Got a weekend and free and looking for an awesome blend of thrills, fun, and magic (the Wizardry kind, not the Kingdom kind)? Then Universal Orlando Resort might be calling your name. In this post we’ll break down how to make the most of a short visit to Universal Orlando. Read on to get planning your weekend at Universal!
About This Post and Related Posts
This post is written to help you plan a short, 2-day trip to Universal Orlando Resort. It’s probably most helpful for trips with two or three full days, and it focuses on things like what kind of tickets to get for a short trip, whether Express Pass is worth it, and which hotels to book for a short trip.
We have a more general Universal Orlando Trip Planning Guide that includes topics like special events at the resort and how to get to your hotel from the airport, for example. Our How Much Does a Trip To Universal Orlando Cost? post is built around a trip of four nights, but you can find information on budgeting for your shorter trip in there, too.
This post does not include Volcano Bay. I haven’t spent much time there, and I’m given to understand it’s actually quite a good water park. That said, I just don’t think it’s a huge priority for people on short visits.
Finally, if you’re a big Harry Potter fan, you might opt to dedicate a full day to Wizarding World at Universal Orlando. Then spend your other day(s) enjoying the rest of the resort (or, you know, drinking Butterbeer and playing with your wand).
Note ABout Epic Universe Opening
This post is currently written for a visit that does not include Epic Universe, or which occurs before Epic Universe opens May 22, 2025. If you want to adopt it to include Epic Universe, it’s a rather straightforward three-part modification of this post…
First, plan one full day for Epic Universe and the remaining day(s) for the other parks. There’s no reason to budget less than a full day for a brand new theme park, in my mind.
Second, buy the appropriate tickets. Universal is rolling out the tickets for Epic Universe in phases, so as of this update you can’t just buy a single-day ticket for the park, for example. Make sure your ticket includes Epic Universe.
Third and finally, consider the hotels at Epic Universe. Helios Bay has its own dedicated entrance to Epic Universe. Stella Nova is advertised as having a walking path to Epic Universe. Terra Luna is “adjacent” to Epic Universe, but so far Universal has not directly advertised a walking path. Of course, being at any of these three hotels means you’ll be driving or taking a complimentary shuttle to CityWalk and the other two parks.
Tickets and Express PAss
Easy thing first—you need a “park-to-park” (i.e. park hopper) ticket. The Hogwarts Express is a ride that connects the two parks. In order to ride it in either direction (it goes both ways), you need a park-to-park ticket. We consider it a must-ride, and we otherwise consider park-to-park tickets worth the cost, so we strongly advise you get a park-to-park ticket.
(It is worth mentioning that, as discussed below, the only challenge to planning two days in these parks is getting the Hogwarts Express to fit nicely into your day twice. So if you really have no interest in the ride, fine, maybe skip park-to-park.)
Next, you need to decide how many days to get tickets for. For this post, I assume you want either 2-day or 3-day tickets. If you’ve got so much time on your arrival and departure days that 4-day tickets make sense…well I guess this post still works for you, but how did you find it??
When I look at ticket prices at Undercover Tourist, additional days cost about $20 per person. Personally, this puts me in a “if you’re thinking about it, do it” position when it comes to paying for an extra day (or two). Realistically, make sure you account for your true travel time (not just your flight landing time) and, if arriving late, for the time you’ll spend on dinner. But if you can get even two hours in a park, I’d probably say go for it.
That brings us to Express Pass. We have a separate post dedicated to a full exploration of Universal Express Pass and Express Pass Unlimited. Note that Universal does not have a mid-level “skip the line” option. The only options are these premium (read, “expensive”) options that include every Express Pass queue at the park. Prices vary by date and exactly which product you get, but you should be immediately prepared to spend $150 to $200 per person if you’re opting for these.
My suggestion—wait and see how your first day goes, then consider Express Pass for your second day. While it may have happened, I’ve never heard of Express Pass selling out in advance. That said, if you’re visiting during peak seasons (winter holidays, Spring Break), you might opt to be safer rather than sorry…er…and just buy one day of Express Pass in advance.
Where to Stay
Time is of the essence on a short trip. The first easy decision here is to stay at a Universal hotel. This will get you most/all (depending on which hotel) of the perks associated with a Universal hotel—the big one being Early Theme Park Admission.
While Universal Orlando’s parks aren’t so demanding that you have to avoid relying on bus transportation, I still strong recommend you avoid having to rely on bus transportation.
