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.

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We decided to splurge on a premier resort for one night in order to get the free Universal Express Unlimited Passes that are included with the rooms. Since passes are included for both check-in and check-out days (and any days that you stay in between), we only needed a one night stay to cover both our park days.

We stayed at the Endless Summer Resort Surfside for our first night since that was our driving day and we weren’t visiting a park. When we woke up the next morning, we ate breakfast and went straight to the Royal Pacific. We had to pick up our room keys before going to the park because they are used as your Express Pass. I had read that they will hold your bags for you if your room isn’t ready yet, but they had rooms available so we were fortunate enough to get an early check in. We dropped our bags in the room before heading to the park.

It was an interesting experience to leave the room of a value hotel and be in the room of a premier hotel less than an hour later. I was immediately struck by how similar the rooms were. The layouts were essentially the same and at 335 square feet versus 313 square feet at Surfside, the size difference was negligible. The furniture, bedding, and bathroom were all upgraded but the difference wasn’t nearly as drastic as I would have expected, an observation that I don’t mean as a knock on the premier resorts but instead a comment on the quality of the value resorts at Universal. I did find our room at Royal Pacific somewhat dark (as opposed to the bright rooms at Surfside), but I think that was because we were on the first floor with a good number of trees in front of the window.

While we didn’t find the rooms drastically better at Royal Pacific, the overall resort is a significant step up from the value resorts. Featuring a Polynesian theme, the resort is beautifully decorated and has some gorgeous common spaces. There are 4 on-site restaurants and a lobby marketplace, all significantly better in ambiance and quality than the food court at Surfside. We ate dinner at Jake’s American Bar and really enjoyed the opportunity for a sit-down meal after a long day at the park.

The pool at Royal Pacific was also a significant upgrade over the value resort. If only we could have used it! When my husband decided to go back to the hotel to relax while the boys and I went on the water rides at Islands of Adventure, he got settled in at the pool only to have them blow the whistle 10 minutes later to close the pool. We were sure it would be open when the boys and I returned 2 hours later but it was not. Then we were sure it would be open after we ate dinner but again it was not. It was closed for the rest of the night and STILL closed when we returned from the park the next afternoon at 6:00.

Apparently the resort had been having ongoing issues with the chemical composition of the water and this was not the first time they had to close it for extended periods over the previous weeks. They did offer to let us use the pool at Sapphire Falls Resort, but that involved a long walk and we had to be escorted by a Royal Pacific employee in order to gain entrance to the other resort. Overall this was a huge disappointment to us and would have been a pretty big issue had we been staying longer. The pool is a key amenity when spending a long, hot day at an amusement park in Orlando in June.

We really liked the location of the resort. It was convenient to the parks, which you could reach by walking trail, shuttle bus, or water taxi. We walked the first day, following the scenic path along the water. The second day we took the water taxi, which was very fast and convenient on the way there but had a decent wait on the return from the parks.

Aside from the snafu with the pool, we were very happy with our stay at Royal Pacific. The resort itself and the grounds are beautiful. The rooms are nicely decorated and comfortable. The location and accessibility to the parks is great. The early check-in was a nice bonus. But I’ll be honest. The hotel on its own is not at all worth the $750 a night we were charged. I couldn’t fathom spending that much on this resort if not for the included Universal Express Unlimited Passes. But the included pass is a game changer. The Express Unlimited Pass was an astonishing $260 per person per day for our dates, making the total $2080 for 4 people for two days! (And that is on top of park passes!) So in that light, $750 a night for a premier hotel that includes the passes is the best deal in town. I would stay here again at that price in a heartbeat as long as the passes are included.

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We did a split stay at Universal in order to take advantage of the free Universal Express Unlimited Passes that come with a stay at a Premier Resort. Since the Premier Resorts are more expensive, we opted to spend our first night in a Value Resort. The two on-site value options at Universal are Cabana Bay Beach Resort and Endless Summer Resort, which has two sides – Surfside and Dockside.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t spend too much time on this decision. I knew we’d be arriving around dinner time and checking out first thing the next morning so it was really just a place to sleep. The colorful retro rooms at Cabana Bay looked like they might be a little too intense for me so I focused on Endless Summer Resort and did just a little bit of research to choose between the two sides.

