Wait Times Today

[nkereina]

Sorry if I missed it, but how does the virtual queue come into play here? It was my understanding that as standby lines grew, they'd flip the ride to virtual queue to avoid having people standing in queues in close proximity. It sounds like these wait times were for standby queues, so were virtual queues not active?

 

[djmeredith]

Thanks for pointing out that video. I am shocked to see those crowds! Social distancing was clearly not possible. I am seriously rethinking the trip I just booked for Oct. I cancelled Disney yesterday and booked this instead because of the discounts Universal is offering, but this makes me reconsider because they are not focused on safety at all.

 

[atricks]

Thanks for pointing out that video. I am shocked to see those crowds! Social distancing was clearly not possible. I am seriously rethinking the trip I just booked for Oct. I cancelled Disney yesterday and booked this instead because of the discounts Universal is offering, but this makes me reconsider because they are not focused on safety at all.

They are doing a pretty good job, if you are worried about crowds don't go on a Saturday.

 

[LizzyDragon]

Sorry if I missed it, but how does the virtual queue come into play here? It was my understanding that as standby lines grew, they'd flip the ride to virtual queue to avoid having people standing in queues in close proximity. It sounds like these wait times were for standby queues, so were virtual queues not active?

I was at Universal today- I didn't get any VQ options besides Fallon. That said, wait times were very short- I think the longest I saw was 35 minutes (but I wasn't constantly checking).

 

[tony67]

Thanks for pointing out that video. I am shocked to see those crowds! Social distancing was clearly not possible. I am seriously rethinking the trip I just booked for Oct. I cancelled Disney yesterday and booked this instead because of the discounts Universal is offering, but this makes me reconsider because they are not focused on safety at all.

From everything I have seen and heard they are doing a very good job as far as safety is concerned.
They are enforcing the masks and social distancing and people are pretty good about it from all I have heard.
Not sure the crowds will be as big in October - but its very hard to say.
Also keep in mind that is the weekend - is pretty dead during the week now - let alone in October

 

[Victoria3]

If you can avoid the weekends and go during the week it's like night and day the difference in crowds.

i will be at the parks this coming saturday, so yesterday i was looking at the wait times throughout the day and wasn't thrilled. we have the extra morning hour and hopefully can guarantee a ride or two with VQ, but just everything was consistently an hour or more.

i even had wait time alerts set for when a few of the popular rides got under a 30 minute wait...the only one that ever did was hulk and i think it was about 40 minutes before closing.

unsure if the wait times were overstated or accurate.

i guess its good (but probably for local crowds, bad) that the parks will be open until 8pm this coming saturday. some more time to get on things.

i was about to purchase a one day express pass for me and my DBF but he told me not to.
we will still be going back to universal on weds 9/9 which will HOPEFULLY be a good day

everyone keeps saying yesterday and today is the last weekend for a lot of florida residents to go to the parks, but i'm assuming next weekend will equally draw crowds..it's a 3 day weekend.
but what do i know?

definitely getting nervous

This upcoming weekend (5th & 6th) is suppose to be the busiest weekend for all the parks. Universal extended there closings until 8pm. Quite the leap from the 5pm closings.

 

[WendiDarling]

Are Sundays as bad as Saturdays? We arrive on Saturday Sept 19th, Sunday Sept 20 is our first park day. We also have Monday and Tuesday. There's 5 of us - staying at Cabana Bay. First visit for me and 3 of the kids. I'm trying to decide:

a) consider Sunday an "atmosphere day" and don't worry about how much we get done? Just soak it in and relax at the resort if it's too crowded? We still have Monday and Tuesday after all...
or
b) get a reservation for RPR for 1 night for the 5 of us so we can have EPs on Sunday and Monday. (probably useful on Sunday, not so much on Monday?) Worth the cost for 1 night reservation?

Any advice from the pros?

 

[Lynne G]

Unless you want to use the express pass unlimited, price the hotel rate, as may be a cheap way to have two days of it. If you want to save money, I’d just use the early entry for hotel guests on Sunday, and leave to enjoy a meal and some pool time if it got too crowded for ya. Then hit the parks all day Monday and Tuesday. Oh, am arriving late on the 20th, and will be there with the 21st my first day. So if you see me, please say hi.

With the local kids usually at school during that time, I am very much hoping the week days have low crowds. I have been going that time of years now. Still sad about HHN, but usually the mornings had low crowds, afternoon would be busier, with the Studios having the most due to those arriving for HHN early. But with no HHN, I would assume lesser crowds, particularly on week days.

 

[ruthies12]

I have a trip planned September 17th to 20th. I've been watching wait times pretty dang closely. Last weekend I noticed that they were doing virtual waits on Saturday but on Sunday they did not. Wait times seem to be higher on Sundays than on week days but no where near Saturdays levels.

If I were in your shoes I would save the money on the hotel room/express passes. I would concentrate on doing only your fav rides on Sunday and do the shows, maybe see the new bourne show and whatever other shows you like. Be a good day to bring wands and do spell spots too. Then you'll be able to hit the rides hard on Monday and Tuesday, I'm betting those days will be dead crowd wise. There's my 2 cents!

 

[cfoxga]

If you end up with a throwaway room at RPR for one night, how much more would it be to stay at RPR for the whole trip? If you are there for only 3 nights, it probably isn't much more. That would give you EPs for all 4 days and make for a very relaxing trip. We have stayed at both RPR and CB. While the CB family suite did have more room, we loved the EPs and being within walking distance to the parks.

