A few questions about universal

[Tiger lily 3]

Sorry if been asked before
1) Do we need to pre book universal days in advance like we do for Disney.

2) if staying onsite HRH do we still get fast pass or not if virtual queuing system in place.

3) will we still get early access to parks if staying onsite

Thanks everyone cancelled 2020 rebooked for 2021

[Mickie]

Can I jump on this and ask how many days people would plan at Universal if staying there? We had provisionally moved October 2020 to Universal. Probably looks like we won’t go til October 2021. Had planned Cabana Bay with a seven I guess now it will be eight year old. Not done Universal before and it’s obviously much smaller than Disney. Is 5 or 6 “active” park days (say two each for each of the parks plus one or two for Volcano Bay plus whatever rest/non park days we want about right? I’m guessing that would be at least 8 nights stay for us. But if we didn’t want to move on somewhere else can you base yourselves there for 12 or 14 nights without overdoing it?

[Derbydave4]

We usually do 5 days at Universal (although we stay a Royal Pacific for the front of the line passes) and can easily do the two parks and get on all the major rides as many times as you want We then move to Cabana Bay for the rest of the holiday; it has two great pools and gives us chance to relax after hectic days at the parks and we use it as a base to do days out to places like Kennedy Space Centre; Gatorland; Seaworld etc Cabana also has the advantage of early entry to Volcano Bay with its own hotel entrance and easy access to both City Walk and International Drive for bars and restaurants in the evening

[Donz1979]

We only stayed one night Royal Pacific last October and managed to do all Universal and IOA in the 2 days. We have booked 2 nights next October so can spend time at hotel aswell as doing volcano bay! If stay onsite and get the 'fast passes' you can easy do all parks

[geomac79]

I would plan for 4 days if you want to soak in all both parks have to offer. We do it in 2 days now but we all know exactly what we want to do before we go.

[Floridadreams]

We went in February and stayed at Royal Pacific. With Express Passes we stayed four nights (including arrival night which was late from Dublin). So we did three days in the parks, including two late mornings (around 10am in parks) due to jetlag and then another half day on check-out day. The third day was a full early to close day (but think it was a 6pm close). We spent hours in the Harry Potter areas though as we are massive Harry Potter fans. Our kids are also big coaster fans so went on the big rides over and over. We did not get to Volcano Bay or have a rest day!
So I suppose my answer would be, it depends what you are into. If you are either Harry Potter fans or coaster fans then you will need lots of time.

[DonnaD]

Universal is NOT using a reservation system like Disney and Sea World. There hasn't been a problem with people being turned away up so far. The future is obviously impossible to predict.

[curlysue2]

1. No you don't have to pre book days if you have a hotel booking you are guaranteed entry.
2. Yes Express pass is still part of premier hotel bookings.
3. Yes you still get early entry.

We stayed 2 weeks at RPR last time and travelling to Disney seaworld and wild florida.
Loved being able to pop in and out of parks when we wanted and strolling to city walk for meals.
Staying HRH 2 weeks next year. We prefer universal and seaworld as our kids are older.

[Jimsdadhalifax]

A lot of the attractions at Universal are worth doing more than once. If you have express you can easily do all the rides in both parks in 2 days but I personally wouldn't be happy with just 2 days.

Volcano Bay is worth spending a few mornings at as well.

We have done a full week at Universal with Express and it never got boring. You can always spend some time at the hotel as well if staying onsite as they are great.

[returnplanning]

Originally Posted by Donz1979

We only stayed one night Royal Pacific last October and managed to do all Universal and IOA in the 2 days. We have booked 2 nights next October so can spend time at hotel aswell as doing volcano bay! If stay onsite and get the 'fast passes' you can easy do all parks

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This was our experience in 2017 as well