Surfside is the smaller of the two resorts, with only 750 rooms to Dockside’s 2000+. Due to the size difference, Surfside has only one pool while Dockside has two. Again due to the smaller size, the food options and amenities are also fewer at Surfside. But rather than being negatives, these things gave Surfside a slight edge for me. We would only be there for about 12 hours – we didn’t need a ton of amenities and having a smaller resort to navigate (and the associated smaller crowds) was appealing to me.

The lobby of Surfside is bright and airy and adorned with (you guess it!) surfboards. There is a Starbucks and a food court, the Beach Break Cafe. The food court is open from 7am to 11pm, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner and anything in between. It offers a variety of options, from pancakes and eggs in the morning to sandwiches, quesadillas, pizza, pasta, and grilled items for lunch and dinner, as well as grab-and-go drinks and snacks. The food was decent. Certainly nothing to write home about but the convenience and variety were appreciated.

The rooms were relatively basic but very nice. The decor was tasteful, the room was clean, and the size was good for this class resort (313 square feet). The Universal value resorts’ standard double rooms have two queen beds, which gives them a huge advantage over the Disney value resorts, which only have double beds. With two adult-sized teens, we probably would have gotten cramped if we had stayed multiple nights, but for one night it met our needs perfectly.

Keeping with the resort’s theme, the pool is shaped like a surfboard and the poolside bar is called the Sand Bar. While the pool isn’t huge or filled with exciting extras like waterslides or splash pads, it is nice and wasn’t crowded. It provided the perfect place to relax at the end of a long day of driving. There were plenty of lounge chairs and tables for us to enjoy our drinks from the bar and dinner from the food court.

All in all, I was really impressed with the value of this value resort. We have never stayed at a Disney value resort because they seem too cramped (both in room size and bed size). Surfside has good sized rooms and comfortable queen sized beds. It is clean and bright but not overly busy. I don’t know that we could have stayed here more than 2 or 3 nights but it was certainly a great – and affordable – option for a single night.

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On our second Universal day, we went to Universal Studios Florida. Similar to Islands of Adventure, the park is situated around a lake, making navigation fairly easy. Some of the areas do extend further back from the lake, opening up a little opportunity to get turned around in the streets of New York and Minion Land, but overall it is still really well laid out.

We decided to head counter-clockwise in this park, but this time it was not a ride calling our names but a character. As we peered down the streets of Hollywood, we spotted none other than Bart and Homer Simpson. Who can resist a photo op with the Simpsons?

Our first ride was a tame one, E.T. Adventure. While nostalgic for parents, I actually can’t believe this ride is still there. The 35 year old animatronics are really dated and I’m guessing the average kid today hasn’t even heard of E.T. Still, it’s a good in-between ride for younger kids – dark so a little more “daring” for kids who want more than Trollercoaster but not intense like any of the true thrill rides.

From there, we were excited to spot Squidward in SpongeBob Storepants and Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey across the way in their swamp. I had not expected the kids to want to take pictures with any characters on this trip, but they were surprisingly into the Universal characters.

We wandered around DreamWorks Land for a while, especially enjoying Po’s Kung Fu Training Camp, with its Pond of Perpetual Wetness and Laundry of Ultimate Cleanliness. And we appreciated the Skadoosh ushering us to the exit. We were big fans of Kung Fu Panda when the kids were little.

But obviously for a family of Simpson’s fans, nothing could compare to what came up next… Springfield! I mean, they had a Moe’s! And a Kwik-E-Mart! How can you beat that? Very true to the town, it was fun to walk around and see all the iconic places and characters.

After tons of photo ops and enjoying a Lard Lad Donut, we checked out The Simpson’s Ride. A 3D motion simulation ride, the vehicle physically moves in place to match the on-screen action. When Sideshow Bob hijacks the vehicle, things got chaotic and a little rougher than I would have preferred. The ride was a little herky-jerky but the story was entertaining. All in all, we gave the ride two thumbs up for the Simpsons characters, the story, and the humor.

