Although we had been to Disney twice prior to this trip, we had never been to Universal. (Ok, I actually went in my 20s for one day after running the Disney Marathon but that was so long ago and a kid-less trip so it doesn’t count.) The details and logistics of the Universal portion of our trip were completely foreign to me. The things below were the things that I was most worried/confused about.
Tickets
Why oh why are Universal tickets so expensive?!? Seriously, I’m not sure why people complain so much about Disney prices when Universal is actually more expensive. For our family of 4, tickets for 4 days at Disney cost us $1905 and 2 days at Universal cost us $1240. So Universal tickets cost us $36 more per person per day. Universal tries to trick you by offering deals for two days free with the purchase of three days. If you actually want to go to Universal for 5 days, that does work out to be a decent deal. But most people only spend two days at Universal. So it’s basically a useless offer.
Once we got past the sticker shock, the only real decision was whether or not to do the 2-park passes. And this one stressed me out to no end. I didn’t buy the tickets until the day before we left because I was so wishy-washy on it. In another sneaky/genious money-maker move by Universal, they make it so that you can only ride the popular Hogwarts Express if you buy the 2-park ticket. As a result, many people end up buying the more expensive 2-park ticket just so they can ride the train between the two parks. For us, this wasn’t really an issue. Although the boys read all the Harry Potter books and liked them, that was years ago and they never reached obsession level with the books or the movies. They emphatically said that riding Hogwarts was not important to them. So the only question for me was if we would want to ride certain rides multiple times across days.
After studying the rides in each park, I determined that there was plenty to do each day in a single park and the 2-park pass wasn’t necessary. And I was right. Our days were filled the perfect amount – we rode everything that we wanted to and had full (but not overfull) days. Looking back, the only thing we would have wanted to ride again was the VelociCoaster. We rode it twice on our first day and likely would have made the effort to ride it again the second day. BUT… I can say for sure that although we would have enjoyed riding it again, it would not have been worth the extra $255 it would have cost us. So for us, single park tickets were the right choice.
Express Passes
A closely related topic to the type of ticket to purchase is whether or not to add on Express Passes. Holy cow. If I thought Universal was already expensive, Expresses Passes put it into the next stratosphere. They would have more than doubled the price of our (already expensive) tickets. Yikes!
Now I will say this – Express Passes are MUCH more straightforward than the Disney Genie+ system. And you get a whole lot more for your (whole lot of) money. Like Lightning Lanes at Disney, Universal offers express lines that offer a shorter wait time. Express Passes basically come in two forms – Express Pass and Express Unlimited Pass. With the basic pass, you can use the pass once per ride per day. With the unlimited pass, you can ride each ride as many times as you want using the express lane. (The price difference is usually $30 between the two options.) While it costs a lot, Universal’s system is so much easier than Disney’s. All you have to decide is if you are ok with only going on each ride once or if you want unlimited rides. Once that is decided, there is no booking time slots, no limitations, no constantly checking your phone to manage your selections. You just decide what you want to ride and walk onto the shorter line.
I’ll be honest. It was amazing. We rode everything we wanted and barely waited at all. (And we went back to VelociCoaster on our Islands of Adventure day to ride it again because it was so awesome.) That being said, I absolutely could not stomach the price of adding it onto our tickets (an extra $195 per person per day) so we used the trick of booking a night at a Universal Premier Resort. Similar to the Disney Deluxe Resorts, these hotels are the high end options on Universal property. But unlike the Disney Deluxe Resorts, they have an added perk! For every day you stay at a Premier Resort, you get free Express Universal Passes for everyone in your room! This includes check-in and check-out days so one night gets you two days of passes. Since I also couldn’t stomach spending $800 a night for two nights on a Universal hotel (no matter how “premier” they think it is), we stayed our first night (which was a travel day) at one of the value resorts and moved for our second night (and two park days) to a premier resort, Royal Pacific. So in the end, the total of our two nights only cost about $450 more than two nights in a Prime Value Resort (their mid-range option) AND we got two days of Express Unlimited Passes. So in this light, I think the express passes were a great deal. If you don’t mind the hassle of moving hotel rooms (or don’t mind the added cost of a more expensive hotel room), getting the free express passes by staying in a premier hotel is absolutely the way to go.
My Universal Photos Package
While I knew without a doubt that I was willing to spend the extra money for Disney’s Memory Maker photo package, I wasn’t as sure about My Universal Photos. Disney was a known quantity. I had used it before and knew I would get the quality and quantity of photos that would make it worthwhile for me. With Universal, I didn’t know how frequent the photo ops were or how good the quality of the photos was. I did a lot of research on this beforehand and the consensus seemed to be that overall it wasn’t a great value. But photos are my thing! I put such a high value on them, and I ultimately felt like I would regret not having them as a memento of our trip.
