Five tips to making Universal Studios in a wheelchair a Success!

We are back from Universal Studios and ready to give you all the inside tips! Let me start by saying Kimberly and I love Universal. Granted, as hard core Harry Potter fans, it's hard not to. However, I think everyone, whether you like HP or not (but let's get serious, who wouldn't love Harry Potter??!) can find something to enjoy at Universal. Whether it is the amazing roller coasters, entertaining shows or delicious food; there's something for everyone.

Although I think these following tips can help everyone, they will definitely make a trip to Universal in a wheelchair more enjoyable. Let's get started.

TIP #1 - Stay at a Universal Studios Resort

Sure, it may cost a little bit more, but we feel you will find the perks well worth it.

• parking; each resort has it's own parking lot. I know, I know. You're saying to yourself, "well, how is that a tip? all hotels, etc have parking. Have you ever been headed to a new destination and didn't know what the parking was going to be like? What would be available? Would it be marked well and easy to get to? That kind of stuff gives me unneccessary stress. Well, we have stayed at three different resorts and each had clearly marked parking with plenty of accessible spots. That's all I'm saying.

• proximity to the amusement parks. I don't know about most wheelchair users, but for us, if we can avoid shuttles or buses, and just walk there, it's so much easier. Most of these resorts have a beautiful garden walk that takes you directly to the park area. It's great! Depending on which resort you stay at, you may have a 20 minute walk or a 5 minute walk. But, frankly, who couldn't use a couple extra steps when you want to drink a few butterbeers throughout the day? There is also a water taxi service available to most people staying at a resort which is a nice way to get back at the end of a long day full of walking. There is space for two wheelchairs per boat and if your lucky, your captain will entertain you with song! There is also the shuttle, which is fine I guess, but the walk to get to them from the parks seems almost as long as the walk back to the resort.

• the extra hour. When staying at a resort, you are allowed to enter the parks one hour before the "regular" folk. This hour can be a treasure. You can make a beeline for your favorite ride that might have a 90 minute wait later on in the day and walk right on. Maybe you can ride it twice. For Kimberly, it means getting to do the spells with her interactive wand in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter without a crush of people in the way. Grant it, it can be hard to get up that early, but if you can......it's totally worth it.

• having a place to take a break. Sometimes, a full day at an amusement park is just too much. Too much heat or too many people. So, it's great to have your hotel just a few minutes away to give your body, and maybe your power chair, a much needed break. When you're getting up early to take advantage of that extra hour, it's nice to call it quits about 11:00 and go back to your air conditioned room. From there you could take a nap, eat some lunch, or go take a dip in the pool. Then, head back to park around 4:00 much more energized. Just try not to shake your heads at the poor people, sunburned and exhuasted, headed back to the hotel because they couldn't last the day.

Told you the extra money would be worth it!

These are the 3 resorts that we have stayed in. The first is Cabana Bay. It was very accessible and great for those with kids because of its large pool and lazy river. Aventura is in the middle. It is our favorite so far. It has an awesome rooftop area and was also very accessible. The third, Sapphire Falls, was also very nice with a more luxury resort feel. However, the rooms are very small and didn't accommodate Kimberly's wheelchair very well.

TIP #2 - Go in the fall or winter

Avoid a summer trip to Universal Studios at all costs! I know if your traveling with kids, the summer makes sense, but, trust me, take the kids out of school for a few days if you have to. DO NOT GO IN THE SUMMER. The crowds are crazy and trying to get through them in a wheelchair is near impossible. (But if you do have to go in the summer, the tip to go back to the room from 1100-400 is super helpful because you miss the busiest time of the day - wall to wall people).

We have gone in the summer (June) twice, early October and early December. Both October and December were markedly better than June. Although still busy, you could at least get the chair from place to place with out a struggle. Sometimes, parts of the park were fairly empty. Kimberly could actually get into the shops and look around. They are small anyway, but when you add a bunch of people, it's impossible.

