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Orlando / Disney / Universal Chat

Last year as a family of 5 we set up a Lyft account and ordered an XL when we arrived in Orlando but when the taxi turned up couldn’t fit the 5 cases in so 2 of us stayed behind and ordered another, I had to set up another account as you couldn’t order another on the same account until first journey completed!
 
We found Lyft to be very hit and miss out there, mostly miss! I just pickup a £10 PAYG SIM from Three and use that out there as it gives me 16gb of data and free calls to use out there, which we never go through as free WiFi everywhere.
Uber are always offering me Uber one to try free for 30 days so I get that and then get discounts on rides plus they are always sending me 40% and 60% off Uber eats orders so it's easy to get cheaper meals brought straight to the hotel
 
Lyft pink is free for 30 days too, the XL 5 peeps + luggage will happen on either Uber or Lyft.
When we went with friends in April I sometimes ordered an Uber and a Lyft just so we weren't packed in 1 car.

Taxi from the airport is easier as they have much larger vehicles at the ready.
 
I just hire a car......

Also means that i dont have to struggle to get about, and can fit in the occasional visit to Home Depot and Harbour Freight :)

Yes it means you get stung for parking at the parks, however at least you dont have to pay overnight if onsite (Disney) for parking any more, and can get their transport in if needed (costing nothing) :)
 
I just hire a car......

Also means that i dont have to struggle to get about, and can fit in the occasional visit to Home Depot and Harbour Freight :)

Yes it means you get stung for parking at the parks, however at least you dont have to pay overnight if onsite (Disney) for parking any more, and can get their transport in if needed (costing nothing) :)
Nah, I don't drive on holidays 🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻
 
Yeah that's my thinking too, wouldn't be able to buy them 12 dollar cans of funny tasting Stella they sell at the parks.
 
Car hire out there is silly prices, and prices for parking at the hotels at universal are nasty!
And as Crewey said i don't go out there to do driving when uber is so cheap, and always throwing deals at me
 
We’re now back from Orlando, had a great time once again.

If you’ve never been on an Airboat ride to see alligators up close then you can see them at Lake Tohopekaliga. When they crank up the speed, it’s good fun!

We did an airboat ride / alligator spotting last time we were there in 2022, was great fun as you say.

This visit a few notable things we did…

Dezerland, good fun but somewhat disappointed with quite a few of the machines, lots had issues and were off, quite a few that were on also had issues, flippers, lamps out, GI out on many……. Oh yeah the . was a feature on most! The newest machine there was a LCD stern, that was turned off though. We opted for the pass that covered the day for pinball and video games, what I didn’t realise was ‘video games’ were home consoles, which I don’t really have much interest in, I kind of expected them to be arcade machines.

The Hagrid ride at Universal, seen it many times never done it and didn’t know what to expect, no spoilers here but it was fantastic.

Discovery Cove, much nicer place than other water park places we’ve been to, not a huge amount to do, it did have the best lazy river I’ve ever been in. It never really seemed that busy (I believe they limit the entrance numbers?) everything is inclusive once your inside (with the exception of premium cocktails) we had 2 meals (breakfast and a late lunch) and a few beers each, non of this nonsense of when you last had something, it’s what you want when you want. Very good, just a shame they have the big fish in captivity.

Sea World (again shame about the big fish) rode Mako a few times (a coaster I love) Manta and nearly Pipeline, their new stand up coaster, I say nearly as when we were waiting we spotted that one rider position was repeatedly being ejected and not allowed to ride, I obviously was told to go to that position, then they told me I was too big to ride it, I protested but told ‘no, just go’ I’m a 36 waist and a L tee shirt! There was much larger people than myself riding, my boy said the ride was okay though. Penguin Trek officially opened on the 7th July, we were there prior to this and it was running, looks like it’s aimed at the younger visitors.

Not Orlando / Disney / Universal, but we went to Anna Maria Island on the west coast near Tampa, what a stunningly beautiful place, very old world and relaxed, beautiful beaches and found a great place for lunch, The Sandbar Restaurant, highly recommended.