Men in Black Alien Attack was up next. A shooting game like Toy Story Midway Mania or Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, this was fun and different from the other rides we had done at Universal so far.

Next up we visited the other side The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley. Much like all the other lands in Universal’s parks, Diagon Alley is very true to the movie. Stores for Quidditch supplies, spell books, and disastrous delights lined the streets, all leading to the main attraction in the alley, Gringotts Bank. The bank sits at the end of the street, with a dragon perched on its turret. We wondered what the stir was when everybody started milling around in the street in front of it, and we quickly found out… every 15 minutes or so the dragon breathes fire!

After feeling the heat from the fire-breathing dragon, we headed into the bank to ride Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. The bank’s lobby serves as the entrance to the ride, and as with all of the Harry Potter rides, the queue is not to be missed. Escape from Gringotts is a hybrid roller coaster, dark ride, and 3D motion simulator. With an initial sudden drop into darkness and several high speed maneuvers, the roller coaster aspect of the ride is fairly tame and comes in spurts. Your cart transports you from scene to scene, where the storyline unfolds on high tech 3D projection screens in front of you. The technology behind each scene and the excitement of getting there makes this one of the top rides at Universal.

From there we headed to Fast & Furious – Supercharged, a simulated car chase ride. Not fans of the movies, this ride was sort of lost on us. The simulation effects were just ok and the party bus storyline just didn’t speak to us. This is not one we would do again.

Next up was yet another motion simulation ride (I’m sensing a theme here in Universal Studios) – Transformers: The Ride 3D. Again, we were never really into Transformers but we did really enjoy seeing the robots outside the ride (both statue and “live”). The ride itself was starting to feel predictable at this point – I was feeling motion simulation ride-d out. This was actually one of the better ones but at this point I was sort of over these rides and since I didn’t relate to Transformers, I didn’t love it.

And continuing on with the string of motion simulator rides with themes that I wasn’t invested in, we rode Race Through NY Starring Jimmy Fallon next and were not impressed. After that we rode Revenge of the Mummy. It was not a motion simulator ride, but it was another ride about a movie I didn’t see (or care to see). This was basically a dark roller coaster and although I enjoyed it more than the previous few motion simulation rides, it still didn’t do much for me.

At this point, it felt like our interest was fading pretty fast. We made the decision to skip Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. Because we actually know and like the Minion movies, in retrospect I would have skipped some of the others and rode this one instead. But we were set on doing all the rides in order around the circle and didn’t know we’d burn out by the time we got to Minion Land. We did enjoy seeing the mischievous minions scattered throughout the area though.

We decided to give one last ride a shot and went on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. A legitimate (not simulated), outdoor, heart-thumping roller coaster, Rip Ride RockIt starts off with a 17 story ascent followed by an almost complete vertical drop. Lots of twists, turns and loops follow, and we were happy to end with a solid thrill ride. The ride wasn’t as smooth as some of their other coasters, but after so many motion simulation rides, I was just happy to be in actual motion.

Overall we enjoyed our day at Universal Studios Florida, but found Islands of Adventure to be much more exciting. Surprisingly, our favorite part of this park was the characters and the theming. We enjoyed the DreamWorks area and absolutely loved exploring Springfield. Diagon Alley was also great (although I think we liked Hogsmeade slightly better). We found this park to rely too heavily on motion simulation rides. Islands of Adventure seemed to have a better balance of traditional thrill rides and motion simulation rides. I’m not sure there are any rides at Universal Studios Florida that would draw me back in for another visit.

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We spent our first of two Universal days at Islands of Adventure. The park has 6 main lands – Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Skull Island, Jurassic Park, Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Hogsmeade), and Seuss Landing.

I loved the layout of the park, as everything was oriented in a circle around a lake. I don’t like when parks are sprawling with multiple offshoots because you can easily get lost in the different paths or miss an entire section of the park. With a circular layout, you really just needed to decide which direction to head in and go from there.

