A Family Guide to Universal Studios, Orlando

Entertainment and Travel Blog, Kodoom.com Editorial:
Middle Easterners are known to be family-oriented and the five million Persian speaking Iranians and Afghans living outside their countries - including the 1.5 million in North America and the 1 million visiting this website every year- are no exception. If your children are fans of Harry Potter, Spiderman, Minions (Despicable Me), and other popular characters from movies produced by Universal Studios you may enjoy planning a visit to Universal Orlando movie-based theme park.

Entrance to Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts (Universal Studios)

Last month one of our Editors had an opportunity with his family to experience, first hand, the Universal Orlando Resort theme park in Orlando, Florida and shared virtual simulated rides with many popular movie characters. Here is a short practical guide to the park:

Planning Before Your Trip
Current one-day single-park admission starts at $115 and park-to-park tickets start at $170. With these relatively high admission prices to the theme parks, scheduling your visit during one of the slower times of the year will ensure you will save not only on travel costs (hotel, car rental and airfare) but also on wait times in lines (queues) for your favorite rides in less crowded times and derive more value from your ticket purchase. Also, during the off-season, Universal's own on-property hotels - often pricey due to easier and earlier park and ride access benefits - may offer discounts and value packages, if reserved several months in advance. Off-season, the parks may also offer various multiple-day, multiple-park discounted admission packages, usually in the $200-$300 per person range, such as "Buy 2 days, get 2 days Free" on the official website (link).

According to some travel blogs, the less crowded off-season for Orlando theme parks are January to mid-February and early December. You may also find good prices in the September-November window if you can chance the hurricane season. The worst times to visit Orlando are popular nationwide holidays such as Christmas and Easter holidays and during summer school vacations. Booking at least 3-6 months early ensures better choice and prices on airfare, hotels, car rentals and sometimes park admission packages. Also, anecdotally the parks seem less busy on midweek (Tuesdays) and on cool, cloudy or rainy days. If you plan to visit both parks, for shorter waits on rides and reduced crowds, you can start your day at Islands of Adventure early in the morning. If you plan your day and are flexible to walk to your favorite ride at a less busy time, you may enjoy most rides with 10-30 minute of wait times each.

Planning Visits to Park, Rides and Food

• Admission and Parking Fees: You can buy single or combination (combo) tickets for Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and/or the Volcano Bay water park. There are often multiple-day combo value (savings) packages if you can make up your mind on how to spend your days at which park. Buying tickets online in advance will allow you to benefit from these seasonal or other online offers and save you time at the park entrance gates. Parking cost $25-$35 a vehicle. For larger parties (of 3 or more people), this adds only incrementally to the cost of visiting parks and is a great way to save time - although you still have to walk quite a distance to admission gates so wear comfortable shoes! If you want to save on the parking cost, you need to look into sharing a ride, hiring a cab or Uber, or use shuttle buses available from many local hotels and facilities. If you use the parking, make sure you note and remember the floor and spot marker where you parked your car (these are huge parking structures, perhaps among the largest in the world). If you take shuttle bus services, make sure you know the exact drop off and pick up scheduled time and spot.

Skull Island Reign of Kong in Islands of Adventure (hybrid digital physical simulated ride

• Type of Rides: The Universal Studios theme park, once home to classic movie-themed favorites such as Ghostbusters, King Kong, Jaws and Back to The Future (the old classics now dismantled) offers generally milder simulated or physical rides than Islands of Adventure. Apart from Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit (a new daunting 17-story vertical drop physical coaster ride), most Universal Studios rides are combination (physical/virtual) motion simulators. Volcano Bay is Universal's water theme park suitable for warmer months and the only Universal theme park priced less than $80.

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Islands of Adventure)

• Ride Planning and Health Considerations: It may be a good idea to review Universal's Riders Guide to explore important ride safety information especially if you or your children are not in top health conditions or suffer from any physical or medical conditions. New research at Stanford has shown roller coaster rides to be less likely to cause harm than soccer headers, but giant high speed rides in specific cases may cause hematoma or hemianopsia. If you like milder rides, or have visual limitations such as astigmatism, use certain contact lenses or glasses and cannot fully appreciate some of the virtual simulated rides, plan on enjoying milder rides such as E.T. Adventure, Despicable Me (Minion Mayhem), Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon (Universal Studios), Jurassic Park, The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride, and Poseidon’s Fury (in Islands of Adventure). You can also enjoy watching parades and shows throughout the day and the after-hours light/firework show, as well as strolling through the magically decorated "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter," the Hogsmeade area (Islands of Adventure) or Diagon Alley (Universal Studios).

• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: When in Diagon Alley, do not forget to take a walk through the dark and spooky Knockturn Alley. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter could get overcrowded at times and it could get busier with the addition of the new "Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure" ride (Islands of Adventure). If you want to minimize your wait time, avoid the area during the super busy times and return when there are less crowds. This is an official promotional excerpt from Universal Orlando News: "When it opens on June 13, 2019, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure will join the lineup of award-winning entertainment experiences in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort and bring an all-new adventure inspired by J.K. Rowling’s beloved stories to life. Guests will join Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures class and fly deep into the Forbidden Forest aboard magical motorbikes to brave the mysteries and thrills beyond the grounds of Hogwarts castle. Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure will be located in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade at Universal’s Islands of Adventure."

• Stimulating vs. Calmer Rides: If you suffer from visually triggered motion sickness or physical limitations (such as back, heart or neck conditions, pregnancy, etc.) you should avoid certain thrilling rides with jerky or abrupt spinning motions: In Universal Studios, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Revenge of the Mummy, The Simpsons Ride (located on the old popular Back to The Future spot), Men in Black; In Islands of Adventure, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Doctor Doom's Fearfall, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Storm Force Accelatron. Although not accelerated, Skull Island: Reign of Kong, and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man are highly rated as thrilling rides, at least by fans of King Kong and the comic action hero (Spiderman).

Practical Tips:

• What to Wear: Wear comfortable shoes, be well rested, stay hydrated (free water fountains are located next to many rest rooms), dress up in layers to plan for weather changes, rain or getting wet on certain rides. Protect your valuables, money bills, wallet, admission tickets, and cell phones in ziplocked sandwich bags and keep them in secure compartments of your clothing or backpack.

• Express Pass: Paying extra for Express Passes may cut your wait time in half for some popular rides. A cheaper strategy is to plan your trip on off season and your visit to popular rides in off-peak hours (often early or late in the day or during parades, etc.). You may also request free express passes from Guest Services offices in the parks if you experience ride malfunction delays or closures. We were offered free Express Passes and a one-day park admission extension after we shared with Guest Services our grievance about several ride malfunctions (delays and closures). Another option to consider if you do not mind separating from your company is the "single riders" lines available on some rides and will often save you wait time.

• Resort Food: Plan to eat a light breakfast at your hotel to minimize motion sickness, then enjoy some desserts or snacks in midday and a hearty early dinner after you finish the motion simulator rides. Forget about finding fine Persian or Mediterranean Kabobs inside the theme parks (the Doc Sugrue’s Kebab House in Islands of Adventure did not meet our expectations!) but there are some good food finds at reasonable prices. We particularly enjoyed some dining choices in the CityWalk (outside entrance to the parks) such as the tasty grilled fajitas and music at Antojitos Mexican. You may need to call or stop to place your name on a wait list that may take 30 minutes or so but it is worth the wait. Inside the park, we enjoyed a great mid-day dessert and coffee break at San Francisco Pastry Company (Universal Studios) with quiet spots in the back offering beautiful relaxing views of the pond. If you are hungry for burgers or grilled food, Richter's Burger Company looked enticing and reasonably priced.

• Packed Food: If you like to save money or have more control over what you eat (as fans of healthy and organic food, we had a hard time finding many vegetarian or organic options) and do not mind carrying a small backpack or purse, plan on packing some snacks for your mid-day nutrition. Universal Orlando allows up to 2 plastic water bottles (no glass containers are allowed), small snacks (We like healthy nutritious ones like dates, figs, walnuts and raisins), food required for medical purposes and medically-indicated nutritional supplements, food required for special dietary needs, baby food/baby formula, soft-sided insulated bags.

• Souvenirs: If you are value conscious and do not want to spend on the many (pricey) models of Harry Potter's wands (you will see many adults and kids trying to swish and flick objects!) and apparels, we recommend practical souvenirs useful in everyday life such as specialty theme-based mugs or T-shirts such as Dr. Seuss merchandise that are rare to find outside the theme parks, useful in everyday life, and of reasonable price and quality.

• Video Tours: There are many video tours of the parks on Youtube such as those that follow. Some are somewhat promotional (sales oriented) and others for informational purposes. We mostly enjoyed our trip. Planning your trip will allow you to do the same:

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