This will be my first post as part of my ‘promise’ to post more. It’s about my trip to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, and I’m going to use it to point out ways to save on the trip.
As you can see from my January 11th post…we had made an attempt to go to Universal Studios before, but couldn’t and I had to sell those tickets.
We were finally able to go! We went to Orlando, Florida the weekend of July 23rd for our birthday. Yes…coincidentally, my girlfriend and I share the same birthday (and same birth year)
The sticker on our shirts is the sticker they give you to indicate it’s your birthday. That’s really the only perk you get for your birthday. Once in a while an employee may wish you happy birthday, and we were able to get on the Express pass for the Flight of the Hippogryph. Oh, and once, an employee asked me if I picked the sticker off the ground. That was very nice of him! Maybe it’s because I pinned it to my backpack strap instead of using the sticker, as the little piece of junk didn’t stick too well to my shirt.
When we went to Disney World over Thanksgiving, we received an actual pin. Mine said “Returning Guests” and my girlfriend’s said “First timer” or something like that. On that note, from what I’ve read, Disney treats you better for your birthday and gives you more perks. As one of the Universal employees said (comically) “This is not Disney World, we don’t have to be nice to you”.
Tickets
I have a friend who is currently enrolled at the University of Central Florida. He could have gotten us tickets for half price. However, I decided not to go that route. Instead, I got a package through Universal and stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club. For two nights and two 2-day tickets, it was ~$500. Our tickets retailed $150 each. With the tickets valued at $300, our hotel was basically $200 after taxes, or $100 a night after taxes. A quick search on Hilton’s website shows that the 1 King size Bedroom suite runs $169 a night. I’d estimate taxes would be $25…so after taxes, two nights is $388. Essentially, I would say we saved $188 compared to booking them separately. Though technically, if we booked separately I would have gotten tickets from my friend for $75 and saved $150 total on the tickets. Our ‘savings’ now is then just $38…Although a true saver would say $169 a night is a lot for a hotel and stay somewhere else (I personally would like to argue that the hot tub in the bedroom and full size kitchen is hard to compare to a Marriott)
Not all savings can be quantified. Let me tell you the real reason I did a package.
As you may or may not know…Islands of Adventure just recently opened the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWOHP).
I did a lot of research over at www.disboards.com prior to my trip. Essentially, the crowds are a bitch because of WWOHP. In the middle of the day (10AM – 4PM) there is an eternal wait to enter WWOHP. If you purchase a package through Universal, you get a special ticket that will allow you to enter Universal Studios/WWOHP 1 hour early. That, my friend…is priceless (not really, but it will make your experience a lot less hectic).
My girlfriend and I arrived at Universal at 8AM – 1 hour to their regular opening. I knew from my research that the park let people in about 30 minutes early…but we drove from Gainesville, FL and didn’t want to wake up that early. 8AM as good enough, as we were able to go straight into WWOHP. After we rode the main ride ( almost 10AM), Forbidden Journey, I heard someone say that there is already a wait to enter the area. As I left WWOHP…sure enough, 2 hours wait. As everyone else stood in line to get into WWOHP, we were riding the other rides.
Restaurants/Drinks/Dining
Butter Beer is a fairly famous drink in WWOHP. It’s a sweet, cream soda like drink that was inspired by the Harry Potter books. There is a cart in WWOHP that sells the drink. That cart always had a long line. If you go inside Hogs Head bar…you can order it and skip the line, and not have to stand on the hot sun.
The restaurant next to hogs head has really good food…rotisserie chicken, ribs… We got 1/2 chicken + 2 sides for $11, and split that. Anywhere else, the food would cost more, or just suck. Check it out. Oh, and eat before the main lunch rush. It’s a lot more soothing.
Random tidbits.near the Owl Post there’s a place where you can have stuff stamped with “Hogsmeade” on there. We bought postcards and head those stamped. I knew of this ahead of time and brought some stamps and was able to mail it from there. They are suppose to sell stamps too, but when my coworker went there, they were sold out of stamps (and postcards!)
American Express is the official card of Universal Studios. If you have an AmEx, prior to going I would Google what discounts they have. When I went, they had $5 off $20 at their gift shop. They didn’t seem to keep track of the purchases electronically so I think you could have used it as much as you want. We only use it once. Also, they had a free appetizer/dessert at several CityWalk restaurants. Their current promotion is buy an adults ticket at a kids price…which is a hell lot better promotion than when I went.
We opted to go to Latin Quarter, and got the free appetizer. Our meals were really good. I got the fish with chorizo..forgot what fish it was.
Since it was our birthdays, I asked if the restaurant had anything special they would do. The brought out free dessert, which was flan. Additionally, the restaurant had live music…Spanish guitar that night. We were right in front of the guitarist, and that made the dining experience wonderful. My girlfriend got the Paella, and we ate left overs for breakfast (^_^)
And just for the hell of it, I’m going to post two other pictures
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