The Hulk ride was beckoning so we decided to head to Marvel Super Hero Island first and follow a clockwise path through the park. We rode The Incredible Hulk Coaster and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, two very different but fun rides. The Hulk is a traditional launched roller coaster, while Spider-Man is a 3-D motion simulator ride. Both were great rides and your preference will likely depend on your overall preference for ride type. I find traditional (moving) rides much better, but my boys loved the simulation and effects of Spider-Man.

Next up was Toon Lagoon, which is primarily shops and restaurants. This area is like a trip down memory lane for parents, as it features comics like Popeye, Hagar the Horrible, and Beetle Bailey. We loved walking around and ducking into the various shops. There are two rides here – Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. Both are water rides so we opted to save them for the end so we wouldn’t be soaked for the entire day.

Next up was Skull Island: Reign of Kong. This isn’t so much a “land” as a single ride, but it gets its own call-out on the map. This ride both actually moves (although it a slow-moving truck and not a roller coaster) and has motion simulation. Your truck moves through the jungle, starting outdoors and then heading into a temple. Once inside, bats, dinosaurs, and other creatures surround – and threaten – you on all sides. Ultimately King Kong enters and a battle rages all around. I loved the effect of King Kong jumping over the truck, moving seamlessly from one screen to the other. This was a great ride – I enjoyed the mix of actual and simulated motion/action.

Next we headed into Jurassic Park and went straight to Jurassic World VelociCoaster. This was hands-down everyone’s favorite ride in all of Universal. This traditional roller coaster has unbelievable twists, turns, inversions, and high-speed maneuvers. Despite all its intense moves, it is super-smooth, making it one of the most comfortable but thrilling rides I’ve ever been on. This is the only ride we went on twice and we would have happily done it more times if we had the time (and the two park ticket!).

Fresh off the excitement of VelociCoaster, we headed to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This was probably the most visually impressive land in Islands of Adventure. The snow-capped roofs lining the village created a magical feeling as we walked past the Hogwarts Express (but didn’t ride it because we didn’t have the two park pass) and headed to the (very long) line for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.

Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike Adventure was the only ride in the park that didn’t accept Express Passes at the time of our visit. We waited about an hour and a half for this ride – a fair amount of it outside in the sun and heat. A unique take on a traditional roller coaster, passengers take a seat in either a motorbike or its side car for a high speed exploration of the Forbidden Forest. The roller coaster features 7 different launches, meaning that there’s a lot of stopping and starting. This would have been fine if it had been a cohesive experience but we ended up stopping and waiting at several of the launches because the ride was backed up. It made for a very disjointed experience. At one point we waited at a launch for more than 2 minutes, almost doubling the ride time and leading us to wonder if the ride was broken. Reading about it afterwards, it sounds like this is a common occurrence, as the ride loads slowly and backs up. I’d rather be held at the initial launch to account for expected slowness than be stopped mid-ride. The coaster was fun, but to us it was not worth the long wait in line. The multiple long mid-ride pauses broke up the ride into several short spurts instead of one thrilling ride.

Following that disappointment, we soothed our souls with some Butter Beer, grabbed some lunch, and re-rode VelociCoaster before returning to Hogsmeade to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This is a combined real and simulated motion ride and a really well done one at that. Similar to King Kong, you do actually move through this ride (seated on a bench mounted to a robotic arm) but the action around you is mostly on a screen. The technology is really cool on this ride, as the benches pivot, swoop, and lay you flat, all while the screens stay fixed in front of you during each scene. This was definitely among the family favorites.

We completed our loop around the park by walking through Seuss Landing. Aimed at younger kids, we didn’t do any rides here but did enjoy the wonderful re-creation of Dr. Seuss’ classics. From Mulberry Street to the Street of the Lifted Lorax, it was like walking through the pages of some of our favorite childhood books. I really enjoyed our stroll through Seuss Landing.

Having done the complete loop around the lake, my husband headed back to the hotel for some down time, while the boys and I headed back around to do the water rides. We rode Jurassic Park River Adventure, Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls, and Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. Both River Adventure and Ripsaw Falls feature big drops (with big splashes), reminiscent of Disney’s Splash Mountain. The Bilge-Rat Barges is a whitewater-raft ride similar to Animal Kingdom’s Kali River Rapids, but it is longer, rougher, and wetter. That was our last ride of the day and we got completely soaked.

