Universal Orlando

I am making a first trip down to Universal Orlando, and a had a couple of questions to throw out to the crowd.

1) I am heading down in the first week of December. What is the weather like? I am expecting fairly sunny, 60-80s. Do I need to be overly concerned about the "daily cloudburst" so common in summer?

2) I am going to be largely taking advantage of the single rider lanes. I know the cost of this is bypassing much of the pre-ride theming. Are there any must-see queues that are worth investing the extra 20 minutes or more that the standard queue would take?

3) I have seen there are "Behind the Scenes" extra experiences for a number of the attractions. Are these worth doing? I am torn. I am the type who loves the commentaries and extras on movie discs and am a theme park geek, but I am not overly impressed by what I am seeing so far.

4) What are the favorite foods and drinks? I am staying in the resort so I am even open to wandering to a hotel dining option if it is worth it.

5) Any other tips for a 'possibly once-in-a-lifetime' visitor?

And to head it off, even though I am on the right side of the Caribbean this trip, I won't have a car, so the trip to Knoebel's is a little too far of a walk, even for such a hidden gem. B-)

December should be nice, swamp-ass season should be over.
I use single rider lanes and if the park is slow enough for a round 2 or 3 I’ll take one of those and do the regular queue. Most of them aren’t anything to write home about, the exception might be the HP rides.
I can’t tell you anything about Behind the Scenes. I have no interest, as it sounds like a time suck.
The food at the Uni parks isn’t bad but it isn’t great either. Butterbeer. (Ick) Churros (famous for some reason) A couple of HP themed restaurants and if you’re a fan you’ll love the details. Don’t forget City Walk for places to eat, we like those for after the parks close. It’s been a while since we've stayed at a resort so my knowledge of hotel spots is gone.
Try for Knoebels, if not this time then for sure the next.

PDXPointer:

1) I am heading down in the first week of December. What is the weather like? I am expecting fairly sunny, 60-80s. Do I need to be overly concerned about the "daily cloudburst" so common in summer? - It could be "cool" with highs in the 60s or warm and sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s. But no, you won't have to deal with the summer rain patterns.

2) I am going to be largely taking advantage of the single rider lanes. I know the cost of this is bypassing much of the pre-ride theming. Are there any must-see queues that are worth investing the extra 20 minutes or more that the standard queue would take? If you are really into Potter, yes. You will miss a significant portion of the queue on all three major Potter attractions.

3)

I have seen there are "Behind the Scenes" extra experiences for a number of the attractions. Are these worth doing? I am torn. I am the type who loves the commentaries and extras on movie discs and am a theme park geek, but I am not overly impressed by what I am seeing so far.

II have absolutely no idea what these are. I know they do HHN daytime lights on house tours and may do something similar for the holiday lights/shows, but I'm not sure they do it for actual rides/attractions.

4) What are the favorite foods and drinks? I am staying in the resort so I am even open to wandering to a hotel dining option if it is worth it. I rarely eat on property when I go, but the Potter quick service is good. As is the seafood restaurant on the Studios side.

5) Any other tips for a 'possibly once-in-a-lifetime' visitor? Don't overthink it. This isn't Disney. It's very, very easy to 'do it all' at these parks in a 2-3 day timespan with plenty of extra time for rerides and downtime. Especially in early December. Also, don't forget to give us your thoughts on Rip Ride Rockit. Oh, and definitely stand as close as you can to the fountain in Lost Continent at Islands of Adventure. It won't actually spray you with water. :)

BrettV:

II have absolutely no idea what these are. I know they do HHN daytime lights on house tours and may do something similar for the holiday lights/shows, but I'm not sure they do it for actual rides/attractions.

Here is an example of what I am finding on the web.

https://touringplans.com/blog/universal-orlando-behind-scenes-attraction-tours/

How many days? What hotel?

You’re there on resort, you will be rewarded with short lines of you go early, especially with Forbidden Journey and Escape From Gringots. Hagrid’s single rider queue is bad and the full queue isn’t amazing but you’ll probably get on the ride faster than SR.