We hired a car for 14 days, I see people are saying they think they are expensive, I thought it was cheap, the smallest crap box was £400, as we planned to do a bit of driving about whilst there we opted for a premium car this took it to £441 (Dollar rental booked through Holiday Autos) on arrival all premium cars were out so they gave us a Ford Explorer at no extra charge.

We stayed at Floridays as they had a great option on 2 and 3 bedroom accommodation, we had a 2 bedroom (over 100m2) master bedroom sleeps 2 with en-suite, the second bedroom had 2 double beds and its own bathroom, full sized kitchen and laundry facilities in the room, no charge to park the hire car and £1770 for 14 nights (late June to 12th July) I thought this was really great value for what it gave us.

For getting around locally we used a lot of Ubers, if we went to a theme park it was cheaper to take an Uber each way than pay the park car parking charge. If we hadn’t been travelling around I honestly wouldn’t bother with a hire car and just use Uber or similar.

For meals, we had some of the usual junk food, but also Hard Rock Cafe at Universal’s City Walks, Sharks Grill at Sea World and The Cheesecake Factory, wow that one was great, portion size was silly though, 1 main would be more than sufficient for 2 people or more likely 3! So after none of the 3 of us finishing our main courses we obviously ordered a slice of cheesecake each to go, seems this is totally normal!

Chris.
 
We’re now back from Orlando, had a great time once again.



We did an airboat ride / alligator spotting last time we were there in 2022, was great fun as you say.

This visit a few notable things we did…

Dezerland, good fun but somewhat disappointed with quite a few of the machines, lots had issues and were off, quite a few that were on also had issues, flippers, lamps out, GI out on many……. Oh yeah the . was a feature on most! The newest machine there was a LCD stern, that was turned off though. We opted for the pass that covered the day for pinball and video games, what I didn’t realise was ‘video games’ were home consoles, which I don’t really have much interest in, I kind of expected them to be arcade machines.

The Hagrid ride at Universal, seen it many times never done it and didn’t know what to expect, no spoilers here but it was fantastic.

Discovery Cove, much nicer place than other water park places we’ve been to, not a huge amount to do, it did have the best lazy river I’ve ever been in. It never really seemed that busy (I believe they limit the entrance numbers?) everything is inclusive once your inside (with the exception of premium cocktails) we had 2 meals (breakfast and a late lunch) and a few beers each, non of this nonsense of when you last had something, it’s what you want when you want. Very good, just a shame they have the big fish in captivity.

Sea World (again shame about the big fish) rode Mako a few times (a coaster I love) Manta and nearly Pipeline, their new stand up coaster, I say nearly as when we were waiting we spotted that one rider position was repeatedly being ejected and not allowed to ride, I obviously was told to go to that position, then they told me I was too big to ride it, I protested but told ‘no, just go’ I’m a 36 waist and a L tee shirt! There was much larger people than myself riding, my boy said the ride was okay though. Penguin Trek officially opened on the 7th July, we were there prior to this and it was running, looks like it’s aimed at the younger visitors.

Not Orlando / Disney / Universal, but we went to Anna Maria Island on the west coast near Tampa, what a stunningly beautiful place, very old world and relaxed, beautiful beaches and found a great place for lunch, The Sandbar Restaurant, highly recommended.

We hired a car for 14 days, I see people are saying they think they are expensive, I thought it was cheap, the smallest crap box was £400, as we planned to do a bit of driving about whilst there we opted for a premium car this took it to £441 (Dollar rental booked through Holiday Autos) on arrival all premium cars were out so they gave us a Ford Explorer at no extra charge.

We stayed at Floridays as they had a great option on 2 and 3 bedroom accommodation, we had a 2 bedroom (over 100m2) master bedroom sleeps 2 with en-suite, the second bedroom had 2 double beds and its own bathroom, full sized kitchen and laundry facilities in the room, no charge to park the hire car and £1770 for 14 nights (late June to 12th July) I thought this was really great value for what it gave us.

For getting around locally we used a lot of Ubers, if we went to a theme park it was cheaper to take an Uber each way than pay the park car parking charge. If we hadn’t been travelling around I honestly wouldn’t bother with a hire car and just use Uber or similar.

