Questions about Universal Studies Orlando - any experts

[Anonymous]

We're going to a wedding at a Universal hotel in June. The room fee (yikes $$) also includes the express pass, or whatever it is. But, we need to buy the park tickets. We're thinking a three day pass to all three Universal Parks. They would like all three of them, especially the water park. We have boys 12 and 14 and they aren't too interested in Disney so we're fine to skip it.

I've been looking at the park passes and it makes my head hurt.

First, it is dumb to spend the money on a water park, Universal or not?
Second, there doesn't seem to be any savings in getting a three day pass but I really hate this type of research. Am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

There are lots of threads about Universal in this forum. I suggest doing a search.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're going to a wedding at a Universal hotel in June. The room fee (yikes $$) also includes the express pass, or whatever it is. But, we need to buy the park tickets. We're thinking a three day pass to all three Universal Parks. They would like all three of them, especially the water park. We have boys 12 and 14 and they aren't too interested in Disney so we're fine to skip it.

I've been looking at the park passes and it makes my head hurt.

First, it is dumb to spend the money on a water park, Universal or not?
Second, there doesn't seem to be any savings in getting a three day pass but I really hate this type of research. Am I wrong?

The water park is good! Universal often runs a deal (like right now) for buy 2 days get 2 free.

https://www.universalorlando.com/web-store/en/us/park-tickets?days=2&adults=1&children=0&flr=0

[Anonymous]

Here is my spring break report if helpful.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1124996.page

[Anonymous]

Volcano Bay is a good water park and fun at that age. I’d do it if they want to!

[Anonymous]

I think it’s worth the $. Do your kids like thrill rides? There are a lot of these parks.

[Anonymous]

I took my adult children to Universal and decided not to buy the water park tickets as part of our package. They didn't say they were disappointed, but I got the feeling they were. None of us will probably ever go back, so in hindsight, I should have included it. With your younger boys, I suggest going.

[Anonymous]

I took my 9 and 13 year old boys in Nov. who love big coasters and all rides. We did 3 days with park hopper and spent 1 day mainly at the waterpark (they hit a few coasters after). It is a good water park so if your boys like that at all I think it would be worth it. We made full use of our time easily. With express they were happy to reride some of their favorite rides.

[Anonymous]

Look at Costco travel for Universal deals. (Or Sam’s club or BJs) we used them and stayed at Portofino Bay club level. So worth it for the express pass and lounge access. At the time Universal was doing a buy two day three park ticket, get two days free. We loved volcano bay and went back for second morning after our first day there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Costco travel for Universal deals. (Or Sam’s club or BJs) we used them and stayed at Portofino Bay club level. So worth it for the express pass and lounge access. At the time Universal was doing a buy two day three park ticket, get two days free. We loved volcano bay and went back for second morning after our first day there.

+1 for the Costco Universal package but that might not work for OP if the rooms are included in a group rate for the wedding.

[Anonymous]

There ticket prices on their website is very confusing to the first time visitor. I can see why your head would hurt. The best deals are when your family starts staying for 6 or more days——which almost nobody does because you can easily do one park a day. They are trying to structure their ‘resort’ to be competitive with Disney where guests frequently stay close to a week.

[Anonymous]

You definitely want to buy the express unlimited passes; I did the math, and even though it's included in the more expensive onsite universal premium hotels, it's still about 15% cheaper to buy the express passes for each day and stay at an Airbnb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You definitely want to buy the express unlimited passes; I did the math, and even though it's included in the more expensive onsite universal premium hotels, it's still about 15% cheaper to buy the express passes for each day and stay at an Airbnb.

Really depends. Christmas or Easter week maybe. But some times of the year you can get the express hotels for $400-$500, which includes two days of express for 4 people. That is definitely a better deal. In 2021 we got Hard Rock hotel easter week and Christmas week for $300-$360/night. Those days are long gone but they were great while they lasted!

[Anonymous]

The water park was my boys’ favorite part of universal, so don’t skip that. They want to go back just for that.

[Anonymous]

Stay at cabana bay for most of the trip and definitely go to volcano bay. It is my favorite hotel of all them. It caters to families and has great inexpensive food options. It also has its own entrance to volcano bay. Spend one night at one of the three express pass hotels and you can use the express pass for both days. Note, you don’t have to have the express pass. While it is nice, many rides have single rider that move fast (forbidden journey) or don’t allow fast pass (hagrids).

We have been four times to universal and did not get an express pass this summer. Just did early entrance and single rider for the really popular rides.