First Timers Universal Orlando

Horror Nights sadly is not included with your tickets, its a separate ticket event and its at Universal Studios park only. The main differentiator between HHN and Halloween events you find at your local seasonal park is the haunted houses, specifically that several are tied to popular film IPs (and just way more resources thrown towards them in general since its a major media company behind it). Being a Disney Parks person I think visiting HHN you would be shocked at how "adult" the event is as its in no way a family friendly event.

Also it needs to be said that HHN has a worldwide cult following and also a lot of locals buy HHN specific APs, and most nights are really, really crowded. I would definitely avoid Friday/Saturdays if possible as it will easily be 90+ minute waits for everything. They do offer upsell options to minimize lines but they are all really expensive (Universal exploits the **** out of this events popularity). There is also a "stay and scream" thing where you're allowed to stay in the park (in certain designated spots) when it closes, and then when the park re-opens for HHN they let you out of your spot and you're already in the park when the event starts.

Also its still hot AF in Orlando in September, its still very likely to thunderstorm sometime in the afternoon, and with HHN being really crowded, make sure to plan accordingly and not just plan to spend all day and night in the park without having adequate food/water.

In regards to everything else, since you are staying at Royal Pacific and have express included with your hotel, you shouldn't really have any problems as long as you are there for a few days. Other than Hagrid I think Express is available for pretty much all the other major attractions.

September is probably one of the best months to visit Universal Orlando because of slightly lighter crowds, chance of decent weather (though still potential of high heat and humidity), and of course the chance to experience HHN.

For HHN, as noted, the event is separately ticketed, and is typically "dark" on Monday and Tuesday nights - not sure what mid-week days you're planning to visit the area. Having done it twice now, I cannot recommend the R.I.P. Tours enough. They are expensive (usually @$200 on top of a standard admission to HHN), but you get a custom tour around the park with FOTL access to every single maze as well as a lanyard that gets you Universal Express to all of the rides that operate during the event. Even in September, lines for mazes can stretch for longer than 2 hours, so getting R.I.P. or paying extra for an Express Pass is almost essential to see all 10 mazes in a single night. The other advantage that you can leverage to help maximize HHN is to do "Stay and Scream", which is to visit the parks during the day and then make your way to one of the "holding areas" in USF when the park closes for the day (usually 5 PM) to convert to HHN. Being inside the park during the conversion, puts you closer to the mazes and away from the masses gathering at the front gates with just HHN tickets. With good planning, you can probably get through 2 of the mazes before most of the guests at the main gate enter the park.

While it's advantageous to be in the park the day you do HHN, I would recommend against visiting the theme parks on the day after you do HHN for the simple fact that HHN runs until 1-2 am, and you might not want to do a full theme park day after doing HHN the night before.

As far as the parks, staying at Royal Pacific will grant you unlimited Universal Express, which is immensely valuable. Under normal circumstances, you'd probably need a solid 3 days to fully experience both IOA and USF, Universal Express will make it pretty easy to see everything in 2. You also get early entry to one of the parks (will probably be IOA in September), and since Hagrid's still doesn't have Universal Express, you'll probably need to pick a morning to get to the park early to avoid constantly long lines for the coaster (typically in the 80-120 minute range).

While you might not be water park people, I would highly recommend checking out Volcano Bay. It is an excellent experience, and with Tapu Tapu, it can be a surprisingly relaxing day in a lush tropical environment.

Wile you might prefer generic theme park fare, I cannot recommend Mythos more highly. It is not only one of the best in-park table service restaurants in the world, but it is well-themed and an attraction all to itself.

Lots to go over here, but first off...glad to see you're venturing beyond the Disney bubble. While Walt Disney World is a blast, they're not the end all, be all of destination theme parks, and it always pains me when people visit repeatedly without taking any time to examine the competition. Anyway, on with the tips...

1. September is historically the slowest month of the year at Universal Orlando, so you picked a good time to go. However, slow is relative when it comes to Orlando. Expect waits of 30-45 minutes for most attractions, with the possibility of the most popular headliners reaching up to 90 minutes. Fortunately, you are staying at a hotel that includes Universal Express, so you won't have to deal with lines except for Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure (which unfortunately is consistently the longest line at the resort).

2. For Halloween Horror Nights, you'll need to purchase a separate ticket similar to Disney's upcharge evening events. The event takes place select evenings at Universal Studios Florida park only (henceforth referred to as Studios). If you are in the park at regular closing, you're able to wait at designated locations in the park until the event starts, but if you're outside you'll have to wait until it begins to enter. You can see a good chunk of the event in one night on a weeknight, but it you want to see all ten houses and take in everything else on offer, you'll either need to buy Universal Express (your hotel Express does not cover Horror Nights) or you'll want to do two nights.