For meals, we had some of the usual junk food, but also Hard Rock Cafe at Universal’s City Walks, Sharks Grill at Sea World and The Cheesecake Factory, wow that one was great, portion size was silly though, 1 main would be more than sufficient for 2 people or more likely 3! So after none of the 3 of us finishing our main courses we obviously ordered a slice of cheesecake each to go, seems this is totally normal!

Chris.
Top advice. 36 days and counting till I’m off.

Arcade monsters definitely on the list along with an airboat ride, Kennedy, Disney, universal, Busch, Sea world.

Managed to get an intermediate SUV for £300 for two weeks with Jet2 with Dollar. Have seen the car parking charges which truly take the p!ss

Going to be a very busy two weeks.
 
We’re now back from Orlando, had a great time once again.



We did an airboat ride / alligator spotting last time we were there in 2022, was great fun as you say.

This visit a few notable things we did…

Dezerland, good fun but somewhat disappointed with quite a few of the machines, lots had issues and were off, quite a few that were on also had issues, flippers, lamps out, GI out on many……. Oh yeah the . was a feature on most! The newest machine there was a LCD stern, that was turned off though. We opted for the pass that covered the day for pinball and video games, what I didn’t realise was ‘video games’ were home consoles, which I don’t really have much interest in, I kind of expected them to be arcade machines.

The Hagrid ride at Universal, seen it many times never done it and didn’t know what to expect, no spoilers here but it was fantastic.

Discovery Cove, much nicer place than other water park places we’ve been to, not a huge amount to do, it did have the best lazy river I’ve ever been in. It never really seemed that busy (I believe they limit the entrance numbers?) everything is inclusive once your inside (with the exception of premium cocktails) we had 2 meals (breakfast and a late lunch) and a few beers each, non of this nonsense of when you last had something, it’s what you want when you want. Very good, just a shame they have the big fish in captivity.

Sea World (again shame about the big fish) rode Mako a few times (a coaster I love) Manta and nearly Pipeline, their new stand up coaster, I say nearly as when we were waiting we spotted that one rider position was repeatedly being ejected and not allowed to ride, I obviously was told to go to that position, then they told me I was too big to ride it, I protested but told ‘no, just go’ I’m a 36 waist and a L tee shirt! There was much larger people than myself riding, my boy said the ride was okay though. Penguin Trek officially opened on the 7th July, we were there prior to this and it was running, looks like it’s aimed at the younger visitors.

Not Orlando / Disney / Universal, but we went to Anna Maria Island on the west coast near Tampa, what a stunningly beautiful place, very old world and relaxed, beautiful beaches and found a great place for lunch, The Sandbar Restaurant, highly recommended.

We hired a car for 14 days, I see people are saying they think they are expensive, I thought it was cheap, the smallest crap box was £400, as we planned to do a bit of driving about whilst there we opted for a premium car this took it to £441 (Dollar rental booked through Holiday Autos) on arrival all premium cars were out so they gave us a Ford Explorer at no extra charge.

We stayed at Floridays as they had a great option on 2 and 3 bedroom accommodation, we had a 2 bedroom (over 100m2) master bedroom sleeps 2 with en-suite, the second bedroom had 2 double beds and its own bathroom, full sized kitchen and laundry facilities in the room, no charge to park the hire car and £1770 for 14 nights (late June to 12th July) I thought this was really great value for what it gave us.

For getting around locally we used a lot of Ubers, if we went to a theme park it was cheaper to take an Uber each way than pay the park car parking charge. If we hadn’t been travelling around I honestly wouldn’t bother with a hire car and just use Uber or similar.

For meals, we had some of the usual junk food, but also Hard Rock Cafe at Universal’s City Walks, Sharks Grill at Sea World and The Cheesecake Factory, wow that one was great, portion size was silly though, 1 main would be more than sufficient for 2 people or more likely 3! So after none of the 3 of us finishing our main courses we obviously ordered a slice of cheesecake each to go, seems this is totally normal!

Chris.
Cheesecake factory is a must, especially the one in Caesars Palace in Vegas! Also Bubba Gumps in Universal just as you come off the moving walkways going into City Walk is a great place to go for food or drinks. We always have great fun there playing the Forest gump Quiz.
 
