Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

DH and I are thinking of doing a few days at Uni some time this year. I've never been and I really want to see WWoHP. I feel like a fish out of water though because I could navigate WDW with my eyes closed, but know nothing about Uni.

We're thinking of staying at one of their resorts for 2 nights for the Express pass. I was thinking 3 days. a day per park, plus another day to re-ride stuff and so we don't have to rush.

Any ideas about how to get to/from WDW with our luggage? Can you book ME one way?

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

You can just book your r/t ME since it's free, and not use the return trip. Mears offers a shuttle to Universal I believe. I want to say it's $12 pp, but I can't recall the exact. I know the info is on Disboards somewhere.

I didn't like Universal. I found it so boring, and it seemed like everything was a simulator type ride, which makes me sick. We didn't do IOA though. I think that looks like more fun. I would like to go back to experience HP World at some point because my son is a huge HP fan.

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

I think two days should be enough to take your time at Universal. The Harry Potter area is just incredible and there are some great restaurants in the city walk area and at the hotels.

It is not Disney. Enjoy it for what it is and don't spend time comparing every aspect to Disney.

You may consider renting a car for your stay and not only visiting universal, but checking out other things in Orlando, as well.

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

I did both parks in one day. It was Dec, slow season. No lines anywhere. I think you will be bored if you stay 3 days. I would take the ME shuttle back to the airport and rent a car for those days at UNI. The parks and city walk are fun but the car will give you more options if you get bored.

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

So maybe just ONE night at the Uni hotel? We'd get 2 days of Express passes right?

The only issues is I'd want to have two FULL days, like getting there early AM and leaving late PM. I also LOVE HP so I want to spend a good amount of time exploring there. We'd get in there early, and then I figured we can use the other morning for rope drop at Uni.

Maybe we can make Universal the beginning of the trip, and spend like a half day there the first night, then a full day, and then another half day before heading over to WDW? So it would be less than 3 days? The only issue is the UNiversal hotels are REALLY pricey

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

I didn't like either park. We did both in one day and ended up going to Magic Kingdom that night to cleanse ourselves!

IOA is almost all water rides. Universal is run down, and the lines are all outside, which was fun in July. There really isn't much to "explore"

This was when they were building Harry Potter, and I would go back for that but otherwise never again.

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

I recently went and stayed at the Portofino, there is that hotel and the Hard Rock. You won't need a car as they have boats that take you every 10 minutes. Because we stayed in a Universal Hotel we got to go to the parks an hour before everyone else which cuts down on wait time.

I went mostly because of HP World, I am such an adult nerd. But I love the rest of the park and IOA too. I think 2 days is great and at night you can go to city walk. Lots to do. My hotel was beautiful and had a pool and several restaurants too.

To me it was worth it to stay there and not have to rent a car.

ETA - I Hate rollercoasters so I love the virtual reality rides.

Message edited 1/11/2012 12:23:40 PM.

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

I am excited about WWoHP and I LOVE rollercoasters, so I'm really excited about the rides they have at Uni/Ioa.

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

you can do each park in 1 day max
spend the evenings checking out city walk -- emeril's is one of our favorite restaurants and the blue man group show was awesome (you can buy tixx same day at the box office)! It definitely isn't disney so if you expect something like a cooler version of great adventure, you'll be good with IOA. Universal is very movie focused (but I actually prefer it to HS) so just go to enjoy some cool rides and hang out for a day max and you'll be good! I would only spend 2 days and then head back to disney IMO

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

Harry potter is so much fun! I like roller coasters so IOA was so fun for dh and I. We didnt go to universal tho bc we had small kids with us

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

Jen I am die hard Disney open the park close the park kind of Disney .... You don't even need a whole day for each park if you stay in their hotels .... The fast pass you get by staying in their hotels is amazing ... Much better then Disney fast pass .... We did each park 2 days in each park and were back at the hotel to go in the pool ... You can walk to the parks from the hotels and their shopping area too ....

Granted it is not Disney but the convince and the fast pass make up for it ... Message me of you want details ... We staying in their Hawaiian style resort

Re: Any tips for Universal/Islands of Adventure

Universal was very clever to stick Harry Potter in that separate park! Tip for Harry Potter: the lines are crazy crazy long - there's a free app you can download that tells you in real time what the wait time is at each ride. And, if you and DH don't mind sitting in back of each other instead of next to each other, you'll save hours on line by going in the singles lane.