2025 Universal Orlando Planning Guide

Our Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Epic Universe planning guide offers park & ride strategy. It features tips & tricks to help you save money & time, avoid crowds, and have the best vacation or side-visit from Walt Disney World as possible. (Updated May 25, 2025.)

We’re Universal Orlando Annual Passholders and huge fans of those parks in addition to Walt Disney World. Universal has improved a ton and upped its game in the last decade. This began with the Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade lands of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, accelerated with Jurassic World VelociCoaster, and culminated with Epic Universe in May 2025.

Epic Universe is the elephant in the room, and there’s a good chance you’re reading this guide in order to plan the perfect visit to experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, and Dark Universe. Fortunately, we’ve already spent several days in Epic Universe (with many more to come) and have strategy, reviews, tips & tricks, etc. Sign up to receive our FREE Email Newsletter if you’d like to receive updates about Epic Universe (and obviously, Disney as well).

Suffice to say, we highly recommend spending at least a couple of days at Universal when vacationing at Walt Disney World. The question becomes, do you reallocate time from Universal’s existing gates or Disney’s? And do you stay on-site at Disney, Universal, or do a split-stay at both?

This is guide to Universal Orlando Resort attempts to assist you in answering some of those questions and everything you’ll need to know about UOR. Whether you’re doing both parks in a single day or making a trip of it with an on-site hotel stay and multiple days in the parks, we have you covered with info and advice about attractions, dining, resorts, strategy, crowds, and more.

Let’s start with Epic Universe, since that’s the big new thing–and reason why many of you are likely reading…

Epic Universe – Now Open!

If you’re planning a 2025 vacation to Central Florida, the biggest thing to know is that Epic Universe officially opened on May 22! This is Universal Orlando’s third theme park, and is a blockbuster expansion containing revolutionary attractions and major lands based on Harry Potter, Nintendo, Universal Monsters, How to Train Your Dragon, and more. Epic Universe is a game-changer, featuring lands on par with Disney’s best.

Epic Universe should be the overriding consideration if you’re visiting Central Florida for the remainder of this year. One thing to note up front is that there are major downsides to visiting this highly-anticipated new park during its opening season(s), as laid out in Why You Should Skip Epic Universe (or Wait to Visit Until 2026).

This new park is going to have growing pains, and its envelope-pushing attractions are already plagued by downtime and unreliability. If you visit Epic Universe during its debut season or even first year, you’re likely to encounter technical difficulties and other frustrations. With that said, there are also great reasons to visit ASAP, and dedicate more of your Florida vacation time to the new park–Here’s Why You Need 2 Days at Epic Universe.

If you do opt to visit Epic Universe, the good news is that we have plenty of strategy to help plan your visit. For starters, we’d recommend staying at Helios Grand Hotel if Epic Universe is a priority.

Its location and ease of access should give guests of that hotel a strategic advantage. Helios Grand Hotel does not offer unlimited Express Pass, which is undoubtedly a drawback, but its advantage at Epic Universe (and competitive price) more than makes up for that.

If you’re on a tighter budget, we recommend Stella Nova or Terra Luna Resorts, which are value hotels within walking distance of Epic Universe. This trio of hotels is at the Epic Universe ‘campus’ of Universal Orlando, which is a decent distance from the other parks and resorts. If you’re spending equal time at all 3 parks, you might want to stay on the main campus–but we recommend focusing on Epic Universe.

At opening, Epic Universe features 11 rides and two major shows, plus a wide variety of atmospheric entertainment, play areas, and more. This includes 4 roller coasters, two blockbuster dark rides, and more. If you’re looking for a detailed look at attractions, consult our Ride Rankings & Reviews for Epic Universe.

At this point, we’d recommend using those ride reviews to formulate your own itinerary. It’s too early for us to have a detailed 1-day Epic Universe touring plan because we’ve yet to see the new park get stress-tested by crowds. Due to that, it’s difficult to offer full-day strategy, as priorities and wait times will change in the months to come.

However, we do have both an Early Park Admission Epic Universe Strategy Guide and Epic Universe Morning Strategy for Rope Drop & Beyond. That will get you through the first few hours of the day, and should assist you in beating the lines at roughly your first half-dozen attractions.

After that, here’s a rough tentative plan for a day at Epic Universe:

Note that if you are eligible for Early Park Admission, starting in Super Nintendo World is our recommendation. If you don’t, save Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge and Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness until the end of the evening.

Even if you’re eligible for EPA, you probably won’t be able to experience all of Super Nintendo World during that hour-long head-start. In which case, return at night and enjoy the vibrant atmosphere, mini-games, Yoshi’s Adventure, and more. (You also might want to re-ride Mario Kart to beat your high score!)

