Universal Studios Orlando, Fl 2024 | Part 1: Planning
Hey there! Today’s post is the first of a mini series all about my families first experience to Universal Studios - Orlando, FL!
My mother in law is a huge Harry Potter fan, and after years of gifting her all the collectible items we could find, my husband decided he wanted to give her the full Harry Potter experience instead.
First Steps…
At a bridal fair in 2023 I met a sweet travel agent named Lindsay Norris from Mouse Ear Magic Travel. She specializes in fee-free travel planning, deal monitoring, reservation making, and more for Universal Studios, Disney, Sandals Resorts, and Cruises. I tucked her info away and then in November, our family decided it was time to start planning!
My sister in law and I had been shopping around to compare prices, but we were happily surprised to find that Lindsey was able to get us the best deals while also customizing our trip experience to be exactly what we wanted. I cannot say enough good things about Lindsey and our experience working with her (she is now helping us plan a Disney trip for 2025 *squeal*).
As theme park newbies, we knew absolutely nothing about Universal Studios and after a few questions from Lindsey about our trip “wants” (resort, ticket types, etc.) I knew I needed to do some research. I ran to the internet and found the wonderful AllEars.net YouTube channel. I binge watched their Universal videos, hotel reviews, and more, and with a combination of their knowledge and Lindsey patiently answering all of our questions, we finally booked the perfect trip for our family!
Hotel and Tickets…
When choosing a Universal hotel, one thing to think about is the type of tickets you want for your family and how you can get them most cost effectively. Premier Hotels, such as Loews Royal Pacific Resort, Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Portifino Bay Hotel, have an added bonus of free express passes for every member of your party, but of course they come with a higher price tag.
We were so close to choosing Portifino Bay, but we felt like this perk wasn’t really needed (or worth the extra cost) for our family since most of us weren’t planning to ride roller coasters. After a few hotel walk thru videos on YouTube, we found a clear winner: Cabana Bay!
Cabana Bay had so many extra amenities that caught our eye: the bowling alley, multiple pools, arcade, Jack LaLanne Fitness Center, and close proximity to Volcano Bay (literally, a 5 minute walk from our hotel room to the private VB entrance). The retro aesthetic was exciting too!
When we checked in, our concierge asked if we were celebrating anything. And actually we were, since this trip fell just a few days before our one year wedding anniversary! They gave us these cute buttons to wear all week and two drink vouchers which could be used for any drink at the hotel (at the bars or Starbucks locations). We thought that little added touch was so considerate!
Personal Planning…
Spreadsheet | I am a planner at heart, y’all. I never go on a trip without having a spreadsheet of activities planned. This trip was no different.
Thanks to all that I had been learning in my research, I was able to create a plan for our meals, must do attractions, and something that each person in the trip would like.
These are a few things I kept in mind for our personal planning:
+ We were traveling during spring break (first week of April for us). We anticipated crowds, but thankfully we did not experience large crowds or long wait times.
+ We had two little ones with us. We planned to have a break in the middle of the day for nap time, but after day one the kiddos ended up crashing in the stroller instead of going back to the hotel. However, we selected Cabana Bay as our hotel because of their MANY amenities (pools, food, bowling, arcade), just in case we needed to have some hotel down time.
+ The girls of our trip were not interested in riding roller coasters, but the guys were. We bought fast passes for one day of our trip for just the guys, and us girls had time to do some shopping! :)
For our trip I put together goody bags for everyone, complete with matching t-shirts, Harry Potter toys for the kids, customized lanyards with itinerary cards, and a personally designed itinerary booklet with details about the parks and our hotels. You can find the book for download through Canva, here. Email me to request a quote for your own (contact form below)!
Harry Potter…
Since Harry Potter was the main focus of our trip, I made sure to make that the focus of our first two days in the parks. We had vouchers for breakfast at both Harry Potter restaurants, so we used one each day.
Day One | We arrived at Universal Studios for early admission and walked straight to Diagon Alley. We had perfect timing for pictures without a lot of crowds, and to watch the dragon breathe fire for the first time (Note: this startled our 2.5 year old niece, so if you have little ones keep this in mind for your trip). Our first official stop was at The Leaky Cauldron for breakfast. We were pleasantly surprised that the food was absolutely delicious (especially for theme park food)! In fact it was so good that I regret not going back again later in our trip.
Before heading over to Ollivander’s for our wand experience and shopping, we stopped by Gringott’s to exchange muggle money for some Galleons. This is NOT a necessary stop, but it was a fun element to our immersive experience. When in Rome, right? Plus you can use the Harry Potter Money just like gift certificates all over the parks, and it is is a dollar for dollar exchange.
We shopped around Diagon Alley (dodging Dragon breaths for the little ones), tried magic tricks with the wands, drank Butterbeer (sweet, but yummy!), and went to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream (I am not adventurous but, peanut butter and strawberry and apple crumple ice cream flavors were 100/10 in my opinion).
