undercover tourist universal orlando

Universal Orlando guide: Tips from frequent visitors

When I was a kid, we went to an Orlando theme park at least once a year. You had to plan a few things in advance, but visiting an amusement park wasn't what it is today. With all the apps, reservation timelines and rules, planning the "perfect" trip to any major theme park has become a massive endeavor.

Just thinking about planning the trip is enough to give me hives. The stakes are so high — pricey admission, reservation deadlines for everything from character breakfasts to dinners at popular restaurants and all sorts of add-ons to get into the theme parks before the masses and skip the lines. There's so much to know.

However, we really wanted to visit Universal Orlando on a family vacation , so I needed to overcome my planning paralysis. I'm happy to say that — with some strategic decisions upfront — we were able to execute an awesome visit to Universal with a minimal amount of advance planning.

If you're a first-time visitor to Universal Orlando, here's what you need to know to plan your own vacation.

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When to visit

The date for your visit to Universal Orlando may not be entirely up to you.

If you're traveling with school-age children, you're likely locked into visiting during school vacations, long weekends and summer break. If that's the case, you'll probably visit Universal when it's at its busiest. That's not the end of the world, though, since there are ways to reduce the waits for lines. More on that in a minute.

You can check expected crowd levels at crowd calendars like the ones at Undercover Tourist, Touringplans or Orlando Informer .

The slower times of the year are Labor Day through the first two weeks of November (before Thanksgiving) and the first two weeks of December (before the holiday rush). Note, though, that if you visit close to Halloween, it will be busier because of Universal's Halloween Horror Nights .

Most of January, except for the first week, is also relatively quiet, as is the first week of February. But then it gets crazy with spring breakers. Crowds thin out a bit after Easter and through May, then ramp up again for the summertime. June, July and August are always busy. Always. And, as an added bonus, it's extremely hot.

For our first visit in a zillion years, I picked a quiet time in early November so any planning blunders on my part would be minimized by the lack of intense crowds.

Related: 10 things no one tells you about Orlando

Where to stay during a Universal Orlando vacation

Once you've ironed out when you plan to visit Universal, you'll want to determine where to stay.

You have a ton of options, from hotels right on Universal property and nearby points hotels to rental homes and Airbnbs . There are so many choices that TPG wrote an entire guide to choosing the best Universal Orlando hotel for your trip .

Let's recap the high points here.

Benefits of Universal hotels

If you only have a few days to explore Universal and don't mind the cost, an on-site property may be your best bet. That's because guests of all Universal hotels receive early entry into the parks for specific attractions.

Which parks open for early admission vary by day and only certain attractions are available. However, they tend to be the popular rides with lines that grow once the gates open to regular parkgoers. There's a helpful page on the Universal site to figure out what's available to on-site hotel guests. With some rides in each of the two parks available, that should also help spread out the crowds just a bit.

It's a nice freebie, and it's the best strategy if you have your heart set on riding Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure without spending hours in line. Currently, this ride does not participate in Universal's Express Pass skip-the-line program.

If you stay in one of Universal's on-site hotels, you can take advantage of the park's complimentary transportation options to get between CityWalk, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and your hotel.

Some hotels, including Loews Portofino Bay Hotel , Loews Royal Pacific Resort , Hard Rock Hotel and Loews Sapphire Falls Resort offer complimentary boat shuttles.

Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort , Universal's Aventura Hotel and the above-mentioned hotels have peaceful walking paths and all resorts, including Universal's budget-friendly Endless Summer Resort – Surfside Inn and Suites and Dockside Inn and Suites, have complimentary shuttle buses.

The downside of staying at a Universal hotel is often the price. Rack rates are usually relatively high, though Universal's Endless Summer Resort — Surfside Inn and Suites and Dockside Inn and Suites — have rates that start at $91 per night on off-peak dates.

The mid-tier resorts, Aventura and Cabana Bay, start at closer to $130 per night.

Related: How to use points to save money at Universal Orlando

But if you prefer to stay at one of Universal's top-end Premier hotels (Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino Bay), you're probably looking at starting rates around $325 per night. However, you'll also get complimentary Universal Express skip-the-line passes for every guest staying in your room.

