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Bridex100
Two Under Two Mommy
Member since 3/08 10420 total posts
Name:
Momx100
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Universal Studios Tips?
We just finalized booking our trip to Universal Studios for Columbus Day weekend. We will be staying 3 nights at Royal Pacific and have 3 days at Universal Studios. We will have 1 hour early entry and free express passes for the 3 days we spend at the parks.
Could you recommend the must do's and restaurants?
So far the only thing I have on my list are butter beer at Three Broomsticks and the Minions ride. We plan to go to Harry Potter first thing on 2 of the 3 days.
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Posted 8/4/15 4:54 PM  |
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BargainMama
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 15660 total posts
Name:
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Universal Studios Tips?
The Dr. Seuss area is so adorable, definitely don't miss it! They also have a show there with costumed characters.
We liked the lunch at Three Broomsticks, I thought it was very good. The frozen butter beer is awesome!
Spiderman ride is awesome, as is the Transformers one. IF you are like me though and get motion sickness on simulator type stuff, close your eyes! LOL. The Simpsons ride is THE worst! I got so nauseous on that the first time. Now I close my eyes and I'm fine (kids like it, so I'm stuck going on it). Men in Black is like Buzz Lightyear at the MK, where you can shoot targets, so def. do that.
Orlandoinformer.com is a great site with a lot of good tips
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| Posted 8/4/15 6:52 PM |
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Bridex100
Two Under Two Mommy
Member since 3/08 10420 total posts
Name:
Momx100
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Re: Universal Studios Tips?
Posted by BargainMama
The Dr. Seuss area is so adorable, definitely don't miss it! They also have a show there with costumed characters.
We liked the lunch at Three Broomsticks, I thought it was very good. The frozen butter beer is awesome!
Spiderman ride is awesome, as is the Transformers one. IF you are like me though and get motion sickness on simulator type stuff, close your eyes! LOL. The Simpsons ride is THE worst! I got so nauseous on that the first time. Now I close my eyes and I'm fine (kids like it, so I'm stuck going on it). Men in Black is like Buzz Lightyear at the MK, where you can shoot targets, so def. do that.
Orlandoinformer.com is a great site with a lot of good tips
How did you handle breakfast?
We are not planning to rent a car for this trip since we are staying on site and walking distance to Universal. Our hotel is right next to City Walk.
Not sure if I should get a grocery delivery. I am less concerned about cost. Just don't want to waste precious time waiting in lines for bagels and similar.
Our kids don't wake up as early as they used to in the past. Until this year, they would never wake up past 7 and most of the time be up at 6. Now they are pushing 8am so it will be harder to get up and make it to early hour.
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| Posted 8/4/15 7:10 PM |
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BargainMama
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 15660 total posts
Name:
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Universal Studios Tips?
You definitely need that hour IMO. We stayed off site down the road and had free breakfast, so I didn't have to worry about that. I would pack stuff that you can easily eat in the room while getting ready. We got there obviously an hour after the on-site guests did, and it was already a bit crowded. I imagine a holiday weekend will bring more crowds!
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| Posted 8/4/15 7:26 PM |
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Sixofus
LIF Adolescent
Member since 10/13 594 total posts
Name:
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Universal Studios Tips?
Usually it is only one park that has early entry. Find out which park has early entry when you are going. When we went it was only universal studios. At opening head straight to the Harry Potter area and ride either forbidden journey or escape from gringotts, depending on the park. Then do rope drop another day for the park that doesn't have early entry. Express pass doesn't work on those 2 rides, and the lines build quickly.
For breakfast, we bought cereal and milk the night before and ate in the room.
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| Posted 8/4/15 8:17 PM |
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FranM
And so it goes....
Member since 9/05 2217 total posts
Name:
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Re: Universal Studios Tips?
How many days did you do in Universal? We are going the last week in Aug. staying offsite. My DS is 12 so we should be able to do everything. Debating between 2 or 3 days and hopper or not. Is the train between parks worth it?