We've eaten pretty much everywhere at Universal over the years. Highlights are:

- Strong Water Tavern at Sapphire Falls has the best food in the entire resort - really excellent small plates to share and great drinks too. Absolutely love it.

- If you visit Strong Water Tavern it's worth taking the two minute walk over to Aventura and having a drink at the rooftop bar, Bar 17 Bistro, for the views.

- Orchid Court Lounge & Sushi Bar at Royal Pacific does excellent sushi.

- If you want buffalo wings and don't want to leave the resort then head to Jake's at Royal Pacific.

- The Palm at Hard Rock does a good steak but $$$. We aren't huge fans of corn fed beef in the States and prefer grass fed beef over here so tend to skip.

- Bice at Portofino is very good Italian fine dining but again $$$ and not really worth it from our POV so again tend to skip.

- Standouts at CityWalk for us are Big Fire and Cowfish. Antojitos used to be good but has gone downhill. Vivo is excellent but we find Italian food quite heavy in Orlando heat. Some people love Toothsome but we aren't huge fans. We normally get a milkshake to go at some point though from the downstairs counter.

- We always, always have lunch at Mythos in Islands of Adventure on our first day. The souvlaki couscous bowl is pretty much my favourite lunch dish anywhere.

- Best soft pretzels are at Duff Gardens in USF. Be rude not to get a Duff to go with one.

We've also done most of the table service restaurants at Disney but don't want to comment as haven't spent much time there since 2019 as we just don't feel there's value there anymore. The WDW product has really declined in quality but they're charging more than ever so fails the value proposition test for us.

Outside of Universal we normally hit The Cheesecake Factory but make sure we go hungry as portions really are obscene. My wife adores The Boathouse at Disney Springs which is also $$$ but honestly fantastic seafood so she makes sure we get over there at least once a trip. If it wasn't for that restaurant we wouldn't have set foot on WDW property in almost five years now. There's great Dim Sum just 10 mins or so drive from Universal at Dim Dim Sum. Oh and I lived in Virginia for a year in my 20s so we have to stop at a Wawa every trip for a hoagie.


When it comes to transport we always rent a car. My wife demands at least one visit to the outlets each trip, and the amount of cash we save buying cases of bottled water / gatorade / beer / snacks etc at Publix or Walmart vs at the resorts or parks tends to offset the cost of the car rental. The cost of parking at the resorts / parks is another thing entirely though. When we're drinking we generally find Uber to be the quickest but have used Lyft too.

For rental cars we prefer Alamo for the Skip the Counter service, and we tend to find the best prices are via Alamo Brits (https://www.alamo.co.uk/en/car-hire-deals/brits-readers-deal.html) but you'll need to take a copy of one of the 'Brits Guide to...' books with you just in case they check.
 
One quick note re Universal - if you're considering buying express passes, check the cost of one night at either Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel or Royal Pacific. One night at any of these resorts will come with two full days of Unlimited Express for everyone staying in the room. You can literally check in at 6am to get your room key then use the unlimited express benefit from park open to park close on both your check in day and check out day.

The other benefit of doing this is you can head back to the resort in the afternoon when the room is ready, change into swimwear + t shirts, and head back into Islands of Adventure to do the water rides. Unless you're very lucky, Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges will soak you to the absolute bone and walking around in normal clothes after that isn't much fun. It's not a ride to miss though.

The Hagrid ride at Universal, seen it many times never done it and didn’t know what to expect, no spoilers here but it was fantastic.

Hagrid's doesn't have express and it's still the most popular ride at the resort which means that lots of people queue up ahead of park open and run straight there, which if you're an early riser isn't the worst idea in the world as you'll still be waiting for it, but not wasting park time.

A tip for those who aren't going to make it to the gates an hour before they open though - the lines for Hagrids tend to be shortest in the early afternoon around the time most are getting lunch. Failing that try hopping in line in the last half hour the park is open. Benefit of that is it's even better at night.

Oh also it's worth waiting for the front row on Velocicoaster at least once. Back row is a more intense ride but the views from the front are incredible.
 
