Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure in One Day: A Complete Guide

You can visit Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure in one day. However, just because you can doesn’t always mean you should.

Visiting both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure will be very full-on. It will also require some planning and preparation and possibly some additional expenses.

Having visited Universal Orlando more times than I can count, I’ve visited both parks in one day—and I know exactly what it takes to make it happen.

1. Hotel

Successfully visiting Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in one day starts with where you stay. At a minimum, I recommend staying on-site in a Universal Orlando hotel.

Universal Orlando hotels are no longer expensive; instead, rooms in the value range start at as little as $120 per night.

There are two key benefits to staying in an on-site hotel that are going to help you when visiting:

Close Proximity – Universal Orlando hotels near the park entrance offer free transport.
Early Park Entry – Hotel guests can enter one of the selected theme parks an hour earlier than the general public.

If you have the budget, you can further enhance your day by staying in one of the three Signature hotels that have free Universal Express Passes:

These hotels typically cost between $450 and $750 per night. However, this will get free Universal Unlimited Express Passes for all guests on both the day of check-in and check-out.

For context, a one-day Universal Express Unlimited Pass costs between $119.99 and $329.99 per person. So, if you’re a couple or a family who wants an Express Pass, you could save money by staying here.

2. Tickets

You will need a park-to-park ticket to visit both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure in one day.

These tickets allow you to move between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure throughout the day, by either:

Walk Across CityWalk
Take The Hogwarts Express

Park-to-Park tickets cost at least $20 more per person per day compared to single-day park tickets. However, this is a necessary ticket upgrade if you want to visit both parks.

3. Express Pass

The Universal Express Pass is a ticket upgrade that can further streamline your visit. You can get an Express Pass for free by staying at one of the Signature on-site hotels (as mentioned above) or buying them separately.

With a Universal Express Pass, you can skip the standby queue for most rides. This can save you around 70% of the usual wait time.

So, for example, if VelociCoaster has a standby wait time of one hour, you’ll typically only wait about 20 minutes with an Express Pass. This means more time for rides and less time spent in line.

However, this comes at a price. A one-day Universal Express Pass costs between $89.99 and $299.99.

4. Plan Ahead

Once everything is booked, it’s time to start planning your day at the theme parks. You want to grab a list of all the rides and understand:

The rides you can or can’t go on based on height requirements (where applicable)
Which rides you want to do, and which you’d be happy to skip

You then want to compare your list of ‘must do’ rides to the most popular rides (based on average wait times). This will help you to determine which rides you want to go to first when the park opens.

5. Arrive Early

The best time to arrive at Universal Orlando is before the theme parks open. This way, you’ll be ready as the gates open at the park entrance.

When the park opens, you should go straight to the most popular ride, as this is when the wait time is the lowest.

For Universal Studios Florida, this is:

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts
Revenge of the Mummy
Hogwarts Express

Meanwhile, for Islands of Adventure, this is:

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure
Jurassic World VelociCoaster
Hulk Coaster

6. Stay Late

In addition to arriving early, staying late is one of the best ways to avoid crowds at Universal Orlando.

Typically, between 4pm and park closing, ride wait times will start to drop. This is the perfect time to go on some of the most popular attractions you may have missed earlier in the day.

Pro Tip: Don’t miss CineSational: Symphonic Spectacular, which takes place most evenings at Universal Studios.

7. Pack Light

Try to bring as little as possible to Universal Orlando; a small bag or fanny pack would be ideal. This makes it easier to move through the parks and saves time since fanny packs are allowed on most rides, so you won’t have to use lockers as much.