Universal Orlando Resort has a lot of BIG projects in the works right now, including a new Jurassic World roller coaster coming to Islands of Adventure, a new Jason Bourne stunt show coming next year to Universal Studios Florida next year, and of course Universal’s Epic Universe, now officially projected to open in 2023. However, earlier this week two changes were announced for Universal Orlando Resort that don’t exactly have fans super-excited…
Your Uber ride from Universal just got $4 more expensive
It was announced earlier this week that Uber has added a $4 surcharge specifically for guest pickups at Universal Orlando Resort. This new fee is part of a deal between Universal and Uber, and according to the companies, this extra cost is being implemented to help pay for new signs and extra staff at the Uber drop-off location
Long term, this new surcharge will also go towards creating a special waiting area on the top floor of the Universal parking garage for riders as well. Interestingly, the $4 extra fee is only for pick-ups from Universal Orlando Resort, and will not apply to drop-offs. In addition pick-ups from hotels on Universal property are not subject to the fee.
Lyft, Uber’s biggest ride-share competitor in the area (which also serves Universal), said in a statement that they are not adding a surcharge at this time, so guests who want to avoid this fee, can simply use a different service.
This fee may come as something of a shock to Universal park-goers, but it it likely a way for Universal to recover some lost parking fee revenue from guests who would rather ride-share into the resort than pay the $26 parking fee. However, with this new charge, plus Uber’s standard fees, it may once again be less expensive to park in the parking garage for guests who have that option, rather than pay for a more expensive Uber.
Halloween Horror Nights to be shorter for 30th anniversary edition
Image: Diana Kelly, Flickr (license)
Though the 2019 edition of Halloween Horror Nights just wrapped up this past weekend, Universal announced the 2020 dates for the 30th anniversary of this annual event at Universal Orlando, which will take place on 39 select nights from Thursday, Sept. 10 – Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020.
Fans of this event will notice that this year that the event is starting later in September (it kicked off September 6th in 2019), there are three fewer event nights in 2020 than there were in 2019, and, for first time in several years, Universal has not extended Halloween Horror nights into the beginning of November. This could be due to the fact that Halloween is on a Saturday next year (and typically Sunday crowds are fairly slow), but this still seems like a strange choice given the event’s history.
Image: Universal
Though the calendar is looking a little bit compressed for 2020, it looks like for the third year in a row, Universal Studios Florida will host a total 10 haunted houses during the event. However, it looks like some next year will be “reimagined haunts inspired by the past”, which is fitting for an event celebrating its 30th year. Universal has also confirmed that next year’s event will once again feature five scare zones, which is on par with the number of zones from the past few years.
