Review: Universal Orlando

Harold Combs
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Contrary to popular opinion, I do go on vacation. This is a narrative of what happened and what I liked and didn’t like.

Introduction: Universal Orlando & TLDR

I haven’t had a family vacation since June 2019. We haven’t taken a Florida vacation since 2016, two weeks before I joined Amazon. It’s telling I have blog entires about neither. Both were PM (Pre-meds) and I went kicking-and-screaming. With my wife and I finally on the same page about finances, we agreed to take a trip to Orlando before Maria was out of our house.

Having been to disney 3 times before, we decided to go for Universal Orlando and its constellation of 4 parks. Some top-line things to communicate:

  1. This has a more teen/adult feel than disney. The thrill rides scale up to “real” coasters and very intense motion control experiences.
  2. It’s shocking how much more “chill” Universal felt versus Disney. Disney has a well-known playbook, and people go yearly (See the “Disney Adult” phenomenon).
  3. Universal basically appropriated Disney’s “Fast Pass” system from back when it was good
  4. Staying “On Property” can be very reasonable, depending on when you go. We got off-season rooms for $152 / night apiece
  5. Bus transportation among the parks is fine. For certain properties, you can also go by small ferry-boats.
  6. Security moves along well.
  7. They’ve implemented a facial-recognition for park entry and fastpass that’s great…when it’s operational. Still some kinks to iron out.
  8. Bathrooms are wholly inadequate. Be warned. There might be 1 bathroom in a given “land” and half the stalls or urinals will be out of operation. It’s telling in their latest property (Epic Universe) there seems to be 2x the number of bathrooms.
  9. Prepare to get stuck. All the motion control rides are unreliable, especially those that are “robot arms with 4 person cars attached”. You could be stuck upside down, facing an 8’ spider.

Anyway, let’s get into it.

The Hotel: Cabana Bay

We stayed at Cabana Bay, just south of Islands of Adventure park.

This is one of the “value-oriented” resorts near the property, but from our perspective it couldn’t be better: ~$150 / night for twin queens, splendid amenitities, and it’s adjacent to both the Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios parks, and adjacent to Volcano Bay the massive waterpark.

Our rooms each had a kitchenette with a sink, fridge, and microwave, which we used to eat at least 1 meal / day in the room. We used instacart to order that food the Saturday we arrived.

The Parks

There are four parks available in the constellation of Universal parks in Orlando:

  1. Universal Studios Orlando: This is the original park, themed as though it’s a studio backlot. It includes theming around sets one might shoot on: New York, London, San Francisco, Hollywood. Woven into these are rides and experiences like Simpsons-land, Mummy’s Revenge, Men-in-Black. The original Harry Potter “Diagon Alley” is here.
  2. Universal Islands of Adventure: This second park is–as the name implies–a more “Adventurous” place. It draws from Universal IP to make discrete “lands” instead of shooting locations. Jurassic Park forms the center of the park and Harry Potter’s “Hogsmeade” sits at the back. The train from Hogsmeade to London King’s Cross station forms the bridge between the two parks.
  3. Volcano Bay: As Noted–we didn’t go here; it was max 70 degrees. I despise water parks anyway, so this was no big deal.
  4. Epic Universe: The newest park, Epic just opened in May 2025. It’s massive and segments into discrete “lands” with portals for entry.

Day 1: Epic Universe

Epic Universe was about a 20 minute bus-ride Southeast of our hotel. We ended-up on an overful bus of eager, perfume-doused travellers, standing room only.

We resolved to never ride standing again.

We reached the park and went through security where we found that Epic Universe has ubiquitous facial recognition. If you’ve registered your face with the serviceable mobile app, Epic will just recognize you, including at security. On the Sunday of our first day, we breezed through to move through the park. We progressed through Nintendo World, Dark Universe, 1920’s Paris (Harry Potter), and Berk.

This was a “ramp-up” day. We weren’t really used to that much walking (~6 miles) and time flew. Before we knew it, it was twilight and then dark. The centerpiece of the world is the Celestial Carousel, and it’s simply magical–especially at night. They change up the music from whimsical, to orchestral, to club mix. Club Mix is the best.

