UPDATED JULY 2023. Planning a trip to the Universal Orlando Resort? With so much to see and do, you won’t want to miss a thing. Check out our top planning tips for Universal Orlando, to guarantee your best trip yet!
Did you know that the Universal Orlando Resort is consistently rated within the top 10 theme parks of the world? The resort spans across more than 550 acres!
Universal Orlando consists of three theme parks:
Universal Studios Florida
Universal's Islands of Adventure
Universal's Volcano Bay
Along with eight on-site hotels:
Universal's Endless Summer Resort – Dockside Inn and Suites
Universal's Endless Summer Resort – Surfside Inn and Suites
Universal's Aventura Hotel
Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort
Loews Sapphire Falls Resort
Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
Hard Rock Hotel®
Loews Royal Pacific Resort
Universal Orlando also has a huge shopping and dining district, Universal CityWalk, to explore.
People don’t always realize how large the Universal Orlando Resort is, especially if they’ve only visited Universal Studios Hollywood in California. With so much to see and do, it’s easy to get lost in the movie magic and miss out on a few things.
To make sure you make the most of your vacation, we’ve put together our top planning tips for Universal Orlando. We hope they help you plan the best Universal trip yet – enjoy!
Take Your Time & Explore All Universal Orlando has to Offer
If you couldn’t tell from our overview above, the Universal Orlando Resort is expansive! You’ll want to give yourself enough time to not only experience the parks, but everything else offered at the resort. Because of this, we always recommend staying at least three days at the Universal Orlando Resort. You could visit in one or two days, but you’d be missing out on so much. Especially if you visit during busier times!
Some people may still consider Universal Orlando as an add-on destination – a stop to add to their Disney World vacation or beach trip. However, the resort is easily its own destination, with more and more being added each season.
Staying longer allows you to fully enjoy your vacation, with the ability to go at your own pace and not have to worry about missing anything. Planning three or more days at the resort means you’ll want to stay close to the parks as well, which brings us to the next tip for Universal Orlando.
Stay On-Site at Universal Orlando
Staying on-site is such a game changer at Universal Orlando. Not only will you be close to the excitement, but you’ll get exclusive perks for staying at one of the resort hotels. One of our favorite perks is getting into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal’s Volcano Bay an hour before the parks open to the public. Other perks include complimentary transportation to the theme parks and CityWalk, merchandise delivery, and premium access to select CityWalk venues.
The best part of staying on-site at the Universal Orlando Resort is that the hotels range from value to premier, giving an option for every budget. Families typically love staying at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort as it offers suites and is the most cost friendly. The Loews Royal Pacific Resort and Loews Sapphire Falls Resort are also great picks as they fall under the preferred category and offer unique theming.
The Loews Portofino Bay Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel are the premier properties available, offering a luxurious experience on top of the theme park fun. The newer hotel, Aventure Hotel, offers modern design and great prices.
While you may automatically choose one of the prime value hotels, make sure to look at what’s being offered with the preferred and premier properties before you do. For example, the Loews Royal Pacific Resort, Loews Portofino Bay Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel includes Free Universal Express Unlimited. This perk allows you to skip the regular lines at most popular attractions in Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure. A value of $129 per person, per day.
Quick math shows that’s a value of about $520 per day for a family of four – so saving anything less than that per night may not be worth it if you’re looking for the best park experience. No matter which hotel you choose, you won’t regret staying on-site on your next Universal Orlando vacation.
What’s Happening at Universal Orlando
This may be one of the most important planning tips for Universal Orlando, but people tend to skim over it. Make sure you know what’s going on during your visit!
Visiting in the fall? It’s likely that Universal Studios Florida has a few Halloween Horror Nights planned that may close parts of the park early. You’ll want to know this in advance, so you can either purchase the event tickets or be prepared for shorter hours. Not all extra seasonal events happening at Universal Orlando require an additional ticket, so you don’t want to miss any special events that are included with your normal ticket.
While these events are always subject to change, here’s an idea of the biggest annual events at Universal Orlando:
January – April: A Celebration of Harry Potter, Mardi Gras
May – August: Grad Bash & Gradventure, Rock the Universe
September – October: Halloween Horror Nights
November – December: Holidays at Universal Orlando Resort
If you’re interested in any of these events, you’ll want to plan your trip accordingly. Even if you’re not going with any one of these events in mind, it’s smart to know if these are happening while you travel. The Holidays are an especially fun time to travel as you’ll get to experience exclusive entertainment, merry décor and delicious food throughout the parks.
Save on Your Universal Orlando Vacation
Another key tip for Universal Orlando is planning and buying ahead of time. There are a few reasons this helps you come out on top:
- You’ll save money! When you buy your tickets ahead of time, you can save anywhere from $20-$60 per ticket versus buying them directly from the gate.
- More Availability. When you book early, you have the best access to your top choice in resort hotels and room types.
- Less worry! Having your hotel and tickets purchased beforehand means you have less to worry about.
Set Your Universal Orlando Vacation Budget
Our last planning tip for Universal Orlando may seem silly – you’re planning a vacation, of course you need to budget. But are you remembering to budget for everything? On top of the usual transportation, lodging and ticket expenses, there are quite a few expenses you can also budget for in preparation of your trip.
Food is obviously a big one. With so many options both inside the parks and outside (CityWalk offers over twenty restaurants alone), it’s a good idea to plan ahead for what you want to spend per day on eating.
it's also a great idea to budget for souvenirs ahead of time. You can find a lot of the souvenir prices on Universal Orlando’s website, which greatly helps when deciding how much to bring for souvenirs. Or, you could even consider buying some in advance to save money versus buying at the park themselves!
There you have it, our top planning tips for Universal Orlando. Are there any you would add? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information on Universal Orlando right here from Get Away Today.
And if you’re planning a trip to Universal Orlando, Get Away Today would love to help. On top of discounted park tickets, our travel experts can help you build an entire Universal Orlando vacation. Hotel, tickets, transportation, flights – we can help with it all!
We recommend…
We recommend at least a 3-day Park-to-Park Ticket so you can experience one day at Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of Adventure and Universal's Volcano Bay. You can also get a free express pass when you book your stay at a Universal Studios Orlando premier property.
Book your Universal Studios Orlando vacation online or call our travel experts at 855-GET-AWAY.
Join the Conversation!
Leave A CommentGet Away TodayJune 23 2019
Anonymous - HHN is hosted in Universal Studios Florida, so you can find regular theme park experiences at Islands of Adventure and/or Volcano Bay.
AnonymousJune 21 2019
What can a family of four (two adults two teenagers) do if not interested in attending HHH but will be there in October! Is IOA participating in that event?
Get Away TodayJuly 05 2018
Hi Gigi, that's a great question! With things like theme park hotels and tickets, it's much better to book ahead of time as prices tend to only go up as they lose availability. We'd definitely recommend booking now rather than later just in case ticket prices were to increase. Plus, with Resort Hotels, you don't always see as much of a price change closer to the date as you would with other hotels. The Resort Hotels realize their value as being so close and with extra amenities that their prices also tend to rise. Please let us know if you have any other questions or need any help booking your trip!
GigiJune 28 2018
Hey! Helpful blog! Actually booking my next trip to Universal Studios Florida in August, although I do have a question. Does the prices get cheaper as you book closer to the dates desired? I know you wrote the sooner the better but just wondering if had the same concept of when booking a Hotel (saying so since when booking a Hotel closer to date is much cheaper than booking months ahead). Thanks!