Brett covered the weather but bring a jacket. I always take a light “puffy” and a winter hat in December. It can be “cold” at night but glorious if it’s sunny during the day.

Do early entry for Velocicoaster. Just be walking up to the gate when it opens or shortly after for early entry. You’ll have at least three rides before GP comes in.

I don’t really look forward to any of the food but none of it’s bad. The themed stuff in the parks is better than average and everything at City Walk is good.

I’ve never done the tours but always want to. I am too shy to ask.

If you’re there 2-3 days you’ll have a relaxing time and have more than enough time to enjoy everything so don’t stress.

I stay at least twice at least twice a year so I have thoughts. :)

It's Florida, dude. The weather is awesome, even in the summer when you might have to endure an afternoon thunderstorm.

No queue is worth waiting for, ever. Not even the OG Dueling Dragons. :)

BTS VIP experiences almost always depend on the person giving them. I've had some that were "meh" and others that were awesome. If you're an enthusiast, almost none of them are likely to give you something completely new and unexpected. The thrill is being there in the moment.

The only truly unique beverage at UO is the Butter Beer, and I prefer the frozen. Beyond that, if liquor and exotic things are your thing, the UO hotel bars (the original three) have competent bartenders that can make you really good stuff. Can't speak to the newer ones or Volcano Bay, because I've not been to them.

Jeff:

It's Florida, dude. The weather is awesome, even in the summer

October-June, sure. But Rip Ride Rockit > July, August & September

I mean, it's relative, right? As a Midwest expat, Orlando at its worst is still better than Cleveland.

I highly suggest planning on having your big meal in Citywalk, after the parks close the food is better out there. For lunch, the potter pubs are very nice, so is the new Minion Cafe at the studios, the other quick service places are questionable.

Bring a light zip up sweatshirt and a pair of pants, you’ll want the sweatshirt for most evenings/mornings, the pants are just in case you have a colder day.

Dont sleep on the holiday events happening, the Grinch show at Islands is very good, and the actors that do the (Jim Carry version of) The Grinch are very good. The studios does a mini version of the Macys Thanksgiving Parade complete with giant balloons that is also very good (and the closest I’ll ever get to the real thing.). Finally the Hogwarts Projection show is also a great way to end your night. Unlike Disney. These require minimal waiting, you need to head into the Grinch show 30ish min before only because it’s a bit of a walk, unless your heart is set on being by the Christmas Tree in NY, you can line up for the parade anywhere else <15 min before it comes by and get a great spot, and the Hogwarts show runs every 15 min after nightfall.

Forgot about the holiday stuff. It’s all really good. Look for Earl the Squirrel in the tree.

Bar 17 on top of The Aventura has a great 360 degree view of the surrounding area. You can see into the parks and portions of Disney if you’re into that. The food is ok. You can just go up there and look around if you want to.

Strong Water Tavern in Sapphire Falls has a huge selection of rum and a series of interesting rum cocktails. The food is small plates. I love the vegan hotpot.

The Potter themed beers are all ok, but the Duff Regular is a good beer.

I'm assuming this is still true from my visit, but on Hagrid's the regular queue is given the choice of motorbike vs sidecar, meaning the single rider will end up the sidecar most of the time.

As far as food in the parks, I liked the Minions Cafe in Studios. The Ropa Vieja and the chicken that came with Udon noodles were both good. I also liked Thunder Falls Terrace in IOA. A lot of the places were requiring or at least strongly encouraging mobile ordering. Definitely avoid the Food Court in the Simpsons area of Studios. Truly an epic cluster trying to order and find a seat and the food was lousy too.

Thank you all for you inputs. I appreciate having a place where I can ask nuanced questions from a crowd that I know has a certain level of objective expertise. I was glad to hear the confirmations from others on things I was comfortable enough on to not express, such as three days being good for a Early December trip without Express Pass, and Early admission cleaning up the worst of the lines. Adventura seems to be the right hotel for my expectations.

I did chuckle about how Duff Regular, an unabashed parody of Budweiser, was actually a good beer.