We'll explain that in more detail down below, but it's a huge timesaver and may be worth the extra per-night cost of staying on-site.

If you have The Platinum Card® from American Express or The Business Platinum® Card from American Express , a great way to maximize a stay at Loews Portofino Bay is to book via the Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts collection .

This will get you not only the Express Passes for all guests of that hotel but also full daily breakfast for two, a $100 property credit, late 4 p.m. checkout and more.

Staying off-site

Universal is surrounded by plenty of points hotels, so if you'd prefer to stay off-site — on points or cash — you can easily do so. Some of TPG's favorite nearby points hotels are even within walking distance of Universal.

Related: Splash into fun: The 14 best hotel pools in Orlando

Here are a few points hotels within walking distance of Universal:

• Hyatt Place Across From Universal Orlando Resort (Category 2, from 6,500 World of Hyatt points per night).
• Hyatt House Across From Universal Resort (Category 3, from 9,000 World of Hyatt points per night).
• DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel at the Entrance to Universal Orlando (Around 30,0000 Hilton Honors points per night).

And some great points hotels that are just a short drive away:

• Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress (Category 4, from 12,000 World of Hyatt points per night).
• Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld (From 34,000 Marriott points per night on standard dates).
• The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes (From 52,000 Marriott points per night on standard dates).
• JW Marriott Grande Lakes (From 40,000 Marriott points per night on standard dates).
• Hilton Orlando (40,000 to 60,000 Hilton Honors points per night).
• Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek (40,000 to 60,000 Hilton Honors points per night).
• Waldorf Astoria Orlando (63,000 to 80,000 Hilton Honors points per night).

Related: Choosing the best Universal Orlando hotel for your trip

All about Universal tickets

Visitors have a lot of options when it comes to buying Universal tickets, from the type of ticket to how you'll pay for them. Here's the skinny.

FOR NO-COST ASSISTANCE WITH PLANNING AND BOOKING YOUR NEXT UNIVERSAL VACATION, CHECK OUT TPG'S THEME PARK BOOKING PARTNER, MOUSE COUNSELORS .

Universal ticket types

There's a variety of ticket types at Universal Orlando. You can buy tickets that get you into one, two or three theme parks (i.e., Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay water park).

You can purchase tickets for one, two, three, four or five days. The cheapest tickets allow access to one park per day. So, if you start your day at Universal Studios, you can't use the same ticket to get into Islands of Adventure in the afternoon. You're limited to one park per day. This sounds good but isn't always a great choice.

Alternatively, you can buy the pricier Park-to-Park tickets that allow you to bop between the theme parks as you wish. These tickets may be more expensive, but they give you the greatest amount of freedom to visit more than one park on the same day.

Related: From Butterbeer to magic wands: Everything you need to know about Universal Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter

If you want to ride the Hogwarts Express between Hogsmeade Station and Kings Cross Station, you need a Park-to-Park ticket or an Annual/Seasonal Pass.

There's no way around that requirement since Hogsmeade Station is in Islands of Adventure and Kings Cross Station is in Universal Studios. Basically, Universal's got you cornered on this one.

If you're going to visit for more than a couple of days or potentially twice in 12 months, consider a Universal annual pass .

When I planned our trip, Universal was running a promotion that would have given us extra days in the parks for free. But when I crunched the numbers, a Florida resident annual pass was only $8 per ticket more expensive than the tickets for one trip, so we went with the annual pass.

Buying direct from Universal

Universal Orlando almost always has ticket specials on its website. Read the options carefully to see if any of the promotions make sense for you. The special may throw in a free day at the park(s), an Express Pass or discounted admission to the Volcano Bay water park .

Related: How to get the most out of one day at Universal Orlando

Buying tickets from other vendors

You can also buy tickets from reputable vendors like Undercover Tourist . What's great about Undercover Tourist is that it often has some older tickets available so when prices increase each year, you can often still buy a cheaper ticket from them.

