Oct 5, 2025
Wonderful and full of cool simulators. - I stayed at Hard Rock that gave me that gorgeous queues. I can't even explain how much that changes the experience. I found the park much better than when I visited in 2011, and it wasn’t just because of the new Harry Potter area. I'm saying Orlando's best simulators are in Universal's parks. And it's a park full of them. If you are the type who is afraid of Russian mountains and these more radical things, this is a park where you will enjoy a lot, because of the simulators. I highly recommend you buy the park to park ticket to take the train from Hogwarts which is very ball show.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 3, 2025
Universal Studios is a great park - Universal Studios has a lot of simulator rides. Also some good shows. Don't miss the Jason Bourne show. It's easy to walk by and miss. It is indoors and air conditioned. A lot of the rides are indoors. Don't miss the Harry Potter area of the park and if you have park to park tickets take the train. It is a very unique train. There was a parade around 2 or 3 that we didn't expect but was a lot of fun. Take in a Stanley Cup or some type of cup with water. It's allowed and you can refill it with water. It is hot. And it was only in the low 90s. There are also roller coasters but we didn't get on those.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 24, 2025
Fun for the family, expect to get wet on some rides. - Unless you have kids that limit you to going during Spring Break, I'd pick a different set of dates, as the parks are packed. Also, as of this review, general parking costs $32, and they take cash or card. As for the parks and rides, all fun, and some pretty rough for some of us not-so-young people (Like the Hulk, or the big drop). The raptor ride was intense, and that's about my top level of tolerance. You're provided lockers (at no cost), to store EVERYTHING in your pockets, because you will lose it otherwise, so don't take a lot of large items in the park if you want to ride some of these roller coaster rides. One particular show, the Bourne Stuntacular, was really worth seeing. Very impressive setup and execution. The sets, and interactions between live and background were almost seamless. ET was a nice calm ride. For several other rides, expect to get wet. Plenty of restaurants and snack bars throughout, as well as stores selling t-shirts, hats, etc. Take a picture of where you park, so you can find it when you leave. One thing to note, a 2-day, park hopping ticket is cheaper than paying for a one day ticket. It's much more expensive to get a fast pass, but worth it if you're going during a busy break period, or holiday. Overall, a really fun time...and my personal opinion, the California Universal park is better...just my opinion of course.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 15, 2025
Best trip ever by far - This trip was so worth it. I don't recommend driving to Florida if you're far away. But the rental wasn't expensive it was actually pretty cheap. We got a good deal on tickers buy 2 days, get 2 days free. We ended up getting a huge rock thrown into our windshield on the highway. There are nothing but diesels all the way there and back. Anyways Universal was amazing, no regrets, totally worth it. We got our most important things done the first day but we went Mar 6-10 and it was busy and we had fast passes that was the ONLY way to enjoy this during a busy time. My son whos 12 and tall, and I road every Rollercoaster except for 2. It was great. We loved rip ride rockit and hagrids motor bike the most, but also Forbidden Journey and hulk. We felt unsafe on Velocicoaster we both came out of our seat the entire time. Our favorite areas were Jurassic world and Hogsmeade. Dreamworks was a little disappointing but maybe if your kids are very small they might like it. Smaller kids would also like dr suess world, although the kids rode every ride there the second day and liked it. My 7 year old wanted to stay there. Dudleys ripsaw ride is awesome. Grab you a turkey leg and some elote near there. Bilge rat barges was closed 😢 all the VR rides were awesome you have to do skull island!! And Transformers, Spiderman, Minion mayhem, escape from gringotts(amazing), and simpsons and men in black were ok. If you are a water baby and love water parks, Volcano Bay is the ultimate water park totally worth it. The lazy river is ok for kids too(7 yr old went), and the rides are amazing. But just note they won't let you on some of the bigger slide rides with water shoes or regular clothes like a cotton shirt. So I would recommend either going around barefoot, or wearing crocs that you can leave outside the ride in the little nets provided, and wear a full suit. I didn't want to wear a normal one piece or anything and wanted to be comfortable so I just wore swim shorts and a swim shirt. We loved Minion cafe because they had something like ramen, you have to get the Minion roll because the little banana dessert is amazing. We ate from the little stands like corndogs and churros. But you HAVE to get a swamp dog from shreks swamp snacks in Dreamworks. Eating at the three Broomsticks wasn't bad but all the food was basic and unseasoned so meh. But you gotta try the frozen Butterbeer and I like the pumpkin fizz. Florean Fortescues ice cream was great I had the spicy chocolate it was actually great. You have to stop by the fountain of fair fortune
