By Tomeka Allgood
Orlando, Florida has been a top destination for all age groups for years. It is no surprise, with top attractions like Disney World, SeaWorld, Legoland and Universal Orlando, the city is on majority of family vacation planning list. All of the attractions are family friendly and have something for all ages. In my personal opinion, Disney World, SeaWorld and Legoland have more options for younger children. Universal Orlando is the opposite with more options for teens and older age groups. Don’t get me wrong, all of the parks have something for everyone, but if you have a teenager and/or a young adult, Universal is where you want to go for a family vacation.
When traveling with a teen or young adult, things change on how you approach your vacation. As for my personal experience, teenagers want to sleep in verses being up and at the park at dawn. This age group also has opinions and want to participate in the day to day planning of the group. My recent vacation experience at Universal Orlando, with older children has led me to provide you with this list. Hopefully it will save you some time and potential “headaches”. Especially if you haven’t been to Universal or on a family vacation with your tweens, teens or young adults just yet.
Before You Go
Before even heading out the door, make sure you purchase your tickets in advance. I recommend going online to Universal’s website because there are usually multiple day discount offers. I was lucky to get a buy 2 days get 3 days free! We were not going to be there for 5 days but having the extra days helped with planning. It will cost a little extra to get the Park to Park tickets, which means you can go to multiple parks on one given day, but it is worth it. What I do not recommend is spending the extra money to purchase Express Passes. They are overrated and will not save you much more time standing in line than the regular lines passengers. Especially, if you follow my tips!
Parking
As with every major park, you do have to pay for parking. However, remember what I said before about teens and young adults preferring to sleep in? Well that helps you save money at Universal because parking after 6pm is FREE! Yes, in a world of hardly any free parking you can get it at Universal. Therefore, our strategy was to sleep in late, get up and do all other things Orlando, like shop, hangout at the pool, etc… Around 5pm, we would eat and prepare to head to the park. As long as you get there at 6pm, you have four hours of park time. As long as you buy multiple day tickets, this will work out so everyone can experience all things Universal while saving some money.
Technology
I never thought that I would be an advocate for using technology on vacation and yet here I am doing just that. Why? Because Universal has an app that provides visitors with pretty much everything they need during their visit. The main reason I am not in favor of purchasing the express pass option to avoid long lines is because of the app. The app lets users know the existing wait times for all of the popular rides. By utilizing the app, you are allowed the opportunity to decide what rides to ride and when in order to avoid long lines. Because of the app, we didn’t wait in line more than 20 minutes the entire trip.
The Must Ride Rides
First off, let me say all the rides at Universal are great! However, for me there are some that are beyond awesome and think everyone should ride them at least once. The Mummy is an indoor roller coaster that takes up close and personal to another level. It isn’t too over the top, like the outdoor ones, but gives each rider plenty of heart thumping moments. By far, my favorite interactive 3D rides were Jimmy Fallon, Transformers and King Kong. Fast and The Furious wasn’t 3D but it was a legit nice ride with plenty of interactive moments. Trust me when I say, a review can’t do any of these rides justice. If you go, just please make sure to try them out for yourself. It takes a lot to impress me and, I rode Jimmy Fallon multiple times because I loved it that much.
All Things Harry Potter…:
Let us start this with the fact that I’m not a Harry Potter fan but the teens and young adults that I traveled with were. Needless to say, I have been introduced to all things Harry Potter and had to take a moment to emphasis how important he is at Universal. Universal has made a point to put Harry Potter front and center in both parks. At Universal Studios, you have Dragon Alley and Islands of Adventure you have The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. If you purchase the park to park tickets, then you can ride the Hogwarts Express train between each park.
Unfortunately for us, the newest ride, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure was down and couldn’t ride it. So I can’t offer a review on that specific ride. I can tell you that the other ride, Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey is amazing. This was another one of the rides that I had to ride two times. It was interactive and I highly recommend it for all ages.
The rides are not the only reason you should make a point to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the other is the light show at the Hogwarts Castle during the evenings. Oh, and do not forget to try out some ginger beer!
For The Foodie
Universal does not have a shortage of eateries so it isn’t hard to find a place to eat. For my fellow foodies, there are some noteworthy places to make sure to stop in while at Universal. The first is The Leaky Cauldron located in Dragon Alley. They have the best fish and chips that I’ve ever had and my daughter can’t stop talking about their Tongue Tying Lemon Squash or lemonade. For the people with a sweet tooth, the world famous Voo Doo Doughnuts is a definite no brainer. The constant line at Voo Doo Doughnuts should be an indication of how good they are if my word isn’t enough.
In conclusion, the main thing is have fun and enjoy time spent with loved ones. By making sure you give each person options during your Universal Orlando vacation, it will keep disagreements at a minimum. Hopefully the tips here will assist you with doing just that.