It's worth bookmarking their site to comparison shop. Purchases from Undercover Tourist code as travel for the purposes of using a travel credit card or earning extra points.

Related: Best credit cards to use for Universal Studios

And although you can't typically purchase stand-alone Universal tickets at Costco, Costco Travel does sell Universal vacation packages that include tickets and on-site hotel nights.

You'll even get a Costco Shop Card after your visit. Check out pricing for your dates to see if it represents a better deal versus booking through other methods.

Using points to buy Universal tickets

Historically, it was possible to use Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou points to purchase your Universal Orlando theme park admission , though our most recent searches didn't turn up any availability.

Upgrade to skip the lines

Like so many amusement parks around the world that have skip-the-line passes , Universal has its own version called Universal Express. There are a few ways you can get Universal Express passes.

Related: Is Universal's Express Pass worth it? TPG tested how much time it really saves you in line

The best way is often to get it included in your stay, as mentioned above. Guests staying at any of the three top-of-the-line Universal Premier hotels — Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel and Loews Royal Pacific Resort — get Universal Express Unlimited for free as registered guests.

This is huge as the starting cost if purchased separately is more than $100 per day, per person. For a family of four, getting it with your room rate is almost certainly a better deal than buying it.

Note: The Premier level of the Universal annual pass includes Express Pass access beginning at 4 p.m.

Another option is to simply buy an Express Pass when you need it. How much you pay depends on the type of pass you buy and when you visit Universal, as passes cost more when crowd levels are high. Here are the three types of Express Passes you can buy:

Universal Express: This is the base version of the skip-the-queue pass. It allows you to skip the regular line one time per participating ride at both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks. Prices start at $79.99 per person, per day for one park and go up from there — sometimes as high as $279.99 per day.

Universal Express Unlimited: The unlimited pass lets you skip the regular lines at participating rides as many times as you wish at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

Passes for that privilege start at $109.99 per person, per day. Pricing for the unlimited passes seems to be running about $30 more per day than the normal express passes, which may make them the better value (assuming you can afford a second mortgage).

Volcano Bay Express: This pass is solely for use at Volcano Bay water park, where it allows you to skip the regular line one time per participating ride. The pass starts at $19.99 per person, per day, but you won't find that rate very often.

Participating rides and attractions are subject to change, so it's best to consult Universal Orlando's website before your visit.

When I visited, just about every ride we wanted was included in the Universal Express Unlimited, with the exception of Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.

Hagrid's is an incredible ride that has also seen some incredible wait times since opening. Alas, unless you purchase a VIP tour, your anticipation of rides that aren't included in Universal Express like Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure will be rivaled only by your time waiting in line.

Take a VIP tour

Another way to avoid the lines is to take a VIP tour. There are small group and private VIP tours at Universal and both will help you cut the line.

Summer Hull, a director at TPG, took her family on a private VIP experience at Universal and it included walk-on ride access during the tour, as well as Express Passes and dining credit after the official tour was over.

A private tour will cost a few thousand dollars for the day for your group, but small group VIP experiences can be much less expensive, starting at less than $200 per person.

The primary difference between the two tours is the amount of access. The group tours are obviously less private but also only guarantee that you'll experience front-of-the-line access for eight to 10 rides. A private VIP tour is charged by the hour and operates at a faster or slower pace as you prefer.

Whether you decide to purchase an Express Pass or take a VIP tour will likely be determined by how crowded the park is during your visit, as well as your budget.

If it's off-season, you may be able to get away without a skip-the-line pass. But if you're visiting during a holiday week or school vacation, be prepared for long lines without a pass. On those dates, having an Express Pass will allow you to ride more attractions in less time.

Universal's child-swap policy

If you travel as a family, you know that not everyone will want to go on every ride. And some of your kids may not yet be old or tall enough to ride some attractions that your other kids are dying to try.

Universal solves the problem of the entire family having to choose between experiencing a ride or not with its child-swap program.

In fact, Universal's child swap is the best in the business as there are (air-conditioned) waiting areas in some key attractions. Most even have televisions showing whichever movie the attraction is based on.