So more tips, make sure you download the app to find things quicker and see wait times. Get a refillable collectors cup. We just shared 2 of them as a family of 4. We had the kids just take turns drinking Gatorade for the most part, and when they didn't have the cup we had water bottles. You get free water everywhere so you don't have to buy drinks if you don't want to. I bought drink holders on Amazon that have shoulder straps for everyone. They worked out too well. I also got waterproof pouches for phones and a waterproof fanny pack that we kept our important stuff in. If you plan on buying things or carrying anything else a backpack would really help. They have free lockers at most rides but they are small so try to only take the important stuff. If you're planning on riding Rollercoasters all day, the less you bring the better. There are a few coasters that you can't take ANYTHING on not even a phone and they do use metal detectors. So just put your stuff in the locker and don't waste time fighting them. Wear sunscreen don't buy it there because a little bottle is $18. Wear a hat. Wear comfortable shoes you'll be walking for 12 hours at least if you're trying to get everything done. Make sure everyone is drinking water and Gatorade. There are concerts included with your ticket on certain days if you want to try to go to those look online at the dates. But it will be busier, so consider the fast pass. If not, go during the week during a slow time. Depending on the season, even in march you might want to take a hoodie. In men in black store they have a tshirt and hoodie combo for sale, and I think a hat and tshirt combo those are the ones we got. We did buy various stuff like hats, backpack, ponchos for the random rain one day, and a cute blanket. And snacks. So be prepared to spend a little money haha. And when you walk up to show them your ticket they take a picture of you and that becomes your entry way through the gates everytime, super easy. We just followed the map on the app and did every ride. And stopped where we wanted to stop. You'll notice a lot of stuff in the stores are repetitive. We still just ran through them. If you have a couple of days you can get through most of islands of adventure and studios if you keep it going the whole time, with breaks to sit down and eat and stop to get more water and plenty of bathroom breaks. Theres no point in drinking any beer or anything because you'll burn it off and not feel anything. If you get more than 2 days you can go back and ride your favorites and then you start to slow down and notice more so don't be afraid to go back to areas you've already been. If you get 4 days, spend it at Volcano bay.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 10, 2025
First day awful. Second day great (except for family emergency not related to park) - Epic Adventure = Epic Failure Spent $1924. on tickets for family of 5. This was one day Epic and one day park to park. After standing for 90 minutes to get on a five minute long ride we walked back to purchase a fast pass for Epic; only to find they were sold out for the day. We purchased fast passes for the next day (park/park) for a total of $1571. Adding this balance to our original tickets we now have spent $3495. for tickets for a family of 5. (approx $700 per person for 2 days; one without fast pass)
In my opinion, Epic Adventure is not fully developed. The Disney/Universal experience is not there yet. Rides are limited thus lines can be over 90 to 120 minutes of wait time; often in full sun. Sit down restaurants few and far between. There is a Starbucks. I noted while walking through a tunnel numerous family groups sitting on the ground resting against the sides of the tunnel just to sit and find relief from sun. I went to an ice cream stand and there were three small tables only 2 with umbrellas. We invited others to sit with us as there was nowhere for people to take a break in the shade. I spoke with two park employees who said more things would be happening in the future; I think Universal should be ashamed of themselves for offering such a poor experience. People where actually lying in landscaped areas just to find relief. This is July in Florida, and as a resident I believe I am more acclimated to the heat; and felt very sorry for those people with young children in carriages, as well as the elderly. Unlike the other parks I did not see any characters for picture taking or interaction. The rides appeared to be more roller coaster types (think amusement park, which you can get anywhere). Due to the long wait times I believe we only went on 4/5 rides. You do the math for the cost per person per ride. I asked my grandchildren ages 10 and 12 (full adult ticket purchases) which they enjoyed more, Hersey Park in PA or Epic Adventure. They chose Hershey, followed by Busch Gardens, Williamsburg Va or Dollywood.