One quick note re Universal - if you're considering buying express passes, check the cost of one night at either Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel or Royal Pacific. One night at any of these resorts will come with two full days of Unlimited Express for everyone staying in the room. You can literally check in at 6am to get your room key then use the unlimited express benefit from park open to park close on both your check in day and check out day.

The other benefit of doing this is you can head back to the resort in the afternoon when the room is ready, change into swimwear + t shirts, and head back into Islands of Adventure to do the water rides. Unless you're very lucky, Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges will soak you to the absolute bone and walking around in normal clothes after that isn't much fun. It's not a ride to miss though.



Hagrid's doesn't have express and it's still the most popular ride at the resort which means that lots of people queue up ahead of park open and run straight there, which if you're an early riser isn't the worst idea in the world as you'll still be waiting for it, but not wasting park time.

A tip for those who aren't going to make it to the gates an hour before they open though - the lines for Hagrids tend to be shortest in the early afternoon around the time most are getting lunch. Failing that try hopping in line in the last half hour the park is open. Benefit of that is it's even better at night.

Oh also it's worth waiting for the front row on Velocicoaster at least once. Back row is a more intense ride but the views from the front are incredible.
Sapphire Falls is about to be added to that list by Universal
 
Sapphire Falls is about to be added to that list by Universal

I wish it was, it’s our favourite resort apart from the lack of express.

Unfortunately though, whilst it is being added to the same ‘Signature Collection’ category as the others along with Helios at Epic Universe, it looks like it won’t be getting unlimited express. It’s a contractual issue with Loews apparently - it was agreed that only PBH / HRH / RPR would have the unlimited express benefit.

Would love to be proved wrong on this one though.

IMG_0808.jpeg
 
Thats a shame. we have stayed at all of them there and none of them come close to cabana bay as far as we are concerned. We stayed at Aventura Christmas last year and it was disgusting, so dirty everywhere including the massive bay window corner room i booked.
They had to replace our tv in the room twice due to it just shutting down and refusing to work again, then the Aircon stopped working so they swapped our room only to find when we got into the new room that the door lock wouldn't lock. To be fair to them the staff were lovely and they did refund us back 4 nights and gave us vouchers for 2 free meals and 2 free cocktails, so not all bad but a right pain in the ****!.
Also aventura have all the lifts for the rooms in the right hand corner as you enter the hotel which was a stupid idea as more often than not there were ques to get in them, even worse if the stupid robot they had got stuck trying to get into the lifts which most of the time it would.
 
we go to Orlando every year and stay @ universal cabana bay its close the volcano bay walking distance and the main park entrances a short bus ride every 10 minutes
the early access to the parks is a load of crap ! yes you get access 1 hour early but there's only 1 ride open all the main attractions are closed until the main park opens
so it a bit pointless really
roll on the 9th august :)
 
Cheesecake factory is a must, especially the one in Caesars Palace in Vegas! Also Bubba Gumps in Universal just as you come off the moving walkways going into City Walk is a great place to go for food or drinks. We always have great fun there playing the Forest gump Quiz.
Bubba Gumps is good. If you’ve got young kids they bring across the drinks in a flashy light up glass (which of course you can buy). The kids loved it though and I didn’t have the heart to say no lol
 
One quick note re Universal - if you're considering buying express passes, check the cost of one night at either Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel or Royal Pacific. One night at any of these resorts will come with two full days of Unlimited Express for everyone staying in the room. You can literally check in at 6am to get your room key then use the unlimited express benefit from park open to park close on both your check in day and check out day.
Done this several times and worth every penny... Rocked in at 6am, dropped the overnight bag with concierge, upgraded my ticket in reception (they had machines there last visit that would let me do this) and headed straight to the park on the boat :)
They even text you when your room is ready!
 
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we go to Orlando every year and stay @ universal cabana bay its close the volcano bay walking distance and the main park entrances a short bus ride every 10 minutes
the early access to the parks is a load of crap ! yes you get access 1 hour early but there's only 1 ride open all the main attractions are closed until the main park opens
so it a bit pointless really
roll on the 9th august :)
I used to have a 4 bed villa with pool about 10 minutes car ride from Disney. The competition is so huge out there that you can get loads of good deals and I was never able to make any money out of it. Had some great holidays though when the kids were little. If you don’t want to stay on site and have some space away from the parks it’s a good option.
 
