How to Get Here

Dining

CityWalk has seen welcome upgrades to its restaurant lineup in recent years. The older restaurants' menus are more similar to an Applebee's or Chili's. If you need to play it safe for someone in your group, you'd be hard-pressed to tell which restaurant some of these main courses came from.

Dining Reservations A big difference between Disney World and Universal Orlando is that it's far easier to get q dining reservations at Universal. If you're used to booking your Disney dining reservations months before your vacation, you can relax more at CityWalk.

During slower times of the year, you can walk up and get a table at many Universal CityWalk restaurants with only a short wait. And guests staying at an on-site Premier hotel can flash their key card to get seated even sooner.

The Best Sit-Down Restaurants in Universal CityWalk:

Pat O'Brien's

The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar

VIVO Italian Kitchen

Bigfire

The Best Quick Service Meals in Universal CityWalk:

Red Oven Pizza Bakery

Bend the Bao

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt

Don’t Miss Snacks at These Locations:

Voodoo Doughnut

Cold Stone Creamery

Auntie Anne's

Starbucks Coffee - CityWalk

Clubs & Entertainment

Most of CityWalk's clubs are located along the elevated curving pathway that sits behind and above CityWalk's central plaza. At most of these venues, you must be 21 or older, with a photo ID required, to enter after 10 p.m.

The Best Clubs in Universal CityWalk:

Bob Marley - A Tribute to Freedom

Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville

Pat O'Brien's

Rising Star

The Best Entertainment in CityWalk:

CityWalk has a number of separately ticketed entertainment options, some of which have no parallel at Walt Disney World. Note that tickets for the places listed below are not included in vacation packages or with park tickets.

Universal Cinemark 20 With XD All 20 screens at this movie theater have La-Z-Boy-like luxury loungers, featuring oversize cupholders and motorized footrests. All screens have digital projection and surround sound, as well as stadium seating.

An upgraded snack bar serves hot foods (along with the usual cinema standards, including Coke Freestyle sodas) and alcohol.

You can get reimbursed for standard self-parking at the Universal Orlando garage with the same-day purchase of two matinee movie tickets. Remember to bring your parking receipt with you to the box office so it can be validated.

Visit the Cinemark website or use Cinemark's mobile app for a list of showtimes and to buy tickets. You can also call 407-354-3374 to hear a recording of what's playing.

Tickets can be retrieved from automated kiosks located to the right of the box office.

Universal's Great Movie Escape Room Universal's first attempt at a permanent escape room comes from the same designers behind Halloween Horror Nights.

Escape rooms are themed environments where small teams are tasked with solving a series of puzzles within a set time limit. Players must scour the room for clues, decode secret messages, and manipulate locks in order to achieve their goal before the hour is up.

(Don't worry: you aren't literally locked inside the room, so you can leave at any time.)

Most escape rooms have generic settings and characters. Universal's Great Movie Escape Room is different because it uses two of the Studio's most iconic franchises: Back to the Future and Jurassic World.

Whether you choose to help Doc Brown in his laboratory or brave the dino-infested facilities on Isla Nublar, you'll be surrounded by authentic sets, sounds, and special effects straight from the movies.

Although some younger children enjoy escape rooms, the challenges are geared toward teens and adults, and some of the effects may be frightening.

Keep in mind that everything you need to solve the puzzles should be accessible without breaking anything like the scenery or props. Escape rooms almost always require you to be observant and cooperate to succeed.

Hollywood Drive-In Golf On one edge of the CityWalk entertainment complex are two 18-hole courses awash in elaborate settings, props, and even audio.

The overall theme is a drive-in movie showing two features: Invaders from Planet Putt and The Haunting of Ghostly Greens. Players can choose a single (18 holes) or double (36 holes) feature.

The Invaders from Planet Putt course entertains with nonfrightening statues and props such as rocket ships and little green men; a pretend newspaper box shows the Roswell, New Mexico Register of July 8, 1947, with the blaring headline UFO SIGHTINGS CONTINUE.

The Haunting of Ghostly Greens course features a giant spider, a graveyard, and a basement-lab scene. This course is particularly nice at night but may creep out younger golfers. At various holes, the sound effects are a mooing cow, a chain saw, and a ray gun.

The courses are open from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Last tee time is 1 a.m. The cost is under $20 for adults and less for children ages 3-9. Florida residents get a small discount. Universal hotel guests get priority access and a slightly larger discount.