This allows one member of your party to watch over small children while the rest of the gang waits in line and rides. Then you can swap places so the other member can enjoy the ride too, without another long wait. Just ask the attraction attendant to point you toward the designated waiting spots.

What's at Universal Orlando?

Although it's not as large ( yet ) as Walt Disney World , Universal Orlando has plenty for your family to see and do for several days. There are two theme parks, a water park and an entertainment, dining and shopping complex.

Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and CityWalk are arranged in a triangle around a small lake. The Volcano Bay water park is separated a bit from these three destinations.

Universal Studios

One of Universal's two theme parks, Universal Studios has eight sections. You enter through an impressive arch and, if you walk straight, are immediately in Production Central with attractions like Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit and Transformers: The Ride-3D.

If you take a right after you enter the park, you're in Hollywood, where you'll find the NBC Media Center, Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show, the Bourne Stuntacular and the Character Party Zone.

A lot of the attractions in both Production Central and Hollywood are better saved for when the day starts getting hot. You get to sit in blissful air-conditioning at these shows: Minion Mayhem, the Bourne Stuntacular and the Horror Make-Up Show.

If you've got little kids, turn right upon entry and walk through Hollywood so you can start immediately at Woody Woodpecker's KidZone.

From there, enjoy Springfield: Home of the Simpsons. I'm no kid, but I loved Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl ride!

If your kids are older, bypass those kid-centric areas and make Men in Black Alien Attack in World Expo your first ride of the day. After you ride, you are perfectly positioned to enter The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley first thing in the morning.

Get in line for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts before the line gets too long.

Then, explore Ollivanders and Gringotts Money Exchange and see a few shows (we saw The Tales of Beedle the Bard and Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees). Kids love talking with Stan and the Knight Bus conductor. Don't miss a meal at the Leaky Cauldron or ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour.

If you have a Park-to-Park ticket, you can decide to take the Hogwarts Express from Kings Cross Station (next to Leicester Square) to Hogsmeade Station in Islands of Adventure.

If you have a one-park ticket, you won't be able to ride the Hogwarts Express and will instead continue your exploration of Universal Studios.

As you depart The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley, keep to the right to enter San Francisco.

If you didn't opt for a butterbeer in Hogwarts, this is a fantastic spot to stop for lunch or a snack since most of what you'll find here are restaurants, including the city's famous seafood restaurant, Lombard's. There is also one ride here: Fast & Furious — Supercharged.

From San Francisco, continue on to New York, where you don't want to miss Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon (another great get-out-of-the-heat, rest-your-feet experience) and Revenge of the Mummy. Hang around, too, to see some shows like the Blues Brothers or Marilyn & the Diamond Bellas.

Once you've had your fill of the Big Apple, continue back along the main thoroughfare to Production Central and Hollywood, if you skipped those in the morning.

In the evening, don't miss Universal Studios' nighttime extravaganza. Called the Cinematic Celebration and centered at the theme park's lagoon, it combines music, films, water and light.

You can also see a daytime fountain and music show at this same lagoon. Check the daily program or official Universal Orlando app for times.

Islands of Adventure

The second Universal theme park is Islands of Adventure. Your best call here is to arrive as soon as the gates open and walk quickly to Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure or Jurassic World VelociCoaster. Both are at the opposite end of the park from the entry gates, so it will be a walk but enjoying the busiest rides in the park without crushing crowds is worth it.

If roller coasters aren't your thing (and you aren't prone to motion sickness), get in line instead to see Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This is where you'll ride a broomstick and it really is a fantastic attraction.

After that, ride Flight of the Hippogriff, a gentler roller coaster. (If you can ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney World, Flight of the Hippogriff will be no big deal). Or you can simply walk around Hogsmeade for some fun photos without throngs of other guests in the background.

After you've done the ride, explore Hogsmeade itself and see some shows (we saw the Frog Choir and the Triwizard Spirit Rally) and watch a wand choose a wizard at Ollivanders (if you didn't see the same experience at Diagon Alley already).

Grab a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks or adjacent Hog's Head and then continue on to the other lands of Islands of Adventure.

