The Cost of the Magic: Spending our Day and Cash at the Universal Parks
In March of 2024, my husband, Chris, and I took our first trip to the Universal parks since the mid 90s. We had a really fun time experiencing all of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter as well as enjoying a nostalgic trip through Jurassic World, Springfield and even the Tonight Show. We really had a nice time and wondered about how the cost of a trip to Universal compares with that of Disney. Thanks to the help of some fun friends that we met on our most recent Virgin cruise, I have figured out a lot of great tips.
We could have planned our trip during a less crowded and thus less expensive time to visit the parks but with our timing we had no choice. And, while I didn’t want to spend the whole experience comparing everything to Disney World, it did seem that much of what we saw and did and spent our money on was designed as a response to Disney World. The ticket prices really aren’t that much more at Disney. A ticket for 2 to Hollywood Studios is about $30 more than a ticket to Islands of Adventure. And, whereas a park hopper pass at Disney is not necessary as one can easily spend a whole day in one Disney park, in order to have the full Harry Potter experience you need to upgrade to a 2-park ticket (which is kind of brilliant if you ask me). A Park Hopper Pass for 2 at Disney is about $80 more than access to both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. To go in March during some school’s spring break, we paid roughly $220 each for our 2-park tickets. So, really at its bare bones, there was not a huge difference in ticket prices.
We also looked into Express passes, which is their answer to Dinsey’s Lightning Lane/Genie+ deal, and discovered that the cost would be an additional $209 per person for the day that we were visiting the park (just like tickets the cost varies depending on the date). This seemed bonkers to us as it would be about the cost of an additional ticket for each of us. Also, the Express Pass wouldn’t cover Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. We opted against it and discovered ways to navigate the lines without it. Because it was just the two of us, we found the single rider lines to be, for the most part, very convenient. For Hagrid’s ride, we stood in the single rider line for about 15 minutes as compared to the hour long wait that most groups were waiting in. Because Universal does an amazing job of making the waiting areas very exciting themselves (i.e. walking through Hogwarts or the bank at Gringott’s), the biggest downside to single rider lines for us (and the Express Pass for that matter) is that those lines skip most of that. Perhaps if there had been a larger group of us or if we had been with our kids then the single rider lines wouldn’t have been as appealing.
Chris would not have met this friend while waiting to ride Skull Island if he had been in the Single Rider or Express Pass line.
Another perk that we had experienced at Disney was early access to the park for staying at a Disney hotel or having an annual pass. Universal has a similar offer for those who choose to stay at their on-site hotels and resorts. For this trip, we opted to stay at a Marriott that was close by the parks so our stay didn’t include this perk. If you are only at the parks for one day and want to see it all, then a stay at one of these resorts might be worth it. We didn’t have early access and we didn’t get to do it all but, at the same time, we don’t feel as if we missed out. Some Universal resorts not only include early access but also include Express Passes. These resorts are Universal’s Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, and Loews Royal Pacific Resort. Out of curiosity, we looked into the cost to stay in one of these resorts for the night. Once again, since it was just the two of us, it didn’t seem worth it to us but if we had been with our kids then we would have heavily considered it.
Another perk to staying at an on-site Universal hotel is complimentary transportation to and from the park. Similarly to Disney hotels, this perk is offered so that you not only have to pay to park but also so that you don’t have to worry about finding that parking spot and then finding your car at the end of a long, exhaustingly fun day. What is different about Universal from Disney is that parking for all the parks and for City Walk is currently all at the same place and all costs $30 and up (it’s complimentary after 6pm). Because we were not staying on-site, we paid to Uber over to City Walk and we paid the $30 to park during our day of fun. Once again, if we had been with our kids then the complimentary transportation would be a much more welcome amenity.
One last thing that we noticed about our Universal experience was that it seemed that everything in the parks was priced fairly reasonably. We had meals in City Walk, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios and were happy with the prices. Some places, however, were a much better deal than others, for example, the meal at the Three Broomsticks was delicious and priced well, but the pizza and salad that we got in Universal did not meet our expectations. And, the merchandise that we found throughout the parks was reasonably priced as well with the sweatshirt we purchased being an especially good deal. While it was still an expensive day, we were pleased, for the most part, with what we had spent.
What about annual passes? On our latest cruise, we met a really nice couple, Maria and Jorge, who live in Florida with the family of 4 kids. Maria helped me understand a lot of the costs, differences between Universal and Disney and gave me some great tips. As a general rule of thumb, for Disney pass holder, you would need to visit the parks 10 days or more in order to get your money’s worth. According to Maria, with Universal it is more like 6 days in order to get your money back. Another main difference to getting passes to Universal is that there are zero blackout dates starting at their second most expensive pass versus Disney, which has a lot more blackout dates making it more difficult for families to go at the times most convenient for them. Maria and Jorge will usually gift their family passes to Universal each Christmas and then they make at least 2 trips to Universal each year. When they go, they opt to stay at the Loews Royal Pacific as a stay there (with or without annual passes) comes with express passes for everyone. Sometimes they do 2 nights at Loews Royal Pacifica and then move to Sapphire Falls for their excellent pool. After a day or two at the parks, they will have a relaxing day at the pool at Sapphire Falls before heading home. This sounds like so much fun and makes me wish that I was one of those lucky kiddos.
Because this was our first trip to Universal as adults, we weren’t entirely sure how much our experience would cost us. We were sure though that since we were without kids that we wanted to make sure that we enjoyed everything that we wanted to experience and take full advantage of the fact that it was just the two of us. All in all, we were not disappointed, had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves.
