2024 June 17 - June 21 Orlando Universal Studio Parks Itinerary (Part 2)

June 12, 2024

2024 June 17 - June 21 Orlando Universal Studio Parks Itinerary (Part 2)

Orlando Trip Itinerary

6/17: JFK Space Center

6/18 - 6/21: Universal Parks (3)

Tips

Universal Studio Parks

Regular Park opens at 9am. If you stay at any universal resort, you can enter the park at 8am. We got to the Islands of Adventure around 8:30am, and there were already a lot of people inline. A photo will be taken and be used later to verify each time when you enter the park.

Express pass is a great way to save your wait time and maximize your day to ride as many rides as possible. While we were there, the longest time we waited is 30 mins or less. Please note, there are a couple of rides where express pass doesn't apply (eg, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure), and they usually have very long wait time. You will need to plan to get to the queue early. Also, express pass does not work before 9am.

Download the Universal app, it is a very helpful. It will hold your digital tickets, show where you are on the maps, and most importantly, it shows the wait time for each ride.

The wait time is short closer to park close. We were able to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey twice back-to-back without any line around 10pm.

These were the rides we were able to do:

Islands of Adventure

Flight of the Hippogriff (1x)

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (3x)

Hogwarts Express (Hogsmeade Station) (xx)

Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure (1x)

Hogwarts Always (2x)

Skull Island: Reign of Kong (2x)

Raptor Encounter (1x)

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1x)

Universal Studios

Hogwarts Express (King’s Cross Station) (xx)

Knight Bus (1x)

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts (2x)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard (1x)

MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack (3x)

The Simpsons Ride (3x)

Transformers The Ride-3D (3x)

Meet The Transformers (1x)

Illumination Theater (1x)

Illumination's Villain-Con Minion Blast (1x)

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem (2x)

Fast & Furious Supercharged (1x)

The Bourne Stuntacular (1x)

There are water/soda refill stations throughout the park. You can also purchase the refillable soda cup for $20 (first day), $14 (subsequent days if using the same cup). We found this quiet convenient.

Volcano Bay Water Park

Having been to Wisconsin Dells, I found Volcano Bay is average. The water park offers big wave pool, lazy river and rides. We ended up spent most of the time at the wave pool and lazy river, as the wait time for the rides are very long.

If you get to the park late, it is impossible to find a shaded beach chairs. Volcano Bay offers 3 types of seating. Reserved Beach Umbrella for around $150, Premium Tent for around $250, and Cabana for over $900.

We got the premium tent, however I would say go to the cheaper umbrella option, as you won't spend a lot of time outside the pool.

Hotel Review

We stayed at Lowes Royal Pacific Resort. The package includes one-hour early admission to the park, park to park tickets and express passes for the entire stay.

There's shuttle bus that can take guest to all 3 parks; a water taxi that can take the guest to the board walk, and it will be 5 mins walk from there to either Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios Florida, or guest can walk directly to those 2 parks (about 15 mins).