Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.Knight Bus w/ interactive Shrunken Head.Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees show.If you want to ride the Hogswarts Express then you need a park-to-park ticket, and you’ll want to ride it BOTH ways because it’s a different experience going towards Hogwarts than it is going to Diagon Alley. Turn your notifications on and you can get alerts when ride times drop for your favorites!ĭiagon Alley is located in Universal Studios and Hogsmeade is located in Islands of Adventure and each has different rides and attractions. The only way to find the wait times while you are in the parks are either walking up to the rides or locating one of the wait times boards, which are not conveniently located throughout the parks. My favorite feature of the app is having the wait times for every ride. This app has park maps, opening and closing times, ride descriptions, keep your tickets and passes in one safe place, and create a to-do list!
Universal bus pass in new orlans free#
This is a great resource while you’re at the parks and there’s free wifi throughout the resort, so you’re always connected. You get them on the day you check in until the day you check out, so if you get there early and your room isn’t ready then you are able to use your express pass right away in the parks!
If you stay at the Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel, or Royal Pacific Resort then you get complimentary Unlimited Express Passes for everyone in your room up to 5 people. The Express Pass is only good for ONE day, so you must purchase an express every day if you want to skip the lines every day. Express Pass Unlimited (lets you ride in the express line as many times are you want).Express Pass (lets you ride in the express pass line ONCE per ride).If it’s not busy then you don’t need to skip the regular lines and you’ve just wasted your money on passes that you’re not even going to use… no refunds. Quick rundown: An Express Pass is a ticket add-on that you can purchase separately, it lets you enter a special line at most of the rides that fast tracks you to the loading zone. You can find some good deals on Undercover Tourist, but the official Universal Orlando site has deals and specials too.ĭon’t purchase Express Passes until you get there, unless you are going for one of the deals on the official Universal site during peak season (the 5 day, 3 park with unlimited Express Pass is a great deal). For example, beginning of November is predicted to be busy for Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay, but it’s actually not! Early November is a great time to visit the parks and do Halloween Horror Nights if you want to enjoy a big event with less crowds.īuy Your Tickets Online (but NOT Express Passes)Īlways purchase your park tickets before you go. There’s been plenty of times where they’ve predicted it’s a “busy day for the park” and it’s actually not. Undercover Tourist has a crowd calendar that you can check out, however, it’s only an idea of how busy it can get. I have talked to many angry guests over the years and the biggest issue has always been the crowds… so how do you avoid them? That’s easy… go during off season! The busiest times are June-August and holidays… and don’t even think about going Christmas-New Years (it’s the BUSIEST time of year). Navigating through the crowds is hard enough (um, hello to the people that just decide to stop in the middle of the walkway without thinking about who is still walking behind them – and running into them), but when you add everything else you have to deal with… is it worth dealing with it? Millions of people visit Universal Orlando Resort every year so that means you’ll be fighting for reservations, waiting in lines, and walking through the parks with thousands of people. This is probably obvious, but if you’ve never been to a theme park, then you have no idea. If you’re staying at Cabana Bay then they have their own special entrance into the water park). (If you are staying at an on-site hotel, then there’s a shuttle from your hotel. If you want to go to Volcano Bay, you still have to park in the main garage, follow the signs for Volcano Bay and it takes you into the lower level where the shuttle buses to the water park depart. The hotels are (starting with the closest to City Walk) Hard Rock Hotel, Portofino Bay, Royal Pacific, Sapphire Falls, Aventura, Cabana Bay, and Endless Summer.Ĭity Walk is the main entertainment hub and you must walk through City Walk to get to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. The three parks are Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Volcano Bay (water park). Back in the day it used to be called Universal Studios, but now the complex has 3 theme parks, 7 hotels, and a massive entertainment hub making it Universal Orlando Resort.