34. Your Epic Universal Questions Answered: Express at Hagrid’s, Money Saving Tips & Mardi Gras | Universal Orlando

In this episode of Unlocking Universal, I’m answering more of your Epic Universal questions—covering everything from Express Pass strategy to budgeting smarter for food, Mardi Gras experiences, and what we know (and don’t know yet) about Epic Universe and Annual Passes.

This is real-world Universal Orlando planning advice, designed to help you feel confident and prepared before your trip—and a whole lot less stressed after you get home.

In this episode, we cover:

• Does Express Pass at Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure change Early Park Admission strategy?
• Why Early Park Admission still matters—even if you have Express
• How to plan and pre-budget for food costs at Universal Orlando
• Using Universal gift cards to manage in-park spending
• Snack, hydration, and souvenir strategies that help prevent overspending
• Is the Mardi Gras Float Ride & Dine experience worth it?
• The five restaurants included with the Mardi Gras Float Ride & Dine experience
• What we currently know about Epic Universe and Annual Pass options for 2026

If you’ve ever wondered whether an add-on experience is actually worth the money—or come home from vacation and dreaded opening your credit card statement—this episode is for you.

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🌟 As a senior travel consultant and trainer with The Magic For Less Travel, a top U-Preferred agency, I specialize in Universal Orlando vacations—When you're ready to go from dreaming to doing, I'm here for you.  My services are free, my excitement is contagious, and your countdown to Epic could start faster than a VelociCoaster launch. 

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Transcript

There's this moment that happens at Islands of Adventure. The park is still waking up. The air feels different, cooler, quieter. You're not wandering. You are moving with intention. And when you turn the corner into Hogsmeade during Early Park Admission, you can feel it. Everyone there knows exactly why they're there.

Nobody's stopping for photos, nobody's debating butterbeer. They're all walking in the same direction toward Hagrid's Hut. And now that moment has changed because Express Pass is finally in play. So the question becomes, does that change the strategy?

 Welcome back to Unlocking Universal, your Key to all things Universal Orlando and beyond. Now here's your guide and unfair Advantage Holli

.

 Welcome back , where I help you plan smarter, experience more, and feel confident walking into Universal Orlando, whether it's your first visit or your 50th. Today I'm answering [00:01:00] your epic universal questions. And no, they're not just about Epic universe because the way I see it, epic isn't just a theme park.

It's a vibe.

Today's first question comes from Jake, and honestly, Jake is kind of the stand-in for about a dozen people who've asked me some version of this question lately, Jake wrote in and said. Now that Express Pass works at Hagrid's, does this totally change the Early Park Admission strategy or is it still worth getting up early?

And the answer is, well, not entirely. And yes, if you're staying at one of the original three signature collection hotels, you have Express Unlimited. So now you have access to the express queue at Hagrid's, and you can use it multiple times every single day. That is a very big deal. If you've purchased Multi-Day Express, which I love, or another version of Express or Express Unlimited, you may have one use or unlimited use depending on what you bought.

Anytime a theme park introduces an express lane [00:02:00] or an upcharge queue of some manner , the standby line slows down. That's not theory, that's just how capacity works. Express is fantastic for the people using Express, but if you're ever going to be in the standby line at all, Early Park Admission actually becomes more important, not less.

And even if you do have Express, I would still take advantage of Early Park Admission. Think of it strategically. If you have single use Express Pass, you get one express entry per attraction per day, right? Okay. So Early Park Admission. Right away gives you a second, and it's a lower wait time.

Your Early Park Admission wait is almost assuredly going to be shorter than any other time of the day, and most, if not all of it is going to take place before the parks officially open. So that is a huge bonus too. Because if the standby line is two to three hours long during the day, and it very often is.

The express cuts that by 50 or 75% even, you could still be waiting an hour or more, [00:03:00] or you could be practically walking on during Early Park Admission. So in my opinion, Early Park Admission is still an excellent strategy, and for some guests it's now even more important than it was before.

This next question is one that I get pretty consistently when folks find out that I'm local, and especially from those who wanna be smart about their money, but still actually enjoy their vacation. What are my best money saving tips when it comes to Universal Orlando? I. And the first thing that comes to mind, I always wanna say is that food is going to cost money.

I know, duh. But it's going to cost a lot of money. And to be fair, that's not just vacation or someone who spends a lot of the time in the parks right? Even at home in normal life, we all have to consciously budget for meals because food just isn't cheap anymore. So it makes sense that on vacation where you're eating out for most of the meals.

But the cost is gonna add up faster. Where I see people get into trouble is not planning for that ahead of time and then [00:04:00] getting home, opening their credit card statement and realizing that most of it is from the food on their trip. That's a really quick way to turn post vacation happiness into post vacation regret.

So instead of just trying to spend less in the moment, I really encourage people to reverse engineer a little bit and decide ahead of time what they're comfortable spending on meals. And then allocate that money before the trip even starts. I know it's not sexy, but number crunching can save you more than freaking out on site and making no your go-to phrase ever could.

One way I recommend to do that is by buying Universal gift cards for at least part of your food budget. That way some of those meals are already paid for and you're not swiping a credit card every time you sit down to eat.

 There's something very freeing about knowing that money is already set aside and it takes a huge mental load off while you're actually on vacation. You know when you're supposed to be able to relax a little bit. I need to add a quick note here though, because I know a lot of my guests are newer to Universal [00:05:00] and they're more used to the ways of Disney.

