Questions about parking for Off-site Visitors

[marcar12]

I have heard that the parking situation at Universal/Islands of Adventure is pretty inconvenient.
....Park in a huge garage, then take a long walk to a "people mover", then ride that to security, then stand in a long line at security, then another long walk through City Walk and into the park.
And at the end of the day, do all of that in reverse (except security), and wait in an hour-long line to finally exit the parking lot.

Is that all true? Is exiting the park after close a huge hassle?

I have also heard that if you take an Uber to Hard Rock, Sapphire Falls, or Royal Pacific, then you can just take the water taxi from there. Has anyone does this? Would you recommend this route?

Both sound inconvenient, but I understand that is the "price" you pay when you want to save money on your hotel room. (We are a family of 6 and have a 1700 sq ft Marriott room reserved for less $ per night than an Endless Summer 400 sq ft room).

Thank you for any insights you can share!

 

[Skippyboo]

There area several large multistory parking garages where you park. You can pay extra for preferred parking which will get you closer to security hub. Depending where you’re are at you might have to take some escalators and moving walkways. When you get to the central hub that’s where security is multi lanes. Put your stuff in a tote , it goes through a screener, you go through metal detectors. Pick up stuff. It’s then a walkway over the roads. There’s 2 moving walkways here going in . Then you’re in City Walk. Go Straight for IoA or right at big Universal store for path to Studios.

In theory you could go to the hotels with the water taxi, but you have to go through security there, wait for boat, load on the boat, drive to city walk. The boat lets off by NBC sports grill . Then walk to the park.

Unless it’s a big event night like HHN or one of the Mardi Gras concerts night, I have not found parking garages to be super crazy. The people staying onsite at Universal hotels are going to use the provided transportation. It’s all more compact than WDW.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It's a 5 minute walk from the Hard Rock. Zoom in on Google maps. If you don't want to deal with parking, I think Ubering and going through the Hard Rock would be the simplest way.
If you drive & park, you'll see it's still easier than driving to MK: taking the tram to TTC and getting on the ferry or monorail. Then again people stay onsite to avoid that too.

Being a family of 6 complicates things and having all that space that you'll have sounds like it's a good way to go with that many people.

 

[GhostHost24]

It's really not that bad outside of events like hhn or their concert series etc.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I have heard that the parking situation at Universal/Islands of Adventure is pretty inconvenient.
....Park in a huge garage, then take a long walk to a "people mover", then ride that to security, then stand in a long line at security, then another long walk through City Walk and into the park.
And at the end of the day, do all of that in reverse (except security), and wait in an hour-long line to finally exit the parking lot.

Is that all true? Is exiting the park after close a huge hassle?

I have also heard that if you take an Uber to Hard Rock, Sapphire Falls, or Royal Pacific, then you can just take the water taxi from there. Has anyone does this? Would you recommend this route?

Both sound inconvenient, but I understand that is the "price" you pay when you want to save money on your hotel room. (We are a family of 6 and have a 1700 sq ft Marriott room reserved for less $ per night than an Endless Summer 400 sq ft room).

Thank you for any insights you can share!

It's not that big of a deal. There's a bunch of moving walkways. I certainly wouldn't go through the hassle of taking an uber to a hotel followed by water taxi. There's no "people mover" unless you are referring to the moving walkways.

The line for security isn't an hour or anything like that. I've never waited more than 5 minutes. I guess if you're rope dropping it could be longer.