When you leave The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you can go in either direction. For our purposes, let's pretend you walk to Jurassic Park first. Here you'll visit Camp Jurassic where kids will enjoy the Pteranodon Flyers. You can also take the Jurassic Park River Adventure and have a "raptor encounter."

There are plenty of places to pick up fast food here, from pizza and ribs to burgers and nachos.

Next up, you can ride Skull Island: Reign of Kong before hitting Toon Lagoon, where your kids can cool off in some sprinklers, or you can all ride Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls flume (warning: you will get very wet).

As you dry off from that heart-pounding experience, head to Marvel Super Hero Island, where you can meet Marvel characters and ride The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk Coaster (it's an intense one).

If you have some daredevils in the family — or Marvel fans — you'll spend a good amount of time here.

Beyond the Incredible Hulk coaster is the entrance to the park. Continue from there to Seuss Landing.

Even though we didn't have any kids in tow, we still enjoyed walking through this bright and cheery land and we even rode the Caro-Seuss-el merry-go-round and The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride.

There's also a Seuss character zone and plenty of other rides and attractions that are specifically designed for the little ones.

The Last Continent is just beyond Seuss Landing. There's a neat interactive experience called The Mystic Fountain. Seriously, start talking to it and you'll be mesmerized.

You can also take on Poseidon's Fury in a special-effects guided tour or stop to dine on Mediterranean-style food at Doc Sugrue's Kebab House, Fire Eater's Grill or Mythos Restaurant.

Volcano Bay

Volcano Bay is Universal's water park. This park can close because of chilly weather or during lightning storms. Check Universal's schedule to see if it is slated to be open during your visit. Volcano Bay has everything you'd expect of an exceptional water park, like Waturi Beach with a fantastic lagoon for swimming and Kopiko Wai Winding River.

There are also some incredible waterslides and drops and the Ko'okiri Body Plunge that features a 70-degree fall through a drop door and 125 feet of what Universal calls "white-knuckle fun."

Thrillseekers love the Krakatau Aqua Coaster, where you plunge right through a waterfall, and TeAwa The Fearless River whitewater ride through churning rapids and waves.

COVID-19 restrictions are pretty limited at Volcano Bay. Masks are required when entering and exiting the park, as well as in restaurants (when you're not actively eating) and in retail locations. They're not permitted on the water rides themselves.

As if two theme parks and a massive water park weren't enough, Universal also offers CityWalk.

This complex of restaurants, shops and clubs is open during the day, but it really heats up at night with free self-parking after 6 p.m. You don't need tickets to enter, but you can buy tickets for shows at the Hard Rock Cafe.

You'll also find restaurants such as Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, Bob Marley — A Tribute to Freedom and Pat O'Brien's that offer live (and recorded) music. There's a movie theater (free parking with the purchase of two movie matinee tickets), karaoke club (CityWalk's Rising Star), miniature golf and the Red Coconut Club and The Groove for dancing.

There are plenty of spots to dine too. You can grab snacks like pizza, hotdogs and Panda Express Chinese food and sweets from Voodoo Doughnuts.

Or you can have a more substantial meal at restaurants like the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen, NBC Sports Grill & Brew, VIVO Italian Kitchen, The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and more.

We had a fantastic dinner at Bigfire, where the pork chop was the juiciest I've ever eaten.

Universal's boat shuttles that take you back to its resorts are right at CityWalk so it's convenient to spend the day at Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure and then have dinner at CityWalk and go shopping before heading back to your hotel for the night.

And a third park coming …

Universal Orlando announced a new theme park, a third gate at Universal Orlando, back in 2019. A massive 750-acre tract of land located not far from the two existing theme parks was to be the site for the new park.

Dubbed Epic Universe , the new park is rumored to house franchises like Fantastic Beasts, a Harry Potter spin-off, Super Nintendo World and Universal Classic Monsters. Construction was delayed due to the pandemic, but the new park is on track to open sometime in the summer of 2025.

The best credit cards to use at Universal

Now we get to a hot topic for points-and-miles travelers who are planning a trip to Universal Orlando. Which credit card should you use? That depends.