Here’s what you need to know for planning your bigger-picture Universal Orlando vacation…

In this guide, we’ll cover how to make the most of a visit to Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Epic Universe. We’re going to take a counterintuitive organizational approach to this guide, as we’ve found that many readers consult it while visiting Universal rather than during the planning stages of a trip. Accordingly, we’re going to front load with info you need to know if you’ve already touched down in Central Florida.

If you’re a Disney fan simply trying to determine whether a trip to Universal Orlando Resort is right for you in the first place, you might start by reading our Universal vs. Walt Disney World post, which covers some of the pros and cons of each, plus the differences between the two vacation destinations.

Although they’re all theme parks located in Central Florida, each have strengths and weaknesses that will make them better or worse for certain types of families–ages, demographics, etc. Right off the bat, we recognize that many of you will need to “sacrifice” a Walt Disney World park in order to accommodate Epic Universe. Should You Skip Animal Kingdom? might help with that.

Similarly, if you’re debating between resorts at the two main theme park complexes, see our comprehensive breakdown: Universal Orlando vs. Walt Disney World Hotels. That should help you determine which is the better option for your vacation–or if a split stay might be best!

For what it’s worth, neither of these versus posts nor the one about whether Universal is “beating” Disney are pointless fan cheerleading or theme parks as polarizing team sports. The two versus posts are practical planning that objectively weigh pros and cons, whereas the “beating” one is an editorial (not useful for planning, but potentially interesting).

One commonality between the two is that both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando have gotten more aggressive with discounts in an attempt to entice more people to visit their parks and stay in on-site hotels. We’ve mentioned repeatedly that Walt Disney World already has released several different discounts for 2025.

Universal has followed suit, shifting from discounts aimed almost exclusively at Annual Passholders and Florida residents to general public offers. There are currently ticket deals, resort discounts offering 20-35% off, and package deals offering “Free” Dining (sound familiar?).

These are worth pricing out for yourself, but we should warn that many have length of stay requirements of 5 days. That’s longer than most people will spend at Universal Orlando (which is part of why it’s being offered–to increase visit durations). In any case, we recommend using a travel agent–such as Be Our Guest Vacations–to price out different packages and deals, and help you figure out the best way to save, plan your trip, etc.

Now let’s turn to Universal Orlando’s advanced planning topics…

Where to Stay

There are a number of questions you have to ask yourself when planning a trip, and many of them will dictate where you stay. Do you want Unlimited Express Pass by staying at an eligible Universal Orlando hotel? Do you want to stay at a Walt Disney World hotel for the duration of your trip, or change hotels? Do you want to stay an an off-site hotel in the general vicinity of both Universal and Disney to save money?

We’ve recently stayed at every single on-site hotel at Universal Orlando Resort–here are our reviews:

For insight into all of these hotels, their pros & cons, and how they compare and contrast with one another, see our Universal Orlando Hotel Rankings & Reviews.

We are big fans of Universal’s hotels, and are particularly partial to the two “bay” resorts: Loews Portofino Bay Hotel and Cabana Bay Beach Resort. Both of those are in our top 10 hotels in Orlando, rivaling some of our favorite resorts at Walt Disney World.

Universal’s hotels provide great bang for buck, and even those that don’t include free Express Pass do offer Early Park Admission one hour before those parks open. That can be absolutely huge!

As for staying off-site, you generally will get the most bang for your buck when staying in an off-site hotel, as there are a lot of non-Disney and non-Universal hotels competing with one another. We have an Off-Site vs. On-Site Walt Disney World Hotels article that goes into greater depth about the pros and cons of staying off-site, and it’s marginally applicable to Universal, as well.

As for simply staying at a Walt Disney World hotel for the duration of your trip regardless of where you go, we have written comprehensive reviews with our opinions and photos of the rooms. Check out our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews page, for links to each of these reviews.

Ride Strategy for Universal Orlando

Next, what to know while you’re at Universal Orlando. For starters, we strongly recommend that you do not “wing it” for your daily itinerary due to the aforementioned crowd issues. You don’t need to plan every movement so that there’s no spontaneity in your trip, just make sure you have at least a loose plan of what you’re going to do.

We have the following plans for each park that cover our perfect days:

Those offer step by step touring plans for both theme parks at Universal Orlando, prioritizing the most popular rides and skipping what isn’t worth your time. Those will help you do Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk Coaster, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, and other must-do rides.