Overall, we absolutely loved Islands of Adventure. There were so many great rides – the traditional coasters were thrilling, the motion simulator rides were visually stunning, and the ones that crossed over between the two were technological marvels. Except for the snafu with the mid-ride waits on Hagrid’s Motorbike, we couldn’t have asked for a better day.

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I am happy to say that taking a trip to the Orlando theme parks with teenagers requires less trip planning than it does with young kids! Forget laying out a detailed schedule for each day. Forget the websites that will literally give you a minute by minute itinerary. Forget any semblance of a tight schedule. Teens are different animals. Just plan the high level stuff and let them take it from there.

The high level details I did have to plan included where to stay, which tickets to purchase, and which park to visit on which day. That was it!

The where to stay and the ticket decisions were somewhat intertwined. I had been warned that Express Passes were a necessity to make your day enjoyable at the parks. But man, were they expensive! They more than doubled the price of the tickets and I just couldn’t stomach that. So we used a not-so-secret trick. We booked one night at a Premier hotel, a stay that comes with free Universal Express Unlimited passes (including both check-in and check-out days).

Universal Orlando has three Premier hotels – Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, and Loews Royal Pacific Resort. All of them offer the same benefits and all of them are relatively close in price. We booked Royal Pacific, both because it was the lowest price for our date and because we were interested to compare it to the Polynesian at Disney, where we had stayed before.

We drove down from NC on a Saturday and booked the Royal Pacific for Sunday night because that gave us the express passes for our two park days – Sunday and Monday. But we still needed somewhere to stay Saturday night. I knew we’d be getting in at dinner time or later and would be checking out first thing in the morning so it didn’t make sense to spend a lot of money on a hotel that night. After briefly considering staying offsite, I decided it would be easier to transfer on Sunday morning if we were already on property. So I decided to book a value resort. There are only two options in that hotel class and they are both part of the same property, Endless Summer Resort. The resort has two sides – Surfside and Dockside. Dockside is a little bigger and has a few more amenities but it basically came down to a coin toss and we booked Surfside.

In terms of tickets, we used the Premier hotel hack to get free Express passes so the only remaining question was if we needed one park per day or more. And that proved to be a tough one! I agonized over this decision and didn’t make a call until the night before we left. I liked the idea of keeping our options open and being able to hop between parks to repeat a favorite ride or to ride the Hogwarts Express (which requires a two-park ticket). But in the end, the value just didn’t seem to be there to me. It was already going to be a very expensive two days and it didn’t make sense to me to tack on more money for benefits we weren’t sure we would use. So we settled on the One Park Per Day ticket.

The last decision was which park to visit on which day. This didn’t really make a huge difference to anyone so we just went by the crowd calendar. Luckily it was pretty straight forward and the two parks were recommended on different days. We visited Islands of Adventure on the first day and Universal Studios the next.

So that was it! We booked the hotels, bought the tickets, and decided which park to do first. From there, the boys took the lead. They decided which direction to head in each park, which rides to go on next, where to eat, and when to go home. It was great not to have to worry about those details ahead of time and to let them take ownership of their own experiences. I love trip planning in general but do not love Disney/Universal trip planning specifically so this was a huge win for me!

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If you came here looking for a review of a stand up paddleboarding, kayaking or rafting tour, you’ve come to the wrong place. Believe it or not, we used Paddle Moab for a canyoneering tour. It felt strange to book a company called Paddle Moab for a rappelling tour but they offered the tour I wanted and had great reviews. So we went for it!

We met them at their location in Moab and were outfitted with all our gear. In contrast to our experience with Outlaw Adventure Tours, the Paddle Moab storefront wasn’t as impressive and their gear not as new (and maybe a little smelly). But it got the job done! The staff was friendly and helpful, and the gear, while well-worn, was in good condition and completely safe. Canyoneering is a rugged outdoor activity so it is expected that the equipment not (or smell) look brand new.

