22 Things Worth Your Time & Money at Universal Orlando | 2 That Are Not

This video is supported by Orlando Informer. Ricks Top 6 Party Time Excellent! Hello and welcome to Rick's Flicks and this is the top 6 mistakes people make when visiting Universal Studios Orlando. So this will be the top 6 mistakes for you to avoid when visiting Universal plus you know what at the end let's throw in a bonus one. The first mistake people make when visiting Universal Orlando is visiting at the wrong time. What do I mean by saying visiting at the wrong time? Well the wrong time is the busy time. So what we have here, the busiest times of the year for Universal Studios Orlando would be the last two weeks of the year. That's the Christmas holiday vacation time. And then the first week of the year is also very bad like right after New Year's. So that whole New Year's day and New Year's week, a busy time. And then another busy time would be Spring Break slash Easter Break. So if you're going to visit during Spring Break, earlier in Spring Break season is better. Easter week is actually one of the worst times of the year, very very busy during Easter week. And then of course we have Summer Break. The week of Thanksgiving is always a busy week. And then lastly, any holiday that creates a three day weekend that is a busy time, that is the wrong time to come. I know what you're going to say. You're going to say, Rick you just mentioned every time of the year I can bring my kids because that is when they're out of school. That is correct. But I do have one way to mitigate this. So what you are going to want to do is utilize a crowd calendar. A crowd calendar is a predictive calendar. It will help let you know which days are anticipated to be a busy day, a slow day, or perhaps a moderate day. I would recommend you go to OrlandoInformer.com. They have a crowd calendar for Universal Studios Orlando. They collect a lot of data on ticket sales and things of that nature to help predict which days will be a slower day or a busier day or maybe just like a moderate day. So go to OrlandoInformer.com to help you plan what days you want to visit Universal Orlando. So using that crowd calendar may help a bit, but here, here's the main thing. Here's the big thing you need to do if you want to avoid crowds and long wait times. You will want to attend one of Orlando Informer's meetups. Yes, OrlandoInformer.com. The meetups are always at a lower capacity. So if you're really interested in small crowds and little to no wait times, you'll want to hit up one of those Orlando Informer meetups. But here's the great thing. Here's the super nice thing. In addition to the small crowds and the little to no wait times, you are going to get free unlimited food and non-alcoholic beverages. That's right. I said free food at a theme park. Now the dates of the Orlando Informer meetups, they do vary. Typically they will have a meetup in the summer and a meetup in December. For example, in the year 2021, the meetup dates were June 4th and 5th. They have sold out. And then they have the dates of November 19th and 20th. Some tickets are still available for that. And then the dates of December 3rd and 4th. Again, some tickets are available for those dates as well. And also, December 10th and 11th. That has sold out. Mistake number two. Buying your tickets at the gate instead of ahead of time online. You're coming to the theme park, right? You and your whole family, you are excited. You don't have tickets in hand. What's the first thing you have to do is go wait in line to buy tickets? You're going to be doing plenty of waiting in line when you're in the theme park. Don't start your day by waiting in line. The kids are all excited, anxious. They don't want to wait in line. And the lines to buy the tickets can get pretty long. So just avoid the trouble and buy your tickets online. Again, I would recommend visiting orlandoinformer.com. They do sell day tickets. In addition to those meetup tickets, they do sell day tickets for Universal Studios Orlando. So when you purchase your tickets on orlandoinformer.com, what they do, they will email you a PDF. Now you can print down that PDF and take it straight to the gate, the turnstiles, or you can display it on your phone. And again, just go straight to the turnstiles. Show that they will scan you in and you are starting your day without waiting in a line to buy tickets. And of course, I do have a favorite attendant. Hi, how are you? Miss America right here. I try to come through her line every time I'm here. Her name really is America. And ever since Nikki's dad stopped working here, she's the one I look for. One more thing when it comes to theme park tickets for Universal Studios Orlando. There are two theme parks here and a water park. The water park is Volcano Bay. The theme parks are Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. I highly recommend you buy a park-to-park pass to get you into Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. As far as the theme parks, they both have great rides and everything. Universal Studios is my favorite for walking around and enjoying shows and things like that. They also have some good rides. And my favorite just for rides is Islands of Adventure. And plus, when you have that park-to-park ticket, you can take Hogwarts Express between each park. Mistake number three. Not staying on Universal Studios property at one of their hotels. One of the big advantages to staying at any Universal Studios hotel, any of them, will allow you access for early park admission. That means you get to step into the park one hour before the general public does. And typically, this one hour is for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. That would be Hogsmeade over in Islands of Adventure and Diagon Alley at Universal Studios. And those are the busiest parts of the park. So it's best to visit those areas first thing in the morning during that early park admission. Universal Orlando Resorts. It divides its properties, its hotels, into four different categories. You have Premier, which is Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel, and Royal Pacific Resort. And then you have Preferred, which is one hotel, Sapphire Falls. And then you have your Prime Value, which consists of Cabana Bay and Aventura Hotels. And then you have your Value Hotels, which would be Endless Summer Resorts, Dockside, and Surfside. Now