First timer questions

[Jess_S]

My mother is looking ahead to next summer and offered to take my family to Universal. My husband and I have been wanting to go since the Harry Potter areas were added, but have never gotten around to it, so we said, "Absolutely." There will be 5 of us -- my parents (late 60s), my husband and I (late 30s/early 40s), and our son (8).

We have previously taken a trip together to WDW and my mom really liked the 2 bed suites at the DVC resorts there. (We rented points). I researched, and it looks like Hard Rock, Portofino and Royal Pacific all have 2 bedroom suites. I would love to hear thoughts about those resorts and the suites in particular. I was leaning towards either Hard Rock or Portofino because it seemed like my son would like the pools at those resorts.

We are thinking of a 1 week trip. Based upon posts here, it sounds like that may be a little too long to do exclusively Universal. With a week's time, would you recommend staying on the Universal property the whole time and taking some trips to see some sights around Orlando? The other option that I thought of was to hit a different area of Florida within driving distance of Orlando for a few days of the trip. For example, we were at the Space Coast last year to catch a cruise and enjoyed the area.

Finally, how do kids who are not big roller coaster fans enjoy Universal. My son hated Test Track, Big Thunder Mountain, Seven Dwarves Mine Train and even the Barnstormer at Disney. He said they were all too scary. He did enjoy water based rides like Splash Mountain even though there were drops and rides where the "scare" was the content (e.g. Dinosaur). Will there be enough for him to do at Universal? Will he spend a lot of time waiting for us if the adults want to try the Potter rides. (I am fine with skipping the thrill coasters).

Thanks everyone!

 

[JPTexan82]

Don’t come you will be wasting your time and money if he doesn’t like thrill rides. All the rides in WWHP are thrill rides except the train.

 

[Jess_S]

Thank you. I will take a careful look at the rides and attractions to see how many my son might enjoy. I didn't realize the parks were so heavily roller coaster focused.

 

[WendiDarling]

Did you look at this thread?

https://disboards.com/threads/advice-for-thrill-adverse-kiddo.3808300/#post-62189242
I'm finding it helpful in planning what rides my dd12 (who is not very adventurous) might like.

 

[bchbetha]

Definitely check the other thread!
My kiddo was 8 the first time he went and he hates thrill rides. He had a blast! He did all the HP rides more than once even. Wouldn’t try any coasters and bailed on the Mummy because the queue was scary. He loved all of the shows and exploring HP and Simpsons.

 

[Jess_S]

Thank you. That thread is really helpful -- and it's also good to know that another 8 year old who is anti-roller coaster had a good trip. I am thinking the best course would be to show my son a couple of the POV videos for the rides and get a sense of whether he is interested in riding them. My mom seems to think that he will be braver now because he is older, but he seems to have gotten more anxious about daring things recently. (Probably normal given the pandemic). But his fear of coasters depends more on how much they bump or sway from side to side. He doesn't seem bothered by drops as much. He is fine with flume type rides, for example.

If there's not a ton he is interested in, I would lien towards just shortening the Universal visit rather than not going. It's hard to say no to a trip someone else is paying for (and my mom will subject me to her pitiful sad face if we suggest putting the trip off; it's very guilt-inducing).

 

[SwimSwamSwum]

My family went to universal last year when my daughter was eight. She is NOT a thrill ride gal, but loved Universal. Particularly the Harry Potter areas of the parks. She is a big Harry Potter nerd, though. So, if your son isn't as familiar with the HP universe, perhaps have him read/watch the first two or three books/movies before you go so that he will be more familiar with the places/characters.

We spent a few hours (over the course of two days) just walking around Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley doing spells.

We also watched a lot of POV videos before we went. Predictably, my daughter was not interested in any of the big traditional coasters, like the Hulk or Rip Ride Rocket. However, so many of the rides are virtual reality - just the seat moving around in front of a screen. My daughter primarily doesn't like coasters because she feels like she is going to fall out of them. So, while some of the imagery on these VR rides is a little scary for some, the rides definitely feel safe. I guess it would depend more on why your son doesn't like thrill rides, in deciding if he would like the rides are not.

If you are looking for other things to feel the week, we never go to Orlando without also visiting Discovery Cove. It is a little pricey but for about $20 extra on the base ticket you get unlimited Sea World and Aquatica access for 14 days, too. So we feel that the Discover Cove tickets are a good deal because you can fill three of four whole days with them

 

[ricosuave]

My son is 11 and hates roller coasters. He loves universal though. A lot of the rides are 3D/4D. If you're going, make sure you add Volcano Bay and do a 3 park ticket. It is absolutely worth it. Best waterpark that we have ever been to. Also, look into just buying annual passes. They are often just as expensive as 3 or 4 day tickets. We also got Seabands (for motion sickness) for my son and he said it really helped him on the rides. You can get them from walmart. We are huge Disney fans but we honestly loved Universal. Please message me if you have any other questions or advice.

 

[Minnie1222]

We (2 adults + 2 children) had stayed at the kids suite and the 2BR suite at Hard Rock. The kids suite had 1 king bed, 2 twin beds and 1 bathroom. The 2BR suite was actually a King suite connecting to a regular room with 2 queen beds. This set up gave us a king bed, 2 queen beds and 2 separate bathrooms.

I have not stayed in a Disney DVC 2BR, but I heard that it comes with a washer/dryer. This was not present in the suites at HR (unless it was hidden deep in the closet somewhere, maybe someone else can confirm...).

Speaking of laundry, RP and HR had a guest laundry facility while Portofino did not.

