By: Haley Sosnick, a Marvelous Mouse Travels agent
Universal Orlando offers early entry for all onsite resort guests AND for those who purchase multi-day tickets through their Marvelous Mouse Travels travel agent. Also, keep in mind that due to recent changes you cannot get early entry to Universal Orlando with a single day ticket. This early entry perk can really help you maximize your day if you know how to use it to your advantage.
Universal resort guests or guests with multi-day tickets purchased from Marvelous Mouse Travels can get into one park (either Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure) up to 1-hour early. The park with early admission varies and early entry could be up to an hour early or 30 minutes early. Volcano Bay also offers Early Park
There are two ways to get early park admission with your park tickets. You either must stay at a Universal resort or purchase your multi-day park tickets with a Marvelous Mouse Travels travel agent. As a U-Preferred partner we are able to offer early park admission with our multi-day park tickets even if you do not stay on site!
As a travel agent, I always tell my clients to make sure and download the Universal app for the most accurate information regarding park hours. The app will tell you park hours for each day. This includes which park will have early admission for each day. Typically, you can see up 3-6 months in advance. But, be advised that if you are planning months in advance that hours may change. I would always suggest double checking park hours the day before your visit to ensure you have the most up-to-date information.
If Universal Studios has early park admission during your visit you will want to enter the parks with a plan. Prior to your visit, talk to your Marvelous Mouse Travels travel agent about which attractions are your most coveted. Also, I will always advise you to check wait times in the week(s) leading up to your visit so you can get a good idea of the wait times for each attraction.
Now, your plan of attack may vary depending on if you have an express pass or not. If you have a Universal Express Pass or Universal Unlimited Express pass you probably will not want to spend your early park time visiting attractions that have express entry lines.
Also, check the app/website to see which attractions are available as not every attraction is open for early park admission. For example, at Islands of Adventure these are the attractions that will be open during early park admission:
Of these options most people will head directly to Hagrid’s Motorbike and VelociCoaster as these are two of the most popular rides in the parks. But one thing to consider is that currently VelociCoaster offers an Express Pass entry and Hagrid’s Motorbike does not. This means that most people who have express passes will head to Hagrid’s Motorbike since they can enter Velocicoaster during regular park hours and take advantage of the Express Pass entry.
With that being said, my advice is to always decide your top three attractions and make sure you get to those. If you do not have express passes, it would be your best bet to try to get to these as soon as you can. If you are visiting multiple days and taking advantage of early park admission then you will have no trouble getting to visit everything you want. That’s the beauty of Universal Orlando! It is easy to do it all during your visit and taking advantage of early park admission makes that even easier!
No way! You can use that extra time to do whatever it is you want! I’ve even used early park admission to visit parks that aren’t super busy. This is a great way to get fabulous pictures at some of your favorite areas in the park. It is also a great time to head into Hogsmeade and just take it all in! Here are some of my other favorite things to do when the parks aren’t super busy:
If you really want to take advantage of early park admission you are going to need to be at the parks even earlier. I always recommend getting to the gat 30-40 minutes before opening for early park admission. The lines will already be forming and this will ensure you are one of the first guests to enter. If you aren’t at the front of the line, don't worry as the lines do move quickly once the gates open.
I hope your next visit to Universal Orlando is a great one and that these tips make using early park admission even easier and more enjoyable for you! Please reach out to Haley or Marvelous Mouse Travels to plan your next vacation.