Thanks for the advice, guys. Heading to Cabana Bay mid-August, and my family can't wait. We've got tickets for both Universal and Disney, as the family has never been before. The kids are all young adults, 14, 18, and 22, so we're expecting to spend more time at Universal than at Disney.
It's my birthday while we're there, and my girlfriend has booked a meal at Oga's Cantina. I can't wait!
We haven't booked any express passes for the parks yet. We are hoping getting in early at Universal would be enough. For the few days at Disney, we are planning to use the Genie+ Lightning lane. We have also been told that using the Single Ride Queue is a good idea.
Thanks again for all the advice, guys. Thanks to your suggestions, I have already set aside one day to try out Arcade Monsters.
 
The fast pass tickets were crazy money from memory

Yes, this is why it’s worth pricing up at least one night at Portofino / Royal Pacific / Hard Rock Hotel - they all come with unlimited front of the line access for everyone in the room and just one night gets you two days of access.

90% of the time it’s a big saving on buying the passes on their own. Lots of people book the rooms for the passes and don’t even stay at the hotel.
 
Yes, this is why it’s worth pricing up at least one night at Portofino / Royal Pacific / Hard Rock Hotel - they all come with unlimited front of the line access for everyone in the room and just one night gets you two days of access.

90% of the time it’s a big saving on buying the passes on their own. Lots of people book the rooms for the passes and don’t even stay at the hotel.
same, deffo will look at doing this. With the front of the line access, is it a separate queue you go into ?
 
same, deffo will look at doing this. With the front of the line access, is it a separate queue you go into ?

Yes, there's a dedicated express line at almost every attraction. Couple of exceptions - no express at Hagrids or Pteranodon Flyers.

The latter you can't ride without a young child under a certain height limit with you either way. It's also not operating at the moment.
 
Top advice. 36 days and counting till I’m off.

Arcade monsters definitely on the list along with an airboat ride, Kennedy, Disney, universal, Busch, Sea world.

Managed to get an intermediate SUV for £300 for two weeks with Jet2 with Dollar. Have seen the car parking charges which truly take the p!ss

Going to be a very busy two weeks.

If you're picking up the car at the airport, then you should definitely look at getting a toll pass too.
 
If you're picking up the car at the airport, then you should definitely look at getting a toll pass too.
Used this last time - pick up at the airport, drop off at the airport. Ust it on the app.
Just have to leave it haning from the rear view mirror when going through tolls. Cheap and hassle free :)
 
need to have a look at that we always go with tui you never get the option for the top hotels

I've never booked with Tui myself but I've had the occasional look and I’ve definitely seen Royal Pacific as an option before. Either way it can make sense to book one night at one of the three top hotels even if you have another hotel sorted for the duration of the trip just for the express.

August is peak season and would be pretty last minute, but I've just had a look at the night of the 13th August on hotels.com for two adults and two teens. Royal Pacific is £403, Hard Rock is £476 and Portofino is £488.

1720957248363.png

If we go with Royal Pacific as the cheapest of those, that works out to £100.75 for two days of unlimited express per person / £50.38 per day and you get a hotel room chucked in.

If you were buying Unlimited Express direct from Universal it would cost $180 + tax per person on the 13th and $170 + tax per person on the 14th. That works out to $372.75 / £293.47 for two days of unlimtes express per person / £146.74 per day.

The only problem is once you get used to having Unlimited Express you'll always want it. My wife and I love Sapphire Falls but tend to end up staying at Royal Pacific instead just to get the benefit. Then again we don't have kids so only have to cover flights / park tickets / meals for two, which makes the whole trip much more affordable. We also collect Virgin points which we use for flight redemptions etc.

For a little while we had the top tier Universal annual pass which gave us single use express after 4pm, and when we had that we ended up staying at Sapphire but this year we went back to lower tier passes and booking Royal Pacific. Being able to do what you want, when you want, with very little time spent in the lines is very hard to beat.
 
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