My family of 4 (husband, I, and kids 12 and 10) are going to Universal for 5 days at the end of January. There is so much information on this board--I have really enjoyed reading it this past month. And those of you that do trip reports--so much detail! I'm impressed. I do have some questions I hope someone can help with.
I was there this January. The two things that stand out to me are:
1) be prepared for large crowds to still be lingering after the holidays into at least mid January. This will obviously depend on your exact dates and how the crowds end up falling next year, but it’s good to be aware this isn’t a dead time anymore. If you do run into crowds, it shouldn’t impact you too badly as far as wait times because you’ll have EP from your resort stay. However, people / space wise it may feel crowded walking around and in shops. You’ll also most likely see long lines at shops, carts, and restaurants.
2) Prepare for extreme changes in weather and for the possibility it could be very cold. January is iffy in Florida. It could be 70 one day and then the next day have a low of 30 and high of 45. Also, keep in mind that in the same way the heat seems so much worse because of humidity, 45 in high humidity feels much colder than a dry 45 up north.
We are staying at Royal Pacifica Resort. Microwave?
I’m not sure if prices have changed any, but the last time we requested a microwave they were $15 a night. That was within the last couple years, so I would think they are still somewhere in that price range if you are interested. They only have a limited number, so if it’s important to you, I’d request one in advance.
When will park hours for January 2019 be posted?
They official hours won’t be released until much closer, but you can look at crowd calendars from past years to get an idea of what to expect. In general, don’t expect long hours. Even during peak and holiday seasons, Universal keeps much shorter hours than Disney. You definitely won’t be seeing midnight or after closings or even 9 or 10 pm for the most part. Expect the parks to open around 9 and close around 7 most days, with early entry at 8. Special events may cause one of the parks usually US to close at 5, and higher crowd days might see slightly later closings at 8 or 9, but otherwise, you can probably safely plan on the hours being 9 to 7.
Will there be black Friday specials for Universal? (and maybe black Friday specials for Sea World?)
I haven’t seen any really great Universal deals in years. Usually
Undercover Tourist or AAA have the best options. It won’t hurt to check both places around Black Friday, but don’t be surprised if you find just as good a deal before or after. In addition, if you guys are staying 5 days, a season pass will most likely be the cheapest option, and there are very few deals available on those.
Sea World and Busch Gardens (same company) are another story. They routinely have really great deals direct from their website, and they do tend to put out those deals around holidays. However, that doesn’t gaurentee Black Friday. They are just as prone to do a Labor Day or 4th of July sale or a simple flash sale just because. They also almost always offer some kind of buy one park get the other free deal if you might be interested in doing both. I usually stalk their website until I come across something really good. If you are looking for one day tickets, be patient. I’ve had great luck finding $60 and even $50 ones in the past. Also, unless something has changed, you can add a second day at guest services in the park for $10, so if you are unsure about how many days you may need or if their two day offer is more than $10 over their single day offer, wait and add the second day in park.
Quick meal plan--my 10 year old will only eat off the kids menu (chicken fingers and fries). Is it okay to buy her a one day kids quick service meal plan or do I need to buy her the adult plan?
I don’t think anyone will question you on buying a kid’s plan for a child who will be eating off the kid’s menu.
However, before buying any plan, I’d really look into the dining plan in depth if you haven’t already. I think the general consensus is that it doesn’t really save you much if any money. If you’re doing it solely to be used as a budgeting tool and understand you probably won’t save much, go right ahead.
The below link does a good job explaining the savings you may see.
https://orlandoinformer.com/universal/dining-plan
Something else I recommend is to check out menus and pictures of food ahead of time. I don’t think our picky eaters once ate chicken strips. I can’t remember everything they ate as that first trip was about 5 years ago, but I do remember they really enjoyed the feast at the Three Broomsticks which included rotisserie chicken, corn on the cob, and roasted potatoes. All familiar foods to them. In general, we’ve found the food at Universal to be more kid friendly than at Disney. We had a very difficult time finding anything they would eat even off the kid’s menus at Disney, but at Universal, they ate off both the kid’s and adult’s menus easily.
One more note: SeaWorld / Busch Gardens do actually have a great dining deal that can save you a lot of money if you have big eaters or are planning multiple meals in the park. They sometimes also offer their dining deals at free or reduced cost when they run specials, but it’s not a bad value even if you pay full price for it. I was able to catch an Aquatica (same company as SeaWorld) promotion a few weeks ago for $30 less than gate price that included the dining deal. The way their deal works is you are allowed one free meal (entree, side or dessert, and drink) every hour. You don’t have to get the full meal every hour, but it’s a great way to save while allowing the family unlimited snacks and drinks as long as you don’t think you’d need more than one snack break an hour.
I see the website says that you can take water bottles in to the park. Is that really it? Are small food items allowed? We are a family that likes to go all day and normally we pack sandwiches, apples, granola bars etc. We've found some parks say no food but really don't care what you take in and others are very serious about no food.
