Universal's CityWalk

[Wendy]

We haven't been to Universal for years, but have decided to go back this year to see the new shows and parades

I'm not sure what to do about tickets, if we buy the 2 park ticket in the UK it covers us for US, IOA and CityWalk for 14 days, we will just have to pay for parking. If I go with an AP it doesn't include CityWalk but it includes free parking.

Has anyone been to CityWalk and do you go into the clubs or just walk round for the atmosphere, what exactly is there to do, is it like Pleasure Island used to be

I'm trying to work out which option to go for

[Tink]

Well, unless something has drastically changed, there is no entry fee for City Walk. It is like DTD used to be. There may be cover charges for some of the clubs, but that's it last I knew.

Now, having said that, we've not been there in ages so my info is old.

I'd go with the free parking option. It's $14 day to park now, I believe?

[Keith]

I'm interested in this too

Now, friends of ours decided against staying at Disney in May because it had nothing to offer two adults in the evening. So they had to choose single park, double park etc. In the end they did single park but got a citywalk pass by staying on site. Then they found that entrance to citywalk was free anyway but apparently it does give you free entry to some places. We went to Pat Obriens for example and there was quite a high cover charge each just to get in and apparently if they'd shown their pass, that would've been waived.

They also said that they should have bought the two park pass not the one. They'd finished IOA and harry potter in an hour or so and were left with nothing more to do.

Parking definitely expensive and can be milessss away too :/ we did Valet parking last time because the first time we went, it was so far to walk.

In terms of what to do well yeah, like pleasure island in the old days I guess! There are loads of restaurants, bars etc. Every time we go it's busier than the last so it's possible that reservations will be a good idea.

[Tink]

Yes, that parking garage does not make for a convenient entry to City Walk. It is miles sometimes!!! No trams there.

I've heard that the cover charges for those places that charge covers, have increased sharply, since DTD "closed" to adults.

[Wendy]

Thank you, the valet parking is tempting how much was it Keith?

I am lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it that I can park in the disabled parking lot and it says that this is close to CityWalk, but how close is close

I've found out that there are 6 venues that have a cover charge and it is $11.99 plus tax per night for a ticket which gives you entrance to them all.

It was just somewhere we thought might be nice for a walk round in the evening. Can you do that or is it too busy to stroll around

[Keith]

Thank you, the valet parking is tempting how much was it Keith?

It was very expensive and limited I think to a couple of hours (or perhaps a max of 3, struggling to remember)

After 6:00 pm
$15.00 for 2 hours
$25.00 for over 2 hours
$40.00 for Red Carpet

It's at a lot at the bottom of the stairs before the giant walkway into citywalk itself if that makes any sense at all to you? So basically it saves you the walk through the actual carpark which can be miles....

Funny (annoying, painful) story. Last time we went to meet people at citywalk, we got hopelessly delayed on the off ramp to universal (seems to be that way every time). So when we got to universal, we followed the signs to parking but said to the lady can we do valet parking instead because we're short on time. Sure she said but you have to go back out and then back in to get there :/ so follow the signs to the exit, round the lake and back.

Well of course we did our best but once out the exit got back on the I4 (I guess, Im pretty rubbish at road names ) and it took us miles and miles in the opposite direction turned round and eventually got back to universal, about an hour late by now, and managed to find signs for valet but the moral is, watch very carefully for the valet parking signs, dont go all the way to the normal parking because by then, you've missed it :/

It was just somewhere we thought might be nice for a walk round in the evening. Can you do that or is it too busy to stroll around

The last few times we've been, I would consider it too busy. Perhaps that's because we were focused on the task at hand rather than strolling though :/

I do think you'd want some kinda plan... perhaps see a movie and then stroll around looking for somewhere nice to eat. If you wanted to try a show, you'd definitely need to book

[Wendy]

Has anyone had a meal in any of the restaurants at Citywalk?

[Keith]

Has anyone had a meal in any of the restaurants at Citywalk?

we've had a couple at the hard rock cafe. Both were adequate but expensive and nothing to write home about. It's planet hollywood but with less to look at.

The couple we met up with went to margaritaville the night after and enjoyed that a lot more

Ive always wanted to try Emerils

[Wendy]

The couple we met up with went to margaritaville the night after and enjoyed that a lot more

Ive always wanted to try Emerils

Ok, so what's so different about them

I've heard good things about Margaritaville, but it's always been from people who have enjoyed the drinks

[Keith]

Ok, so what's so different about them

:-P I actually work with them and for a year, every day, every single day, they asked me if I was still on for Pat Obriens. I felt after a year of saying yep it would've been a poor show to then not turn up As it was, when we walked in, they said WOW we didn't really think you'd come

I've heard good things about Margaritaville, but it's always been from people who have enjoyed the drinks

yeah I suspect they had one or two drinks