Universal Studios, Florida

Be a FL resident! 

I am sorry I don't know any for you; I don't do the theme park thing here.  Have a great vacation though.

You're not talking about the Harry Potter ride in the CASTLE are you?  I have to say, the lead up to the ride is awesome, but the ride is...NOT!  It even made me...a PILOT...motion sick.  I didn't actively puke but I could tell that I was not feeling well.  I even did it twice on two different days to be SURE I wasn't crazy or imagining it.  Video is NOT properly aligned with motion!  Ugh!

Got any military friends that want to accompany you?  Military get great rates and just have to accompany you to at least register the ticket the first time.  I went to universal with two friends.  I bought all three tickets at the cheapo military rate and we all went to Universal together.  Totally allowed.  We had 3 day passes and I only went with them for 2 days before I had to leave.  They could go use their third day without me if they wanted.

FWIW, a single day ticket is the least cost effective way to do Universal.  The two day is better, but the three day is the best deal.  I think it's only a couple bucks more to go for a third day.  Totally crazy.  Of course, that assumes you don't spend a fortune every single day on food and junky stuffed animals and what not.

Two days is just about right.  In a single day you could not see everything you'd want to see.  For real.  We took about a day and a half and by the end of that we'd done everything we wanted to do...and honestly were a bit tired.  So we called it quits for the day rather early that second day.

Also, at least at the time I went, almost ALL eating establishments in the park do AAA discounts.  Between my mil discount and my AAA discount I saved the three of us several hundred bucks over the course of one weekend....insane.

Was thinking about that as well.  Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventures look to be a day EACH.  We'll either have to be picky or do it over 2 days.  I know my kids most definitely want to do Harry Potter at Islands of Adventures.  That's a given.

THANKS!  Hmmmm...  What friends do I have in FL who are in the military....

Can't help with discount sources, sorry.  Last time we went to Orlando, we got Universal discoutn tickets as part of a hotel promotion (Hilton).

I have been to them all with my family at various times, some more than once.  Harry Potter World is by far our favorite of all time and we all loved the ride (rode it 3 times that day!) and did not get motion sick at all.  We are big HP fans too!  We like Epcot a lot too.

We went up there for a weekend last January and we were easily able to do both parks in one day.  BUT, my kids didn't want to go on the biggest rides (rollercoasters and water rides - too cold) and most importantly, we had front of the line access because we stayed on property. Oh - we also aren't into shows so we skipped all of them.

Are you going to go up there on a weekend day or can you do a weekday farther away from MLK weekend?  Is there any way you could go up the night before and stay in one of their 3 hotels?  It makes a HUGE difference to get into the Harry Potter area early and then to have front of the line the rest of the day.

How old are your kids?  Will they want to do the big things like Hulk?  Do they get motion sick?  It seemed to me like more than half the rides there either shook you, turned you upside down or spun you in circles! 

We stayed at Portofino - nice hotel and food was getter than Disney.  You take a quick boat ride to the parks for free or tip a rickshaw driver and get there faster. You can also stay at Hard Rock or the third one I think is called Royal Pacific.

We woke up super early and was at the park gate right when it opened (I think 8am) to go straight to Harry Potter.  We walked right onto the ride in the castle - in fact we let people pass us because we wanted to check out the cool things in the castle.  We LOVED the ride but it does seriously shake you up.  My oldest daughter gets very car sick and she didn't feel great afterwards but she liked it.

?http://www.mousesavers.com/discounts-and-deals-at-other-theme-parks-and-attractions/universal-orlando-discounts-and-deals/#aaahotel

This website lists some places you can get discounts, but if you are only getting a 1 day ticket I think the best deal you will get is from AAA or Undercover Tourist where you save about $2.

Like skipg said you definitely want the front of the line thing.  I forgot you can buy one even if you don't stay in a Universal hotel, but then you can only get to the front of the line at each ride 1 time that day.  If you stay at their hotels you get to use them unlimited times for each ride.

I really enjoy Islands of Adventure. Son is huge HP fan and would spend all day there if allowed.

Don't know of any discounts other than Fl. resident and military, sorry.

And completely agree that staying on site is the best, obviously not the way to save money but the perks are great.

Almost forgot best thing over Disney...adult beverages available!

A couple more points about the Universal express passes:

- The additional cost for the express pass scales based on how crowded the park is predicted to be. During peak times, they can be as much (I even want to say more in some cases, might be remembering that wrong) than the original tickets.

- They can't be used on the main Harry Potter ride.

My husband and I went on a school day in November (after IMFL 2010) and the crowds weren't bad at all.  On and off many rides, long waits for the HP rides.  We were able to do both parks in a day - but it was a long day with no kids involved.  Just my 2 cents...

Edited to change wife to husband - since she logged in on this computer....  The point stands

... (remembered wrong)

Many parks tie the tickets to you ID typically to keep this from happening.  Not sure if Universal does but it would not surprise me.

Like I said in my previous post...I went to Universal with two non-military friends.  I bought all three tickets on base at the big discounted rate.  My friends and I all went to Universal and had to check in at the front counter to get our individual tickets tied to our own id's.  My friends and I spent the next two days at Universal together, they went for their third day on their own.  The only thing the military person has to do is go with you to activate the tickets.  I don't remember if they had to also be going to the park or not, but in my case I was so it didn't matter.  So my suggestion to the OP was to basically find out if he had any military friends that felt like hanging out a Universal studios with them...if so, easy to get a discounted ticket.

This thought seconded by the entire state of Pennsylvania.

Sorry must have missed the specifics. 

I don't have a good suggestion on the discount tickets, but we were there last month and the original Universal had some major renovations going on which reduced the number of attractions that were open.  My SIL works there and gave us the warning.  It wasn't a big deal for us as we were only going for the one day and I prefer Islands of Adventure and the roller coasters.  But you may want to check out what attractions are available before purchasing tickets for both parks.

It was quiet enough there that week that we were able to ride the roller coasters without wait.  Walk up and get on.  Harry Potter ride on the other hand had a 45 to 60 minute wait.  After waiting 15 minutes or so, they had a mechanical issue that I decided not to wait for.

- They can't be used on the main Harry Potter ride.

see above- this is important. I was there in Spring. I suggest that you strongly think about staying on site. The main reason to stay on site is that they will let you in the park one hour before the park opens to the public.  When I was there the main Harry Potter ride had a one hour wait less than a half hour after it opened for the general public and it was over 2 hours long shortly thereafter. My heart broke when I saw some parents' faces when they walked up with their little kids during what was probably a once in a lifetime trip and they saw that they'd have to wait hours for their child to ride one time.   At least think about staying there one night of your trip to get this benefit.   I think if you stay on site you will get the Universal Express Pass as well for the other rides as well.

Like someone said, try to save enough money to take advantage of these benefits. It really adds to your kid's enjoyment when they don't have to wait on the lines for hours.  AAA is definitely a good idea- also, call the hotels down there- their concierges know many of the tricks for getting good deals, too.

Enjoy- my kids thought it was great- the Harry Potter stuff, especially.

Spiderman beats Harry big time...