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Old 13 Jan 25, 02:23 PM  
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Potato
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August 2026 - all Universal

A long time to go at the time of writing.

We have booked 10 nights away towards the end of August 2026 to visit essentially only Universal Studios. My kids will be 11 and 10 and apart from a day off a cruise ship this year to go to Gatorland have never been to Florida - I haven't been for some 15+ years either.

2026 tickets for Universal covering all parks already bought, and hotel room booked for Universal Dockside resort. I guess the questions are how we should plan the visit of parks - the time we have will be fine for 2 days at each park plus rest days in the middle.

Mon - Fly from MAN to MCO. Lazy evening and sleep
Tue - Universal
Wed - rest day/Volcano Bay
Thu - IOA
Fri - rest day
Sat - Epic
Sun - rest day/Volcano Bay
Mon - Universal/IOA half day each
Tue - rest day
Wed - Epic
Thu - lazy morning, fly home MCO to MAN

Thoughts?

I know that each Universal park could probably be adequately covered in a day however I'm not a Disney person and the kids have been to Disneyland Paris a couple of times so am trying to avoid repetition for them; plus I'm not sure how they will manage for the first time with 10 days of Florida humidity. Consideration could be made to adding Sea World or Busch Gardens in somewhere if there's energy to do it - other than that the rest days would be used for things like Ripley's, shopping, swimming pool day etc.

The rest days also can happily be filled in with additional park days if there is enough gas left in the legs to manage.

My other question as well, is whether it is generally considered worth it to fork out a single night at one of the premium hotels to get the two days of Express passes for the original parks?

E: to add keeping a running total of my costs as well for anyone else looking at similar:

Hotel - 10 nights Dockside, £775.95, 17-27 August 2026 via Travel Republic
Tickets - 14 day Universal All Parks 2026 ticket - 3x adult, £445 each = £1305 after discount
Flights - TBC

Edited at 03:02 PM.
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Old 15 Jan 25, 09:42 AM  
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Emma768
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The express pass is incredibly useful- I’ve always done the night at Hard Rock to get the pass for both days. I think Universal is going to be incredibly busy for the next couple of years due to Epic opening so the knock on may be that the older parks are busy too. I’m there 2026 and I will stay at Hard Rock for a night to get them.
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Old 15 Jan 25, 04:08 PM  
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Potato
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Originally Posted by Emma768 View Post
The express pass is incredibly useful- I’ve always done the night at Hard Rock to get the pass for both days. I think Universal is going to be incredibly busy for the next couple of years due to Epic opening so the knock on may be that the older parks are busy too. I’m there 2026 and I will stay at Hard Rock for a night to get them.
I guess looking at the unlimited express passes, for 3 of us for 2 days I am looking at a few pence shy of £800 so anything less than that I’m “technically” ahead aren’t I…
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Old 15 Jan 25, 05:11 PM  
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Abbey36
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Hi unless I’m wrong you can only have 1 days epic entry at the mo with the 2 week universal ticket if that’s what you’re going to buy. Unless you have an annual pass? Not even sure if you can then, I’m sure someone else can confirm. I would 100% stay at a premium hotel for the 2 day passes, we’ve stayed at HRH & RPR & daughter has stated at Portofino, personally we prefer RPR but go with the cheapest. If you can get club level it would be even better with kids that age & all the drinks & snacks. It looks like a great 10 days though having the rest days in between to do other things & to be able to go at a slower pace. I’d absolutely recommend cooling towels & fans too having been in August they really help!
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Old 15 Jan 25, 07:11 PM  
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Potato
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Originally Posted by Abbey36 View Post
Hi unless I’m wrong you can only have 1 days epic entry at the mo with the 2 week universal ticket if that’s what you’re going to buy. Unless you have an annual pass? Not even sure if you can then, I’m sure someone else can confirm. I would 100% stay at a premium hotel for the 2 day passes, we’ve stayed at HRH & RPR & daughter has stated at Portofino, personally we prefer RPR but go with the cheapest. If you can get club level it would be even better with kids that age & all the drinks & snacks. It looks like a great 10 days though having the rest days in between to do other things & to be able to go at a slower pace. I’d absolutely recommend cooling towels & fans too having been in August they really help!
The 2026 tickets I got are sold as 14 days across all parks - the one day is only for 2025, at least unless they change their minds..

https://www.orlandoattractiontickets...l-Parks-Ticket

Lots of itineraries I see have people blasting out parks one after the other and the Disney itineraries remind me of a military route march with the way people are planning lightning lanes and meal times down to the minute etc. Can’t be doing with all that, it is a holiday after all…

Edited at 07:12 PM.
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Old 15 Jan 25, 10:40 PM  
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Originally Posted by Potato View Post
The 2026 tickets I got are sold as 14 days across all parks - the one day is only for 2025, at least unless they change their minds..

https://www.orlandoattractiontickets...l-Parks-Ticket

Lots of itineraries I see have people blasting out parks one after the other and the Disney itineraries remind me of a military route march with the way people are planning lightning lanes and meal times down to the minute etc. Can’t be doing with all that, it is a holiday after all…
That’s good then Epic anytime in 2026

Yes be lovely to take it at a slower pace, we only done Universal last time with 1 day at Disney so had more time to do other things like beach, shopping etc.
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