Who doesn’t want their trip to Orlando to be the perfect, fun trip for their family? No one I know. Who has a child with Autism and knows that perfect doesn’t exist? Well, actually, perfect never exists for anyone, but I have a phrase…“perfect for us.” It means that something has gone as well as it can go with no major meltdowns or blowouts along the way. This is what I spent two years planning. A 9 day trip to Disney with a day at Universal that would be “perfect for us.”
The boys and me.
Our family
My son has Aspergers syndrome, so he looks like other kids but he is not. He is the 10 year old who looks like he is throwing a temper tantrum, when he is just in sensory overload. Many things make life difficult for him, and by extension, us. He is very sensitive to noise (earplugs in the park all day every day), has panic attacks with rain and thunder (ponchos and lots of time in gift shops mid afternoon), and he just gets easily overwhelmed. Needless to say, we were concerned how a trip to a large, noisy, hot destination would go over for him, and by extension, the rest of us. Lucky for us, when armed with ear plugs, he is ready and willing to go on almost any ride at all.
I knew that Disney had a special pass that would allow us to bypass most of the park lines which would greatly enhance our enjoyment of our trip. I wasn’t sure what Universal Orlando had, or if they had anything. In talking to a friend about our upcoming trip she informed me that Universal does indeed have a pass like this. But, she warned me “Don’t use it for the Forbidden Journey Ride! You’ll miss the best parts!” This had my hopes up.
In trying to research this online, I could not find any good information regarding a pass at Universal Orlando. There are a few independent sites with questions and answers from people who have used them, but nothing on the official Universal website. I found the OrlandoInformer.com website, and discovered it to be very informative regarding how to experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I posted a question regarding these passes. Dan gave me some basic information and a number to call. When I called I was told that Universal does offer different passes for different situations and they are given out on a case by case basis. OK! Now I have a plan!
I used The Insider’s Guide to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the other information on the OI site to make a skeleton plan for our day at Universal. Upon arriving at Islands of Adventure my husband went to rent a locker, and I went to guest services to obtain our pass for our son. I actually finished my task before he finished his. What we received was an Guest Assistance Pass and this is how it works…
Universal Orlando’s Guest Assistance Pass
When we were ready to go on a ride at either Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure, we approached the greeter at the entrance. If the wait was thirty minutes or less we could jump right into the “alternative queue” line. We only used this pass for rides that had Express Pass lines. If the wait was more than thirty minutes, the greeter at the entrance would write down a time for us to return. Once we returned, we would go to the greeter who would scan our pass and direct us to the line we should use. Only one return time can be on the pass at a time, and I don’t know if it can be used multiple times for the same ride as we only did each attraction once.
Brian, our son with Autism, getting ready to board.
How did our plan and the pass work out for us? Pretty well. I warned my children that once we moved into the park we were going directly to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and that we could go back and see everything they wanted to see after. My oldest boy wanted very much to go into Ollivander’s, however once he saw the line he quickly lost interest. He knew that we wouldn’t be purchasing a wand yet anyway, so he decided to hold off on that. When we reached the Butterbeer cart, we helped ourselves to one frozen and one just cold, and worked our way to the line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I was so grateful for the information from OI, because we did not have to stand in line for the lockers. (Editor’s note: Learn how to best experience the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) It was very confusing as to where we did actually have to go to line up, but I found greeters, and they quickly helped us out. We waited about 45 minutes for the ride and loved every minute of it.
Our older son Kevin inside Hogwarts Castle.
Side note: I was glad to see that they are expanding the queue for this ride. Midway through, we had to go out of the proper queue area and wait in a “backstage area” with very industrial type surroundings. It was clearly not part of what that experience was created to be, and was a little disappointing to have the atmosphere broken in that way.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter became very crowded very quickly, and while it was fun wandering around and checking the shops out, it felt unmanageable at times, especially for our son with Autism. We went over to Universal Studios Florida after riding Dr. Doom and the Hulk. Our first order of business there was to find somewhere to eat lunch. We ended up being able to walk right into Finnegan’s for a lovely meal at a nicely air conditioned Irish pub. Very nice milkshakes on the menu there too!
Having regained our strength ,we strolled around Universal Studios Florida for a bit. We went on a few rides without needing the Guest Assistance Pass and when the skies opened up, we ducked into the Universal gift shop. It was in here that we purchased wands and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. It was a much bigger store then the shops in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and therefore it was much easier to shop there.
The boys had had enough of Universal Studios, so we wandered back over to Islands of Adventure and placed everything in our locker (in case we wanted to go back on Forbidden Journey). We spent a little more time in the shops and while my family went on Dragon Challenge I was lucky enough to see the Frog Choir! We strolled through Jurassic Park as we left, but we were all too tired to go on anymore rides.
Having a little more fun in Jurassic Park.
Between both parks, we used the assistance pass only a few times including Flight of the Hippogriff, Dragon Challenge and a Dr. Suess ride. We got lucky on the Flight of the Hippogriff because the attendant didn’t have a pen to give us a return time, so she let us get right in line. I think we enjoyed exploring the different areas of the parks far more than riding the rides. All in all, it was a busy but very enjoyable day that we will never forget. I was grateful to have the Guest Assistance Pass for our son with Autism even though our older son got a little spoiled by it. Our sons’ favorite part of the day was The Simpsons Ride.
It was a day that was perfect for us.
- Alissa D
Photo gallery
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- The boys and me.
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- Entrance to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
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- Queue for Ollivander’s Wand Shop.
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- Locker line for Harry Potter and the Foribidden Journey.
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- Where’s the Butterbeer?
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- There’s the Butterbeer!
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- Funny… I get motion Sickness.
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- Breaking the magic (the over-extended queue area for Forbidden Journey).
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- Green house queue area for Forbidden Journey.
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- Our older son Kevin.
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- Brian, our son with Autism, getting ready to board.
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- Fun times in Jurassic Park.
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- Evening decends over Hogsmeade Village and Lost Continent.
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- Target practice.
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- Wands don’t kill people. People kill people.
Dan is an Orlando destination specialist, former Universal team member, student at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, and founder of Visitus Media LLC. Originally from St. Paul, MN, Dan lives in Celebration, FL with his wife Rosie and their new daughter Noa.
Thank you for sharing with us! It’s interesting that after all that work The Simpsons Ride was your sons’ favorite attraction. There probably was no wait for that one, versus the huge line at the Wizarding World.
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Thanks! The Simpsons line was actually the longest one we stood in all day because of technical difficulties on the ride. However, both boys were so happy to watch the show clips as we stood in line they didn’t even notice. I think that’s why it was Brian’s favorite ride. We would like to go back and stay on site at some point to make use of the express pass as well.
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Staying on-site was well worth it. Can’t wait to plan our next trip there.
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So much for my expertise!
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LOL
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Great report Alissa. Thanks for sharing. Our oldest son also has Asperger Syndrome and we did the same kind of research last year for our trip to Orlando (WDW & Universal). We found that staying at one of Universal’s on-site hotels (Royal Pacific was our choice-great resort) was our best bet for two main reasons. First, our hotel would be close to the parks so if he became overwhelmed with the crowds we could walk back and take a break at the pool. And second, the Express Pass. This was a life saver. Our biggest fear was the long wait times during the summer months but with that pass, we never had a wait time longer than 20 minutes tops. The only exception was the Forbidden Journey attraction but with early admissions to WWoHP (another great peak) we were on the ride within 30 minutes. He did very well and had a great time.
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Did I understand right that after you came back at your “return time” they send you to the Express Pass line?
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