If you’d prefer to create your own itineraries and want an overview and review of every attraction at each of the parks, consult our Islands of Adventure Ride Guide and Universal Studios Florida Ride Guide. If you’re a fan spinners, you might want to check those out, as we don’t waste your time with that nonsense in the itineraries.

When to Visit

If you’re adding on a Universal Orlando visit to your Walt Disney World vacation, the answer to this is easy…whenever you’re visiting Walt Disney World. Crowd patterns at Walt Disney World translate pretty similarly to Universal Orlando.

The reasons are two-fold: first, because crowds tend to be predicated upon school schedules, which are the same for both; second, because Walt Disney World is the ‘whale’ in the Orlando market, so crowds for all theme parks are dictated by when guests plan their Disney vacations.

In other words, you can refer to our 2025-2026 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars post to determine when to visit, as that’s roughly applicable to Universal Orlando as well.

There are only some exceptions to this, and they’re largely predicated upon special events that are unique to each of the parks. For example, Walt Disney World sees its crowds spike due to runDisney events, when its hotels are hosting conventions or youth sporting events, or during EPCOT festivals. By contrast, Universal sees its own spikes around Mardi Gras and Halloween Horror Nights.

In general, though, the big driver of attendance at both is school breaks. In particular, those of Orange County and other counties throughout Florida and the South. Of course, both are vacation destinations, so breaks for school districts in the Midwest and Northeast also have a significant impact. The obvious times like Spring Break, Easter, Summer, Fall Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve are all busy.

More under the radar timeframes like MLK Day, Presidents’ Day, Mardi Gras, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and more also see pronounced spikes in crowds. Again, reference the aforementioned crowd calendars if you’re looking to choose the best times to visit Universal Orlando.

Due to a surge of locals on weekends, we strongly recommend avoiding Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Epic Universe on Saturdays and Sundays. Mondays through Thursdays are the best days to visit, with much lower crowds then. However, that goes out the window during holiday weeks or anytime school is out of session, when it’s disproportionately tourists and every single day of the week is busy.

The one exception to this is if you want to see or avoid Halloween season at Universal, namely Halloween Horror Nights (HHN). This is a hard ticket event that has a huge following among locals and fans of haunt season, in general.

During HHN, you step onto the set of some of your favorite horror movies, and walking through those sets as actors attempt to scare you. This event is not for children under the age of 13, and has absolutely nothing in common with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World. See our Guide to Halloween Horror Nights for more.

Aside from this, the only noteworthy events are Mardi Gras and Christmas.

During Mardi Gras, guests can experience a food festival with cuisine and entertainment inspired by international Carnaval celebrations. Food booths serve up the flavors of Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Germany, Spain and other regions including, of course, New Orleans. Plus enjoy spectacular floats on display, street entertainment, music, beads and more throughout Universal Studios Florida.

Although HHN gets all the attention from the fan community, an equally popular seasonal event is Christmas at Universal Orlando. During this, Grinchmas and Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s are the main entertainment draws. There’s also the Christmas Tribute Store, which is essentially a walk-through exhibit, plus Universal Studios Florida’s iconic Christmas Tree.

Perhaps the biggest draw is Winter in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which features unique decor and projections on Hogwarts Castle. There are also decorations around both parks in Seuss Landing, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, Hollywood, New York, and San Francisco.

How Many Days?

This one is going to vary widely based on a few variables. The biggest one is how receptive your party is to the type of attractions that are prominent at Universal Orlando Resort, namely, roller coasters and screen-based simulators.

That’s reductionist, and there are many more things at Universal than those types of rides, but if your party is averse to either, doing more than 2 days at Universal is going to be tough. If you love coasters or have teens, you can easily spend 3 days or more at Universal Orlando.

In our view, the average guest will want at least 2 days at Universal Orlando in 2025. One for Epic Universe, and another 1-2 days for the other two parks. It’s possible to do Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida in the same day, but it’s not possible to do Epic Universe and another park in the same day.

At the upper end of the spectrum, theme park enthusiasts could be able to spend 2 full days at Epic Universe and another 2 days at the other parks. Epic Universe has an exceptional restaurant roster, and its roller coasters have a lot of re-rideability, as do Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, and Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment.

There’s also the question of whether you’re planning a Central Florida trip with some time at Universal, or a vacation to Universal Orlando. If the former, 2 days is probably all you have–one for Epic Universe and one for the rest. If the latter, you could do 5+ days, with 4 in the 3 theme parks, another at Volcano Bay water park, and perhaps some time at CityWalk.