I got to ride the excellent “Stardust Racers”. This is a double launch coaster that’s killed at least 1 person. The first launch leads to a perfect U shaped hump with TONS of airtime. The remainder of the ride is a blur, but the second launch leads to a lovely spiral around both duelling tracks. It’s a magical experience.

The Girls got wands and the over-the-top French wand shop and we nearly got on Ministry of Magic, but it broke for the 4th time in that day. The theming on the ride needs to be seen to be believed: It’s a 1:1 recreation of the hall of the Ministry to incredible detail. However, the ride itself is both ambitious and disappointing (see below)

Quick run through the lands:

  • Nintendo: Immersive theming. Bowser’s castle is a great augmented reality ride in cars for 4. The land is very claustrophibic and if you’re sensitive to perfume/cologne, you’ll simply die. There’s no air circulation, and approximately 50k kids in this land at all times.
  • Dark Universe: Incredible, particlarly at night. Monster’s unchained is probably the zenith of the 4-person-car motion control ride pioneered in the OG Harry Potter ride. Curse of the Werewolf is a legit coaster with spinning cars and forward/backward motion. HUGE recommend on this one at night. We ended up eating at “Das Stakehouse” greeted by the servers with “Greetings humans”. And the black bread and meat was good. Don’t miss Igor and the other characters in this land!
  • Wizarding World: Ministry of Magic: Incredibly mixed on this land. It’s 1920’s France. All the signage, etc. is in French. Dining, shops, butterbeer–all exist here. The two marquee experiences are Ministry of Magic which breaks all the time, and Cirque Arcanus which is next-level puppetry in the Newt Skemander universe. Neither live up to the other HP experiences in other parks, and seem like massive wastes of money for Universal.
  • Berk (How to Train Your Dragon): Just….joy. This is everything you want in a theme park “land”: Immersive, Great Theming, doesn’t take itself too seriously. We spent lots of time here, and bought merch. Hiccup’s Wing Gliders is a legit launch coaster for most ages, with a nice roll-back element on its second launch.
  • Celestial Park: This is the magical central location that brings everything togther. Highlights are the Stardust racers (see above) and the super-chill Celestial Carousel that you must ride at night

Day 2: Islands of Adventure

Islands of Adventure feels like a “regular” theme park, similar to Six Flags. There two mainline coasters, Incredible Hulk and Velocicoaster.

The queues to move in around open move glacially. This was our first “prepaid breakfast” experience at Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Because of our food allergies, it’s always a chore to eat in-park, but Universal was solid throughout: Everyone was trained from those taking orders to the cooks. They could accomodate our lengthly list of allergies everywhere we went within reason. (For example: We didn’t go to a straight seafood restaurant. That’d be death for Whitney.)

We powerwalked through the super-cute Dr. Seuss land, through the Lost Continent (which is essentially shut-down for re-theming), and past the left turn to Albuquerque Jurassic Park to hit Hogsmeade. Breakfast at Three Broomsticks was good. I went for pancakes, which turned into a massive mistake given my motion-sickness and gluten sensitivity.

From there we hoped on “Harry Potter Forbidden Journey”. I was already queasy from breakfast and this is the OG “4 people in a car on a robot arm” ride. It’s jerky and, well, we got stuck somewhere over the Quidditch Field.

Stuck like that for ~3-4 minutes, we moved on.

Then we rode “Flight of the Hippogriff” a kid-targeted coaster that runs a single train on a short-run track. It’s darling and punches way above its weight. Great theming and a gentle introduction to kids to a true thrill ride experience.

At this point I tried conventional butterbeer, and I found it disgusting: Viscous and cloyingly sweet.

The real gem is Hagrid’s Magical Creatures, a wonderful launch-coaster with two experiences: On the motorbike (the preferred) and in the sidecar (still tons of fun)

By this point, my body really felt the past 18 hours–full day at Epic Universe, then an early wakeup to get breakfast, then more rides. I was both nauseated and had GI issues, so I sat underneath the Velocicoaster double-helix for a solid hour in a stupor while the girls did awesome Jurassic Park stuff.

Taking a bit of a break, we did the Dr. Seuss People mover ride, which moved much faster than we expected.

Then we went over to Marvel land and did the Spiderman motion-control ride. I was almost certain I was going to to hurl halfway through, but kept it together. By the end, both Whitney and I both felt dizzy so we hung in the “family room” for it to subside.

