Universal Studios Orlando, Orlando

Ive read about some of the complaints about the park. Espically the artical that was writting by Elizabeth that visted on 11/14/2012. Have you not watched the news about stuff like that? My friend rode the ride a few times and hes somewhat of a big guy. He went with his niece and couldnt fit and him and i went back and he fitted(need to say he's a little big in the belly just like me cuz im a big guy 2 and i can fit on rides). Universal can NOT accommodate people who are big in some area's. I believe they have signs posted around before you get on the ride. Now for Labradorlover17 who visted in may of this past year of 2012. You said you only rode 1 ride and then left due to the fact of the park being busy and no/barely any shade? HELLO Universal is AN OUTSIDE THEME PARK. You also say that its more expensive then disney?!? Listen i have an annual pass to Universal. I have the premier pass and actually if u look @ it, If you look at it. If you go 3 times in a year. YOU ACTUALLY PAID FOR AN ANNUAL PASS. My pass cost me roughly $289 plus tax and comes out to about $302 if paid full out. Disney tickets are $89 plus tax and Universal tickets is $88 so a dollor less then disney. Have you both tried gettin tickets ONLINE where you "SAVE" money?!? I bet ya'll didnt! Please do NOT take this the wrong way or by no means of disrespect. I just find this stuff funnier then anythin that ya'll bash a theme park for "weather,tickets,rides,etc". If disney raises prices for admission sometimes Universal will also just to keep up wit COMPATITION. So again please do not take this the wrong way. I do NOT work for universal studios. I am just a simple person who has fun @ theme parks.

For months leading up to our vacation, my mom and I have been dreaming about heading to Harry Potter World. Our family even tried to dissuade us from leaving Disney to go to Universal for even one day because the price was so high, but we could not be swayed. We read reviews and looked up information and counted down the days until we would get to see Hogsmeade and the castle . We arrived before the park even opened and lined up at the gates. It was the last day of our vacation, and my mom had blisters from all the running around we had done for the previous week. She pushed through the pain, and we hurried to Harry Potter World along with the mad dash of people around us. We arrived in excitement and glee, and hurried to the castle. We enjoyed walking through the castle, and the wait was not too long because it was still relatively early. We arrived at the front of the line, and got ready to depart. My parents and siblings were on the car in front of us, and as my husband and I began to take off, we noticed our family exiting their seats before even leaving the gate. I did not understand, and thought perhaps their car was broken. It was not until we exited the ride and saw my parents waiting for us that we began to understand. My mother is not skinny, but she is by no means large either, but the restraints did not fit her arms. The space in between the side and the bar would not allow her arms to fit comfortably, although the lap bar was fine. My mom was trying to be positive, but she kept seeing children leave the ride ecstatic at how amazing it was. The pain of seeing my mom cry is so intense, that days later I still cannot get over the hurt feelings of the situation. I feel partly responsible for hyping up our visit there, but I think Universal also needs to take responsibility. I never saw any postings online about the possibility of not being able to ride the ride. In fact the only reason we went to Universal at all was so my mom and I could go to Harry Potter World. Unfortunately now, no matter how I try to look back, that entire day and visit is tainted by the pain it caused my mom. I will never return to Universal for that reason, and I will tell as many people as possible to never attend as well. I am so hurt by the experience. I could never imagine our trip ending in such a horrible way. I find it very interesting that Universal Studios is the most expensive theme park in the world, I personally will never return.

After reading reviews a few days before we went I was having second thoughts about going. We were a family of 4 with 2 teenage boys and their grandmother. We could have easily added a small child and been fine. We did not include Islands of Adventure which was a second park. Here is what I was afraid of and what we actually found. 1. Lines were not long-maybe because a lot of local counties has just started school. And there was rain first thing in the morning. With 40 percent for the day but that is Aug in Florida so maybe not a factor. 2. Lines were under cover-so even if it was hot we would have not been stading in the sun 3. My husband who is 350 lbs at 5'10 fit all rides comfortably. He rode which included ET, disaster, MIB . He would have fit the mummy ride but backed out because it was an actuall roller coaster . I should note though that he is built heavy in the chest belly area and not on bottom. This may have helped him fit plus he is not that tall. 4. As good as disney. Actually felt like a piece of disney on a smaller scale. Liked that we could get through it in a day. Got there about 10 and left at 6. Better than disney- for us. We had teenage boys. Attention to detail was just as good. 5. Rides were good. If you want roller coasters I would go to Islands of Adventure next door or busch gardens. This vacation we wanted a park without roller coasters since only one son ejoys them and i had my mother with us who went on all rides with us. All enjoyed the terminator show, horror makeup show,twister, disaster ride,MIB ride. The Mummy ride was too fast for us but short so we could tolerate. Husband backed out after reading warning sign while in line to ride mummy ride. Actually this is the first park he rode any rides which was exciting for us. The rip ride rock it was good for my youngest who enjoys roller coasters. 6. Not expensive-We ate at ritchies burgers(sp?) we could have easily shared the double hamburger with 2 which cost 10$ The burger was HUGE and came with fries. Way too much for one. So if you spilt it would be 5$ a person. My boys got small $3 shake. Only other food we got was drinks during the day. Large bottle of water was 2.75 seen most at 3$. Soda was more but not much. 7. Plenty of stuff for smaller kids. Worried about bringing my 7 year old niece but was plenty of stuff for her if we would have brought her. We pretty much just followed the map around the park by the time we wanted to eat ritchies was the closest. So here is what we didn't like. Doors were open to the diner allowing flies and even seen a bird in there. Disgusting!!!! Terminator was the first atraction we came to after entering the park and once we got in it experienced technical difficulties so we were asked to leave and come back. Probably wasted 25min to 40 just waiting and not the best way to start off. It is not a ride so we came back on our way out and things were back and running. Glad we came back. So not much negative to write about. We all had a fun time and glad I ignored all the negative comments!!!!!!!!