At the last minute, they had a solo traveller sign up and join our group of 8. I’m not sure how she felt being in a group with 4 teenage boys but she seemed to roll with it. They drove us in a van to the starting point. This was actually the only part of the trip that was less than great. The van was old and didn’t seem to have working AC so it was a really uncomfortable ride to the Sand Flats Recreation Area. In fact, we were very close to asking them to pull over because our youngest thought he was going to get sick. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far away and we made it there in less than half an hour.

We hiked from the parking lot to the first rappel, with our two guides leading the way. At the top of the first rappel, they helped us put on our equipment and gave us a crash course in rappelling. I’ll be honest and say that it was information overload. Never having rappelled before, it was really confusing and difficult to follow, and it wasn’t until I was actually roped in and the guide walked me through it that I was able to figure it out. I really appreciated his patience and step by step instructions as I started down into the chamber. It made much more sense and was much easier for me to follow when I was actually doing it along with his instructions. I got the hang of it within a minute and was comfortably on my way down the rappel before we knew it. (Read my full trip report here!)

Our guides were great. They were super safety-conscious, making sure all the ropes were secured properly and guiding us with verbal instructions as we rappelled down. Plus they did all the heavy lifting! They had to come down the rappels last and then carry all of the heavy ropes and other gear the entire time (including the hike out of the canyon).

This was the first time rappelling for all 8 of us and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. The guides were very safety conscious and were patient in teaching all of us the ropes (pun intended). Some of us were nervous and needed some gentle prodding, and they did a great job putting everyone at ease, walking us through it, and ensuring that we made it down safely. Don’t be fooled by the name – Paddle Moab knows what they are doing on land as well as in the water! We highly recommend their canyoneering tour.

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A Hell’s Revenge off-road jeep tour was at the top of my list for our Moab adventures. We didn’t want to drive ourselves so focused on companies that offered ride-along tours. I reached out to a few companies based on reviews and got the best communication and price from Outlaw Adventure Tours so we booked with them. (Read my full trip report here!)

We met our drivers at their shop in Moab. It was decorated with cool jeep memorabilia and furniture made out of jeep parts. It was a really neat setup and I think the fact that they put so much effort into their storefront (which you really just meet in briefly) shows their commitment to their customers and investment in their company.

We had a total of 8 people so we met our two drivers and headed out to our jeeps. They were pretty new and in excellent condition. We could tell that they have top quality jeeps and take great care of them. We didn’t have any concerns over the safety or comfort of the jeeps. We have two teenage boys and two adults and fit fine with one person sitting in front and three across in the back. (We did rotate seats after every stop just so that nobody was stuck in the middle the whole time.)

Our driver Cole was the perfect combination of casual and confident. His laid-back but attentive manner put us at ease and made us feel completely safe in his hands. He had clearly done this many times and knew every inch of the trail and the best way to approach each section to maximize fun and adventure without sacrificing safety. He was friendly, fun and knowledgeable – all characteristics of a great guide!

This tour was one of the highlights of a trip that was more amazing than we even imagined it could be. There are so many stunning things to see and fantastic things to do in the Moab area, but this tour should be on everyone’s list. It is equal parts thrilling adventure and incredible natural beauty. The Hell’s Revenge Jeep Tour is truly a one of a kind experience, and Outlaw Adventure Tours is a great choice to take you there – fantastic people, great vehicles, safety-conscious attitude, and most of all, fun!

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Part of the huge appeal of the Moab area for us was the opportunity for adventure. While our boys enjoy hiking (and especially did in the national parks around Moab!), they are teens and definitely up for more daring experiences as well. Canyoneering was at the top of their list.

Canyoneering is a form of rappelling that specifically involves descents through (you guess it!) canyons. Rappelling involves using ropes and your own body weight to lower yourself down a rock face. None of us had any experience rappelling so we had to find a tour suitable for beginners. I did lots of research of different companies and rappel sites and settled on Paddle Moab’s half day trip to Medieval Chamber.

