Universal parking with a wheelchair?

[tmarquez]

Hi

We are going to Universal for a day and DH is temporarily in a wheelchair. I've never been there before so I have no idea about the parking situation. Is it like at Disney where you have to park and then ride a tram? We do not have a disabled parking permit. Any advice? Thank you!

 

[Lilogirl]

Hi

We are going to Universal for a day and DH is temporarily in a wheelchair. I've never been there before so I have no idea about the parking situation. Is it like at Disney where you have to park and then ride a tram? We do not have a disabled parking permit. Any advice? Thank you!

There is not a tram, but there are moving sidewalks from the parking garage. to Citywalk.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

When you get there and go through the toll plaza make sure the hang tag is hung. Follow the signs to the "preferred parking" which is technically level three of the garage (but it is actually the gorund level for entry). There are quite a few lanes for preferred. When you get near the disabled parking area there will normally be a person there to indicate the row.

Once you are parked, and the wheelchair out, you will follow the walkway to where the two garages merge. Then there is another walkway perpendicular to that which goes toward the entrance to City Walk. They do have motorized slideways in these areas; I know they do not want ECVs on the slideways but I am not sure about wheelchairs.

At a point along here there will be a bag inspection. Once you get to City Walk, you will keep to the left to go to Universal Studios and to the right to go to Islands of Adventure.

You will not need any elevators along this trek, but it is a real hike.

 

[Lilogirl]

When you get there and go through the toll plaza make sure the hang tag is hung. Follow the signs to the "preferred parking" which is technically level three of the garage (but it is actually the gorund level for entry). There are quite a few lanes for preferred. When you get near the disabled parking area there will normally be a person there to indicate the row.

Once you are parked, and the wheelchair out, you will follow the walkway to where the two garages merge. Then there is another walkway perpendicular to that which goes toward the entrance to City Walk. They do have motorized slideways in these areas; I know they do not want ECVs on the slideways but I am not sure about wheelchairs.

At a point along here there will be a bag inspection. Once you get to City Walk, you will keep to the left to go to Universal Studios and to the right to go to Islands of Adventure.

You will not need any elevators along this trek, but it is a real hike.

But the OP said they don't have a handicap permit-so they don't have a hangtag.

From the OP- "We do not have a disabled parking permit."

 

[SueM in MN]

If you are not going for a while, you could apply for a temporary permit. Here's the link to the Florida website. You can download the form from a link at the top of that page.

The parking at Universal is different than WDW. It's a large parking ramp and they have different types of parking for different prices.
The "Preferred" parking that Cheshire Figment mentioned is closer than regular parking that you pay a bit higher price for. You don't need a handicapped parking permit to park there; just a bit more money.
They also have valet parking.
Here's a link to the Universal website's page about parking.
No matter where you park, it is a long way in from the parking lot to the park. In our experience, the moving walkways have often not been working (?not turned on?).
You are not supposed to push a manual wheelchair on a moving walkway, but we have occassionally put DD's wheelchair on one. It works fine - while you are on the moving walkway. The problem comes at the end. The wheelchair is being propelled by the moving walkway and when you get to the end, it gets 'launched'. It is easy for the wheelchair to get out of control or the person pushing the wheelchair to slip because the wheelchair pulls you forward. So, I would suggest not using the moving walkway with a wheelchair.