For example, how and where you purchase your theme park tickets will dictate how the charge will be coded. Historically speaking, Universal theme park tickets and VIP tours purchased directly from Universal have coded as "entertainment."

However, tickets purchased at an on-site Universal hotel and charged to the hotel have coded as "travel." Depending on how you purchase your ticket, you'll want to select either a card that rewards you for entertainment spend or travel purchases.

If you think your purchase will code as entertainment, two good credit card options are:

• Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card — 4% cash back.

If, however, you know your charge will code as travel, you're better off using:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve — 3 points per dollar spent.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card — 2 points per dollar spent.
• Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card — 2 points per every dollar spent.

The information for the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Bottom line

Universal is packed with rides, attractions, character meet-and-greets and more. Yet it's compact enough for you to cover a lot of ground in just a few days.

Universal Orlando can be a pricey but incredible adventure for your family. If it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience you're seeking, you may be best waiting until the pandemic restrictions are lifted.

However, if you're more "go with the flow," Universal Orlando has plenty to offer for fans of Harry Potter, Marvel and so much more.

Additional reporting by Edward Pizzarello.

Advertiser Disclosure

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which we receive financial compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). However, the credit card information that we publish has been written and evaluated by experts who know these products inside out. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers that are on the market. See our advertising policy here where we list advertisers that we work with, and how we make money. You can also review our credit card rating methodology .

Undercover Tourist Review [Discounted Tickets, Hotels, and Car Rentals]

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What is Undercover Tourist?

Paper tickets vs. e-tickets, refundable tickets, travel insurance, undercover tourist crowd calendar, the frog guarantee and frog family promise, price comparisons, earning points on tickets, final thoughts.

We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.

Undercover Tourist is a popular website for purchasing theme park tickets at a discount. If you’ve planned a trip to Walt Disney World , Universal Studios, or SeaWorld, you’ve probably come across Undercover Tourist. But did you also know you can use this website to book hotels and rental cars, too?

In this post, we’ll go over what you need to know to use Undercover Tourist to find the best prices on amusement park tickets, hotels, and rental cars. Plus, we’ll go over some of the popular features of the site like the Crowd Calendar.

Undercover Tourist is a website that that’s been around since 2000 and is known for offering discounted tickets to theme parks across the U.S. The site is an authorized seller of tickets for all the major theme parks you know and love:

• Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
• Disneyland in California
• Universal Orlando Resort
• Universal Studios Hollywood
• SeaWorld Orlando
• SeaWorld San Diego
• LEGOLAND Florida Resort
• LEGOLAND California Resort

Undercover Tourist also has discounted tickets to non-theme park attractions like Ripley’s Believe It or Not, ski resorts, zoos, movie theaters, and lots more! Plus, it acts as an online travel agency for hotels and car rentals.

While Undercover Tourist offers a ton of ticket, hotel, and car options, the site is limited in the number of destinations it covers. You’ll only find options in the following cities:

• Breckenridge, CO
• Chicago, IL
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York City, NY
• Orlando, FL
• Park City, Utah
• San Antonio, Texas
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Washington, D.C.

Options in Seattle, London, and Paris are coming soon.

Bottom Line: Undercover Tourist is a resource for discounted tickets to theme parks and other attractions in select cities across the U.S. It’s best known for offering discounted tickets to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios theme parks.  The site also acts as an online travel agency for hotel reservations and car rentals in these select cities.

Discount Tickets

Let’s review the steps to using Undercover Tourist to purchase discounted tickets.

You can start your search for discounted tickets from many different places on the home page. Click on Discount Tickets in the top menu bar, click on a logo underneath the menu bar, or click on any of the featured tickets in the middle of your screen to start your search.

After choosing your destination, you’ll be able to see lots of information about your chosen theme park, including maps, hotels, tips, and more. Scroll down a bit to find the availability calendar and ticket options.

The tickets you buy through Undercover Tourist are exactly the same as if you purchased them directly from the park, except you’ll probably save some money.

After choosing the type and number of tickets you need, you’ll be able to see your final price and choose your travel dates. The price you see is what you’ll pay — taxes are included and shipping is free!

