Have you ever had a crazy thought and turned it into reality? Well, La Belle Cove Travel took a 2-day weekend and turned it into a fully immersive Universal Orlando Resort tour.
We flew to Orlando on Friday night, got Burritos from Moe’s Southwest Grill delivered to our room at the Marriott Grand Vista Hotel, and came up with a game plan.
Epic Universe Park Day
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to make sure we were at the Universal Epic gates before 10am. Usually, the workers start letting in general guests a little after 9am. You aren’t allowed on the rides until 10am and the “Universes” may not be open, but this allows you to make a beeline to the most popular ride on your list. This way, you are one of the first ones in line when it does open!
Pro Tip: Download the Universal Orlando Resort App to upload your ticket (in case they get lost or wet), order at quick-service restaurants, monitor ride wait times, and look at menus.
After going through Harry Potter World and Dark Universe, it was around 1pm (and while waiting in line at Nintendo World) we made dinner reservations at The Blue Dragon. If you have your heart set on a certain themed restaurant, we highly recommend making a reservation before your trip. But in this case, the park wasn’t too busy and The Blue Dragon is a sit-down restaurant (with phenomenal food and service), so there were a lot of time slots open still.
Pro Tip: Check online before your trip to see if you can make reservations for your favorite in-park restaurants (this goes for City Walk restaurants as well).
Some restaurants allow you to reserve up to 60 days in advance, while most of the Quick-Service eateries are walk-in. Restaurants like the Toadstool Cafe often have long waitlists day-of, so we recommend reserving popular and full service restaurants ahead of time.
The best way to decide your day efficiently, is for everyone to pick 1 non-negotiable at each “world” you’d like to visit. Whether it is Super Nintendo World, Jurassic World, or a ride in ‘Hollywood’, everyone should pick which ride or show they absolutely NEED to do. For us, that was mostly the Harry Potter Rides (of course) and seeing everything in the different worlds in Epic.
Pro Tip: We relied heavily on the Universal app for ride wait times and kept an eye on the most popular rides. We were impressed with how accurate the estimates seemed to be.
Islands of Adventure & Universal Orlando Parks Day
Sunday morning we woke up even earlier to get to Universal Orlando before opening at 9am. First, we had to stop at Voodoo Donuts for their AMAZING selection of donuts.
Then, we set off to Diagon Alley to ride Escape from Gringotts when it opened. Every ~10min the dragon outside the ride breathes actual fire! The blast is preceded by a growl, so you always know it is coming.
We bought the Park-to-Park tickets, so we were able to take the Hogwarts Express between the 2 parks. They had an amazing show on the screens in the train rooms to make you feel as if you were on your way to Hogwarts and back from King’s Cross Station!
Pro Tip: There is a different view in the train depending on which direction you are traveling, so you may want to build in time to go round-trip!
Pro Tip: If your schedule allows, STAY IN THE PARKS UNTIL IT’S DARK! The lights and special effects at night in the parks are absolutely spectacular and we highly recommend viewing at night.
Marriott Grande Vista
We have to shout-out Marriott Grande Vista as well (this is not a paid ad at all, we just loved our stay!) The hotel was absolutely gorgeous AND centrally located. It couldn’t have chosen a better place for our Universal trip, but SeaWorld and Disney World are nearby as well. We are personal fans of Marriott already, but the suite-style rooms, variety of recreation options like golf & volleyball, and things like dining available on the property, made the stay so much more convenient and pleasant.