Unlike Disney World, Universal Orlando has several reasonably-priced hotels that are walking distance from both parks. My favorite is Cabana Bay Beach Resort, but I also enjoyed my visit to Aventura Hotel.
I really don’t think the savings to stay at, for example, Endless Summer or an off-site hotel are worth the conveniences you miss out on from Cabana Bay or Aventura for just a little more. (If the 20-minute walk from those hotels is a big “no” from you regardless, then saving money at Endless Summer might make sense.)
The big choice is whether to upgrade—for your whole stay or even for just one night—to one of the hotels that gets Universal Express Pass Unlimited. These hotels are Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, and Loews Royal Pacific Resort.
In general, I don’t think these hotels are worth it for a short stay. I’d usually not recommend doing a split stay (one night at one hotel, two nights at another) for such a short visit, either. To me, this comes down almost entirely to math. Is the cost of the nicer hotel, plus the inconvenience of changing hotels mid-stay if you do a split stay, worth the value for Express Pass Unlimited?
Keep in mind that you get Express Pass Unlimited as soon as you check-in, and you have it the entire day of check-out.
Planning Your Time in the Parks
The two-day trip is pretty straightforward when it comes to planning your time in the parks, but there is one small wrinkle.
The easy part is that there are two theme parks, each taking about a day to see, that you have to fit into two days. So whether you dedicate a full day to each park or hop back and forth a bit, you shouldn’t feel too pressed for time. As always, remember that hopping takes time, so the more you hop, the more pressure you might feel.
In general, you can look at our one-day itinerary posts for the two parks and use those as your baseline for the two days:
Fundamentally, just remember to…
Check the Early Admission schedule. If you can visit both parks early, do it. If only one has Early Admission, make sure you arrive early for it!
Plan to rope drop Hagrid’s. Don’t start both days at Universal Studios Florida—you need a plan to get on Hagrid’s, and rope drop is usually the best option.
Plan one evening at each park, if there are nighttime shows. Nighttime schedules vary at Universal, but if there is one at each park, you’ll want to plan one evening at each park.
But in those posts you’ll also see the wrinkle, which we’ve also already mentioned here—the Hogwarts Express. The Hogwarts Express is a ride (we consider it a can’t miss) that takes you between the two parks. This is why you need a 2-park ticket for your visit. It’s also why visiting the parks over two days isn’t as simple as picking which park to visit on which day.
There are basically two good ways to fit the Hogwarts Express into your 2-day trip. First, you can ride it each day in opposite directions. Start one day at Universal Studios Florida and ride Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure sometime. Start the other day at Islands of Adventure and ride Hogwarts Express to Studios at some point.
The other option is to ride the Hogwarts Express twice in one day. You might spend significant time at both parks, or you might just ride the Hogwarts Express, get off, exit the ride, and get right back in the queue to go the other direction.
My preference is to ride it twice on my first day. This “flattens” the “wrinkle” in the 2-day plan by basically saying “I’m going to do Hogwarts Express as part of my day at [whichever park].” This saves you from having to figure out exactly how to split both parks between a morning and afternoon on different days.
The main challenge with that approach is going to be the wait times. A good approach with the Hogwarts Express is to try and catch it right before wait pop up midday (check Thrill Data for recent days). But if you do that well—not too early—then there’s a good chance that by the time you get to the second park, the wait has gone up too much to make it worth going back.
There’s no perfect answer here, and what’s probably going to wind up happening is that you simply understand that even if you’re planning to ride it both directions quickly in one day, you need to be prepared for being “stranded” in the other park if the wait goes up while you’re riding (you can always just walk back to the other park, figuring you’ll deal with the other direction of Hogwarts Express later).
That’s all for this topic! How will you spend your weekend at Universal Orlando Resort?
All Your Other Universal Orlando Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Universal Orlando planning! Take a second to check out our most important content!
Just starting out? Start with our Universal Orlando Resort planning guide! If you’re considering a Universal hotel, read our Review of Universal’s Aventura Hotel!
You’ll want to know what rides the parks offer, so we’ve got a Universal Studios Florida Rides Guide and a Universal’s Islands of Adventure Rides Guide. And to know how to get on them without the long waits, read all about Express Pass at Universal Orlando Resort.
If you’d like an idea of how to plan a day at these parks, we can help there, too. Our One Day Universal Studios Florida Itinerary covers a full day at the original park, and our Universal’s Islands of Adventure One Day Plan covers that park.
Early risers always have the best theme parks days (well, we think so). Read about Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando to learn how to get an extra hour in the parks. And read about rope drop at Islands of Adventure, including getting on the brand new Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.