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| Posted 8/9/15 7:08 AM |
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Bridex100
Two Under Two Mommy
Member since 3/08 10420 total posts
Name:
Momx100
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Re: Universal Studios Tips?
Posted by FranM
How many days did you do in Universal? We are going the last week in Aug. staying offsite. My DS is 12 so we should be able to do everything. Debating between 2 or 3 days and hopper or not. Is the train between parks worth it?
We are doing 3 days of Universal. Actually more like 3 half days. We like to spend 4-5 hours at a park per day. Our friends have told us two days is enough - 1 day at Universal Studios and 1 day at Island of Adventure.
My kids are younger but this is our rough itinerary:
Day 1 - arrival day - afternoon at IOA
Dr Seuss area, walk around Harry Potter area, have dinner and butter bear at Three Broomsticks, check out Jurassic Park area.
Day 2 - Universal Studios at opening. Minions ride first. Transformers. Storm. Harry Potter. Train to IOA.
Day 3 - Islands of Adventure at opening. Marvel. Harry Potter. Do anything we liked a lot and/or didn't get to do on Day 1 and 2.
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| Posted 8/9/15 10:28 AM |
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MrsP23
LIF Infant
Member since 9/14 232 total posts
Name:
K
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Universal Studios Tips?
If you want to do Harry Potter anything do it as soon as you enter the park. I would also get there a half hour before the actual hour early entry. The whole line will go straight to the Harry Potter rides. We waited 35 minutes and when we got off the park was actually opened and it was over 2 hours at that point. We don't have kids and were about to do everything in 2 days. One day we were there the whole day the other only a half of day. With kids I would say 2 whole days or 3 if you want some breaks. I love Harry Potter so we spent a lot of time between the 2 areas. We enjoyed the Minions ride, Transformers, Spiderman, Men in Black and Hulk. For dinner we ate on the boardwalk at Vivo Italian Kitchen and Margaritaville. Both were good.
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| Posted 8/9/15 12:59 PM |
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Bridex100
Two Under Two Mommy
Member since 3/08 10420 total posts
Name:
Momx100
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Re: Universal Studios Tips?
Posted by MrsP23
If you want to do Harry Potter anything do it as soon as you enter the park. I would also get there a half hour before the actual hour early entry. The whole line will go straight to the Harry Potter rides. We waited 35 minutes and when we got off the park was actually opened and it was over 2 hours at that point. We don't have kids and were about to do everything in 2 days. One day we were there the whole day the other only a half of day. With kids I would say 2 whole days or 3 if you want some breaks. I love Harry Potter so we spent a lot of time between the 2 areas. We enjoyed the Minions ride, Transformers, Spiderman, Men in Black and Hulk. For dinner we ate on the boardwalk at Vivo Italian Kitchen and Margaritaville. Both were good.
I'm trying to understand how vast this Harry Potter area is. I personally am really looking forward to it as I am a Harry Potter fan. I exposed my kids and they have watched the first 2 Harry Potter movies now.
My kids are young (4 and 6) and I do not like roller coasters. That leaves us with only one kiddie roller coaster for 6yo DS only. I thought we could just stroll around the shops, MAYBE get them wands and take a few pictures.
Am I wrong to think that walking around is all we will be doing? I know the roller coasters will have huge lines but we won't be doing those.
I made our itinerary based off of touring plans on this website.
http://orlandoinformer.com/page/articles.html/_/universal/touring-plans/touring-plans
I am afraid of crowds as we are going on a holiday weekend. Columbus Day. Plus we get there on Friday around 12 so all our time there will be over the weekend.
I know Universal is a different animal but whenever we did Disney, we mostly went to the parks during the week when school was in session. We went one weekend once in September thinking it would be dead but it was still busy since school is out on Sat/Sun.
Message edited 8/9/2015 1:23:52 PM.
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| Posted 8/9/15 1:21 PM |
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