Then, there’s also the question of how much “extra” vacation time you have. Assuming you’ve already allocated your time at Walt Disney World and are looking at “other stuff” to round out your trip to Florida, I’d probably look to spending more time at Universal than other parks like SeaWorld or Busch Gardens. That’s personal preference and all of these parks definitely aren’t trying to accomplish the same thing, but I find the Disney and Universal parks to be in a different league than all of the rest.

Universal Orlando Park Tickets

If you’re looking for a deal on park tickets, Get Away Today will save you the most money on Universal Orlando tickets. This is especially true if you’re doing a longer trip, as Get Away Today has a ‘Buy 2 days, get 3 days free’ special. With more and more to do at Universal Orlando, spending several days in the parks is highly recommended–especially if you’re staying in a nearby hotel and want to do some partial days (also recommended).

I am a fan of the Park-to-Park tickets if you can swing spending extra. This is because Universal did something really ingenious when it built Diagon Alley, and that was connecting the two Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter via the Hogwarts Express.

You can only ride this train from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley (or vice-a-versa) if you have the Park-to-Park ticket. I’m no Harry Potter fan, but the experience of entering a train station in London, walking through a wall, and then taking a train to Hogsmeade is pretty awesome.

If you’re going for just one day and don’t want the park-to-park tickets, the best way to save money on Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida tickets is simply going to be buying tickets online on Universal Orlando’s website. The Universal tickets purchased online can be printed at home and used at the turnstiles–meaning no waiting in line to purchase tickets or exchange vouchers.

It’s also worth noting that Epic Universe really complicates ticketing for the remainder of 2025. Thankfully, it’ll be a normal part of Universal Orlando ticketing in 2026.

Express Pass

Express Pass is Universal Orlando’s version of Lightning Lanes (a way to skip the lines) and is available as a ticket add-on or with select hotel stays. You can purchase two varieties of Express Pass, regular or unlimited. Almost all of the most popular attractions in each park offer Express Pass.

The regular version allows you to skip the line once per eligible attraction in either park, and costs $90 to $350 per person depending on the date. Universal Express Unlimited offers line-skipping privileges, as the name suggests, an unlimited number of times per attraction, and costs between $100 and $380 per person. Even at its most expensive, Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World costs under $40 per person. So, what’s the difference? Well, a lot. 

Unlike Lightning Lanes, there is no tech component to Express Pass. While it’s significantly more expensive, it’s also frictionless. You simply go up to the attraction and use your Express Pass entitlement. There’s nothing to reserve or hassle with in an app. Express Pass involves zero screen time and headaches–but you’ll pay a lot more for it!

Whether Express Pass is worth the money largely depends upon what day of the week and season you’re visiting, and how you value your time versus your money. Personally, we would not pay for Express Pass most days. However, we also avoid weekends and holidays, arrive for park opening, and utilize an efficient park itinerary.

If you really want Express Pass, staying at an on-site hotel that offers Express Pass with your stay is absolutely the way to go. Unlimited Express Pass is available at the Universal Premier category resorts–meaning Royal Pacific, Hard Rock Hotel, and Portofino Bay–which are Universal’s most expensive hotels. Honestly, this is the only way we’ve ever “bought” Express Pass–we couldn’t justify the cost any other way.

All three of these hotels are nice, on par with Walt Disney World’s Deluxe Resorts, and generally cost less. They’re still pricey, but they’re cheaper than Disney’s higher-end hotels, and absolutely worth the money–especially if you want the Unlimited Express Pass perk or a good location within walking or boat distance of Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. If you’d be staying at a nice hotel anyway, this trio is definitely worthy of your consideration.

If you’re debating paying extra for Epic Universe line-skipping, see Should You Buy Express Pass at Epic Universe?

Transportation

By far the most common questions we get concerning Universal Orlando Resort is: “what’s the best way to get from Walt Disney World Universal.” The answer is that there are a lot of options, but by far the best is Uber. We covered this in depth in our Uber vs. Rental Cars at Walt Disney World article. Here’s the pertinent portion of that post:

In the past, the best option we’ve found for those who don’t have rental cars the duration of their trips is either renting a car on-site for the day, or taking a pricey shuttle. Neither is cost-effective or all that appealing, especially when you add on that parking fee.

For those who aren’t renting a car for the duration of their trip, Uber or Lyft are the unquestionable best options for getting from Walt Disney World to Universal. The one-way cost of an Uber or Lyft from Walt Disney World will vary depending upon your exact location, typically costing under $25 each way and taking 20-25 minutes.

