Planning a trip to Universal Theme Parks in Orlando, Florida, for the first time can actually feel a bit overwhelming, especially if you are only planning on visiting for one day. Universal is immense and has multiple theme parks, so if you want to walk away feeling like you got your money’s worth, it’s essential to do some planning and research ahead of time. Well, luckily for you, we did the research for you, and it’s all right here.
As full-time travelers, we rarely go to attractions like this, but felt like while we were in Florida, going to either Universal or Disney was a “must do” kind of experience. Now that we have been, I can say it was a fantastic day full of fun and laughs, so if this is something you are interested in, I say, “go for it!” Just make sure you know a few things first…
Universal Theme Parks in Orlando has three separate theme parks:
- Universal Studios
- Islands of Adventure
- Volcano Bay (which is a water theme park)
There are multiple one-day ticket options:
- The “One-Day-Two-Parks” ticket to see both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for the cost of $164.00 pretax for one adult ticket
- Volcano Bay for $80.00 pretax
- Or you can purchase a ticket for just Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure separately as well for $109.00 pretax.
Buy the “One-Day-Two-Parks” tickets if you can
Obviously, if you want to save money, you can always pick one, but it doesn’t feel like much of a difference when you’re already spending so much. While it is a lot to see in one day, we weren’t interested in every single ride at each park. We also were super excited for the Harry Potter attractions, which were conveniently (eye roll here) split in half across both parks. If you are there for Harry Potter and still have to pick one, we recommend Islands of Adventure because it has Hagrids Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, which was our favorite ride. (If you need to have Butterbeer, that is also located in Islands of Adventure.) However, Diagon Alley in Universal Studios was better and had more shops than Hogsmead, in our opinion.
Downloading the App is Super Helpful
- It’s free
- You can purchase your tickets here and skip waiting in line on arrival
- It has an interactive map to help you find attractions and view estimated wait times
- You can order food at certain spots to be picked up
- You can set notifications for specified rides to alert you when the wait time drops to a more desirable duration
- There are many more features – but these were the most helpful to us
Arrive Early
The park opens at 9 am (and for resort guests it opens an hour early at 8 am). We got to the car gate entrance to pay for parking at 8:30 am and made it into the park right at 9am. The car and security lines move pretty fast, but it seems to get busier as the day goes on. The rides have lower wait times in the early morning so arriving early to check out rides that will fill up later in the day is a good idea.
Go to Islands of Adventure First
Islands of Adventure currently has the best (in our opinion) and most popular new rides – Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and the Velocicoaster. However, the lines for each of these rides were two hours. If we had gone to them first, we could have saved way more time in how long we waited to ride them. They are also two-seater style rollercoasters, so if you go through the single rider line on these two, you will guaranteed not be sitting together. Islands of Adventure does close later at 8 pm, and Universal Studio closes at 6 pm, which is why we went to Universal Studios first – but in hindsight, we would have done it the other way around.
Single Rider Lines are the best
Utilizing the single-rider line when it is available will likely save you hours of wait time throughout the day. If the ride isn’t a two-seater setup, you will likely end up sitting together anyway. We shaved off 30 to 40 minutes on each ride we utilized the single rider lines on. It’s not for everyone, and you can’t guarantee you will sit together, but when trying to fit a bunch of rides into one day, this will usually help out.
Bring Food and Water
They didn’t take our water when we went through security, and we saw people eating homemade sandwiches, and we were super jealous we didn’t bring any. The food at Universal is seriously overpriced, as you might expect, and not all that great. There are a few themed restaurants that might be worth the experience, but you will need to plan for that or plan on waiting a ridiculous amount of time to eat. If you only have one day, it’s best to eat on the go, in our opinion so you can experience more rides.
That about wraps it up – this is all the information we wish we had before entering the park, and we hope that it helps you make the most of your day at Universal. Comment below if you have any helpful tips to share or questions regarding Universal.