the big thing with the Premier Hotels, which again is Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel, and Royal Pacific, is you get free express passes when you stay at those hotels. That is a big, big advantage if you want to reduce your time waiting in lines. So most definitely, if you're considering staying on property and getting express passes, don't do that separately. Don't stay at one of the Preferred or the Value Hotels or the Prime Value, because then you would have to buy your express passes separately. So if you know you want express passes, go ahead and stay at one of those Premier Hotels. I cannot overstate the value of those express passes. And if you are staying at a Universal Studios Hotel, no matter how far away, there is free transportation. You can take buses, some of them. You can take boats, and you can always walk. But don't, don't try to swim. They've got the boats for that. The boats will run you to and from Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel, Royal Pacific Resort, and Sapphire Falls. So most definitely, not staying at a Universal Hotel is a mistake you will want to avoid. Mistake number four, not having a game plan for the younger kids. There are things for the young kids to do, but this is Universal Studios. They have, I would say, bigger, faster, more thrilling rides than say a Disney World does. Therefore, they have more height restrictions. So there may be some rides that look and sound exciting to the younger kids, but they just will not be tall enough to ride them. So what you need to do is develop a game plan for them. So you don't disappoint them. Here is what I would do. If I'm at the theme park, before I enter the park, Universal and Islands of Adventure, they do have a height board. They have height boards at the front of the theme parks before you even enter. So I would take little Jimmy or little Jane, line her up there at the height board, and set their expectations for what they can and cannot ride before you step foot into the park. That way, there's less likelihood they will get disappointed when walking around the park seeing something really cool and not being able to go on it because you've already discussed and shown them the rides they can and cannot ride. Mistake number five, not staying hydrated. It gets very, very hot and humid here in Florida pretty much year round, especially the summer. So you do not want to make the mistake of not hydrating. Of course, you can buy water pretty much anywhere in the park. But also, here's a Rick's trick. You can get free water at pretty much any location that serves soft drinks. Most of them do have that water button. Some of them have that soda water button in case you really like the bubbles, which is me. I really like the bubbles. I used to be addicted to soda, but to help me get away from that, I do drink a lot of soda water. But I can get that free here in the park at some locations. But a lot of these locations can give you free like flat water. Trust me, you do not want to make the mistake, especially if you're visiting during pandemic times when you have to wear a face mask of not hydrating yourself properly. Mistake number six. I was reluctant to add this to the list as there is an extra cost involved, but it could be a mistake not to purchase express passes. We still have a bonus item to go, but I wanted to make buying express passes number six on the list last on the list because I really do hate recommending something that is an extra cost. But the thing is, express passes makes the theme park day so much more enjoyable. It cuts down a lot, and I mean a lot of your wait time waiting for the rides. And when it comes to shows, a lot of times you will get better seating. But one thing you should be aware of, they do have a limited number of express passes. They can sell out of that. And then, of course, the thing that I mentioned earlier in the video, if you stay at one of the premier hotels, you do get express passes with your hotel room. So you do want to consider ahead of time if you're going to buy express passes or not. That way, it would help guide you as to which hotel you want to choose. Do you want to choose one of those hotels that have the express passes? And mistake number seven. We're in bonus territory now. Give you a bonus in this one. People make a mistake of not being prepared. And how do you best prepare for visiting Universal and Islands of Adventure? Watching Rick's Flicks. I have a lot, a lot of videos about Universal on my channel. But I'll leave a link to a few that I think you should most watch. I have a best of series. So the best of Universal Studios, the best of Islands of Adventure, and the best of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Those are all much watched videos. And then I've got a couple playlists. I have a Rick's top six playlist. We talk about the top six foods, the top six rides, the top six things you should buy. Things like that. And then the last one I want to recommend is my Harry Potter playlist. A lot of people visit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure because they love Harry Potter. We have Hogsmeade here in Islands of Adventure. And over in Universal Studios, we have Diagon Alley. I have a whole slew of Harry Potter videos. It's a must watch for any Harry Potter fan. So if this video is the first video you're watching from my channel and you're going to visit Universal Studios, go check out all those videos I just mentioned. I'll leave links to them in the description box. Or you know what? Just go to binge watch all. Watch all of them. Okay, guys. Before I go, remember what I said about the Orlando Informer meetups. For the year 2021, still some tickets available for the dates of November 19 and 20. And then December 3rd and 4th. And also, go check out those Rick's Flicks videos I recommended to you. And as always, don't miss the magic. Don't miss the fun. Thanks for watching Rick's Flicks. And now, time to relax. Special shout out to Sean Rasmussen and family. And now I need to shout out some new Flicksters. We have Benjamin Haley as a new executive producer. And then as new producers, we have Mbox Network. Skyla Nicely. Jinx Riddler. Patti Hall. And Mike Dittenberg. Our new supporters include Jim Statham. Donna Kelly. Linda Cooper. Share the Magic. Steven Evans. DMonkey. And Tim Campbell. Thank you guys so much for joining the team.