On the surface the Universal package is cheaper – $109 vs $189. But the $109 Universal package is only for three days, whereas Memory Maker is for the length of your trip (up to 30 days). Universal does offer a one day package for $89, and again they sort of play the money-making game by only offering a 3 days as the other option, knowing that most people only stay 2 days.
But regardless, I am and will always be a sucker for photos so I bought it. I purchased it ahead of time and was worried about how to activate it. As soon as we entered Islands of Adventure, I had to make a bee-line to the photography store at the entrance while my anxious family waited outside, ready to ride the rides. I got a card to scan and a lanyard and they sent me an email to activate my account. And then we were off… to the photographer waiting right outside capturing photos at the entrance. Yes, I made my family take a group photo at the entrance to each park. But other than that, I was in it mainly for the ride photos, which were plentiful. At Universal, the ride photos are displayed on screens at the ride exit and you simply scan your card once you find your photo. Most of the rides had their photo area staffed so someone could help you if you weren’t able to find your photos. We got photos on 10 different rides across the two parks.
The big surprise was that we got some character photos in addition to the family and ride photos. My boys (including my husband) were thrilled when we bumped into Homer and Bart Simpson as soon as we entered Universal Studios. It didn’t cross their minds once when we were at Disney to stand on line for a character photo, but they all wanted their picture with Homer and Bart! And they were equally excited when we saw that Squidward was posing for photos in the SpongeBob Storepants store (although this one was a self-photographing opportunity only). And to top it off, Shrek was right outside the store! We had a hilarious interaction with Donkey while they posed with him and Shrek and Fiona. I didn’t even factor character photos into the equation when I was deciding whether or not to buy My Universal Photos, so they were a nice bonus.
Overall we ended up with about 30 photos, which I thought was good for two days. I will note I was a little disappointed to download the photos at night and find that they all had some sort of frame or logo added to them. Some were subtle but some were really over the top and detracted from the picture itself in my opinion. (The Hulk was a prime example – the photo is about 60% Hulk and 40% us on the ride.). Disney adds frames to some of their ride photos but they seem to be more subtle. And if they ever add something to your group photos, they will give you the original (plain) version along with the framed version. I wish Universal did the same but all in all, I was happy with the package and don’t regret purchasing it.
Bags and Lockers
In my pre-trip research about bags and lockers, there wasn’t a lot written about Disney. It turns out that this is because it is a non-issue at Disney. You can take your bag on all of the rides except TRON, and lockers are provided for that ride. At Universal, there was a lot written about it and it sounded kind of complicated. We were immediately faced with the locker conundrum when we went to get on our first ride, Hulk. We went to the Express Pass line and they pointed us towards the lockers located behind us. There were several different banks of lockers and a scanning station in each one. But we had no idea what to scan. Our park tickets were on our phones but the scanner wanted a bar code and not a QR code. We were not alone in our confusion. Everyone was struggling to figure out what to do. (This is the ride closest to the entrance of the park so like us, it was the first locker experience for many people.). Finally another guest told us that we had to get a card with a bar code on it from an employee that was lingering to the side of the lockers. We got our card, scanned the barcode, and a locker popped open. We jammed my bag into the tiny locker and closed it, hoping we would remember the location and number. After riding the ride, we returned to reclaim our stuff. Fortunately, you only really need to remember which set of lockers you used (usually differentiated by a color or character) because as long as you scan at the right location, your specific locker just pops open for you.
The lockers were a complete cluster at Hulk but we caught on to the system eventually. We figured out that our hotel room key worked to open the lockers so that eliminated the need to find someone to give us a card. And the newer rides had more efficient and logical setups. VelociCoaster was really well designed. First, you didn’t have to put your stuff in a locker until right before you got on the ride. That means that if you have a long wait, you can have your phone and snacks and whatever else with you while you wait. Second, the lockers were two sided so you put your things into them on the entrance side of the ride and took your things out of them on the exit side. This was a brilliant design and kept things moving quickly and eliminated the huge backups at the lockers that were a problem on some of the rides.
Note that the small lockers are free while you ride but there are larger lockers available for a fee if you need them. The small lockers are very small. I had a small sling backpack which was only about the size of a lunchbox and really had to shove it into the locker to make it fit. A normal sized backpack would require purchasing a large locker.
Overall I will say the locker system is confusing mostly because it is inconsistent. They seem to be constantly improving the setup with each new ride, which is great, but on the flip side, the lockers on the old rides don’t get updated and you end up with every group of lockers functioning slightly differently. Still, it was nice to have a free place to store our bags. Carowinds, our local amusement park, has implemented mandatory lockers on some rides and charges a fee for them. So although the system isn’t perfect, it is free and nice not to have to worry about your bag.