Also known as Ephedra’s Grotto, Medieval Chamber is a narrow slot canyon located in the Sand Flats Recreation Area in Moab. The canyoneering trips to Medieval Chamber also include a rappel next to Morning Glory Natural Bridge. The trip is rated as Easy/Moderate, includes about 3 miles of hiking, and takes 4-5 hours total.

We met at the Paddle Moab office, got our gear, and were driven in a van to the Sand Flats Recreation Area. Note that it is recommended to bring a small backpack to carry your gear during the hiking portion of the trip. Also note that those with long hair should be prepared to pull it back or wear a hat for safety reasons.

It only took about 20 minutes to get to the drop off point. From there we followed a sandy trail that led us to some rock fins that we continued hiking on. There were some small obstacles along the way, including a small chasm between two rock fins that we had to jump across The boys loved scrambling across the rocks, and the anticipation built as we neared our first rappel.

We reached the top of the first rappel and put all our gear on. There were two sets of rappel anchors at the top of the chamber and the guides asked for two volunteers to go first. All 4 boys raised their hands. The guide clarified, “two adult volunteers”. They wanted an adult to go first for general safety reasons and so that someone would be at the bottom to help the kids detach from the ropes. Always thinking about photo opportunities, I quickly volunteered to go first so that I could get pictures of everyone else rapelling down.

After gearing up, the guides gave us A LOT of instructions. It was overwhelming and sounded fairly complicated. So when he attached me to the rope and I turned around and leaned backwards over the ledge, I froze – not in fear but in cluelessness. What the heck was I supposed to do? Their instructions were all swimming around in my head but I didn’t know what to do first. The guide patiently walked me through everything and after a few jerky moves downward, I got the hang of it. It really is just a matter of guiding the rope through your hands as gravity does the work. It seemed overwhelming listening to the directions but actually doing it turned out to be quite easy once I figured it out.

Facing the chamber from the top, I went down on the right hand side. This was a fortuitous decision because there is a small landing about 2/3 of the way down and the left side is pretty much guaranteed to be a water landing. The right side has a chance at a dry landing, which I did make. What I did not make was a dry transition to the edge to start the second part of the rappel. I landed one foot squarely in the water as I tried to maneuver across the large puddle. That misstep would stay with me for the rest of the day, as I rappelled and hiked with one soaking wet foot.

I made it safely to the bottom, unhooked myself and took a look around. The rappel ends in a small chamber (hence the name) and the only way out is through a narrow opening at the far end of the grotto. It was really pretty and as close to a slot canyon as we got on this trip.

The rock face we went down was really varied terrain. There were sections where it was rough and more black in color and sections where it was smooth with stripes of browns and oranges. It was really beautiful. Everyone made it down the 95 foot rappel and loved it.

We all gathered at the bottom and then squeezed our way through the small opening to leave the chamber. From there it was a short walk to the next rappel at Morning Glory Arch. The guides set up two sets of ropes here too, although only one of them was attached to bolts. The other was tied to a tree, which definitely made me a little nervous. My husband and I headed down first again.

This 110 foot rappel goes through a gap between the canyon wall and Morning Glory Arch, a 243 foot wide natural rock bridge. The start of this rappel was a much steeper dropoff. It was basically a 90 degree angle and you just had to lean back and go. There was no gradual walk down a slope. You just disappeared over the edge.

So this rappel was a little more intimidating of a start, but I really wasn’t prepared for what happened next. I slowly walked my way down and then all of the sudden lost reach of the wall with my feet. Nobody mentioned that the majority of this rappel was actually free-hanging! After realizing that I wasn’t doing anything wrong and that the angle at which the rock cut in put the surface out of reach, I slowly lowered myself down while hanging in the air. I don’t know if the kids realized that was going to happen, but as you can imagine, they all loved it too

After packing up all our gear, we headed out into Grandstaff Canyon to complete our afternoon outing with a fantastic hike. Roughly 2 miles long and mostly flat, the terrain was varied and definitely fun for the kids, as they scrambled across rocks, squeezed between narrow openings, and jumped from stone to stone across a stream. It was a fun, adventurous hike to end a very adventurous day.

