Newbie

[wgwtgb]

So I'm a big time newbie to universal studios!! We have been to Disney numerous times but never universal. I need some bigtime help!! A little background. We are a family of 4. Myself, DH, DS-will be 10 when we travel, DD-will be 4. Because of work schedules we are looking at traveling the week of thanksgiving. Maybe a few days the week before or a few days the week after, but 7 days max! We would like to do universal as well as Disney! My main questions are:
Best hotel for us? We aren't por but not rich either- we stayed at pop century last trip. It is my understanding that you get front of the line privilidges if you stay on site at universal??
Tickets? Beat deal for our family?? I'm assuming it may take us 3 days since we have never been.
Meals? With the little research I've done I see that universal doesn't have the meal plan that Disney does. We did the one sit down one counter service and one snack at Disney and were very pleAsed with this.
Any suggestions anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Metro West]

I'll try to help some. I can't really help much on the resorts since I don't stay there. Someone will come along with more resort experience and give you their opinions. All onsite guests receive unlimited Express access for the duration of the stay.

For ticket discounts, you might want to check at your local AAA office and Costco club to see if they offer them. Also...Undercover Tourist has been known to offer discounted tickets. Three days is optimal to enjoy your stay. One day for each park and then a day to go back to do favorites again.

The Meal Deal at Universal isn't worth it unless your party really likes to eat standard theme park fare plus the choice of restaurants is very limited. There are much better places to try that are not on the meal deal. As far as recommendations go...for table service I would recommend Mythos at IOA and Finnegan's at the Studios. For counter service I would go with Thunder Falls Terrace at IOA and Louie's at the Studios. The portions at the above mentioned restaurants are fairly large and can be split if it's too much for one person. You can not share plates on the meal deal...just something to keep in mind.

If you have more questions, please feel free to ask!

 

[schumigirl]

I would recommend Royal Pacific Resort a million times over

It is the cheapest of the three....but I think it`s by far the nicest of the resorts. Not that there`s anything wrong with the others.....they are all lovely, we just prefer the themeing and the feel of the hotel and we don`t want to leave there when the holiday is over.

And yes the Unlimited Express Pass you get with staying in one of the Loews hotels is worth every last cent.

Rooms are a decent size with very comfortable beds, and we have always found it to be immaculately clean. Some people go Club Level......but for us it`s just not worth the extra expense as we prefer to eat at lots of different places.

As well as some fantastic places in the hotel to eat, there are some wonderful places to eat in the parks and in Citywalk. Margaritaville is one of our favourites there. NBA is also good.

IOA...we love Confisco Grille, Thunder Falls and Mythos.

US...Lombards, Louie`s pizza and Richter Burger.

We personally wouldn`t bother with the Universal meal deal, there is so many lovely places to try.

Happy Planning

 

[wgwtgb]

Thanks for the suggestions thus far!!!