I’ve never found them to question any food or drinks we've brought in. Now, we don’t carry whole picnics or anything, but we’ve definitely taken in small snacks, things like granola bars. We routinely carry in Starbucks drinks, water bottles, power aid bottles, and soda cups with lids. The only time I was ever even questioned about anything was when I had an open top plastic solo style cup with water in it. They wanted to know if it was alcohol. I said no and that was it. No further questioning, and it really was water. You will be fine with normal park snacks. You are also free to buy a drink at the hotel or in Citywalk and take it with you into the parks. No one will care.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend packing picnics. There’s really no point, unless you have this great desire to carry around extra stuff for the fun of it. Returning to Royal Pacific is a 10 to 20 minute walk at worst depending on where in the parks you’re coming from. It is very quick and easy to return to the room to enjoy a picnic lunch. No need to worry about coolers or hauling food around or finding a place to sit. Simply go back to the room and eat your big meals.
Funny story, I once put an entire to go order of Bula bar nachos through the security scanner. Anyone whose ever ordered those before knows how much food that is. Security said nothing. No comments whatsoever about me not being allowed to take food into the boat or into Citywalk, only joking comments about how they might have to confiscate them because they smelled so good. Now, I will say I never tried to take those into the park, we had ordered them to go from the pool bar and were simply returning to Citywalk to head to the car. But there’s no bag check at the gate, so in theory, I guess I could have taken them in with me. The point being, I’ve never found them to care about the food. People buy food in one park and then hop to the next still eating it. It’s no big deal. But, definitely check the nachos out if you get a chance, so good.
I see there are so many cool things in the Harry Potter section--I'll have to make a list. A talking fountain? Goblins at the money exchange? (what actually happens here) A mirror that compliments you? Any favorites to mention?
The fountain is not in the Harry Potter section. He’s in the Lost Continent. He’s also not always awake; sometimes he’s asleep. I kept trying to catch him awake all summer long as he’s one of my favorite things at Universal, but I missed him every time we went. He sort of does in impromptu comedy routine. Normally kids will go up and ask him questions, and he’ll give funny answers or simply engage with them in comical ways. It’s kind of like a mix between Kids Say The Darndest Things and a stand up comedic who has a large squirt gun. He’s usually very entertaining. It really depends on how interactive his audience is.
The Goblin Exchange is a small office / store located beside the Gringotts ride. It offers a place for muggles to exchange their Muggle money (dollars) into wizading currency (Bank Notes or souvenir coins). The Bank Notes can then be kept as a souvenir or spent in any of the wizarding shops or restaurants. In addition, the Goblins are available to answer any questions about Gringotts or other financial matters that you have even if you don’t feel like exchanging your money. There are also vault “keys” sold here. They are actually lanyard pins which can be bought at other locations as well, but it’s fun to get one here from the goblins.
Just a warning, the mirror likes to throw out insults just as often as it does compliments.
Favorites would be playing with the wands and simply taking time to really explore. Another must do for us is eating at the Three Broomsticks and getting at least one pumpkin pasty. It is a similar tasting treat to a slice of pumpkin pie but more practical for carrying around a theme park. I also recommend sending mail by owl post at least once, but bring your own stamps because the ones they sell are all very expensive.
And finally (just an opinion question I guess) we check in Sunday night and have Mon-Fri at universal. Will we be bored? Our touring style at local parks (and at Disney in the past) is to arrive before it opens and leave after it closes. We ride and meet characters and see shows etc. We don't really spend time eating or shopping. My kids do like doing things multiple times but is 5 days too much?
When we go for a week, we don’t do the commando style touring you’re describing. We sleep in some days, take long afternoon breaks by the pool, enjoy long lunches in Citywalk, go to the movies, or play mini golf. We also enjoy window shopping and people watching and taking our time and exploring all the little hidden corners of the park, like the gag joke boardwalk path behind Me Ship the Olive. In addition, we usually plan at least one or two days for trips somewhere else, maybe another park like SeaWorld or maybe a simple trip to an orange grove or the beach. So yes, I think 5 days with your touring style every day would be too much. I know it would be for us. We’d get bored after awhile without adding in all the other diversions we enjoy.
To give you an idea of size, if you did everything there was to do only once, you’d need about a day per park. Relaxed touring, shopping, and long meals can extend that time frame out some, but if you aren’t interested in that stuff, you’ll move through the actual rides fairly quickly with EP. This means you’ll have seen basically everything there is to see after the first two days. Only you’ll be able to judge if you’ll still have fun doing repeat rides after that.
I usually recommend 3 full days for a first time visit (unless you’re going only for HP). This gives you one full day per park, enough time to experience most all of the attractions, and one extra day to hit whatever you might have missed and to reride any favorites.
