Hoppin’ news! Universal Epic Universe is now open — and you can save on your Universal Orlando tickets when you purchase through Undercover Tourist, up to $88 per ticket!
Booking your Universal Orlando hotel stay through Undercover Tourist unlocks the same benefits as booking directly through Universal. Undercover Tourist now offers a flexible deposit option, so you can secure your Universal Orlando hotel stay for only a refundable $200 deposit, and then pay the remaining balance 30 days prior to check-in.
Fast Facts
- Universal's Early Park Admission benefit allows access up to one hour early at select Universal theme parks, including Epic Universe (as of May 23, 2025), for Universal hotel guests. If you've booked your hotel stay through Undercover Tourist, you receive this benefit!
- Be sure to check in at your Universal hotel first! Your hotel key grants you Early Park Admission — you'll be required to show a key for each person on the reservation.
- Early Park Admission is valid through your entire stay, including check-in and checkout days.
As you frog friends know, we're big fans of staying close to the theme park resorts. Universal Orlando Resort is one of our very favorite resorts to stay at (and you can book directly from us!). There are some terrific benefits, such as proximity to the parks, free transportation, delivery of your in-park souvenir purchases to your room and more. All of the Universal Orlando Resort hotels offer Early Park Admission (EPA). Early Park Admission allows you to enter select parks up to an hour early during your stay. This benefit can be a huge help to get a hop on the crowds, especially during busy peak times! Let's walk through all of the details of when and how to use this perk. That way, you can take advantage of it on your next trip!
Universal Orlando Hotels Offering Early Park Admission
Here are the hotels on Universal property that offer Early Park Admission:
- Hard Rock Hotel
- Loews Royal Pacific Resort
- Universal Cabana Bay Beach Resort
- Loews Sapphire Falls Resort
- Universal Aventura Resort
- Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
- Universal Endless Summer Resort – Surfside Inn and Suites & Dockside Inn and Suites
- Universal Stella Nova Resort (now open!)
- Universal Terra Luna Resort (now open!)
- Universal Helios Grand Hotel (now open!)
It's worth noting that select Universal Orlando Resort hotels — Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel and Loews Royal Pacific Resort — offer free Universal Express Unlimited, another amazing benefit (valid only at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Islands of Adventure).
Understanding Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando
Universal's Early Park Admission allows all Universal Orlando Resort hotel guests (and select annual passholders) early access to at least one of the following theme parks up to one hour prior to park open: Universal Studios Florida, Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal Volcano Bay (weather-permitting, usually 30 minutes prior to open) — and as of May 23, 2025, Universal Epic Universe.
Preferred annual passholders are granted Early Park Admission to select theme parks on select days and Premier passholders are granted Early Park Admission to the theme parks (except for Epic Universe) on all dates. All 3-Park passholders are granted Early Park Admission to Volcano Bay on select days. Valid theme park admission is required.
Guests of the Universal hotels will still receive EPA if they book their room and/or purchase tickets (separately or bundled) through Undercover Tourist.
Universal partner hotel guests only receive the benefit if they've purchased a vacation package directly through Universal that includes a hotel stay and park admission (staying at a partner hotel alone is not enough to grant EPA access). Partner hotels are off-site hotels, such as the Rosen Inn International, Drury Inn & Suites, etc.
Universal Orlando can get pretty busy during peak seasons. During these anticipated busy times, Universal encourages guests to take advantage of Early Park Admission.
Here's what the upcoming EPA schedule looks like:
Universal Islands of Adventure
Up to 1 hour prior to park opening
April 30 - May 31, 2025
Available Attractions:
- Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
- Flight of the Hippogriff
- Jurassic World VelociCoaster
- Ollivanders
- Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure
Universal Epic Universe (As of May 23, 2025)
Up to 1 hour prior to park opening.
As of May 23, 2025
Available Attractions:
- Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge
- Yoshi's Adventure
- Mine-Cart Madness
- Stardust Racers
- Constellation Carousel (was open early for hotel guests during Epic Universe previews)
- Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry (standby line opened early for hotel guests during Epic Universe previews; operations began at park open)
Universal Volcano Bay
(Weather permitting)
Volcano Bay is closed on select dates.
April 30 - May 23, 2025 (Up to 30 minutes prior to park opening)
May 24 - May 31, 2025 (Up to 1 hour prior to park opening)
Available Attractions:
- Honu of the Honu ika Moana
- ika Moana of the Honu ika Moana
- Krakatau Aqua Coaster
- Ko'okiri Body Plunge
- Waturi Wave Pool
Universal's Early Park Admission is available every day of your hotel stay, including days of check-in and checkout! Using EPA on your check-in day is a little bit trickier, so we don't recommend it UNLESS you are only spending one night at a Universal Orlando hotel and it's an extremely busy time. If you want to take advantage of EPA on your check-in day, note that you will need to check in to your hotel first — which means very, very early in the morning. EPA begins an hour before the official park opening time, which can be as early as 7 a.m., so you would have to check in before that, and then allow time to get from the hotel to the park. Your hotel key is what grants you early admission, so each member of your party will need to be listed under your room and have a key to show. In our family, I am the key holder for the whole squad so that nothing gets dropped or lost in our mad dash to Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.