The second day we went to combo Universal Studies and Universal Island of Adventure. All around it was a wonderful experience and I wish we could have gotten to many more rides. There are numerous indoor dining venues, as well as stands that sell a variety of food items, such as fresh watermelon. Shade is everywhere. Character interaction is numerous; the afternoon parade was great! Musical performances (like Stomp) are ongoing. I can't say enough about how great these two parks are.
Unfortunately my son had a medical emergency and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital. I have to commend all staff at first aid for their expedious triage and care. Truly first rate.
Due to the emergency we would not continue to enjoy the great experience we were having, but we did get numerous rides in and staff was outstanding.
If I returned, I would go only to the Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Get the fast pass it is worth it. Skip Epic for a while until it is fully built out. What you save by skipping Epic Universe will pay for your fast pass for the other two parks.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 3, 2025
Wait for it... - I found Universal Studios/Adventure Park to be a mixed bag of really great attractions/experiences/food and ridiculously long lines at an expensive environment.
What the park has for entertainment is top of the line for sure. The food is great, especially compared to other large park locations, and the staff is very informative and positive to work with. Sadly, however, I don't think my family and I will ever return.
Incredibly long lines and near atmospheric cost, even more expensive if you want to spend a few extra hundred dollars per person per day for a fast pass. We waited in a 2 hour long line for an 8 min train ride between the parks, I was so disappointed with the wait it ruined what should have been a great experience. Lather, rinse, repeat and you have a day trip to Universal.
I did spend the money on express passes for my family and I for tomorrow, I am hopeful this will change my mind. But I sense I will regret this expensive experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 20, 2025
Waste of money - We booked a 2 week holiday to Universal studios, Islands of Aventure and Volcano Bay with 3 park passes. We had saved for over 4 years for that once in a lifetime holiday to celebrate getting engaged. I cannot cope with big crowds of people so requested dates that the school children would be back at school and the parks a bit quieter. We are both huge Harry Potter fans so we were very excited to go.
The day we arrived the hotel staff were amazing and helpful. First few days in the parks was also really good fun. However, we were informed that at the weekends the parks would be closing earlier for the middle school children to come to the parks from 6pm. That we did not really have a problem with as long as we could spend the day without all the crowds. Should add we did not expect it to close every weekend if our trip for this. What greeted us was hundreds and I mean hundreds of Middle School children running riot with no adult supervision. I use a walking stick and they were pushing me out the way and some even kicked my stick. They had no regard for people who had been queuing for quite some time and just pushed there way to the front ignoring those already in the line. The staff also let them get away with it. We were told they would only be in there from 6pm after the park had closed to the public and hotel guests, however, they were there from the morning. We paid a lot of money for our tickets and hotel and felt that we were second rate to the school children. And as stated not a teacher in sight to control them.
A lot of the staff were actually really nice, whereas most were miserable and even rolled there eyes and huffed when we asked for so much as a drink, others would not even say hello or even acknowledge us.The food was extortionate, and the breakfast in the Leaky cauldron was tasteless and cold and definitely not an English breakfast (from the UK)
We paid for a premium hotel which ended up with conferences the entire time of our stay. They were noisy and loud and we were woken up several times with them talking louldly to each other when they were stood next to each other and the children with them were running up and down the hallways knocking on doors.
We paid for a 3 day photo pass, thinking we could use one a day for each park. We started with Volcano bay and checked our photos on the Tapu watch and saw the ones taken. When asked how do we get the copies for download the man behind the photo booth told us he did not do that there to go to the concierge desk and they would be able to give me printed ticket to gain access to our photos. This we did but they then told us they did not do that there and told us to go back to photo guy. This happened several times until I got a little upset that no one seemed to know what they were doing. As stated we had checked on the watch and wanted to get those photos. The photo station man just looked confused and tapped away on his computer, made me tap the watch to obtain the pictures. What he added was photos of empty flumes and photos of other people and not us.
I tried to get this rectified but we were palmed off to different people who eventually then sent us to guest services. They told us no, we would need to go back to VB to get this sorted. Anywho, we ended up paying for a 3 day pass only to receive effectively 2 days, as we needed to spend the other days at US and IOA.