 

[Jess_S]

Thank you guys for all the feedback and tips. I just took a look at the floorplans for the 2 bed suite and I can't tell if there are doors to close the bedroom areas off from the living room area. That was really what we liked the most about the DVC 2 bedroom suite (although the washer dryer was a nice bonus). Everyone had privacy for sleeping, but a place to hang out together if they wanted. If the bedrooms at Universal aren't really bedrooms, then the suite probably wouldn't work for us.

 

[Minnie1222]

There were no doors between the king bed and the living room area at HR.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Even if he hates roller coasters, he will probably like Spider Man, Transformers, Men in Black, and The Simpsons. There are also several water rides that he should also enjoy. The Harry Potter rides aren't very serious roller coasters, at least compared to The Hulk and Rip Ride Rocket. We loved the pool and the walk from Hard Rock. We walked over to both Portofino and Royal Pacific, and were equally impressed with those resorts. With all that said, four nights/five days was more than enough time for us to enjoy everything in the parks. We weren't able to visit Volcano Bay because it was closed due to a cold snap when we were there.

 

[maverik85]

The parks aren't really coaster heavy but not sure exactly how he'd feel for some of the other rides still. There's a lot of dark rides and simulator type attractions. These can give the illusion of speed and moving around a lot more than you are so depends on how he handles that type of thing. Gringotts is technically a coaster but it really only has two short coaster segments. it's much more of a dark ride so he might be ok on it for Harry Potter stuff. Forbidden Journey is a dark ride as well but it is definitely one of hte most intense rides at the park so not sure how he will enjoy it.
I'd recommend maybe watching some POV videos with him to see what rides he might be ok with.

 

[Jess_S]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate everyone's feedback. I am continuing to read trip reports and old forum posts to get a better sense of what's in the parks. As far as resorts, it looks like maybe some of the 2 bed suites in Portofino and Royal Pacific have doors on the bedrooms -- but it's hard to tell from the website. For some reason, the Hard Rock seemed to be the only hotel with a floorplan for their suites posted.

 

[Alynw]

Just my opinion and maybe it's just me but i don't consider universal coaster heavy at all. The Hulk and RRR are the only 2 coasters id even consider extreme thrill, the mummy and hp are more theme based than thrill and hagrids is just plain fun, nothing scary about it at all. The mummy ride theme might scare him but the actual coaster is pretty plain, no loops or corkscrews. If u can get him on hagrids, i think he'd have a blast, its mainly just a fast coaster but real smooth and he could get to ride a motorcycle. Besides those coasters, there is a ton he can do and luv at his age. But overall, 1 week is def long time for just universal but u could upgrade ur tickets to include volcano Bay and then spend 2 days at each 3 parks. Just my thoughts. Hope u have a great trip.

 

[Bethany10]

Many have spoken about the coaster aspect of things. I'd just drop in a plug for the 2 bedroom suite at Cabana Bay. No Express Pass with them, but 2 pools and your own entrance to Volcano bay. Plus lots of things to do around the resort.

Another thing we did as a family who likes space is look into booking 2 adjoining rooms as opposed to a 2 bedroom suite. The cost is cheaper, and the number of beds work out for our family (two teens, opposite genders). If we had gone this year as planned we would have had 2 connecting rooms at Portofino, and 2 family suites at Cabana Bay over the course of the week. A couple of days of EP, then the rest of the week was supposed to be down time either at the pool or in the parks.

 

[maverik85]

I haven't stayed in the suites so couldn't comment on them but Cabana Bay is a great hotel especially for families. Lots of activities there. There are two pools as well. one has a slide and the other has a lazy river next to it along with a sandy/beach area with fire pits and games spread around. Plus a bowling alley inside not the cheapest option but it is convenient and looks nice. WE grabbed dinner there one night).

 

[bchbetha]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate everyone's feedback. I am continuing to read trip reports and old forum posts to get a better sense of what's in the parks. As far as resorts, it looks like maybe some of the 2 bed suites in Portofino and Royal Pacific have doors on the bedrooms -- but it's hard to tell from the website. For some reason, the Hard Rock seemed to be the only hotel with a floorplan for their suites posted.

Try the Orlando Informer website for more hotel pics.

 

[TheGatekeeper]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate everyone's feedback. I am continuing to read trip reports and old forum posts to get a better sense of what's in the parks. As far as resorts, it looks like maybe some of the 2 bed suites in Portofino and Royal Pacific have doors on the bedrooms -- but it's hard to tell from the website. For some reason, the Hard Rock seemed to be the only hotel with a floorplan for their suites posted.

Most of the rooms & suites at the resorts have floorplans on the Uni website. Be sure to click on the picture of the room category then click "more info" and then it will bring up the picture again with an arrow that will take you to the floorplan. The floorplan photos tend to get clipped so you have to save the image in another window and then view it in its entirety from that new image only window. The only one I couldn't bring up was the Jurassic Suite but the description specifically says there is a door between rooms. I could find floorplans for all the other suites.

 

[NicoleLarson]

I agree that I wouldn't call Universal rollercoaster heavy at all. Kings Island or Cedar point is rollercoaster heavy but not UO. I would call UO simulator heavy, also a lot of 3D rides. I do think a week at UO is a bit overkill especially if you stay at one of the EP hotels. We really loved HRH, we were just in a normal room but it definitely competes with any WDW deluxe. For the age of your son, I would highly recommend a day at Legoland. They have a great hotel and a fun Waterpark thats included in most ticket types. . Your parents would probably also enjoy the gardens that are part of the old Cypress Gardens Park, they're also included withyour ticket. It makes for a nice afternoon break to stroll through them. 1, max 2 days there would be plenty.