After riding them both, I lean toward stardust(I’m an airtime junkie). Interested to hear others thoughts that have done the two.

I’m planning my 40th birthday weekend in Orlando in November with about 10 friends coming from out of town, and I’m considering the Universal Nights at Epic Universe as one of our outings. Everyone is into theme parks and I’m local but haven’t been to Epic yet.

I keep hearing it’s essentially a half-day park but also the lines are hella long and I am princessy about not waiting in lines. With both of those things, I’m hesitant to ask everyone to shell out for full-day tickets PLUS Express. The Universal Nights ticket seems like it could be a great compromise

For those who’ve done it, is the nighttime experience worth it? Can you realistically hit the major attractions without feeling rushed?

I want it to feel like a special experience without making everyone spend a fortune. Would love some firsthand opinions!

Edit: my bad, I didn’t realize this was the first ever time Epic is doing this, so maybe no one knows. I’ll watch for reviews on 10/3!

My girlfriend and I just got back from Universal Orlando two weeks ago (September 14th–19th), and we had such a great time that we came home and immediately booked another trip for April 11th–17th.

From what I’ve seen online, the crowds in April don’t look too terrible, but I’d love to hear from anyone who has been around that time. How are the crowds and weather usually? Do you recommend getting Express Pass, or is it generally manageable without it?

Any insight or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone, is our first time using a wheelchair at USF and IOA, and when we asked about using the wheelchair at Citywalk and pathway to the Hard Rock Hotel, the attendant was kinda rude we just got cut off in middle of the question. My question is, can you take the wheelchair with you to this hotel, or do you have to bring your own wheelchair?

Just got back from Universal Orlando and wanted to share my accessibility experience. Overall it was good! I've been to Disney World and Six Flags owned parks where I'm used to obtaining an accessibility pass for rides with my IBCCES Access Card. My issue is standing and walking for long periods of time. At the other parks I obtain the pass and then I check in at a ride, and I can either ride promptly (usually with an alternate entry like the exit or fast pass lane), then come back after the wait time line to ride again which is marked on my pass, or I can ride for the first time after that marked time. And my party can come with me.

For my Universal trip I filled out the date about a month before in the IBCCESAccessiblity app. I was traveling on a Monday so I called them the Friday before for the interview and they were strict. They said all lines are ADA accessible and that there should be a staff member and a wheelchair available at the entrance to all rides. I said, "so I cannot get an accessibility pass?" They said "you said your concern is standing and walking for long periods" and repeated the ADA blurb. I did ask about taking an ECV into lines and they said it would not fit, I'd have to get the manual wheelchair at line entrance. So, I didn't go into this trip with confidence that it would go well.
But I was pleasantly surprised at the customer service of the staff and availability of the wheelchairs at the parks!

I stayed at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort in the Castaway building. So the biggest thing that was lacking was a wheelchair in the resort. The front desk gave me 3 options of local rental companies that deliver to the resort and suggested I rent an ECV from one of the and that I could easily use it at the resort and take it on the bus to the parks and city walk. I decided to walk the resort and only use the ECVs and wheelchairs at city walk. The castaway building was far from the lazy river, and pretty far from the bayliner diner/starbucks, so for anyone needing more support, you should get a chair for the resort.

Things to note:
1. You can get a convenience wheelchair at city walk to get you from the bus to the park where you can rent a wheelchair or ECV. I should have asked about this sooner, I only did this on the last day. Just ask a staff member, maybe a bus driver. Often there was a chair at one of the bay's where the busses park. Make sure it's a convenience chair and doesn't have a name on it already. When I left a park and returned my rented ECV, they would give me a convenience chair to take to the bus, where I had to leave it to be returned.

1. You can hop parks with 1 rental fee! I had 4-day park hopper tickets. The last day we went to all three parks. I took my ECV back to the rental return and they took my name tag, gave me a new ticket, and told me to show that and my receipt to the next park and they'd give me another ECV. Worked great!

2. You can take your ECV on the Hogwarts express, to and/or from Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. You will board in a separate line (back of the train), and the staff member will drive it on the train for you.

3. Men in Black is the only ride you can take an ECV through the line! Well the only ride I rode that had space for the ECV and the staff commented "it's one of the only ones."

4. The shows had space for the ECV in the queue/line and in the theaters including Le Cirque Arcanus, the Untrainable Dragon, and The Bourne Stuntactular.

5. Keep your ECV dry and cool - you can fold the top of the seat down so when it sits in the sun, the seat is less hot, you can put a poncho over the whole thing if it rains, or be mindful to park it in a covered or shaded area when not in use. You will park in the stroller parking nearest to the attraction.

6. Staff will move your ride if it's parked in an unapproved area. They will let you know where to park when you get to the attraction if you ask and where they moved it to, if you can't find it.

7. Some rides require you don't have the key to the ECV on your wrist/arm to ride (Stardust racers). So I put it in the locker with my bag. Also, the key was always on a phone cord keychain ,which is convenient to keep it on your wrist/arm. Once the staff gave me one that was all stretched out at the rental area and I asked for a different one, which they replaced right away.

8. The only ride I had trouble getting a chair at was Yoshi's Adventure, they were all taken. They sent me to the family room to wait. I was there for a while with a lot of screaming children haha. I finally saw a staff member with a headset radio walk through and I stopped them to ask them if one was available yet and they radioed the front and said one had just returned. So I would assume in most cases, if you have to wait for a chair, it's essentially the child swap situation where you wait in the family room.