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A few years ago, one of my best friends went to Moab with her family and posted a video of them doing an off-road jeep tour. It looked so crazy and fun, I immediately knew that if we ever went to Moab, we had to do that tour. So when we decided on a Utah spring break, I couldn’t wait to start researching jeep tours.

There are a few different off-road options – UTV, you-drive jeeps, ride-along jeeps. Having seen the terrain, I knew right away that any you-drive option was not for us. So we focused on the ride-along jeep tours and ultimately decided to use the company Outlaw Adventure Tours.

We chose the Hell’s Revenge Sunset Tour, figuring that the timing would work well on our day in Canyonlands National Park and that the scenery would be extra beautiful at sunset. And we were right on both counts! We left Canyonlands around 2:30, took a quick break at our VRBO, and then headed into Moab for the tour.

We were traveling with another family and since each jeep fit 4 passengers, we had to go in two separate jeeps. We loaded up and drove through town to the Sandflats Recreation Area. This public land area has both bike trails and 4×4 trails, as well as camping areas. Hell’s Revenge, a 6.5 mile trail that includes slickrock, rock ledges, and sand, has a difficulty rating of 6 and is recommended only for experienced drivers. With such obstacles as “Tip-Over Challenge” and “Rubble Trouble”, it is not for the faint of heart. For those who want a slightly easier (but still challenging!) path, the “Tip-Toe Through Hell” route bypasses the most challenging obstacles.

I was immediately blown away by the trail… and thankful I wasn’t driving it! The slickrock trail was narrow with steep drop-offs to the side. Our driver handled it with ease (and with one hand holding his Arizona ice tea).

We made a stop to view some dinosaur tracks from 190 million years ago. Wow! It’s amazing to imagine dinosaurs roaming the land that we were now driving around on. While a handful of the tracks were obvious once pointed out, I’ll be honest that I would have walked right past them if our guide hadn’t shown us. Even then, some of them were difficult to make out. But I’m not a paleontologist! Located on the side of the trail, the tracks are surprisingly accessible, even after the most well-formed of the tracks was stolen in 2014. Someone literally broke off a 150 pound section of sandstone that included a three toed dinosaur imprint and drove away with it. Sadly, when he realized the gravity of what he had done, the thief panicked and dropped it off the side of a bridge into the river where it could not be recovered.

After marveling at the prehistoric footprints, we got back in the jeep and continued our journey. The scenery was truly stunning. While most of the large rock domes were smooth slick rock, there were also stunning sections that featured wavy ridges.

We were behind a group or UTVs and in the distance they looked like a line of ants climbing a hill. (Funny coincidence… my oldest son found out hours beforehand that a friend from school who was in Moab was doing Hell’s Revenge that same night… and she was in that group of UTVs!) We followed them up the hill and then down the other side to a beautiful canyon view.

One of our jeep drivers picked an interesting parking spot!

From there we continued our journey along Hell’s Revenge, climbing up and down slick rock and riding side to side on some sand waves. We all watched in amazement as the Jeep off-road app tracked our pitch and roll. Our guide let us in on a little secret though – the screen maxes out at a pitch of 35 degrees but the smaller gauge on the driver’s dashboard tells the true measurement if you go beyond that. Our guide called the on-screen app the “wife version” so your wife doesn’t think you’re going beyond 35. (And yes, he did go beyond 35!)

Next we stopped at a beautiful lookout over the Colorado River. It was getting close to sunset and the light bounced off the red rock, amplifying its color. Behind us stood the ever-present La Sal Mountains, with their snow capped peaks popping against the blue sky. The views were amazing.

We were at the furthest point so had to turn back before it started to get dark. Plus they had another place in mind for the sunset… and it did not disappoint. We watched the sun set over Moab in one direction and the golden glow of light blanketing the red rocks and mountains in the other. It was stunning.

I had been looking forward to this tour so much and it absolutely lived up to my expectations. The jeep ride was full of heart-pounding excitement. The scenery was unique and the colors were especially stunning as the sun set. The experience was simply unforgettable.

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