While most people visit Florida for the Disney magic; if you are a thrill-seeker, there’s seriously no place like Universal – Islands of Adventure and Studios. If you have 2 days to spend in Orlando, definitely plan 1 day for each park, to experience both parks in entirety. If you had to choose only ONE park (they’re a bit pricey at 114$ per day), I would probably recommend Universal Islands of Adventure, over Universal Studios, although Universal has very smartly dispersed some of their best rides to both the parks.

However, if you only had 1 day and literally wanted to get the best of both worlds, I would recommend the 2-park 1-day ticket (180$ for the day, which is cheaper than spending 228$) and experience the best attractions from BOTH the parks.

IDEALLY, you should plan on spending more time on the theme parks so that you can take in all the creativity and also pace out the rides, but if you are short on time, the brut-force way that I am recommending below should work for you; provided you follow some of the ground rules 😉

1. Off-season visit – Try and visit mid-week and slightly off-season (late Feb/early March and September are some of the best times)
2. Start early – And by early, we mean that if the park opens at 9am, be at the entry gates at 8:30. If you’ve purchased early-access pass, then be there at 7:45am. You can seize the day if you get there early, but we did just fine starting at regular hours.
3. Single-rider lines – this was our BEST discovery aka time-saving hack at Universal so far. We could do 90 percent of the popular rides in under 10 mins wait, just ‘cause we chose to ride singularly. Other than some special rides that you may wanna do with friends/family, choose the single rider lanes and you’ll save SO much of the soul-killing wait time, that you’ll thank me later. I mean, you would anyways be too busy experiencing the ride irrespective of who is in the next seat, so might as save on those wait times right?
4. Plan ahead – If you don’t want to roam about like a lost puppy, read about the different rides, download the park map and decide which rides you want to not miss and target to do them first. Your energy will drop as the day passes(especially if you are unlucky to get Florida heat on your visit), so best to get them while you are in it.
5. With the 2-park 1 day ticket, you can shuffle back and forth between parks as many times as you needed, but I’d recommend not shuffling more than once or twice, oto save unnecessary commuting times (which will also tire you).
6. Bring your own food – Carry a compact backpack with your water bottle and quick snacks, to not waste too much time in food lines (trust me, they are LONGGG); we’d eat our packed lunch and then do ice-creams and butter-beer when the food-stalls were not busy.
7. Clothing – This one is up to you, but if you plan to do the water rides, wear light-weight and dry-fit clothing so that you can dry easily after.

Okay, now that you are committed to doing the 2-park one day thing, here’s the itinerary we have tried and tested and recommend to all the thrill-seekers 🙂 Here are some of the attractions to not miss.

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Must do attractions and rides at Universal’s Islands of Adventure:

1. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Hogsmeade – You Have. To. Do. it. Period. I don’t want to spill much on this, as you MUST experience the ride and the village, to know why the whole world is raving about it. The design and the tech behind this, is some of the best you’d see on any roller-coaster/VR experience in the world.
   After you’re done with the main ride, you’ll see another ride in Hogsmeade (Flight of the hippogryph)– which is totally not worth the queue, so skip that one.
2. The River adventure at Jurassic Park – fun ride for all ages and thrill-levels. Plus, dinosaurs, so this one is quite fun.
3. Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls – Prepare to get drenched!! This one is a must do for water-slide lovers.
4. The amazing Spiderman VR ride – Another good VR experience, and if you are Marvel fan, this one is not to be missed
5. Doctor Doom’s Fear fall – I didn’t go on this one, as I don’t care for free falls too much, but it is guaranteed to give you a heart-in-your-mouth experience. If you are into the free-falling experience, go for it.
6. The Incredible Hulk roller coaster – One of the most loved rollercoasters at Universal, this is not for the faint hearted, but if you are a roller-coaster junkie like me, you’ll be jumping with joy after its’ done, and will probably do this more than once.

Must do attractions and rides at Universal Studios:

1. Wizarding world of Harry Potter – Diagon alley – another VR adventure that you shouldn’t miss. If you have the 2-park one day pass, just take the train from Hogwarts (in Universal’s Islands of Adventure) to King Cross Station (in Universal Studios) to do this ride.
2. The Simpsons – Homer and fam will make you chuckle and take you through a fun ride, just like they always do. A VR experience I thoroughly loved.
3. The Mummy Returns – If you had to do ONE ride in Universal studios – this one is it! Wait times can be long, so be smart and take the single-rider line here.
4. Transformers – I don’t care for Transformers and the likes, but I did this one for the hubs and it was a pretty good VR experience, but if up to me, I’d skip this one.
5. Hollywood rip-ride rockit – It has a 90 deg ascend and an almost 90 deg drop; definitely not for anyone with vertigo or speed issues. This one (just like the Incredible Hulk) will get the adrenaline soaring!

Now, I have given you the must-do rides, but the order you approach it with, is of crucial importance, if you intend on doing them all in 1 day.  To get the most bank for your buck, here’s the order I’d recommend using your 2-park 1 day ticket.

1. Be at the gates at 8:30am OR if you can attain the early-access pass, be there at 7:45 (for 8am entry) and once in, first hit Harry Potter and the Forbidden journey ride at Hogsmeade – this one is the most popular and gets REAL BUSY after the crowds roll in. Wait times are as little as 5 mins, early in the morning, but can be as long or longer than 100 mins, later in the day.
2. From here, I’d recommend moving onto Universal Studios – Since you have the 2-park 1 day pass, you can take the train from Hogsmeade. (You can also walk out of the park and enter through the regular gateways).
3. If you took the train from Hogsmeade, you should first do the Harry Potter ride at Diagon Alley (since the train stops there anyway) followed by the Simpsons, Mummy Returns, Transformers (if you are into it), and then the Hollywood Rip-tide.
4. Remember to do single-rider lines for the crowded rides; that’ll help you wrap up Universal Studios in about 2 hrs, so you can head back to Islands of Adventure.
5. Take the Hogwarts Express back into Universal Islands of adventure, and head over to The river adventure at Jurassic Park,  the Amazing Spiderman and the King Kong ride (if time permits).
6. While the sun is hot (and if you are carrying change of clothes or easy-dry clothing), do the Ripsaw Falls, you ought to love this one, albeit it’ll leave you fully soaked.
7. Last but not the least, do the Incredible Hulk ride – don’t even look at the wait times, if you like roller coasters, you gotta do it. This one closes at 6pm, so make sure you enter the line atleast 10 mins before 6.

A few things to note and remember –

1. Afternoons are the busiest time in the park and you’ll run into long lines even when riding single-rider lanes, so chill in the cafes, take a nap on the benches or several sit-outs, before jumping onto the next batch of rides.
2.  A lot of rides close at 6pm, so make sure to plan your evening rides.
3. If you aren’t dead tired by 6:30pm, head back over to Universal Studios for the Mardi Gras experience. It’s a parade+street food+ music/dance extravaganza and Universal knows how to put up a good show.
4. The above itinerary can only work if you don’t have very young kids or senior adults in your group. This is for the committed fellas, who are out to suck out everything they can from their day in the park. It’s for those who don’t care if they sleep for 2-days-straight after, but are high as a kite from the exhilaration and the anticipation of the rides!

Although the itinerary recommended above may look like a military regime to some, remember to relax and pace it out, NBD if you miss a ride or two. If you are only burning out from the running around, all the money spent will seem a waste, so take the time to just sit and sip on those delicious butter beers, gorge on pizzas and ice creams and pass some lazy moments during the busy hours in the park and get your rides on after 😉