3. I've never stayed on property, but you picked a great place to stay for it. In addition to the perk of Universal Express, you're a short walk away from the gate of Universal's Islands of Adventure (henceforth referred to as Islands), or you can take a boat over to the center of CityWalk to save some steps.

4. Good call on watching Potter. While it is a good idea to watch them all if you're able to do so, if you're short on time you can skip Chamber of Secrets, Goblet of Fire, and Half-Blood Prince as they are less critical to understanding the attractions in the parks.

5. There are two table service restaurants at each park. Studios has Finnegan's (Irish) and Lombard's (Seafood), while Islands has Confisco Grille (American) and Mythos (variety). I've dined at both Finnegan's and Mythos and would definitely recommend them if you're up for a full service meal (especially Mythos). Unlike Walt Disney World, while dining reservations are a good idea you don't need to make them until much closer to the trip (a couple weeks should be fine), and on lighter days it's possible to walk up and join a waitlist. If you want to check the menus, you can find them on the resort's website. For more basic quick service, you can find that all over both parks. These are my picks for the best quick service in each park...

Studios: Leaky Cauldron (British), Louie's (Italian)
Islands: Fire-Eater's Grill (Mediterranean), Green Eggs and Ham Cafe (American), Three Broomsticks (British), Thunder Falls Terrace (American), Wimpy's (American)

6. Here's a breakdown of the coasters at the resort...

Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure: This one is a family coaster about on par with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in terms of intensity, but smoother. One of the absolute best rides at the resort, and something not to be missed.

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts: Technically a roller coaster, but feels more like a dark ride as you'll be stopping to watch a scene play out before moving to the next scene quite a bit. Again, it's a family coaster with limited forces and is smooth, so you should be fine here.

Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit: You can skip this one, as it's just an unthemed coaster that isn't particularly great and has a tendency to ride quite rough.

Incredible Hulk: Another one I'd probably recommend skipping, as it's the most intense coaster at the resort. This one isn't too rough, but can have a bit of a rattle, and the forces on the coaster are very strong.

Revenge of the Mummy: Perhaps the biggest question mark on this list. It's not a ride that I'd consider overly intense, but because it takes place in the dark you can't anticipate the motions very well. If you can handle something like Expedition Everest without issue you'd be fine here, but if that ride is a challenge this one might not be the best use of your limited coaster rides.

VelociCoaster: As you said, this one is not to be missed. It is intense, but it is also very smooth. If riding will only leave you with a bit of discomfort but nothing serious, I'd probably say go for it toward the end of the day or when you have a bit to rest afterward (such as before lunch), but if riding might leave you too injured to continue the trip I'd probably sit out.

Beyond the above, here's what I'd consider the "must ride" attractions in each park...

Studios: Bourne Stuntacular (stunt show), Despicable Me (motion simulator), Horror Make-Up Show (theater presentation), Hogwarts Express (train connecting both parks), Men in Black Alien Attack (interactive dark ride), Simpsons Ride (motion simulator), Transformers (motion base dark ride)

Islands: Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (motion base dark ride), Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (motion base dark ride), Hogwarts Express (different scenes each direction), Jurassic Park River Adventure (boat ride), Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges (rapids ride), Skull Island (dark ride)

Do note that Universal's attractions tend to be a bit more aggressive than Disney's. If you're fine with rides like Star Tours and Dinosaur, you should be okay with pretty much everything listed above, but if those give you issues you might want to sit out the motion base rides and simulators. Also, be aware that the water rides are very, very wet.

7. If you bought tickets that include Volcano Bay, it's worth heading over for an hour or two just to see the place even if you're not really into the water attractions. You'll take a bus to get here as it's a little bit separated from the other parks.

8. Without kids, you can safely skip the new Dreamworks area in Studios and Seuss Landing in Islands if those properties don't appeal to you (both do have pretty solid classic dark rides, however). The rest of the parks are good for all ages.

Lastly, enjoy your trip to Universal Orlando. If any other questions arise or you need more details about any of the above, feel free to let me know.

The_man, Russel, and AJ...THANK YOU!! This is exactly the detail I knew I would get and we greatly appreciate every piece of it!

I remember when HP first opened, I had commented I wasn't knowledgeable about the IP and one of you said "This is a good experiment. If you ever go to US, it would be interesting to see a non-fans perspective based on theming alone." While I originally intended to do that, I think there will be much more joy now looking at the number of HP attractions that now exist. So we're gonna watch the movies.