Universal Orlando, it is possibly one of the best theme parks I have ever been to,however in order for you to get the full enjoyment out of these parks you need to do it properly. By this I mean going at the right time of year (march-april time). This means that it is spring break. Now you may be thinking hang on doesn't that mean that the lines will be busy and the park will be crowded? Although the park may be busy during the day because it's spring break, it stays open until 10pm at night (This is a must if you are going to get the most out of your stay). Now if you couple the late opening time with a stay in one of the 3 on-site hotels you have a perfect combination. Due to the fact that you are in one of the hotels you get a complimentary unlimited fast pass. This means that you can make every queue quick and painless, literally you can go on every ride whenever you want as many times as you want at any time of the day! As the parks are close you can be by the pool relaxing and ten minutes later being fired out of hulk's incredible lift at 65mph. The best part is you can go to Seaworld, Busch or even Disney during the day, come back to your hotel, relax a while and then ride all of the rides in either one of the parks in the last hour before they close (you may think all the rides surely not? well its possible, we did it!) Another issue that is often brought up in these reviews are the lack-luster meals, admittedly because we had an on-site hotel we didn't eat within the parks much, however when we did we were neither wowed by it nor disgusted by it, all the meals are supposed to do is keep you going and they do just that. If you want a proper meal then visit city-walk and go to many of the restaurant opportunities there, when you're done just go right back into the parks. As for rides, Universals rides are some of the best and most amazing rides on the planet. Every ride is tailored to perfection and they always go the extra mile. A good example of this is the new Harry Potter And The Forbidden Journey Ride. The queue, once in the castle, moves ultra quickly and with the addition of holograms and talking paintings the queue is as 'must see' as the ride itself. This ride is the first of its kind and it utilities KUKA robotic arms mounted on a track to give you the best simulation of events it possibly can. This is one example of how universal goes the extra mile every time. They could have done a boring ride set up that thousands of parks use around the world but no they pioneered a brand new ride system just to make the ride the best it could be (and may I say it is AWESOME) + you may get angry about prices but robotic arms are not cheap and if you look down both ways when you get in your seat and think how many arms are going around all the time (as its continuous) you can see how massively expensive the ride was to design, manufacture and then operate and maintain. Another example is the cost of each ride vehicle of the amazing adventures of spider-man, as it is a car mounted on a 6 axis motion base which is then mounted on a track, they come in at around a million dollars a pop (thats each vehicle)! Also when you look at each ride and what it accomplishes it is truly astonishing. Hulk - it was made in 1999 and it was one of the first coasters to have a launched start. This is way before the days of the Intamin giants (Kinda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster). It is truly amazing. In fact it is amazing to think that each ride in islands of adventure except WWOHP was made in 1999 when it was first opened. So in conclusion, make sure if you are going to do universal do it properly, it may be expensive but the benefits eventually outweigh the cost and just remember although it may be costly, the rides there are one of a kind and are insanely expensive to maintain and build. You should feel privileged to be riding them! I hope I have cleared up any quarms you may have had about going and if you do go I am insanely jealous!

Our family went to Universal Islands of Adventure. My sister was especially excited to see the Harry Potter part of the park. Overall, it was nothing special and, for us, a complete waste of money. We were at the park for a few hours, just long enough to walk around, get a glass of butterbeer, ride one ride, and watch a disappointing wand demonstration. The place was extremely crowded and hot. Many of the lines were out in the hot sun. That's poor planning. My sister wanted to visit the wand shop, so we waited in line for a half and hour to get in. It wasn't til we were almost to the door that someone told us we could have just walked in. We were actually waiting in line for a show. We decided to see it. It was only about five minutes long, and boring. A waste of our time. The plastic wands are super expensive, as was everything at the park. $3 for a small bag of Cheetos? Ridiculous! The one ride that we went on was a huge disappointment.. It literally lasted for about 30 seconds or less! Overall, Universal was crowded, over priced, boring, and had long lines. The only upside was the fact that the staff were very nice. But, we will not be going back. I don't recommend this park unless you're a big fan of roller coasters, and don't mind paying a lot and waiting in lines for hours.

