Universal Newbie: Blue Man Group/Margaritaville

[Sammy]

Have never been in the Universal area before, and my parents bought us tickets to Blue Man Group for an 8:30 PM show on a Friday night. We are staying in the Disney Resort area, and I have a couple of questions if anyone can help me out:

1. I'm thinking of Margaritaville for dinner prior to the show, how far is the restaurant from the show venue and is it easily walkable? Is making reservations as easy as doing Disney ADRs?

2. How much time should I allow for dinner if BMG starts at 8:30?

3. Is it an easy drive from Disney to City Walk, and how much time should I allow for the trip?

I appreciate any help or opinions you can provide. Thank you!!

 

[Metro West]

Have never been in the Universal area before, and my parents bought us tickets to Blue Man Group for an 8:30 PM show on a Friday night. We are staying in the Disney Resort area, and I have a couple of questions if anyone can help me out:

1. I'm thinking of Margaritaville for dinner prior to the show, how far is the restaurant from the show venue and is it easily walkable? Is making reservations as easy as doing Disney ADRs?

2. How much time should I allow for dinner if BMG starts at 8:30?

3. Is it an easy drive from Disney to City Walk, and how much time should I allow for the trip?

I appreciate any help or opinions you can provide. Thank you!!

1) Margaritaville is about a five minute walk from BMG so no worries there. You can make reservations that morning at the latest...or a few days ahead.

2) I would allow at least two hours just so you're not having to rush through dinner.

3) It's an easy drive from Disney to CityWalk...it's about 11 miles. If you're driving, you would need to allow an hour to get there and park. Remember...you still have to pay to park in the garage and you would be wise to wait until after 6pm...it's only $3.00 instead of the $14.00 during the day.

 

[Sammy]

Thanks for the information....I really appreciate it! You say to allow an hour to drive and park...why so long if it's only a short 11 miles to City Walk? Would it be because of commuter traffic that time of day?

 

[Metro West]

Thanks for the information....I really appreciate it! You say to allow an hour to drive and park...why so long if it's only a short 11 miles to City Walk? Would it be because of commuter traffic that time of day?

Mainly because of the traffic but again...you don't want to be rushed. There is a back way to get from Disney to Universal but you're still going to run into traffic that time of day no matter which way you go.

 

[francie57]

You can call Margaritaville directly and make reservations before you leave. We made ours over a week in advance of our trip last Aug. and will do the same this coming Aug. You would be safer to do that instead of just walking up and putting your name in since it is a popular place. I would plan dinner around 6:00 so you would not be rushed and if you have extra time you could just walk around City Walk and make your way slowly over to BMG. They only open the door about 20 min. or so before the show since there is an earlier show. You would also be able to watch the new roller coaster Universal built this past year since it goes by City Walk. A walk from Margaritaville to BMG is about 5 min. or so. As far as the drive from Disney it isn't bad, but you could run into traffic. You have two choices for parking, the huge garages, with moving sidewalks, or valet parking. Can't tell you a thing about the garages since we have never used them. When we used to commute from Disney to Universal (before staying at Universal for a few days), we always valet parked. The drop off for the valet is basically at the entrance to City Walk. You will have a great time and the show is really great.

 

[JulieWent]

Hi! Glad to see you're considering dinner at CityWalk before the performance. UO is DIFFERENT from WDW, but not in a bad way. There's lots about it that's interesting and exciting. (DS, who is now almost 15, actually prefers to take Universal-only trips every once in awhile. We did one in December and went to Blue Man Group for the very first time. It was spectacular!)

Anyway, to your questions: The scale at Universal is very different from that at Disney. You can sit at Margaritaville and see the entrances to both their parks (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure). The walk from Margaritaville to the Blue Man Group building is just around a small lake. (As others have said, five minutes, tops.) It makes a nice after-dinner stroll.

I second the suggestion that you call about a week ahead at Margaritaville. I didn't know you could do this until our most recent trip. We were meeting friends, and she called a week early. We got quick, priority seating.

We haven't had much experience with parking at Universal because we're usually staying on-site when we're there, but the friends we met last time said it was the easiest thing of all because the parking garage is so huge. I know that the concierge at both Disney and Universal hotels are very good about giving spot-on directions to "that other place." It is an easy drive. (We usually make it in the other direction since we usually stay at Universal and then move to Disney later in the week.) But it never takes us more than 30 minutes to get from Universal to Disney. Giving yourself time is probably not a bad thing, though. If you get to CityWalk early, there are huge numbers of shops and lots of outside entertainment. It's a really nice place to hang out.

Universal / CityWalk is a much more laid-back place than Disney. (Don't have to make ADRs 180 days out; can actually get a hotel room a few days before you want to go occasionally; we even do away with commando planning when we stay on-site because the express pass allows us to come and go as we please.) I hope your experience with it all works out.

Julie