Overall I am excited about the "grittiness" that Universal provides over Disney. Simulator rides and Everest are quite enjoyable. Therefore, a number of rides should fit us just fine. I've seen videos of The Mummy and I feel it looks awesome. So we will certainly be going outside our comfort zone when it comes to attraction intensity.

It doesn't sound like the sit-down food options are even in the same ballpark as Disney's selections. This isn't the first I heard that Mythos is a "Must do" regardless of what you eat.

We will be there Mon-Fri so it sounds like HHN is a MUST and I think we might just do the R.I.P tour as well. We travel about every 5-7 years so why not splurge on it??

We may not have had kids, but we're overgrown kids at heart and Seuss and Dreamworks are properties we love.

Thank you again! All suggestions are certainly going to be considered and researched!

The others gave great recommendations, so I don't have much to add, but I hope you have lots of fun, Sarah! When you visit USF, make sure to catch the shows "Beat Builders" and watch the Bourne Stuntacular. As many others have pointed out, Universal's quick service options are rather poor, but I would strongly recommend Finnegan's Irish Pub across from the Mummy. The burgers are great and they have an awesome appetizer called the Bird's Nest which is a delicious tangle of shoestring fries and onion rings.

As a UOAP who buys the "HHN specific AP" I usually go on a Wednesday or Thursday and always do the stay and scream. You'll get let in early so pick an area where the houses are relatively close together, and that way inside an hour, at the most, you'll get 3 or 4 done easily.

Surprised no one mentioned the Minions cafe. I regularly eat there, and the salmon + blue rice is awesome, but ..... the minions tater tots are the real reason I go :) They are superb.

Everything else the guys have mentioned is good. I like VillianCon, but for someone who's likely to play it only once, it comes across as a hot mess, but if you like video games (like me) then it's a 'blast'

The VC express line just takes you into the lockers, after that you're with everybody else. Also, in the standby line when you get to the front, you can pick where you want to sit. The front is usually 8-10 people long, but the back is straight on. I hope they are back to running 3 trains when you're here. The 2 train running since the 'problem' has really slowed ops down, and Hagrid's wait times are lower these days.

A few more notes:

Universal's rides are much less family oriented than Disney. They are really loud, the dark rides are fast paced, and TBH for me (middle aged) many of their rides give me a headache. For the sake of no spoilers I won't say what each ride does, but i'd say Hagrid and Mummy are as perfect as it gets when it comes to being great thrill rides for all ages that won't make you dizzy.

MIB is old, and while i'd say its better than the other dark rides that were coming out at the time, just keep in mind it is one of the OG shooting dark rides so keep expectations low.

ET is really old, and really weird, but you should still do it.

Not sure if you're into water rides, but Jurassic Park is pretty much what you'd expect (oh no a t-rex...big drop...we're good now, ride over). Dudley Do Right is another thing that has a cult following amongst UO fans, its a good flume and i'd recommend it if you're ok with getting wet. Bluto (the rapids ride) is INSANE. I think they designed it to purposely get you as soaked as possible, it just pounds you with waves and water effects over and over and over. Definitely would not touch that with a 10 foot pole unless you are ok with getting soaked to the bone.

A few more notes:

Universal's rides are much less family oriented than Disney. They are really loud, the dark rides are fast paced, and TBH for me (middle aged) many of their rides give me a headache. For the sake of no spoilers I won't say what each ride does, but i'd say Hagrid and Mummy are as perfect as it gets when it comes to being great thrill rides for all ages that won't make you dizzy.

MIB is old, and while i'd say its better than the other dark rides that were coming out at the time, just keep in mind it is one of the OG shooting dark rides so keep expectations low.

ET is really old, and really weird, but you should still do it.

Not sure if you're into water rides, but Jurassic Park is pretty much what you'd expect (oh no a t-rex...big drop...we're good now, ride over). Dudley Do Right is another thing that has a cult following amongst UO fans, its a good flume and i'd recommend it if you're ok with getting wet. Bluto (the rapids ride) is INSANE. I think they designed it to purposely get you as soaked as possible, it just pounds you with waves and water effects over and over and over. Definitely would not touch that with a 10 foot pole unless you are ok with getting soaked to the bone.