Hot Tip: Are you on a tight budget? Check out our full guide to using visiting Disney World for cheap using points and miles.

You may be inclined to have your tickets emailed to you, but there are some risks. E-tickets are non-refundable, and you’ll need to stop at Will Call at the gate to pick up your physical tickets. For Disney tickets, if you have a MagicBand, you can add the e-tickets to your account and proceed directly to the gate, but they’ll still be non-refundable.

Instead, it may be a better idea to have the physical tickets mailed to you. This option is also free and the tickets will be eligible for a refund. Plus, you’ll be able to go straight to the gate at the park which can be a huge timesaver.

Many tickets sold on Undercover Tourist are refundable within 90 days of purchase. To get a refundable ticket, you’ll need to have tickets mailed to you vs. opting for email delivery. Refundable tickets will be clearly marked. Be sure to confirm the return policy for your specific tickets before completing your purchase.

If you need to return tickets that you purchased, you’ll be charged a 5% fee to cover the return.

Hot Tip: E-tickets are non-refundable. To get a ticket that is eligible for a refund, you’ll need to select the Mailed To Your Door  option.

Before finalizing your purchase, you’ll be prompted to add travel insurance. Before choosing whether or not to add insurance to your purchase, you’ll want to learn about all of your options.

Undercover Tourist offers insurance through Allianz Global Assistance , a popular travel insurance company. However, the policy offered by Undercover Tourist covers lots of areas that may already be covered through your credit card including trip cancellation and interruption , lost or delayed baggage, and travel accident insurance, so it may not be needed.

If you purchase tickets that are eligible for a refund, insurance is probably not necessary. If you’re also booking a hotel or rental car, take a minute to determine if you have a credit card with rental car insurance  before purchasing a separate policy.

The Undercover Tourist Crowd Calendar is a popular feature on the site that helps you identify the least and most crowded times to visit a specific park.

To access the Crowd Calendar, just click on Crowd Calendar in the top menu bar of the website.

You’ll be able to look at specifics for a handful of the most popular destinations:

• Discovery Cove
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Magic Kingdom Park
• Universal’s Islands of Adventure
• Universal Studios Florida
• Universal’s Volcano Bay

Hot Tip: The Undercover Tourist Crowd Calendar is a color-coded chart that helps you predict which parks will be more or less crowded on a specific day.

If you’re headed to Orlando, be sure to download the Undercover Tourist Orlando Planning App, free for iOS . This handy app will take the stress out of trying to navigate the parks on your own with features like an interactive map, up-to-date park information, park plans, and estimated wait times.

The app covers Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando, and SeaWorld Orlando.

The Frog Guarantee and Frog Family Promise are not price guarantees, rather they’re guarantees of quality and customer service.

When purchasing amusement park tickets through Undercover Tourist you’ll always receive:

• Authentic tickets from an authorized seller
• Free standard shipping
• No hidden fees
• 90-day refund/return policy (not applicable to e-tickets)
• RFID enabled and Genie+ eligible Disney tickets
• Next-day pickup or delivery availability

So, let’s answer the question you really want to know, “Can Undercover Tourist save me money?”

To do this, we priced out some ticket options for 1 adult on Undercover Tourist and compared those to what we could get directly from the park’s website.

In every single example we priced out, Undercover Tourist was the cheapest option! If you’re looking for discounted tickets to Walt Disney World and other popular theme parks, you’ll probably save money by using Undercover Tourist.

Hot Tip: You can NOT use Disney gift cards to pay for tickets through Undercover Tourist. So, if you’ve been collecting gift cards from stores with high points bonuses (like grocery stores ), you’ll need to purchase your tickets directly through the park.

Purchasing tickets to an amusement park can be expensive. So, of course, you’ll want to make sure you’re earning as many points as possible on your purchase.

Amusement park tickets usually code as “entertainment,” so if you’re purchasing them directly, you’ll want to use a credit card that offers bonus categories on entertainment purchases . The Citi Premier ® Card earns 2 points per dollar spent on entertainment purchases, including tickets to amusement parks.