How to Use Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando
To make the most of your time inside the park, we recommend you arrive at least 30 minutes ahead of the start of Early Park Admission to allow that extra time needed to park (or take Universal transportation), pass security and get through the turnstiles. (Our personal preference is to arrive closer to an hour early to be able to be some of the first at the turnstiles. If you are using bus transportation from your resort, that means you'll want to be in line for that first shuttle of the day!) You'll need your park tickets and your hotel room keys when you enter the park that's hosting Early Park Admission! A hotel key is needed for each party member who is staying with you at the resort. The parks typically start allowing all guests in up to a half-hour before the official opening time, so you definitely want to be in the park hosting EPA before then if you want to ride with the lowest waits.
Here's a rundown of our most recent experience with using Early Park Admission to enter Islands of Adventure an hour early: After going through the turnstiles and walking through the Port of Entry, we headed left toward Seuss Landing. Seuss Landing is not available during EPA, but there is a pathway around it to get to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Team members block off Seuss Landing to check credentials (i.e. hotel room keys or annual passes), and then let guests through onto the pathway.
We successfully went on Hagrid's with only a 20-minute wait (during spring break!), so we think it's toadally worth hopping to Hogsmeade bright and early! Afterward, we made a beeline for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which only had a 10-minute wait.
Even if you aren't a thrill-seeker, Early Park Admission grants you into the Wizarding World (Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade) with low crowds, which makes for some amazing (and empty!) photo-ops.
When to Use Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando
As you know, the early frog gets the fly, so you'll likely need to sacrifice a little shut-eye for Early Park Admission. Most vacationers don't want to do this, so use it to your advantage! You definitely should use Early Park Admission in these scenarios:
- You only have time for one day at Universal. This is especially true if you are park hopping!
- You are visiting during an extremely busy time — the peak of summer and around any holiday. Use our Crowd Calendar as your guide. If it's a level 8, 9 or 10 day, consider using EPA to jump-start your day in the parks before the crowds reach their highest levels.
- You're spending the day at Volcano Bay. Early Park Admission gets you first access to the rides, but it also gets you dibs on prime seating at the wave pool and other places around the water park.
- You want to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter with limited crowds at Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure.
- Anytime you visit and want to get a hop on the crowds!
If you arrive early, you will be able to ride the two or three rides open for EPA and you can move on to the next most popular ride on your list. It may already be in operation 15 minutes before the park officially opens. Even if it's not, you can be one of the first in line!
For example, with EPA at Universal Studios Florida for Despicable Me Minion Mayhem and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, you should be able to ride both before all park guests arrive. If you start with Minion Mayhem and then move onto Gringotts, you will then be in the back of the park and in prime position to ride TRANSFORMERS: The Ride — 3-D or MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack with little to no wait.
For EPA at Islands of Adventure, many frogs hop to Hagrid's first since it is not offered with Universal Express. This is still one of the best times to ride Hagrid's because the line continues to build or stays consistently high throughout the day. But if you don't have Express Passes and VelociCoaster is a higher priority, we'd recommend riding the thrilling coaster first. Either way, you're in the back of the park so you're in prime position to hit these two popular rides in a row with the lowest crowds of the day.
With Epic Universe previews going on, we did get a chance to test out EPA at Epic Universe! Super Nintendo World is the only world, besides Celestial Park, that will be fully open, so many people will hop in line for Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge or Mine-Cart Madness. In our experience, not as many people went to Stardust Racers, which could be the best move if you don't mind starting your day with a roller coaster ;) Or you could wait for a different portal to open (our recommendation? Rope drop the meet and greet for Toothless, which has a consistently long line). Note that hotel guests will be coming from different entrances — Helios Grand guests are entering from the back of the park, while all other hotel guests can enter through the front entrance. Super Nintendo World is closest to the front, but we saw the very first Helios Grand guests enter the park just after 9:30 a.m. (when EPA technically started at 10 a.m.).
During the final days of Epic Universe previews, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry stopped using the Virtual Line, and the standby line opened early for hotel guests. However, the ride itself still operated upon park opening. We will continue to monitor after the Grand Opening.
Are you ready to hop on Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando Resort? We toadally recommend it ... and staying on property isn't too bad, either! Book your Universal Orlando Resort hotel today to make the most of your next trip.
Related: The Ultimate Guide on When to Use Universal Express
Related: Why Stay at a Universal Orlando Resort
Keep hopping!
