Tips for Universal Studios

I’m back home now, but I didn’t ever post about my experience at Universal Studios. I was just way too tired last night after we left the park! I don’t really want to describe every single thing we did while we were there because that would be kind of boring to read, despite how much fun we had. However, I do feel like we had a very successful day at Universal Studios, so I thought I might use this time to give some tips based on what did or didn’t work well for us.

1. Get there early! We got to Universal Studios around 8:30, and they don’t even officially open until 9. This gave us time to park and make our way to the Islands of Adventure, plus it helped us beat the crowds on the more popular rides.

2. Buy your tickets in advance. We purchased ours at the AAA office the previous day. While we didn’t get much of a discount like we thought we might, it still allowed us to skip over the lines to purchase tickets at the park. All we had to do is to go up to a kiosk and swipe a credit card (for identification only), and this printed out our tickets.

3. Take a picture to help you remember where you parked in the garage.

Trust me, no matter how easy “Spider Man 555” may seem to be to remember at first, by the end of the day, you will be exhausted and will surely disagree with someone in your group about where you parked. Your picture will be your proof that you were right all along!

4. Go to Harry Potter World first! This part of the park seems to be the most crowded throughout the day. By getting there as soon as possible, you beat some of the crowds. You will be tempted to stop in some of the other areas along the way, like the Dr. Seuss area or the Lost Continent–don’t! Do not pass go! Do not collect $200! Don’t stop until you get to the snow-covered roofs of Hogsmeade!

5. If there is a long line at the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, consider going as a single rider. When we were first there, it was an hour wait for this ride. However, as single riders, we were able to pass the entire line and got on the ride in about ten minutes. There are only two negatives to this strategy: 1). You don’t get to tour the whole castle. 2). You don’t get to sit with the people you came with. However, we liked this ride so much, we went back again later closer to closing time when most of the younger visitors were heading home already. This time the wait in the regular line was only 30 minutes (long wait for most rides, but for this one, that’s a pretty short wait), so we went on the ride again, taking the castle tour beforehand. Just be warned–parts of this ride are pretty scary!

6. Don’t drink a lot of milk in the morning and then go on three rides first thing. Trust me. Do the rides, just leave the milk out of the equation. While we’re on this topic, it’s a good idea to do most of the faster rides before lunch.

7. The line for Butterbeer at the cart is really long. Get it in the Hog’s Head instead.

8. The best food is in the Lost Continent section. They have lots of Greek-style food. There is a sit down restaurant, but it’s pretty expensive (entrees around $20) so we bought our food from the food stands instead. You will still need to budget $10-$15 depending on how much you want to eat. Under $5, you are pretty much stuck eating a soft pretzel.

9. After lunch, take it easy for a bit. We watched a Sinbad show that was not all that great, but it was a good way to sit and let our food digest. Then we went to the Dr. Seuss area. The rides here are designed for very young children and not too strenuous. As a teacher, I still got a kick out of this part! Then we slowly built our way up to the Spider Man 3D ride, which is indoors, so a good activity to do in the heat.

10. When it gets really hot, do to water rides. The Jurassic Park ride gets you a little wet at the end, but the two wettest rides are in the cartoon area. One is the Popeye ride, and the other is the Dudley Do Right ride. Because you get pretty wet on these, I recommend wearing sandals like Tevas and clothes that can dry quickly. I did not do this, and was sorry l didn’t later. There are “people dryers,” but they cost $5 and you still aren’t completely dry afterwards.

11. Bring a refillable water bottle. The bottled water costs $3. However, Orlando water tasted kind of funny to me, so I didn’t want to drink it. Next time, I would bring some of those flavoring drops to try to hide the strange taste.

12. If at all possible, try not to carry too much with you. This may not be possible for people with children, but at most rides, you have to pay for the lockers. We didn’t bring much with us, and for most rides could just tuck our belongings into our pockets. If you happen to have someone who is sitting out of a ride, you can have them hold your things.

We followed most of this plan, and we were able to do every ride we had wanted to do, and even did a few twice! While I can’t guarantee this will work for everyone, I just thought I would share what worked for us. Remember, the main goal is to have a good time!