How To Maximize Your Ride Time

Jax and I are ride people. Some people visit theme parks for the shows, the food, the atmosphere, etc., and I love all those things, too. But for us, maximizing our ride time is key to having a great vacation.

Here’s our plan of attack:

Early morning flights

We get up early and catch the earliest flight possible, take a nap on the plane, and Uber to the hotel. I usually throw a change of clothes and park necessities at the top of my backpack so it’s easy to grab and go. Then we drop our bags at luggage services and head straight to the park. This way, we maximize our day and don’t waste a whole day traveling.

Early park admission

We always stay at one of Universal’s hotels on property. One of the perks of doing that is early park admission. Even with the lower-tier hotels, guests get access to one of the parks (usually Islands of Adventure- check the Universal app to be sure of which park has EPA) an hour before the park opens to regular guests. You can also get this perk with an annual pass. Pro tip- if you get there right at opening for EPA, head straight to Hagrid’s. If you get there a little before regular opening, plan on doing Hagrid’s later in the day.

Plan your meals

Eat at off-peak times (have lunch around 2-3 and do a late dinner). This does two things: one, you will have shorter wait times for rides while everyone else is eating. And two, you’ll spend less time waiting in line for food. When available, you should also use mobile ordering through the app to, again, cut back on wait times for your food.

Plan your shows

Universal Orlando has some really great shows, but you’ll want to be strategic about when you catch them. I like to plan to stop by the shows at times when I know wait times tend to be high- that way, I’m using other times to ride rides while wait times are shorter, and I’m getting a nice break with some A/C mid-afternoon.

*Download the Universal app*

If there is one thing you take from this list, let it be this one.

The Universal app shows live ride wait times, and you can narrow it down by thrill rides, family attractions, etc. I’d highly suggest downloading the app before your trip so you can check wait times and get a feel for which rides tend to have the longest waits. For example, if you keep an eye on the app, you’ll see that Jimmy Fallon does not typically have a long wait. So if you’re in the park and you see a wait time of 30 minutes for Jimmy Fallon, you’ll know it’s best to skip it and come back later since the wait will typically drop for that ride.

Familiarize yourself with typical wait times so you can strategize once you’re actually in the park.

Get Express Passes

Express passes are pricey for a reason- they are not accessible to everyone, which is how they keep the express lines low. In my experience, express passes are always worth it for decreasing your ride wait times, though. My favorite way to get express passes is by staying at one of the top-tier Universal resorts- Hard Rock, Royal Pacific, or Portofino Bay. These three hotels offer express passes for everyone in the room for your entire stay, including check-in and check-out days. Sometimes these hotels are expensive, but every now and then, you can score a good rate (especially if you’re an annual passholder), which, with the express passes included, makes for an excellent deal. Also, if you get the highest level annual pass, your pass comes with free express after 4pm every day.

Get park-to-park tickets

If you’re looking at base day tickets, I promise it’s worth it to spring for park-to-park tickets (or better yet, get an annual pass!). For one, that’s the only way to ride the Hogwarts train because you have to have a ticket to the other park in order to board. Aside from that, though, being able to go between parks makes it easy to adjust when one park happens to be busier than the other (and Universal is smaller and easier to navigate than Disney- it’s no big deal to go back and forth between parks). Also, sometimes the two parks have different hours. So occasionally I’ve been able to use Early Park Admission at Islands, then end the day at whichever park has later closing hours. Really feels like you’re getting your money’s worth that way.

Any tricks I’m missing? Are you a ride person, or are you just there for the vibes? Let us know in the comments!