Less & More: The WFH Mom Edit

Thinking about visiting LEGOLAND and/or Universal Studios in Orlando? Maybe some of the below will help you out!

In July, we spent ten days in Florida, starting at Universal Studios (and Islands of Adventure!), then a short hop to LEGOLAND, finally ending up at Clearwater Beach. This was really our first foray into theme parks and we learned a LOT. Maybe some of this free advice can help other parents thinking about taking the plunge!

1. The unlimited Express Pass was an amazing choice for Universal (won’t make the mistake of calling it a Fast Pass again – got skewered on TikTok for that!). There was only one ride it didn’t work for (Hagrid’s Motorbikes, for the curious) and frequently, we were able to go on rides two or three times while the non Express Pass queue was still listed at over an hour wait. One caveat: for Harry Potter rides, you can miss some of the cool theming if you’re zooming through so don’t run TOO fast or you might miss Dumbledore (or something else).

2. Our planner was a dream and I highly recommend working with one. Here is ours: https://www.facebook.com/jenn.destination.wonderland. She designed a detailed itinerary that was perfect for our family. She introduced us to the ghost room trick for our express pass, which is pure magic. Basically, you book a room on property that you are not necessarily. going to use because it’s the cheaper way to get Express Passes for your whole family.

3. Download the Universal app. Use it to show your kids the rides and check height requirements and wait times. That way you don’t have to waste time on rides no one is interested in. For instance, much to my chagrin, we did NOT end up going on Hagrid’s Motorbikes. My kids just felt like it was TOO exciting for them. Dan and I thought about going on it without them, but the wait time never really dipped below 60 minutes, so we didn’t end up going on. But at least we didn’t wake up at the crack of dawn thinking we NEEDED to go on the ride! The kids shut it down as soon as they saw a video of it online.

4. Food. I could do an entire post on this alone but I highly recommend getting a suite with a kitchenette. We picked two meals to “eat out” and honestly, I wish we’d done even less. In my opinion, the food was only ok, so we were mostly just enjoying the atmosphere for a very pricey admission cost of four dinners. We ate at the Chocolate Emporium and Mythos, both of which were really fun and themed, so if you ARE going to eat out, those are good choices! We packed sandwiches, fruit, snack bars and crackers on the go. In our room, we packed microwave rice pouches, burritos, hard boiled eggs. We were able to piece together breakfasts, lunches and a couple of dinners in our hotel rooms. We spent under $500 on food for all three park days (family of four).

5. Bring your own lightweight water bottle – Universal has kiosks everywhere to fill them up, so we stopped frequently to take advantage. This probably saved us at least $100 on its own.

6. Very niche, but if you are going on the water rides at Islands of Adventure, you are going to be soaked. Think of bringing extra shoes/socks or do those later in the day when you don’t have much walking left.

7. This is subjective but we decided that being at the gates for opening was not for us. The way it seems to me: You wait at the gates or you wait for the ride. We waited 45 minutes outside the gates on the first day, but didn’t really have to wait for our first ride. However, showing up 15 minutes after rope drop on our early admission day combined with the Express Pass allowed us to ride a couple popular rides several times with no wait AND we walked right in at the gate with no wait.

8. We found it really helpful to set souvenir expectations with the kids ahead of time. There are NO shortages of ways to spend additional money, between games and souvenirs and snacks. In fact, there is a gift shop after every ride and then many more besides those. Our kids had a $100 budget AND we had them carry anything they bought or won, so I think that helped them be more selective along the way.

9. Take breaks and eat and hydrate and don’t feel like you have to sprint from ride to ride. We were at the parks for two days from 9/10am until about 5pm and had more than enough time to see all we wanted from Universal and Islands of Adventure. We walked about 12 miles each day.

Now, moving on from Universal to LEGOLAND!

10. Our kids are 8 and 11. They were almost always the oldest kids wherever we went. This park is definitely geared toward the younger crowd. Most things were not all that interesting to my 11 year old, so if you have younger kids, do NOT delay this one. They will get the most out of it from ages 5-8, in my opinion.

11. You very likely do not need a full day for the water park. It is composted of two water slides, a wave pool and a lazy river. We did each thing twice and only stayed 2.5 hours.

12. Start at the back of the park and work your way forward. Keep an eye on the map because it’s not a straight path. It took us about five hours to do most of what we wanted. A fast track pass was NOT needed for us as we never waited for any ride longer than 15 minutes.

13. Staying on property was super convenient and fun. Again, the entertainment and features of the hotel are more geared toward younger kids, but I would say it is definitely worth it to try once.

14. Take the pontoon boat ride. The park sits right beside a series of lakes and the wildlife scene is unreal. We did a sunset cruise around the lakes and saw so many birds, gators and more. It’s a fun break from theme park madness in the middle of nature.

15. I’ll save you the trouble of looking it up. Pretty much every single LEGO set you can buy on property is also available on Amazon for the same price or lower. That did NOT stop my son from walking away with a Ninjago kit, but I’m just letting you know, parent to parent.

So that’s that – what did I miss? Anyone else visited these parks and have stories/tips to share? I’d love to hear!