Seaworld and Busch Gardens: Quick Queue, Opening Time, Touring Plans?

[WDW-PRINCESS]

We are heading to SW and BG at the beginning of July. We are familiar with Disney and Universal. As a note - we will want to ride all the rides and see all the shows. Given we will be riding the thrill rides (and I am guessing therefore the most popular rides I have a couple questions -

1) For Disney we get there before they open the turnstyles (i.e. start letting pp into the park) so that we are at the front of the pack. How essential is this for SW and BG?

2) Is the Quick Queue worth the money/beneficial for SW and BG given we are there over the 4th?
(as a note with Disney we use a combination of the unofficial touring guides, FP, and multiple days and never wait longer than 30min - usually less - when we have gone end of august. Obviously not as busy as a July period...but my point is we don't want to wait more than 15/20min on average)
What is the average wait for QQ? Similar to FP?

3) Are there any touring plans out there for SW and BG (similar to the unofficial guide for Universal and IOA)? Something like get there 30min before opening, ride XXX first, then ride XXX, etc? I would assume with Quick Queue that order doesn't matter as much and you can do what you want when?

Thanks in advance. I have never been to either park and am looking forward to it!

 

[jdragr]

We were at Sea World today. I would assume Memorial Day weekend would be considered a busy day. We have quick queues. We walked on every ride...no waiting at all. The only ride that I noticed the wait time for was Atlantis and it was 50 minutes. We didn't have to pay for our quick queues. We received them free from the resort we are staying at. Loved them!

 

[CarolineB]

Sea World has their own app -- I used it on Saturday and it was pretty accurate.

I was only at the park in the late afternoon to park closing so I can't comment on the lines during the day. At 9:00 p.m., turtle trek still had a long wait but we hung out at the dolphin underwater viewing area until it went down to 5 minutes. After Turtle Trek, I rode Manta with a 5 minute wait too. I didn't do the night time Shamu show. We watched the fireworks from the park exit and the parking lot so we could leave as soon as the fireworks ended.

 

[anierodzik]

We are just back from our trip. We did Busch Gardens 2 days and Seaworld 2 days. We had Quick Queues to Seaworld because of our hotel (Residence Inn), and we did purchase Quick Queues for Busch Gardens. We felt that they were well worth it! It was was a similar day to being at Universal with the Express Pass. You did not have to have a touring plan (other than the timing of the shows). If you can budget for them, I highly recommend it. We were there at park opening once for both parks, but it didn't make much of a difference because of the Quick Queues. So, if you can budget for them- they are well worth it.

(I have also done the Disney FP/ park opening thing- I found this SO MUCH more relaxing and just as effective and fun/)

 

[Jabba20000]

Is it safe to assume that quick que is not worth it if you are not going to ride thrill rides? We are headed to BG and SW in July primarily for the animals and shows and any tame rides that may come along. DH may ride a couple of coasters but DDs and I are ride wimps so we won't. Does quick que get you into anything faster other than riding the coasters?

 

[WDW-PRINCESS]

We were at Sea World today. I would assume Memorial Day weekend would be considered a busy day. We have quick queues. We walked on every ride...no waiting at all. The only ride that I noticed the wait time for was Atlantis and it was 50 minutes. We didn't have to pay for our quick queues. We received them free from the resort we are staying at. Loved them!

Sea World has their own app -- I used it on Saturday and it was pretty accurate.

I was only at the park in the late afternoon to park closing so I can't comment on the lines during the day. At 9:00 p.m., turtle trek still had a long wait but we hung out at the dolphin underwater viewing area until it went down to 5 minutes. After Turtle Trek, I rode Manta with a 5 minute wait too. I didn't do the night time Shamu show. We watched the fireworks from the park exit and the parking lot so we could leave as soon as the fireworks ended.

Thanks for the feedback!

We are just back from our trip. We did Busch Gardens 2 days and Seaworld 2 days. We had Quick Queues to Seaworld because of our hotel (Residence Inn), and we did purchase Quick Queues for Busch Gardens. We felt that they were well worth it! It was was a similar day to being at Universal with the Express Pass. You did not have to have a touring plan (other than the timing of the shows). If you can budget for them, I highly recommend it. We were there at park opening once for both parks, but it didn't make much of a difference because of the Quick Queues. So, if you can budget for them- they are well worth it.

(I have also done the Disney FP/ park opening thing- I found this SO MUCH more relaxing and just as effective and fun/)

I am thinking we will get the QQ - a more relaxed approach is nice!

Is it safe to assume that quick que is not worth it if you are not going to ride thrill rides? We are headed to BG and SW in July primarily for the animals and shows and any tame rides that may come along. DH may ride a couple of coasters but DDs and I are ride wimps so we won't. Does quick que get you into anything faster other than riding the coasters?

I would be curious to hear too...

 

[ccgirl]

We are heading to SW and BG at the beginning of July. We are familiar with Disney and Universal. As a note - we will want to ride all the rides and see all the shows. Given we will be riding the thrill rides (and I am guessing therefore the most popular rides I have a couple questions -

1) For Disney we get there before they open the turnstyles (i.e. start letting pp into the park) so that we are at the front of the pack. How essential is this for SW and BG?

2) Is the Quick Queue worth the money/beneficial for SW and BG given we are there over the 4th?
(as a note with Disney we use a combination of the unofficial touring guides, FP, and multiple days and never wait longer than 30min - usually less - when we have gone end of august. Obviously not as busy as a July period...but my point is we don't want to wait more than 15/20min on average)
What is the average wait for QQ? Similar to FP?

3) Are there any touring plans out there for SW and BG (similar to the unofficial guide for Universal and IOA)? Something like get there 30min before opening, ride XXX first, then ride XXX, etc? I would assume with Quick Queue that order doesn't matter as much and you can do what you want when?

Thanks in advance. I have never been to either park and am looking forward to it!

We are just back from our Universal/SW/Busch Gardens/Aquatica trip.

First, much to my surprise, Busch Gardens is my new favorite park. Honestly, I don't think you can do everything in 1 day if you also want to ride the thrill rides. If you don't want the thrill rides then you probably could.

We did have the free quick queue for SW since we were staying at HGVC Sea World. The first day we went (it was a Tuesday) we could walk on everything. Plus, with the Super Grover pass we got premium seating. When we went on Saturday, it was a different story. Atlantis had a 50 minute wait time but with quick queue we rode it 6 times in a row in that time.

One note is that if you buy one of those refillable mugs at BG or SW, it can be used at both since it is owned by the same place. That saved us quite a bit of money.

Have a great trip!

 

[WDW-PRINCESS]

Thanks CCGirl! I am excited to experience BG =D

 

[mrebuck]

Just a heads up . . . we purchased Quick Queue Unlimited passes for our Sea World trip this summer. (My family love roller coasters and we plan on riding Manta multiple times.) When I purchased them a couple months ago, the price was $29.99 a piece. When I checked yesterday, the price had dropped to $19.99. I called and they were able to refund me the difference - a $40 refund. So keep an eye on prices if you pre-purchase the Quick Queue passes.