Dining

There are some good restaurants in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, but as a whole, the culinary experience is not on par with Walt Disney World’s. The unquestionable highlights, in my mind, are the counter service restaurants in Diagon Alley (Leaky Cauldron) and Hogsmeade (Three Broomsticks) and the table service restaurant, Mythos, which is a great value.

Other in-park restaurants at Universal Orlando that we like include the Today Show Cafe (for lighter options) and Krusty Burger (for the exact opposite). Actually, there’s something for everyone in the Springfield area, which has a variety of dining options drawn from The Simpsons.

On the snacking front, you’re obviously going to want to try Butterbeer–perhaps all three varieties (frozen, hot, and regular). Most of the other snacks we enjoy are also in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour and Honeydukes.

Another thing you might want to consider is purchasing a refillable Coke Freestyle mug. I’ve done this, but I can really put down the Cokes to make it worth the money. I’m sure some day I will be toothless, but hopefully that’s at least 5 years away. These Coke Freestyle machines located throughout the parks are also a convenient way to get free water that’s cold and tastes great.

Epic Universe is a totally different story, at least until the ‘new park smell’ wears off. Epic Universe has fantastic food that’s easily on par with Walt Disney World. Epic Universe might even be the best food park in Orlando!

Other Things to Do

Volcano Bay is Universal Orlando’s water park. It’s themed to the South Seas and features a giant volcano (hence the name) in the middle with water slides in it. For Walt Disney World fans, it’s a bit like Typhoon Lagoon water park mixed with Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Adventureland.

All the rides at Volcano Bay feature a Virtual Line instead of traditional standby queues. You tap in with your TapuTapu wearable (think MagicBand) to grab a ride time. Then go float, swim, splash, eat, shop or relax around Volcano Bay. Your TapuTapu will tell you when it’s your time to ride.

You will either love or hate the virtual queue system at Volcano Bay. That pretty much comes down to whether you beat the crowds or not. That can be accomplished by arriving and/or staying late, buying Express Pass, or visiting during the off-season. If you don’t do any of those things, you’ll likely think the virtual queue system sucks, and you won’t accomplish much. It’s definitely a system that creates winners and losers–they key is (obviously) to be in the former group and not the latter.

In addition to the two theme parks and Volcano Bay water park, there’s CityWalk. This is Universal Orlando’s shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, which is a lot like Disney Springs. The big difference is that you walk through CityWalk to access Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure, and it’s incredibly easy to exit the parks and eat lunch or dinner at CityWalk. No bus necessary!

There’s also a lot of relatively new dining at CityWalk, such as Red Coconut Club, Bigfire, Voodoo Doughnut, Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, and VIVO Italian Kitchen–among other things. Toothsome is a fan-favorite for its over the top milkshakes and dessert concoctions (as well as the fun steampunk theme), and Voodoo Doughnut is a fun spot. With that said, we think both are slightly overrated.

For our money, the sleeper hits of the list are Bigfire and Cowfish, both of which offer great food at reasonable (by theme park standards) prices. We’d also give honorable mentions to Vivo and Antojitos Authentic Mexican Food. While the latter is not our personal favorite, it’s better than the “blockbuster” touristy restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville, and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Nothing against any of those–but they’re essentially Applebee’s with more wow-factor. Good enough for predictably-prepared comfort food, but absolutely nothing special.

One final note on attractions is that there are numerous attractions that don’t allow bags, but provide free lockers nearby for storing backpacks, cameras, small children, and whatever other random junk you might have on you. These are pretty convenient and there are larger lockers you can pay for at the front of the park, but the point here is for those of you who are used to bringing a small U-Haul worth of stuff into the Walt Disney World parks: you can’t do that at Universal. Pack for the parks a little lighter.

I think this is probably a good starting point if you’re planning on visiting Universal Orlando Resort as an add-on to your Walt Disney World vacation. If you would like to see some of these topics covered in greater depth, please let me know in the comments. We’re planning to tackle more on dining, special events, and Universal Orlando news in the coming months, so stay tuned for more of that!

Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide for everything about those parks, resorts, restaurants, and so much more. For regular updates, news & rumors, a heads up when discounts are released, and much more, sign up for our FREE email newsletter!

Your Thoughts

Are you visiting Universal Orlando Resort in 2025? Excited for Epic Universe or other rumored additions in the next few years? What about Jurassic World VelociCoaster, Hagrid’s, or the new rides that have recently opened? Have a favorite on-site hotel at Universal? Do you prefer staying on-site at Universal, or commuting from Walt Disney World? If you’re a first-timer, is there anything else you’d like to know? Chances are if you have questions still, so does someone else! Please share your thoughts in the comments