And last but by no means least, we did the early access to IOA for hagrids motorbike ride but kept getting an announcement of "we are experiencing technical problems and our technicians are looking in to the problem" this happened almost every day with several of the big rides and also the hogwarts express, so early access was a complete waste of time. I would have thought that a company as big as Universal they would at least have the rides working and check before anyone entered the parks. I was also aggressively threatened by a guest in the cue for Hagrids for mentioning I was fed up of people using there children to jump the cue/hold a places for many family member making everyone else's wait so much longer. After that happened I would not go back in the parks.
Wish we had not wasted our hard saved money on this holiday. We were thinking we would also spend our honeymoon there but after the last 2 weeks we would never ever come back.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 25, 2025
Zero Crowd Capping, Nightmare Wait Times in Tight Spaces, Rides Down All Day - The good: Islands of Adventure is beautiful, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and the Castle are breathtaking. Very well done on the sets, anrchitecture and styling. Dinner at Leaky Cauldron was fantastic - best meal I’d had in a few weeks. My picky nine year old loved hers (and it wasn’t a burger, pizza, or mac and cheese, so this is saying something). Leaky Cauldron staff were amazing.
The bad: Immediately I felt like something was off seeing the thousands of people on a weekday, on a non-holiday week, in the slow season. We had all had the same idea. Not Universal’s fault the park is popular. What I do feel is square on their shoulders is the lack of capping capacity. They say they manage attendance and visitors, but it’s too high, period. It’s actually insulting. On every ride we waited on, multiple people were shocked at the fact we were traversing through 8 different rooms and sections - sometimes more - and miles of queue - before reaching the ride. You go through this downward spiral of emotions - excitement for the ride, then realizing it’s far worse than it looked, since, around the corner are miles of queue you can’t see. You have waited already now and hate to disappoint your party. As it drags on room after room after room after room, you begin feeling trapped and reaching for the Xanax. Sometimes you’re literally in a 6ft wide by 8ft high cave that goes on for over a mile it seems and is beyond the negligent level for claustrophobia even in a normal person without severe claustrophobia, and a fire hazard disaster par none. Your kids then have to go to the bathroom two or three hours into the line, and there is no bathroom in these tunnel vision experiences of doom. The kids are panicking, they need to go, but they’ve waited so long, it’s a mess. You then come to the realization that’s obvious - they’ve chosen this. The park has clearly built this torture maze and has normalized it because they want and or need these crowd levels. It’s abject greed. I went when I was a kid in the 90s and it was nothing like this. We thought one room of lines was bad. Try 8 rooms. Some had more. It’s an insult to their customers and I’ll never go back. THREE QUARTERS of the Wizarding World rides were down today, on top of ALL of Jurassic (both of which are what we came for). We couldn’t move in Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley was so bad we couldn’t get in most of the shops- people were in line just to GET IN A SHOP. It was 45 degrees out, but the ice cream line trailed out of the shop because of the masses they had allowed in. There’s no real crowd / attendance limit, so, beware. Don’t count on Express passes either, we stood side by side with Express passers who waited over an hour still and the passes don’t even apply to several rides. This can be fixed if they want. But they want this at a cattle herding scale.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Apr 3, 2025
Won’t plan to come back to universal - We did Universal today and I have to say I was extremely disappointed. The staff members we encountered were all extremely rude with the exception of the ones with characters. Many of the employees were paying zero attention to their lines and kids were just running through express pass lanes. The tickets were booked in my name and we didn’t have any issues getting into IOA this morning, rode the Hogwarts Express twice with no issues and then went to get into US and suddenly it was a major issue. We had to wait while someone came and changed the names on my husband and son’s tickets before we could get in. I will say we had character experiences wi th scooby and gang and sponge bob and those were fine. Many rides were down today. We got to the park at 8am for 9am park opening (didn’t have early access which was fine and we knew) and rode two rides the entire day. We ended up just leaving.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 23, 2024
More souvenir shops, restaurants and snacks stands than actual entertainment. Not worth the price. - The whole experience at Universal Studios simply did not meet my expectations after paying $720 for a family of 4. The few rides and 3D rides weren’t really ALL that and looked outdated for the most part. What caught my attention was the amount of restaurants and souvenir shops, as if they aren’t happy enough with their ridiculous ticket prices ($12 for a bottled water and a soda). You basically pay almost $200 per person to stand in lines for hours with screaming/crying children and to walk around in what almost looks like an outlet (mall) more than an amusement park. Not for me, will not be coming back.
Review provided by Tripadvisor