 

[mrd7896]

super thankful that we will be at universal a week from today. the wait times look wonderful right now.
still very worried about this coming saturday, i just hope that VQ's are in abundance, and that Universal is prepared for the crowds (unlike what it appears happened last weekend) its the first full park day for our entire group and i would really hate for all of us to feel SUPER uncomfortable. with the extension of park hours thats great for hopefully being able to do a few more things but also not great because that will just draw even more locals.

really hate the promo that was released---super ridiculous if you ask me.

anyway i will have the extra hour and will get there even earlier than park open because i was reading that those staying closer to the parks on property are able to get their VQ's from the confines of their resort hotel room which is really great and all..but i won't be able to do that. i will be rather disappointed if all of the on property guests scoop up the first batch of VQ's from their beds.

I believe VQ's drop at 8:30 ish and by that time i will already be at the parks for the additional hour but can never be too safe....

 

[mrd7896]

basically setting my expectations EXTREMELY low for saturday with the idea that i will pretty much ride one maybe two attractions the extra hour and then be waiting in LONG lines for everything else.

hopefully can snag two VQ's right away (hagrids' and either kong or mummy will be my first choices) and just kind of see how everything else plays out.

i don't want to be suckered into getting an Express Pass day of--especially after reading that even express lines for everything was more than 30-40 minutes on weekends.

maybe trying to be optimistic that ride times will be overstated and getting into a line that says 50 minutes won't actually be 50 minutes.
not holding my breath for anything and going to pack a lot of patience for my first three park days at Universal/Disney!!!

 

[WendiDarling]

If you end up with a throwaway room at RPR for one night, how much more would it be to stay at RPR for the whole trip? If you are there for only 3 nights, it probably isn't much more. That would give you EPs for all 4 days and make for a very relaxing trip. We have stayed at both RPR and CB. While the CB family suite did have more room, we loved the EPs and being within walking distance to the parks.

I was thinking about this. How cozy is it in RPR with 5 people? I know the room accommodates 5, but... none are little children... kids are 12, 14, 16... its only $145 more to stay at RPR the whole time.

 

[Lynne G]

I was thinking about this. How cozy is it in RPR with 5 people? I know the room accommodates 5, but... none are little children... kids are 12, 14, 16... its only $145 more to stay at RPR the whole time.

That’s not too much money, but if you were looking at a standard room, unless all 3 kids can sleep in one queen bed, at least one kid will have to sleep on an extra cost cot or make a bed on the floor. It would be a bit tight, but if you are not spending a bunch in the room, would be nicer hotel, with boat and shorter walking path. Though with CB, you do have a family suite, which should be bigger, and CB has a path, so no bus needed to VB. $145 over 3 nights is a very cheap way to get an unlimited express pass for each family member, good the time you check in, as your pass is your hotel card, and expires at close of parks the day you checkout.

 

[cfoxga]

I was thinking about this. How cozy is it in RPR with 5 people? I know the room accommodates 5, but... none are little children... kids are 12, 14, 16... its only $145 more to stay at RPR the whole time.

The RPR room is 335 sq ft, while CB is 430 sq feet that adds the sitting area (with sofa bed) and kitchenette. Size-wise, CB did allow us to spread out better. There are only 4 of us (kids were 10 and 12 at the time), so it would be tighter for you. There is also the option of HRH which is 375 sq ft, but it is a bit more expensive. We have HRH booked for Nov, so I cannot comment on the hotel beyond the size of the rooms.

We didn't spend much time in the room and all agreed that RPR was much better than the CB trip. We liked the boats much better than the bus, and it was a long walk from CB to SF to catch the boat. The ability to walk to the park from RPR was also great. We thought RPR was a much nicer hotel than RPR, with the exception of the lazy river at CB. But in the end, the EP was the biggest difference maker. Lines could still be long if the park was super crowded, but usually is was less than 10 minutes.

 

[andieb0602]

I was thinking about this. How cozy is it in RPR with 5 people? I know the room accommodates 5, but... none are little children... kids are 12, 14, 16... its only $145 more to stay at RPR the whole time.

I think the extra $145 makes it totally worth it. We did a CB family suite for our first visit and, while we enjoyed it, we all agreed that it was worth the extra expense for the convenience of staying at one of the EP hotels and having the ability to quickly and easily walk to the parks. We stayed at HRH last time and it easily could have held a twin sized air mattress between the bed and window. I'm not sure how it would work out at RP - it's probably going to be tight but do-able. I would check the rate for HRH as well just to cover your bases but think the upgrade is completely worth it.

On a side note with the family suite at CB - we really liked the room (especially the split bathroom) but found that even though we had the closet area we still ran out of storage space for our suitcases/stuff in general. We had brought a rolling cooler with us and the only place to store it was in front of the sink it the kitchen area. It felt like we were constantly moving things around. Also, my DS, who was 10 at the time, found the sofa bed uncomfortable, and he's the type that can sleep anywhere. My point is that, while the family suite has more square footage, it may not be usable square footage for you all so don't let the numbers scare you from switching. Our room at HRH actually felt roomier than CB because we were able to put all of our things out of the way.

 

[WendiDarling]

Thanks all for the replies!!

I'm leaning toward the upgrade and leaning toward HRH to get the extra space. $100 more than RPR over the 4 nights, so $25 a night and I think we'd be happier.

I'll be back after the trip to report! Lynne G and ruthies12, see you there!

 

[WendiDarling]

So. once I looked at AP rates.. RPR is $100 a night less. We're going to squeeze in for the 3 nights, lol! Hopefully we won't be in the room much...