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OK, ladies, we had the open thread on Walt Disney World a while ago — now let’s have one on Universal Studios! My family went in April 2019, when my boys were 7 and 4, and we were surprised by how much we loved it. Some notes from our experience:
Best Tip I Got Beforehand: To mail dirty clothes home from Orlando, particularly if your airline charges you an arm and a leg for extra bags. We brought these big mailing bags (also handy for ThredUp and returns in general when the store annoyingly ships five tiny boxes for one order) and ended up mailing two of them home. It cost about $45 and the hotel staff was happy to help us with it.
Where We Stayed: My guys really enjoy pools so, when we read that you can use ANY resort hotel pool if you’re staying on property, we decided to stay on site — and after some research we decided on Sapphire Falls Resort. It was very nice — we liked the restaurants in the hotel, the room itself, the pool, and the general location of the room. We also used pools at Cabana Bay (meh) and Portofino Bay (fancy! but not stroller friendly at all — lots of little stairs to figure out where the heck the pools were). We liked taking the boats on property to the different parks.
What We Loved Best: We loved the Harry Potter stuff the most — it is just so extraordinarily well done. We also had a great time at Universal’s waterpark, Volcano Bay, and, if we lived closer, would happily spend a mini-vacation just at Volcano Bay by itself.
What Was a Waste of Time: We weren’t super impressed with The Three Broomsticks, but so it goes — if part of your resort package gives you a time to go there for breakfast, treat it as an option but not an imperative — for example, I’d have rather spent that time getting in line early at Olivander’s Wand Shop. (We also had a hard time getting any of the wand stuff in the park to work, but maybe that was just us…)
What I’d Look Into Again: I didn’t research the trip much at all to begin with, to be honest. I would be interested in pricing out the price of the “annual pass” compared to some of the hotel discounts you can get with the annual pass; I’ve heard rumblings that that is a good way to save money.
How about you guys? What are your best tips on Universal Studios (Orlando)? What was your experience; what would you recommend?
Image by Kes Sinanan from Pixabay
Anonymous says
We had what may be the least researched visit ever last April with my kids and my niece (11, 9 and 8). We were spending the week in Sanibel and decided to do a day trip because we’re all huge fans of Harry Potter. We went during one of the 4 busiest weeks of the year and bought the tickets the day before we went. Even with no advance planning and no priority access– only one of us had even downloaded the app that would have let us reserve spots in line at some of the rides– we had a good time wandering through Hogsmede and Diagon Alley. We only managed to get on one ride plus the Hogwarts Express. We did not buy wands.
I’m throwing in this review in the mix in case there are other families like mine that want to see the Harry Potter stuff but don’t want to plan and pay for a whole trip centered on the theme park. Go in with reasonable expectations, and you can have a great time even if you don’t see/do everything.
Anonymous says
We also went for one day with little advance planning and no priority access, and managed to get on all of the Harry Potter rides. We found Diagon Alley far more entertaining than Hogsmeade, and I’d agree with Kat that the Three Broomsticks is nothing special. Our favorite attraction by far was Ollivander’s in Diagon Alley. Although neither of our kids got chosen for the actual show, Ollivander asked us to stay afterwards and did a quick little private wand-selection ceremony for our 10-year-old, probably because she was wearing a costume. Our entire group found this quite magical.
Many of the wand-controlled exhibits were difficult to operate or had “out of order” signs. The wands themselves are also apparently quite prone to failure, so much so that the wand shops have special wand repair stations.
Our party was unanimous in pronouncing the butterbeer nauseatingly disgusting. You have been warned.
Anon says
Thanks for this! I was never a huge Disney person, but the Disney threads here give me hives and have convinced me that I would sooner have a root canal than go to Disney (World, anyway). But I’m a huuuuuge HP fan, so I’m glad to hear Universal is possible without that insane level of planning.
Related Q: when can you start reading Harry Potter to a kid? I know it has some scary stuff but I am SO anxious to share these books with my kiddo. ?
Midwestern says
I found first grade for reading the books. Kindergarten they didn’t have the focus. Likely kid dependent.
Midwestern says
Harry Potter is awesome. The rest is skippable. Like 6 flags. Both in terms of rides and how the park is themed. One day is enough. We stayed on property to get the line pass, totally worth it. If you are there for any sort of occasion tell them when you check in. It was my 9 year olds birthday present, although 6 months after his birthday. So he got a “it’s my Birthday” button which he wore. All day staff said “happy birthday!” And he got some special perks like being picked at Ollivanders, which was total magic. One of the Ollivanders is less crazy than the other, I can’t remember which right off my head, but you can find online. And it was totally right. Hour wait one side, no wait the other.
Mary says
I’m so excited to go next week. I’m a grandma taking my grandson. It’s been about thirty years since I’ve been there. Towering inferno and jaws were big draws. Ok was interested in the comments about diagonal alley being better than hogsmeade. Why did you enjoy it more?