However, purchases from Undercover Tourist code as “travel” which opens up the door to earn points on a variety of different credit cards. These credit cards all earn bonus points on the travel category, which will include amusement park tickets purchased from Undercover Tourist.

Earn 3x points on travel purchases with these credit cards:

• Ink Business Preferred ® Credit Card
• Chase Sapphire Reserve ®
• Citi Premier card

Earn 2x points on travel purchases with these credit cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred ® card
• Capital One ® Venture ® Rewards card

Hot Tip: If you have an American Express card, check to see if Amex Offers has any current money-back offers from Undercover Tourist. 

While Undercover Tourist is known as the place to buy theme park tickets, the site also acts as an online travel agency for booking hotels.

To get started, click on Hotels in the top menu bar. Then select your destination from the drop-down box and enter the number of travelers and your travel dates.

Your search results will be displayed in a format similar to other hotel booking websites that you may be familiar with (like Expedia , Priceline , Hotels.com , etc). Filtering options will be available on the left side of your screen and sorting options are located on the upper right-hand side, above the results.

Unlike with tickets on Undercover Tourist, the prices you see initially don’t include tax. You’ll have to click through to the payment page to see the full price with taxes and fees included.

Cancellation policies will vary by the hotel but will be clearly displayed once you add an item to your cart.

Hot Tip: If you’re traveling to Florida to enjoy the theme parks, check out these places to stay in Orlando for your Disney vacation!

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples to see if booking a hotel through Undercover Tourist can save you money. For both of these examples, we priced out a week-long stay for 2 adults and 1 child. Prices include taxes and fees and are for the hotel stay only (tickets are not included).

The results are typical of most price comparisons we do — they aren’t consistent! Undercover Tourist had the best price for the first option, but Trivago came out with the best price in the second example. The bottom line is that you can definitely save money by using Undercover Tourist for your hotel stay, but not always.

The car rental search functionality on the Undercover Tourist website is pretty limited. You’ll only be able to search for car rentals at Orlando International Airport (MCO) from only 5 car rental companies — Alamo, Avis , Budget , Enterprise , and National .

We did a couple of searches to find out if booking your Orlando car rental through Undercover Tourist could save you money. We searched for the cheapest price for a week-long rental on 2 different dates.

In both of these examples, Undercover Tourist came out as the second most expensive option. Interestingly, Momondo  had the lowest price and Priceline had the highest price in both examples.

Undercover Tourist may be a great place to purchase theme park tickets, but it’s not a great option when you’re searching for a rental car.

Undercover Tourist is a popular website for purchasing theme park tickets on the cheap. It also acts as an online travel agency for hotels and car rentals, but only in select cities.

It’s a great site to use to save some money on theme park tickets, but the savings on hotels and cars aren’t as consistent.

Before you head to Disney, check out some of our helpful guides including re-opening plans , packing lists , and even how to visit virtually .

The information regarding the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does undercover tourist give refunds.

Yes, most ticket purchases are eligible for a refund within 90 days of purchase if you choose to have your tickets mailed to you. E-tickets are usually non-refundable. If you choose to return tickets, you’ll be charged a 5% fee.

What is the Undercover Tourist crowd calendar?

The Undercover Tourist Crowd Calendar helps you identify the least and most crowded times to visit a specific park using a color-coded system.

Is Undercover Tourist legitimate?

Yes, Undercover Tourist is a legitimate website that sells discounted amusement park tickets and it acts as an online travel agency for hotels and rental cars. It’s an authorized seller for tickets to some of the most popular parks in the U.S. including Walt Disney World and Universal Studios.

Why is Undercover Tourist cheaper?

Undercover Tourist buys tickets at a wholesale price from the theme parks so they’re able to re-sell them to you at a discounted price. Plus, they don’t charge any additional fees so the price you see is the price you’ll pay.

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About Katie Seemann

Katie has been in the points and miles game since 2015 and started her own blog in 2016. She’s been freelance writing since then and her work has been featured in publications like Travel + Leisure, Forbes Advisor, and Fortune Recommends.

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