Now, these two pictures are a little misleading. The June picture is 100% accurate; wall to wall people. The October one shows what you can find sometimes in the fall/winter. It's not always this empty, but sometimes you do get this! This picture was taken on a random afternoon in October.

Another bonus to going in the fall or winter is the special activies revolved around holidays that you get to experience. For example, in October we were able to interact with Death Eaters (a Harry Potter thing) and see an awesome Hogwarts Castle light show. In December, there were the Christmas decorations and parade, plus another Hogwarts Castle light show. So very cool.

TIP #3 - Go during HHN or Orlando Informer Meet-ups

Both HHN (Halloween Horror Nights) and Informer Meet-Ups are special ticketed events at Universal so there are drastically fewer people. Each of them have there pros and cons; wait neither come with any cons, except they are an additional cost to your daily park tickets. My favorite was the HHN tickets. On these special days during Sept and Oct, the parks would close around 6 to the general public and only those with HHN tickets are allowed in. Then the event lasts until 1:00-2:00 am. The big draw to HHN are the amazing haunted houses that Universal creates. I am not a big haunted house fan, but I do like an empty Diagon Alley. Because most people are there for the houses and the rides, it leaves Diagon Alley much less crowded. Plus, everyone was so laid back. We had the run of the place. We would take our time going through the qeues; no one rushing us. It was a great experience

Kimberly enjoyed the Meet-Up days better. These occur over a weekend, usually 4 - 5 times a year. During a meet-up day, you can get into the park at 5:00, but the park doesn't close to the general public until 7 or 8. So there's quite a bit of overlap where the parks are still pretty full. However, once only the meet-up crowd is there, we're back to running the place! Plus, there's free food and drink during the meet-ups. They last until 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning. Kimberly really enjoyed the community vibe that came with going to the meet-ups. That was different than the HHN. At the meet-ups, it was like you were one big happy family, all enjoying this awesome experience together. HHN was more like being on your own, but having a great time doing it.

Kimberly, a Big Brother fan, was excited to meet a past houseguest, Britini, while waiting to check in at the Meet-up event. She also got a picture with Taylor, the organizer of the whole event.

So, whether using the HHN ticket or the Meet-Up ticket, you will find yourself having a much better time than going during regular hours. I know they cost extra, but if you're only going once (or once a year, or maybe twice a year.....), SPLURGE! It will definitely be worth it.

TIP #4 - Try things even if you don't think you will like it.

Sometimes when you have limited mobility, it comes with limited options. This definitely happens at an amusement park. Having to stay in her chair, there are very few rides Kimberly can do at Universal Studios. So, when you hear about something that she would be able to do, but it doesn't really appeal to you, try it anyway! You may be surprised. You may not be, and you may hate it, but at least you know. For us, we were pleasently surprised to finally try the Horror Make-Up Show and love it. We had walked by it several times over the last 3 times we visited Universal, never even considering to try it out. Horror, are you kidding me? No thank you! But after hearing people on a Facebook Group talking about it, we decided we would try it out because it was something Kimberly could do while in her chair. Turns out, it is more of a comedy show than horror. Super funny! We loved it. After this, I think we will be more open to trying new things, even if we don't think we will like them, just to be sure!

Along these same lines, we would also suggest to just do the things you can do. What I mean is this, Kimberly loves HP so we would spend most of our time in that part of the park. This time, we branched out a little to see what else was offered and realized there was so much more that we could experience. There is a hilarious talking fountain that interacts with you, talented dancers and singers in the street, and a cool musical group that makes music with tools and buckets. I wonder what new things we will find the next time we go!

TIP #5 - utilize facebook groups.

When you are wanting to try something, go somewhere, etc., there are probably people that have already done that, been there and Facebook is a great place to find them. We join different groups on FB that share our same interests so that we can ask all the questions we want. It's great.

These are our 5 tips to making a trip to Universal in a wheelchair a success. There is so much more that could be talked about, but this will get you started. Feel free to ask any question, make any comment. We'd love to hear from you!