Need lots of information about visiting Universal

mrspxyz

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
18
My family has only been to Universal once and that was a very long time ago. We stayed on a condo off site. We will be doing a Disney vacation spring 2015 so we thought a short vacation to Universal would be good for this year. We are confident about planning a Disney trip but Universal is all new to us.

My questions:
If staying in one of the Universal resorts is transportation provided from the airport to the hotel?

Which on site hotel is recommended? We have a young adult with us who is physical disabled.

Is it worth it to take this physically disabled young adult to Universal or should we skip the whole trip all together?

I am reading about a pass or something? What is that all about?

Any meal plans like Disney?

Thank you for all your help
 
My family has only been to Universal once and that was a very long time ago. We stayed on a condo off site. We will be doing a Disney vacation spring 2015 so we thought a short vacation to Universal would be good for this year. We are confident about planning a Disney trip but Universal is all new to us.

My questions:
If staying in one of the Universal resorts is transportation provided from the airport to the hotel?

Which on site hotel is recommended? We have a young adult with us who is physical disabled.

Is it worth it to take this physically disabled young adult to Universal or should we skip the whole trip all together?

I am reading about a pass or something? What is that all about?

Any meal plans like Disney?

Thank you for all your help

How mobile is the young adult that will be traveling with you? "Physically disabled" could run anywhere from "unable to walk long distances" to "unable to leave the wheelchair at all except to get into a bed". Most of the rides will require him to be able to transfer to the ride vehicle, which may mean walking a few steps and then stepping up/down into the vehicle. A few rides, such as Disaster, ET, Men In Black, Cat in the Hat, Caro-Seuss-el, and One Fish Two Fish allow a guest to remain in a standard wheelchair (manual chair only, not an electric one; basically they have to have the "regular" large back wheel to be locked into the ride system). Shows and non-ride attractions (like Terminator and Twister) of course allow for any style chair to be used. This is a link to their Rider Guide that lists the restrictions for each ride.

They do offer a dining plan, but it is not like the Disney one, it is an all day all you can eat dining plan. There are 3 specific restaurants at each park that participate in it, but honestly, unless you eat a lot, it's cheaper just to pay OOP in my experience.

Any of the hotels would be fine. If you stay at the Cabana Beach one, it's considered a "non-premium" resort, so you don't get all the extra perks. If you're going to stay on site, look at the prices for Express Passes and see if the cost of Express Passes for your whole party is more than the difference in resort pricing; if it is, and a significantly reduced wait time (I think the longest wait we had in Express line was 10 minutes, and the regular queue was up around 45) is a priority for you, I'd stay at one of the other resorts so you get the free Unlimited Express; Hard Rock Hotel is my favorite because of the themeing and how close it is. Royal Pacific is also pretty close to the park entrances, and Portofino Bay is farthest away. All of the hotels provide ADA compliant rooms with lower sinks, larger doorways, handrails in tubs/roll in showers, etc, upon request.

I would suggest looking over the rider guide and seeing if the types of attractions would be good with everybody. Depending on the severity of the young adult's physical disability, he may not be able to enjoy all of the rides to their "full" capacity (one I can think of offhand is the Despicable Me ride, if he's not terribly mobile the seating configuration can be a pain to get him in and out of, but he would still be able to see the show, just not feel the motion simulator part). UO is a bit more thrill oriented than WDW, so if your group is more into thrill type rides, it's definitely worth considering. I will say this, I worked there for 5 years and a lot of the time hung around after my shift ended to ride the rides. And it never got boring, because I either noticed something new each time, or just loved the reactions of people that had never been on the rides before. :)
 
Here is the link to the brand new dining plans that are just like Disney's. Right now the table service one is only offered if you get a package but the express one is available at the restaurants. There is a nice long list of the restaurants (100 locations) that you can use it at if you click on the link:

https://www.universalorlando.com/Restaurants/Universal-Dining-Plan.aspx

Here is the pdf version of the places where it is available and what you can get there:

https://www.universalorlando.com/Images/pdf_Universal_Dining_Plan_tcm13-36926.pdf



The express pass is a bit different from Disney. If you stay at the Portofino, Hard Rock or Royal Pacific each person takes there room key and gets an express card printed out with their picture on it. When you get to the parks, you simply show that card to the attendant and you get to ride whenever and how many times you want using the express pass lane. The only things it can't be used on right now are Forbidden Journey, Ollivanders and Pteranodan Flyers.
 
There is NO free transportation from the airport to the resorts at universal.You can pay for a mears shuttle, a cab , rental car or Towncar/limo service. If you rent a car, be aware that Unviersal resorts charge a nightly parking fee ( disney builds their nightly parking into the resort rates)
 

By pass did you mean express pass or Guest Assistance Pass?

You can get a guest assistance pass at Guest Services for your son that is very helpful if you aren't staying onsite. You will be given specific times to return to rides and be allowed to use the express pass line. This will cut down on your times.
 





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