My family goes regularly but did the Horror Nights for the first time last year. I don’t know how we would have gotten bywithout the advice here. If you are interested in haunted houses, it is so much fun BUT it is insanely crowded. The Express Pass for HHN is essential, and is separate and apart from the Express Pass for the parks. They will say you need to get in early, but I don’t think so. All you would do is stand in a long line with some places limited shade. With the Express Pass, you will walk right on the haunted houses. Also, don’t do your most anticipated house until dark. If it is still light outside, your eyes will not be acclimated and you will miss things. It is also very R rated, but very fun.

As to parks in general, if you stay at Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, or Portofino, you get an Unlimited Express Pass for the parks included. It is really, really worth it. Royal Pacific is about the price of a Disney Moderate. You picket a great hotel. We love the Royal Pacific, and it is an easy walk to the parks.

For someone that is mainly Disney, a couple of things: the parks will not be as crowded and you can do much more. The food (and many will disagree) is much worse. In the parks it is really quite bad, but there is an area just outside the parks with good food. The rides are much more intense, and on the water rides you will get drenched. Another great tip is the single rider lines are great. Back in the day when Forbidden Journey was new, I rode it four times in 30 minutes on the single rider near closing time. As far as coasters go, The Mummy is very tame. Flight of the Hippogriff is also very tame, and they go up from there. Rip Ride Rocket is very rough. I once needed muscle relaxers after the Hulk.

Thank you to those who posted additional information. We're very excited about this trip which before I must say I was...meh.

We've never done any haunts before and this sounds like a blast! I didn't even take HHN into consideration when booking the week we chose. Afterwards, I thought...."OH! I think that happens in the fall!" Since this is most likely the only time we'll do this, I think RIP is the only way to get the full experience! We DO love horror films and I am familiar with almost all IP Universal has ever built a house upon.

These tips, facts and suggestions have been invaluable so once again, thank you soooooo much! From what I've read, I think I'll tackle every coaster except Rip Ride Rocket and Hulk. Crappy food is also a staple of our vacations so I think we'll be good with that too! LOL

Hi Sarah so excited you'll get to experience Universal. I loved it way more then Disney personally and Royal Pacific is our favorite hotel so you picked the best one!

For HHN I agree that RIP is the way to go. If you happen to have a day pass for the park you don't need to exit the park. Just go directly to Cafe La Bamba and wait there until they open. By doing this you skip the long check in line at the VIP entrance of the park. It was so much better then the first year we did RIP and had to wait for the check in. The 2nd time we had season passes so we went straight to Cafe La Bamba and had so much more time to enjoy the food.

I disagree that Universal's food is not on par with Disney. True they don't have as many theme restaurants but there are quite a few good ones. Mythos for sure and its probably the only one that needs reservations unless you want to go right when they open. Confisco in IOA is also quite good. The Harry Potter restaurants are very well themed but we don't really like British food so can't say its "good" but if you enjoy it you might like. At Universal the Minions Cafe was super fun and the food really good. Make sure you have the Universal app downloaded since you need to use the app to order your food. Super easy you just sit at the table and scan your phone. I had to pretty much sit my phone on the table to get it to work but once it's scanned it was super easy.

For Volcano Bay if it is in your budget I would recommend reserving a cabana. They are much more comfortable and as a bonus you have access to a tapu tapu station so you don't need to physically walk to one of the slides to reserve it. You can do it directly from the cabana. It also comes with towels, lock box, and free fruit platter. You can also order food directly to the cabana without having to wait in lines at the restaurants. Saves a lot of time when the park is busy! If cabana is not an option you could reserve the premium seating instead which is shaded but also has a lock box so at least you can keep your stuff closer to you as oppose to the lockers.

Even if you don't like slides to much the theming of the park is so good that spending time in the wave pool and lazy rivers for us was worth it.

In CityWalk our favorite restaurant is Cowfish. Such a neat menu and the burgers were really good. We also really enjoyed Antojitos and of course Toothsome is a must! Toothsome I would recommend you make reservations especially for dinner but we like going at lunch time since we can walk off the food more. The portions are huge though so we normally order 1 dish to share and then we each order a dessert. Pro-tip order the dessert as soon as you get your food. This saves a lot of time since the dessert can take a long time to make!

If you have some extra time and enjoy mini golf the Hollywood Drive-In mini golf next to the movie theatre is really fun!

Hope you enjoy your trip! :)

Thanks, Francis! We originally thought there might not be enough to do to cover 4 full days. Now I am starting to think that 4 days might not be enough! Once again...invaluable information. We're starting to get excited about a UO vacation!

by the way I forgot to mention that all of the menus for the restaurants at all of the parks and CityWalk are easily viewable on the app. Just go to dinning select a restaurant and scroll down to "menu". You can also make reservations directly there.

Excellent! Right there are the menus, thank you!