O/T- anyone stayed and played at Universal Orlando

[mollyseven]

This year is my daughter's 16th and seeing as we have already been to Disney this year for 10 nights we were thinking we'd take her for a 4 night trip to universal for her birthday. We have never done Universal!! I think we are going to stay at the Loews Royal Pacific right on site but could also stay at the Portofino or Hard Rock also on site......We are going to fly Buffalo to Orlando for the cheap flights.
Anyone done this and have any tips?
Oh yeah, it's the first of december!!

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Universal is amazing, especially the theming in Islands of Adventure. In our 2005 adventure, we spent 4 days in the two parks, including multiple rides on Revenge of the Mummy, Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Dueling Dragons (now called Dragon Challenge).

We're also foodies, and we really enjoyed dinner at Emeril's and lunch at Mythos. (Mythos was so good, we ate their twice.) My only caution is that this was back in 2005 and the restaurants and/or executive chefs may have changed.

FYI, we loved Dudley Do-Right's Rip-Saw Falls, and not because of the cartoon-RCMP theme. DDRSF gets you absolutely drenched. Wring-out-your-underwear drenched. It doesn't compare to Splash Mountain at all. (Yes, we had dry clothes, but we had to change in bathrooms because we were staying off-property.)

We can't wait to do it all again in 2011 or 2012...

 

[michelle1]

We stayed onsite at Royal Pacific and it was perfect because it was so convenient....there is a boat ride to the parks or you can walk. When onsite you are free to use the facilities at any of the resorts (unless it's changed since we were there) and you get a front of the line pass. You may not need that privilege since you will be there in December but we went during July and walked past every line and had no wait. Have a great time!

 

[braddillman]

My family of 5 (kids 8, 10, 12) actually prefer USF/IoA to WDW. There are boards on this site with quite a lot of info.

What do you like to do at WDW?
Are you Harry Potter fans?
Do you get motion sick?
Are you coaster chicken (like me)?

I recommend my favourite ride, Popeye & Bluto's Barges, a river rapids ride like Kali River Rapids in AK. Note: you WILL get soakin' wet!

Also highly recommend the Spider-man ride (a simulator that moves around inside a building, many effects combined).

Margaritaville nachos are too big even for 3 or maybe 4 people to finish; good value if you like nachos.

Skip the Twister show, it gets consistently poor reviews.

IMHO, 4 days is just about right for the two parks.

 

[BLBCB]

We have stayed at all three of the Universal property resorts; Portofino Bay, Hard Rock & Royal Pacific. Staying on property is the only way to do Universal. Unlimited front of the line access is amazing, even when the parks are not very crowded. One time on Men in Black we rode 4 times in a row and the people waiting in line started to recognize us walking past them and were getting upset so we left for another ride. I heard them asking who we were to get "back doored". I guess they thought we were famous or something.

The resorts have amazing themeing and it all depends on what you are looking for. Price-wise the Royal Pacific is the "cheapest" but keep in mind these are all luxury or deluxe resorts so nothing is really cheap, but the large rooms, wonderful beds, amazing pools, and the front of the line access makes them really worth the money. You can walk to the park or take the boat so it's easy to head back to change if you are wet, etc. Also keep in mind that your line access is good until the park closes on the day you check out, so for one night hotel room you can get two days of line access and you get early entry.

We'll be checking out Harry Potter for the first time this December!

 

[damo]

Universal Orlando is our Theme Park Destination of choice. We actually have been there three times this year. We love all of the resorts and always have a great time.

 

[mollyseven]

thanks for all the info and suggestions....
We have booked to stay at the Royal Pacific resort and have the park passes, the harry potter extra and some meal deals and transfers to and from MCO included.....seems like a good deal to me.
We are flying down on southwest for a good early direct flight and home with air tran also for a nice direct well timed flight also.

I can't wait ..... this will be a total surprise for my kids...they will never guess we are going to Universal when we always do disney!!

 

[jenvin]

We have stayed at all three of the Universal property resorts; Portofino Bay, Hard Rock & Royal Pacific. Staying on property is the only way to do Universal. Unlimited front of the line access is amazing, even when the parks are not very crowded. One time on Men in Black we rode 4 times in a row and the people waiting in line started to recognize us walking past them and were getting upset so we left for another ride. I heard them asking who we were to get "back doored". I guess they thought we were famous or something.

The resorts have amazing themeing and it all depends on what you are looking for. Price-wise the Royal Pacific is the "cheapest" but keep in mind these are all luxury or deluxe resorts so nothing is really cheap, but the large rooms, wonderful beds, amazing pools, and the front of the line access makes them really worth the money. You can walk to the park or take the boat so it's easy to head back to change if you are wet, etc. Also keep in mind that your line access is good until the park closes on the day you check out, so for one night hotel room you can get two days of line access and you get early entry.

We'll be checking out Harry Potter for the first time this December!

LOL - that's awesome - we're going in December too, staying at Loews Royal Pacific Resort for 4 days, we're doing the Harry Potter package (breakfast at Three Broomsticks and a few other things). Hopefully it's not too busy, it'll be a week before school ends, so maybe we'll be able to "look famous" too Then we're heading to WDW for a couple of weeks.

Jen

 

[Sue M]

Have a great time! We stayed at Hard Rock. Loved the Front of the Line pass. You just show your room card. We rode our favs several times in a row. The Simpson Ride had just opened when we went. It was so much fun.

Sadly, we didn't get to use any of the pools, we were there in Aug. when Tropical Storm Faye was there too! And Faye just didn't want to move. Rained for days. the lockers at Univ. are operated by finger-print, so they weren't working, as everyones fingers were so water logged And there are rides they won't let you on with bags. So you must leave your stuff in the lockers outside of the ride. They're free for 2 hrs? I think.