Day Two | Though Seuss Landing side tracked us a bit, our first stop after early admission to Islands of Adventure was Three Broomsticks for another yummy Harry Potter breakfast. After breakfast we walked through Hogwarts, which you can do by walking through the waiting line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and then asking to get out of line. This is a very common thing, and they have a convenient exit for you. If you are a fan of the movies and the wait times are decent, I would highly recommend doing this!
We did some shopping and site seeing around Hogsmead. Then we road the train, both ways thanks to no wait times! While it is the most picturesque of the two Harry Potter areas, I personally didn’t think there was a lot to do here. So we went back Seuss Landing for lunch and then explored the rest of Islands of Adventure.
Restaurants…
City Walk is extremely convenient after a long day in the parks. Being able to make reservations ahead of time helped our family so much. We mostly used quick service locations within the parks for our day time meals and then ate at City Walk for dinner each night.
I will do a separate post for all of the delicious food that we ate at Universal, but here is a quick list of the restaurants we reserved for dinner each night.
+ Antijitos | Our family loves Mexican food so this was a must. I would give it a 9 out of 10. It is on the boujie-r side and not the same taste as our usual Mexican food dinners, but I would definitely go again and it was probably my favorite City Walk dinner.
+ Lombard’s | This is inside Universal Studios, not actually in City Walk, but I still included it because we were able to make a reservation. The food was pretty fancy, like something you would eat for a date night, which was an odd experience inside of a them park. Taste was good, but not somewhere for picky eaters. 8 out of 10.
+ Toothsome | This place was highly recommended through my research before the trip, and the steampunk aesthetic caught my husbands eye and made him excited to go. However, I feel that the food was a little over rated. I would probably give this a 6 out of 10 for food, but 9 out of 10 for dessert! I would skip it for a meal, but definitely stop by the walk up milkshake bar or the chocolate counter.
+ Finnegan’s | Again, inside Universal Studios, not in City Walk. Was good old fashioned pub food. Most of our table ordered the fish and chips. They were not anything special, but just what you expect f&c to be. 8 out of 10 for good ol’ reliable pub food.
As you can see none of them were out of this work spectacular on their own, but when you are having the time of your life in a theme park everything is good, haha! However, I will say the Harry Potter breakfast would get a 10 out of 10 in my book and that is saying a lot for someone who does not like breakfast.
Buy Before…
I bought a few things before the trip based on recommendations or things I thought we would need. Here are the highlights:
+ Mini Backpack | I opted for something slightly bigger than a fanny pack because I was planning to film some on the trip and wanted a little extra room. I found mine at Marshalls for around $12. This was a good decision for me, but maybe not for everyone. however, I did have some irritation from the straps when I wore tank tops, and it was annoying having to take the backpack all the way off every time I needed something. I might find a larger fanny pack before Disney.
+ Tennis Skirts | This was not an intentional purchase before Universal, but they were my favorite thing to wear while we were there! Cool and convenient, and you also look cute! I find them at TJmaxx, Marshalls, and Old Navy.
+ Polarized Sunglasses | I am not a sunglasses girly, and I hate spending money on them because I always lose them or bend them, but my husband loves sunglasses and recommended polarized lenses for me. I found this pack on Amazon and I loved them. They have continued to be a great purchase even after coming home.
+ Silicone Rings | It’s hot. Your hands will swell. Just do it. Also, don’t wear your rings to a water park. While we were at Volcano Bay a water slide got shut down so they could search the pool for someones wedding ring. My worst nightmare!
+ Lanyards | These are great to keep your passes on hand, and show off your pin collection if you are like me. However, they can be pricey at the parks and not worth the money in my opinion. I found this pack on Amazon.
+ (Some) Universal Apparel | I like to plan my outfits ahead, and I hate spending $20+ on a t-shirt, so I snagged this Jurassic Park t-shirt before the trip. However, Universal specific merch will be at the parks and is a worth while souveneir if it is something you can only get there.
+ Water Bottles | This is probably the most important one on the list! For all the Disney goers, please hear me on this: UNIVERSAL WATER IS DIFFERENT. It comes from a Coke Freestyle Machine and tastes just fine. You will be happy you had these bottles.
+ Neck Fan & Visor | To keep my mother in law cool we bought these two things. Overall the weather was mostly on the warmer side of comfortable, and was hottest in the afternoon, but nothing unbearable. She wore the hat a lot, but only used the fan occasionally. She said it was loud and hard to hear with it on. Overall I am glad we had it as an option though, and in the summer I am sure it would be a must.
That concludes Part 1 of my Universal Studios series! Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon. If you have any specific questions about our park experience, leave them below and I would be happy to share them!
Thanks for reading!
xo Sami
* No affiliate links are included in this post.
