently looking somewhere around the 16th. Dates are adjustable by a few days only. Planning on doing 3 days park to park and getting tix from Sam's Club. Currently planning on staying with family a little over an hour away but that also allows us to pack food to take into the parks. Obviously the biggest point here is trying to make the trip as cheap as possible since this was a relatively last minute plan and one of many vacations already planned for the summer. Kids will be almost 10, 15 and 17. Anything you would add or change or anything I can do between now and then?

 

[Kit Jackson]

What kind of food were you planning to bring? Were you thinking about bringing sneaks or meals? What size bags were you planning to bring to the park? Were you planning on carrying the bag or bags with you all day?

People can give better recommendations if they know a bit more about the travel party. Any franchises/fandoms that anyone is really into? Do ride tolerances (susceptibility to motion sickness, ability to handle simulator rides, or rides that spin) need to be taken into consideration? Are you traveling with ride cowards, thrill seekers, something in between, or a mix of all of the above?

If you are willing to buy a book, this was incredibly helpful when I planned my first trip.

https://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-G...79&sprefix=Unoffocual+Guide+to,aps,111&sr=8-1

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You might look at a hotel for one of the nights. Either Surfside/Dockside or a nearby off-site hotel, to save 2hrs drive & 2 days of parking garage costs. Bring an overnight bag.

3 day tickets have a use period of 5 days or so, make sure to pick the cheapest date that covers all the days you want to go. You don't have to have tickets that start on your first day, they just have to cover every day you want to go. (IE if your first day is a Sat you might find that buying tickets starting Thurs or Fri is cheaper).

Download the Universal App, for ride wait times, schedules, map, hours, etc. Has a lot of useful info.

The last few hours that the parks are open will be your shortest lines. If you aren't doing open to close (which is a long day with an hr+ drive on both ends), you will do better to hit the evening hours than the morning ones. Especially Epic! Make sure you can hang until the very end when nearly all the lines will be very short.

If you are going on a weekend day, try to put Epic on that day. The other parks are most crowded on weekends (esp Sat) and generally Epic is less crowded on weekends.

Bring collapsible water bottle(s) which you can fill for free with cold filtered water at the many Coke freestyle machines throughout the park. Or you could get one freestyle mug & share, take turns picking what drink to fill it with. Includes icees too.

Try to hit Hagrids around late lunch time or hop in line right at the end of the day. Do not go first thing in the morning without early entry, that will be the longest the line gets.

Note the water rides Popeyes Barges & Dudley Dooright flume will leave you soaked. The lockers for those are not free, you can bring bags on. There is a compartment on the barges which normally stays pretty dry (may want to put stuff in a big plastic bag in case), but expect anything on the flume to become soaked unless it is wrapped up. Feet/shoes too. These are waterproof sandal rides. You can also use the free lockers at Hulk or Forbidden Journey, you get the ride wait time plus 15min grace period - if the wait for one of those is nice and long, you are all set but don't go over the time or you will have to pay.