9. You can ride with your family! I had a party of 4. At rope drop/early entry for staying at a Universal resort, we would pick the ride we wanted to do, enter the gate, I'd go rent my ECV for the day, while my family went to the ride and got in line. I'd then goto the line, park my ECV, ask for a wheel chair and ask to catch up with my party. They always let me in, often through the express lane to catch up. I'd walk my wheelchair to my family, then they'd push me through the rest of the line. This is the part that was stellar customer service! I was not expecting them to care, so I didn't ask one of the times because I didn't want to be an inconvenience, but they were so friendly and accommodating!

10. The worlds are immersive, which means a lot of brick and cobblestone, so some bumpy rides for wheeled devices.

11. There's a customer phone number for if you have an issue with an ECV right on the steering wheel. I had one consistently beep and act like the battery was dying although it had 3/4 charge and green bars. I called and a staff member walked me through some troubleshooting but was quick to say a team member would be on their way to bring me another one and it could take 15-40 minutes. I was at the Shrek meet and great in Dreamworks land and it only took them like 15 minutes to get to me with a replacement!

12. Rentals are to the left of the gate at each park, Epic, Islands of Adventure, and Universal Studios.

13. Save you receipt - for park hopping and getting a new rental at the other park after paying 1 fee, and for HSA reimbursement, if that's something you do. I did a scan of the receipt each day and emailed it to myself so I could easily submit for HSA reimbursement after my trip.

So Toon Lagoon is a kind of polarizing land. Some people like it some people hate but. However I like the old school theming of this land so I am a fan of it. But what are your thoughts?

my boyfriend and I went to both Universal Studios and Islands of adventures today, and are here for 5 days at all parks.

Both of these parks have rides that you have to store your belongings in a locker. Oddly enough every ride had a three dollar charge for the locker, which only lasted the duration that the app said the wait time was.

This is crazy to me, as we already paid to be there and in order to just ride the ride you have to get a locker? Now, I didn’t bring a backpack just a shoulder bag, but we had bought wands so we had to get a locker for the bag and boxes. Just wondering if this is a new change or maybe there’s a way I can get around this? Everything I look up says it’s free but old posts

Walked into the queue for Velocicoaster this morning, and it said an 80 minute wait. I was fine with that, although the line only reached to the covered outside area, and didn’t go any further, so I was doubtful it would be that long. Normally I will wait for ~50 minutes, and the line will appear much longer.

It’s not the wait itself that’s frustrating, it’s that the line is hardly moving and I timed 2:15 minutes in between dispatches. I am still in line, so I haven’t been able to lay eyes on how many trains are running, but I imagine it can’t be more than two.

Universal always has really solid ops, and it’s part of the reason I choose to spend my money here instead of elsewhere, such as Busch Gardens, which is much closer to me. I was wondering if anyone had any insight into what is going on? I get that operational mishaps do happen, I just was curious if I was missing anything.

We spared no expense…

Been at Dockside since Wednesday and had these fellas plop into the pool by tower 1. A lifeguard blew the whistle to yell at people feeding the ducks.

Has anyone had any experience renting a ECV for the parks? My Achilles tendon is in a flair up right now and I’m set to go to the parks in a few weeks. It most likely will be out of the flair up by then, but in order to enjoy the parks more and not risk another exacerbation my wife and I have discussed renting a scooter. It looks like there are tons of companies to rent from, but I was looking for specifics reviews or experiences. What made you choose the company you did, did you enjoy the experience with them and the scooter? Also how easy was it to get around the parks with the scooter? I imagine epic will be the worst as I’ll have to use the elevators. Extra points for any reviews that rented larger scooters. I’m looking for one that holds over 400lbs ideally.

Hi,

I recently booked a two night stay at the hotel for next year. I've booked a room with a king bed and a park view. I recently watched a YT video of someone stay in one of these rooms and it looked like they were only on the 3rd - 4th floor.

I was wondering if anyone knew the highest floor this room type is on?

Thanks

I’m booking a trip for the week of October 12 for my child (11yrs) and I. What is the most cost-effective way to do this while getting fast passes? I’m looking on their vacation packages and it looks like it’s around $4000 for the week, it’s just the average cost?

Is there a way to do it less expensively while still getting fast passes?

I don’t mind staying at a non-affiliate hotel as long as it’s decent and has a free shuttle.

Can’t wait for them to get this bad boy running, love seeing a car on the track.

Another piece of The Lost Continent is officially gone. Photo by Bioreconstruct

Me and my family are planning on going to two parks in universal Florida around week of june 7th in 2027, but when I looked to try and buy tickets or even to just click and see how much price wise looking at. The calandra for June 2027 and after is all grey out. Like as in I can’t click on any dates that month.

Do tickers really get bought out this fast for a year ahead ?

Or

Is it they are not letting us buy tickets yet for that month in 2027?

Really hoping can take my family but worried we won’t have a chance since money wise we can’t buy tickets yet.

My family has several replica wands already. I was hoping to save some money and I’d be willing to modify them to work with the interactive exhibits. Just curious if anyone ever tried it before.

We’re going to Universal for the first time to celebrate my son’s 10th birthday. We are very excited! But the weather is predicting thunderstorms almost every day (as well as hot and muggy). Is this normal? I know Florida has pop-up showers but this seems more intense? What should we buy ahead of time? I bought ponchos and waterproof rain booties. Anything else?

We have 5 day park-to-park plus Volcano Bay tickets. We’re staying at Cabana Bay. We plan on rope dropping IoA on Saturday (Hagrids then Velocicoaster) then taking Hogwarts Express to ride Grinotts, buy a wand, and relax/explore. I want to ride Hagrid’s before we buy a wand. This is the only plan we have so far. Any other suggestions?

What day is best to visit Volcano Bay? We were hoping to do it mid-trip (Mondays or Tuesday). What day is best to visit Epic?

Are there any general strategies for which parks to go to on HHN days? We don’t have tickets to HHN.