Universal Weekend - Transformer's Ride Opening Month

---

Last November, Matt and I purchased annual power passes for Universal Studios. Since then, we've visited quite a few times so luckily the passes have already paid for themselves. Since Orlando is only a little over two hours from Jupiter, we make it a mini weekend getaway by leaving Saturday morning and coming home Sunday evening. This entry will just be a mini description of our lodging and some park tips for future reference.



Hotel:

We booked the Monumental Hotel through Hotels.com ($90.00 a night) which finally bumped us up to a free night on our next trip, yay! We have stayed at the Monumental a handful of times and prior to this trip, had no major complaints. The hotel has a good location, is quiet, clean and the staff usually pretty friendly. Parking is also a dream and there are no hidden resort fees. We checked in pretty late since we went immediately to the park and then dinner right after and were given a room on the 3rd floor (307 I believe). Right away we noticed something was off with the A/C unit, as the actual temperature in the room did not seem to match up to what it read. It was also rather noisy and shook the room a bit, which we didn't really pay much attention to until we were trying to sleep. This led to a very sleepy Sunday at the park. All things considered, we will most likely seek out other hotels next trip to Orlando.



Universal Studios:

When Matt and I purchased our Universal Power Passes, we did not pay attention to the black out dates. Upon trying to enter the gates at Universal, we were informed that our passes were blocked out for the entire month of July at Universal because of the new Transformers ride, but we could use them at Island of Adventure. It was the very last weekend in July, so we figured we would see what customer service could do. After going back and forth a few times, they finally granted us exception access to Universal but after 4PM, which was just fine.

A few things that we learned this trip at Universal:


• Summer time is super busy at the parks and average wait times for rides were 45 minutes.
• The single rider line is the way to go if you don't have a large family or fast pass.
• The new Transformers ride is AWESOME!!!
• Parking is ridiculously expensive at $16.00 for the day.
• If not bringing a purse or bag, make sure that storage pockets have zippers or some form of closure since several rides go upside down.

---