Universal Orlando Resort is comprised of two amusement parks, three on-site hotels, and the Citywalk area.  Upon entering, you will navigate your way through Citywalk which is flanked by two amusement parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. No admission charge is required to enter Citywalk, which boasts dozens of shops, restraunts, and night clubs. To the far right of Citywalk is the entrance to Universal, and to the left is the entrance to Islands of Adventure.  Both parks are located next to each other but require separate admission, although Universal does offer tickets which allow admission to both parks on the same day. 

However, if you intend on occupying your time during your entire seven day stay at Universal Orlando, you may want to rethink your travel plans.  While it offers two theme parks, you will find that if you pace yourself, one day in each park will be an sufficiant amount of time.  As most experienced travelers to Orlando would agree, Disney does tend to cater to a broader age bracket, from the very young to the very old.  It has five theme parks with each much bigger than Universal and Island of Adventure combined. As Universal can be entertaining, it tends to offer more amusement for the pre-teens, teens and adults, as some of their rides can be too intense for younger children.  All in all, as Universal may be at a turning point, it still has some ways to go to keep up with their competition.  But as anyone would hope for the near future,  those that agree would hope that Universal will surpass the age old Mouse.

On a positive note, Universal is extremely clean and the staff is very friendly and if you've never been before it's something to see - particulary the Spiderman and Hulk rides and Revenge of the Mummy.  But unfortunately, with most of their other thrill rides outdated, there are far and few inbetween to brag about to your friends.  In short, if Universal intends on getting travelers back for the second time, they will surely need to expand their parks or upgrade their existing rides.   

The 4D Terminator ride was out of this world: quite easy to believe that Arnie was in the room with you!! 

Thirteen year old computer mad son loved the whole experience.  In November, it was so quiet in both parks with maximum 10 minute wait it was a waste buying fastpass tickets. 

There are plenty of places to have food and drinks which were at typical park prices.  There was also a Starbucks for coffee!  If you plan to drink a lot of soft drinks during your visits, you can buy a re-fillable cup.

The Stay and Scream Halloween experience was excellent.  This was extra on top of the day ticket.  Buying this ticket on arrival in the park earlier in the day meant early access to the more popular houses, Saw etc. before the evening guests arrived.  A fastpass ticket for this would have been much better value.  The queues were up to over an hour later in the evening for rides and horror houses.  The 2 shows were great fun.  The zombies and other charactors wandering around certain zones of the park were shrouded with smoke and although they could not touch you, it was still scarey and good fun.  There did not seem to be an age limit for this evening.  The JAWS ride was excellent fun in the dark!

 

 

Universal Studios has the following attractions:

and various live shows.

 

Islands of Adventure has the following rides: 

 

There are three Universal Studios-related resorts on property:

The Royal Pacific Resort

The Hard Rock Hotel

The Portofino Bay Hotel