Travel and Parking

To get to Universal Studios, you will have to travel via I4, as it is roughly 15-20 miles out of Orlando. The journey won’t take long, as the roads in America are very straight and when there is no congestion there is very little stopping, starting, and slowing down. You will be able to find the Park with ease when using a Sat-Nav. When you arrive at the park you will present all relevant parking details etc. The park hours are usually 10am-6pm, and for whole-day parking it is between 20 and 30 dollars. After you park the car you will need to remember what “zone” you are in, so it would be useful to put a note in your phone if you ever want to see your vehicle again!

Park Entry

When entering the park, you will need to present your tickets and get your finger print scanned. You will then put loose personal belongings and bags into a box whilst they get scanned (and whilst you get scanned too). Assuming you aren’t a fugitive, or you don’t have any concealed weapons on you, you will retrieve your personal belongings and enter the park.

The Park

As soon as you enter the park, you will notice the grand scale of the park. There are two separate parts to the park. You can enter either way and there are no major differences except the content. Harry Potter and Jurassic Park is on one side, and all the superheroes cartoon things are on the other side. If all the ques are short you could complete the whole park within the space of 5 hours; from my own experience it took less time.

Pricing

If you’re a big spender (or you have kids with you), I would take at least $100. I wouldn’t recommend buying food there. Its much cheaper and convenient to take a packed lunch with you as the prices are pretty extortionate. Its roughly $3.50 for a bag of ready salted crisps. They also offer a number of services at the entrance, such as tattoos, food, and general retail stores.

Recommendations

I would recommend the 4D rides to anyone. There is nothing like them anywhere else in the world. They’re worth waiting for, the longest I waited for a ride was 45 minutes for the Transformers 4D ride. I would also recommend getting to the park at around half past 9, so you’re ready to do things by 10, and its also a good idea to apply sun cream with a SPF rating of 50+ every hour and a half, as you have to remember that you are in Florida walking around in the sun! Water rides are definitely something to do right before you leave, because there’s nothing worse walking around all miserable and soggy!

Summary

It’s a great experience and you will enjoy yourself, regardless of age and who you’re going with. Stay hydrated, and rest in the shade every so often as it will ruin you day if you’re too hot or start to feel sick from the heat. (I would also like to recommend Universal’s Adventure Island. It takes less time to complete, but it’s an amazing experience. The slides and rides are so well designed, you get such a thrill from some of them).