Gift cards can be used once you're actually on site at Universal Orlando Resort, but they can't be used to pay for your vacation package ahead of time. This is a big departure from what we're used to with Disney.

So I wanna be clear that we're talking about your on resort spending budget when we're talking about using gift cards. And this is also kind of one of those places where planning with a Universal specialist as your travel advisor can really help because when we're building your trip, putting it all together, we're able to speak to all of this in advance.

Tickets and hotels, of course. But also food cost expectations, so nothing is gonna sneak up on you later. Once that food budget is handled, everything else is going to feel so much easier. And from there I say don't go into the parks hungry. We always bring snacks, not because we're there all the time and we just refuse to buy food constantly.

But because being hungry leads to panic spending. Nobody wants to be rage buying an $18 slice of just okay pizza. You [00:06:00] know. Having snacks gives you the freedom to spend your money on the special items, the seasonal or the theme treats, the ones that actually catch your attention.

That way you're spending your money purposefully, not just

because you're starving and about to rip someone's head off. Hydration is the same way. I love you, so listen up. Hydrate like it's your dang job because dehydration will ruin your day faster than almost anything else I can think of.

 Personally, I never walk into the parks without either a refillable freestyle cup or a small water bottle. I have some that range between my little tiny one that's 10 ounces and fits in my cross body sling bag to a bigger, maybe, I think it's about 20 ounces, and I take that one. If it's gonna be extra hot, extra humid, I'm gonna be in the park a lot longer or whatever.

Why do I stick with the smaller tumblers? It's basically because , first of all, they fit in the lockers, but more importantly because there are over a hundred Coca-Cola freestyle machines that are gonna give you free ice and free filtered water.

So there's no need to be lugging around a huge, heavy [00:07:00] vessel. I hate to say it, but this is where you're gonna need to leave those Stanley Quenchers at home. You can set 'em up next to your Uggs for company. And along with my little water bottle, I like to bring in some electrolyte packets or maybe just a bunch of Himalayan pink salt.

You don't need it in every single bottle that you fill, but you do wanna keep some on hand throughout the day, because I'm telling you, Florida heat and humidity, they are no joke. Water alone is not gonna be enough, and you don't wanna get that electrolyte imbalance.

And finally, with souvenirs, it's essentially the same mindset. Figure out ahead of time what kind of merch person you are. Do you like shirts, Christmas ornaments, key chains? Whatever it is, give yourself a budget before you step foot on site. Then early on you're looking later in the trip. Then you can buy, like if you see something, you really want it, and then after a few days you still want it.

That's how you know that it wasn't just an impulse and there are very few exceptions where you can't find an item in multiple locations throughout the parks and City Walk [00:08:00] and Team Members will be happy to help you nail it down if you need help.

I mean, overall, I think planning ahead doesn't have to mean doing less. It means enjoying what you choose without stress before, during, and after your trip.

This next question comes from Emily who asked if the Mardi Gras Float Ride and Dine Experience is actually worth the money, or if it just sounds cooler than it is. And the answer is a resounding yes. Absolutely. Without question, do it. This is as close to New Orleans Mardi Gras as it gets without quite as many drunks which I say feels like a win.

Seriously though, these floats are made by Kern Studios, which is the same company that builds the Mardi Gras floats in New Orleans. They are not messing around, my friends. For 2026 Mardi Gras runs from February 7th through April 4th.

 The Float Ride and Dine experience itself includes a three course meal, an appetizer, an entree, a dessert, and a non-alcoholic beverage. Followed by [00:09:00] riding on the parade float where you get to toss the beads and wave to the crowd.

I can't even tell you enough how much of a unique experience this is. Harper and I have done this and it's, it's core memory stuff. I can't even find the words to tell you how cool it is. You'll choose from one of five participating restaurants, Lombard Seafood Grill, Confisco Grill, over an Islands of Adventure, cowfish, NBC, sports Grill and Brew, or Antojitos.

Those three are in City Walk, so you've got a really solid mix of options depending on what you're in the mood for pricing is $95 on Monday through Thursday, and then 110 on Friday through Sunday. Plus, remember, you have to have park admission that day as well. This whole experience will take about two hours out of your day, but I don't even like to say that it takes it out of your day.

I think it gives it to you because you're either gonna be watching the parade or you're gonna be in the parade, so you're gonna get so much more out of this by being in there and up on the float . It's just amazing. I [00:10:00] cannot say enough about it. It's one of those experiences you're gonna remember forever and it's very hard to compare to anything else at Universal.

I have never had someone be disappointed by any stretch of the imagination.

So my recommendation, if you haven't figured it out, is definitely a yes. Go ahead and do this.

 The last question today is one I know a lot of you are thinking about. Have I heard anything about Epic Universe being added to the Annual Passes for 2026? Officially, there's nothing to report. There's no announcement yet. Unofficially, Universal is clearly still thinking about it because I have had several of my very own guests.

Let me know that they have gotten surveys after their trips, specifically asking about annual past benefits, their park habits and Epic Universe access. So I'm not writing it off. To me, this feels more like a waiting game, not a dead end. And trust me, I will be the first person to tell you if that changes, because I want [00:11:00] it badly too.

If you've got a Universal question you want answered in a future episode, you know where to find me. And if you've got a second ratings and reviews help more than you know, they're like tossing beads back to the podcast. Until next time, hydrate early. Plan smart. Skip the panic pizza and I'll see you next time.

Thanks for hanging out with us. Now, get out here and go do something nice for someone.