Jess_S
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 14, 2015
Hi everyone,
With help from the boards, we booked our first trip to Universal a while back. We will be heading down next month for a week-long stay. I have been continuing to follow along with trip reports and posts here and I think I have figured out a tentative plan for our week. But I wanted to check and make sure I was understanding the nuances of Universal correctly.
1. Ticket Pick-Up: Our travelling party is my family of 3 and my parents. We have 2 rooms at Royal Pacific, each as a separate reservation. Our room is in our name, but this trip was a gift from my parents and they paid for the room and tickets. My understanding is that we can pickup our tickets at a kiosk at the resort. Will my family be able to pick up our own tickets since the reservation is in our name? Or does my mother have to pick up our tickets since her credit card was used to pay for them?
2. Early Entry: Since we are at Royal Pacific, we will get both Express Pass and Early Entry and I am trying to figure out the best use of these benefits. It looks like the things that are open during early entry are Harry Potter area, Minions, and some of the thrill coasters. My family is unlikely to be interested in any big coasters since my parents cannot ride them due to vertigo issues and my husband, son, and I don't particularly care for them. For that reason, it seemed like the best use of early entry for us would be to just explore the Harry Potter area with lower crowds and save the rides for later using our express passes (or the virtual queue for Hagrids).
3. Express Pass: My understanding is that our room keys are our express passes. Does this mean that we need to get a room key for our 8-year-old? I am also curious about express pass and shows. I've noticed in Universal videos I watched on YouTube that some of the shows had an express pass line. How does that line work for shows and how early do we need to show up for a show in order to get a seat using express pass?
4. Wands: I was thinking of buying a wand outside the parks so that we have one to use for spells as soon as we enter for early entry. It looks like the only place outside the parks that has wands is the Universal Store on City Walk. Is that correct? Do they have a decent selection of the interactive wands.
5. Dining: Based upon the really helpful threads about crowds at quick service locations, I was thinking that we will plan our park days so that we either eat very early (in line for food a little before 11) or head back to the resort for lunch. Does that make sense? How are lines at the quick service locations at CityWalk, Volcano Bay and the resorts at lunch time? We have made dinner reservations for most nights and I am not keen on two sit down meals a day.
6. Lanyards: Can these be safely worn on rides? Are we risking choking ourselves and/or losing the lanyards if we wear them on any particular ride?
Thanks in advance for your help with these questions and for all of the useful information elsewhere in the Universal forums. It is always more fun to trip plan when the disboards are involved.
With help from the boards, we booked our first trip to Universal a while back. We will be heading down next month for a week-long stay. I have been continuing to follow along with trip reports and posts here and I think I have figured out a tentative plan for our week. But I wanted to check and make sure I was understanding the nuances of Universal correctly.
1. Ticket Pick-Up: Our travelling party is my family of 3 and my parents. We have 2 rooms at Royal Pacific, each as a separate reservation. Our room is in our name, but this trip was a gift from my parents and they paid for the room and tickets. My understanding is that we can pickup our tickets at a kiosk at the resort. Will my family be able to pick up our own tickets since the reservation is in our name? Or does my mother have to pick up our tickets since her credit card was used to pay for them?
2. Early Entry: Since we are at Royal Pacific, we will get both Express Pass and Early Entry and I am trying to figure out the best use of these benefits. It looks like the things that are open during early entry are Harry Potter area, Minions, and some of the thrill coasters. My family is unlikely to be interested in any big coasters since my parents cannot ride them due to vertigo issues and my husband, son, and I don't particularly care for them. For that reason, it seemed like the best use of early entry for us would be to just explore the Harry Potter area with lower crowds and save the rides for later using our express passes (or the virtual queue for Hagrids).
3. Express Pass: My understanding is that our room keys are our express passes. Does this mean that we need to get a room key for our 8-year-old? I am also curious about express pass and shows. I've noticed in Universal videos I watched on YouTube that some of the shows had an express pass line. How does that line work for shows and how early do we need to show up for a show in order to get a seat using express pass?
4. Wands: I was thinking of buying a wand outside the parks so that we have one to use for spells as soon as we enter for early entry. It looks like the only place outside the parks that has wands is the Universal Store on City Walk. Is that correct? Do they have a decent selection of the interactive wands.
5. Dining: Based upon the really helpful threads about crowds at quick service locations, I was thinking that we will plan our park days so that we either eat very early (in line for food a little before 11) or head back to the resort for lunch. Does that make sense? How are lines at the quick service locations at CityWalk, Volcano Bay and the resorts at lunch time? We have made dinner reservations for most nights and I am not keen on two sit down meals a day.
6. Lanyards: Can these be safely worn on rides? Are we risking choking ourselves and/or losing the lanyards if we wear them on any particular ride?
Thanks in advance for your help with these questions and for all of the useful information elsewhere in the Universal forums. It is always more fun to trip plan when the disboards are involved.