As the sun set, we decided to ride the Hogwarts Express over to London (in Universal Studios), and we hung-out there until park close around 9. The girls enjoyed using their wands and embarking on the quests (don’t call it MagiQuest…) that they needed to do to level-up. Parts of the area like Nocture Alley were legitimately creepy and the front projection and animatronic effects would do Disney Proud.

Day 3: Universal Studios Orlando

Since we ended the day at Universal Studios, we began our day there the next day. In reality both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios feel like “one park” because they share a bus terminal, parking area, and security gateway, and you need to walk through City Walk to get to either. We weren’t obsessed about going super-early but rolled in about 10:30. Lines were short, and would remain so the rest of the day.

That was good, because we genuinely found some of our favorite experiences in this park.

Universal Studios really leans into the “Studios” part of theming, focusing on the properties and IP making blockbuster film and TV franchises

We started in Minion/Despicable Me land after a quick stop in the Wicked shop. We tried the “Minon Blaster” ride and it’s an ADHD nightmare, taking you on a moving rubberized walkway while you blast away at enemies from the Despicable Me universe. The Actual Minion motion-control experience is cute but again–queasy. I didn’t struggle this time because I was on fairly empty stomach.

From there the day is a blur. We did the Transformers which was a simulated “car” similar to the Spider-Man ride. Whitney and I seemed to enjoy that more than the girls. Then we found our real love in the park: Revenge of the Mummy

Ladies and Gentlemen, your “Space Mountain” has arrived. Revenge of the Mummy is an indoor coaster with terrific theming (including fire and water effects) coming from the 1990’s The Mummy franchise. It’s terrific fun, and I think we road it 6 times among the 4 of us.

The Men-in-Black Ride was….fine? Lines were short and it’s at the very back of the park. You get to shoot things.

Day 4: No Parks, but City Walk

We’re human. We decided to take a day off in the middle.

So, naturally, we went and worked-out in the hotel gym for like 2 hours, then we did 75 minutes of bowling, then in the evening we went shopping at City Walk.

All told, on our “day off” we did about 8 miles.

Day 5: All 3 parks (redux)

So, day 5, we started revisiting the parks on a “cleanup” trip, watching shows and hitting our favorite attactions again. I finally rode Velocicoaster after feeling so zonked on Day 2, and it was a sweetheart: Very “normal” from the first launch and series, and an absolute BEAST from the second launch into the double helix and the “oh wait we’re just going to hang you upside down” inversions on the back side.

Of Note:

  • “Stomp” at Universal Studios is a great street show outside
  • The “Marilyn Monroe” revue is cool in the Hollywood area
  • Really enjoyed the Jason Bourne Experience in Universal Studios
  • The Animations on the Hogwarts Express are different depending on which direction you’re going. Cute experience to ride both ways if you can.

We ended-up doing breakfast at Hogsmeade, doing plenty of Universal Orlando activities, riding the train to Hogsmeade, doing Islands of Adventure “best of”, then going over to Epic Universe to finish the day on the Carousel, a 3 Park day with 8.8 miles and 20k steps.

Day 6: Finishing at Epic Universe

For the last day, we sort of turned the girls loose. They were at Epic Universe early-ish and Whitney and I came later. Day 5 had exhausted us, really. The girls did more Dark Universe rides, Nintendo land, and had a very poor experience trying to get food at Nintendo.

Summary

This isn’t intended to be guide–there’s plenty of those out there. This is just a journal of how we did it:

  1. Two separate rooms, adjoining rooms at Cabana Bay
  2. 5 Day park-hopper (or whatever they’re called) tickets
  3. 5 day any-park express passes
  4. pre-bought breakfasts on 2 of the days
  5. We used the Universal App to navigate and find ride wait times, leveraged the express passes when wait times were > 30 minutes, and used Life360 to keep tabs on one another if we separated.

Ratings

  • Would I go back? Absolutely. Honestly, I prefer to Disney at this point.
  • Who’s the park for? I’d say older kids (8 and up) and older
  • Who shouldn’t go? Younger kids, people unfamiliar with the franchises/IP, people looking for “magic”
  • Biggest Surprise? Character encounters were delightful. We ran into Scooby-Doo in our hotel lobby, for example.
  • Biggest Disappointment? The Pork Sandwitch at the Minion Cafe is inedible