ok i hear people complaining about little things, but i had a wonderful time in both parks, it was beautiful, rides were awesome the spiderman was the best next the mummy all the rides were great! We planned ahead of time , which is the best way to go you half to pay 15 dollars for parking which to us wasn't bad, because any park that you go to you have to pay, other than that we paid nothing extra we had the meal deal which was and excellent deal for us and out kids, we had unlimited entrance to both parks, we didn't have time to do everything, the lines were long but moved quickly staff was nice had smiles on their faces the whole time bathrooms were kept clean and they had people their lots of them every ride has a theme you guys I'm telling you this is the park to go to we still haven't seen everything and the rides omg they are thrilling the park closed sunday with a show a cinema show of the movies for one hundred yrs and it was amazing they did this at universal on the lagoon the whole show was playing on water , water displays and colorful splashes of lights fireworks at every beat of the movie wow amazing i can't wait to go back to this park but when you go beware of the popeye you will get soaked i mean wet clothes will be drenched their is no way around it and believe me no raincoat nothing helps just be prepared, harry potter world is amazing and the ride is so cool, every ride is super awesome but my favorite was the spiderman , i hear people complaining that its expensive well to us it wasn't that bad the food was the same price as if you go eat out were we are from so we didn't find that bad at all the gift shops wasn't bad either in my opinion the shirts ran from twenty one dollars to twenty seven if you go to the store you are going to pay this anyway so all in all we had a wonderful time staff is nice park is extra clean rides are awesome food is excellent their is one complaint i have oh yeah one more complaint i heard about now i do realize that some people go to the park at very busy times but i have to say that it was extra busy when i went and some of the rides you have to put you stuff in a locker, and for forty minutes its free and then you have to pay but i never reached a pt where i had to pay so my locker usage was free, shows are amazing the park is just amazing by all means if you haven't been than go please you won't regret it, another complaint i heard is that we ordered our tickets online which was super easy we called and they helped us with everything, about every detail and they give you a confirmation number and when you get to the park you go to a wii call machine and slide your card for confirmation and put your code that they give you in and your tickets come out some people say that this machine is a mile away from the entrance not true it is right their as you walk in, so again in summery this park is amazing wow I'm already planning to go again this summer, and finish what i didn't see and do everything i did do again the mummy will drop your heart in a heartbeat wow i think the only thing we would do different is stay in the hotels and on the resort and fly instead of drive! oh and they also complained about people trying to sell you things all day long not true not one person came up to us and tried to sell us anything but get ready because of every ride they take your picture and it is funny its priceless lol it cost twenty four dollars, or twenty its so cool and they say this park isn't for children not true they have plenty of rides for children magical the the cat in the hat landing was amazing my husband had trouble getting me out of there , there alone had four rides for children and child can do the jurasic park , on the harry potter they had one but they could do two, one might be a little scary for them, the had another by the amazing hulk roller coaster and the woody woodpecker had three and water rides all in all this park is for everyone !

I had to change the date of visit in order to post this review - so...ok I have heard nothing but good things about Universal - I can't wait to go. I looked at the reviews and I have read some bad ones and I understand not everyone is gonna be happy. I on the other hand want to keep an open mind when my son and I go in June 2012. Come on people, you know these parks are gonna be expensive, so quit whining! Does anyone realize how much it costs to run a big park like this? So yes when you go, do expect to pay alot. I also got a condo for $200 for 7 days - it's a time share, also we plan on getting the meal deal for $20.99 a person which we will have lunch and supper on that one price for each person, also we're gonna get the sovineer cup for $8.99 per person to fill up with free drinks all day.......lol people don't you plan these things out before going?? Check out prices before committing!

It took 70 minutes to get inside this park! They try to upsell everything at the ticket windows. Its like going to a timeshare presentation. They should be ashamed of themselves. GE - you need to fix this now. You are driving customers away. The place was dirty. There were overflowing trash barrels all over the place. When I asked for a managers name I was told to call the 800 number. Really? Call the 800 number? Have some guts and have your manager own up to the poor customer service. He/she is probably inundated with complaints and sick of hearing it. Don't waste your money here.

Universal's rides and attractions are actually very good. Ride for ride, up there with Disney World. But there is very poor crowd management, guest services is really bad, and the "Express Pass" is a huge rip-off and shake down (no matter what anyone says). But there are plenty of people who blindly dish out their $$ without thinking, always wondering why they're in debt, and these parks know it. In my opinion, you get more for you money at Disney, their free "Fast Pass" system works, and they have the best guest relations anywhere. Universal has potiential, but the greed is just nauseating.

beware of there 1 year flex pay season pass you sign up for a year and they continue to take the $ out of your account after that period of time.then when you see it on your statement (the only way you know they are still taking it) you have to jump through hoops to get them to stop.after 4 phone calls and 3 faxes i just canc. my credit card which seemed to be the only way to get them to stop.as for the people handling complaints the worst ever must be all the ones disney turns down.