2nd Half of August?

[Albytaps]

Hey all,

We're planning on going to UO sometime in the week of August 18th. I understand the crowds might be a little be lower by then but I'm sure the HP stuff will still be very crowded. My main concern is: Will we be able to see everything we want to see during a 1 day visit?

I will list the attractions we want to see, and you guys let me know if it's feasible to do it in one day and what the best course of action would be... please. The list is as follows in order of importance:

DA and Gringotts
HE
FJ
Jurassic Park
Transformers
The Mummy
The Simpsons and Springfield?
ET

Secondary if possible:
RRR
Hulk
Spiderman
???

As far as the primary list, will we be able to do all that in 1 day? I keep hearing the horror stories of the wait time for Gringotts being up to 4 hours? I told my wife and she said "no" and that she rather just enjoy the theme in DA if that was the case. That'll be a major bummer if we can't ride it.

Anyway. As you can see, the HP stuff is most important things on our list. So if we just see that, it will have to do. I would really like to fit in Transformers though. How long is the line for that usually? Will the lines die down a bit in late August?

Any advice is appreciated. We are aiming to go on a weekday with no EE.

 

[RMulieri]

Are you planning on staying onsite? If no it may be doable, it might not.It will have you going nonstop and there will be waits..We were there last year August 18-23rd and while schools went back in session for Florida, alot of the US is still off till after Labor Day.It was manageable early in the morning, but by late morning -mid day there were decent-sized waits for things..90 mins for Transformers ,45-60 for Spiderman, Hulk and RRR had a 90 min wait, FJ was 60-90 mins with single rider 45 mins.This was before Diagon alley too..My advice is if you are not staying onsite and wont have express passes or early entry..Be at the park well before opening to the public( keep in mind onsite resort guests get early entry so once the park opens,HP stuff will already have significant wait times).Do the HP stuff first since it is a priority.

 

[glocon]

I think that I would try to ride everything else before EFG and DA. Since most people will rush to DA for EFG, lines for other rides should be minimal. Get those done, then do Hogsmeade, then on to DA on the HE. Seems like lines for EFG are worst in morning. Maybe get in line for EFG and ride before exploring DA since the line for EFG closes early, then explore DA shops after the ride.

At least that way you would for sure get lots of stuff done, and maybe have a tad bit shorter line for EFG. Just make sure to get in line for EFG before they close it off for the day.

Has anyone said how late the DA shops are open, and how crowded they are late in the day?

 

[Albytaps]

Thanks for the advice. It seems there are contradicting strategies. I'll have to go over it with my wife to see what she wants to do, but ultimately she leaves it up to me.

What is this about closing EFG early? That would certainly be awful to close the newest ride down early... why are they doing that?

We are not staying on site, so no early entry for us. I do plan on being there as early as they'll let us in though. I don't mind rushing around to get as much done because the rest of my vacation will be spent relaxing by the pool and the beach. I want to cram in as much Universal as possible in one day.

The strategy that has us going on other things first is interesting. It may just be the smartest thing to do. However, the early closing of Gringotts has me worried.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[BrerNashville]

I think it would be worth it, if it works in your schedule, to shave a night off of your other accommodations and add a night on site at Universal to get the express pass. It may even be worth looking into the price of one night at Royal Pacific and reserve it, even if you don't stay there -- I see you are a family of 6, so the price of 6 express passes may be about that of a night at RP. Even if you go in the middle of your stay, and are paying for your nights at your other accommodations, you may think about sleeping at RP anyway. That way you can get up early to try to access early admission. Once you experience express pass, you'll not want to go to US any other way.

 

[macraven]

I think it would be worth it, if it works in your schedule, to shave a night off of your other accommodations and add a night on site at Universal to get the express pass. It may even be worth looking into the price of one night at Royal Pacific and reserve it, even if you don't stay there -- I see you are a family of 6, so the price of 6 express passes may be about that of a night at RP. Even if you go in the middle of your stay, and are paying for your nights at your other accommodations, you may think about sleeping at RP anyway. That way you can get up early to try to access early admission. Once you experience express pass, you'll not want to go to US any other way.

the suite at RPH that allows for 6 is expensive.
2 standard rooms would be cheaper in order to cover 6 for an over night stay.
5 is the max allowed per those rooms.

 

[Albytaps]

Hey folks, it's been awhile now since my trip but I'll try to list everything we got to do if I remember it correctly. It was a great day at UO even though I was sick and feeling really crappy.

After speaking to my cousin, she advised me not to go on EFG in the morning as that is what everyone else is doing and would be better to go on later that day. So, we decided to go to IoA first and try to get in as much as possibly before heading over to US. We rode things in this order:

1. We got to the park at about 9:05 after picking up the tickets from the kiosk.

2. We went straight to FJ, the wait was about 15-20 minutes. We enjoyed the walk through Hogwarts and the ride was great (no breakdowns.). I also rode more comfortably this time as I asked for the larger seat.

3. We got butterbeer and sat down inside the hogs head tavern. We wasted some as the kids didn't finish theirs and no one wanted any more... pity.

4. We rode on the hippogryph and dragon coasters.

5. We all rode JP, my little one kept asking about the drop and was scared. She didn't like it because of the drop.

6. 3 out of 4 of my girls rode on the Pteranodon Flyers. They enjoyed it. My very tall 12yo was bummed she didn't get to ride. The way it worked out was that our youngest had to go with an adult. That ride kinda irks me that they would have such a sloppy system that adults can't ride unless they have a kid that's the right height. The entrance to that line gets clogged from the TM's having to explain things to everyone wanting to go on the ride. I stood there for about 30 minutes watching tons of people get rejected from entering. Sometimes it looks like the TM's like turning people away a little too much.

7. We went on Rip saw falls and got completely soaked... Like jumping in a swimming pool soaked. I don't remember getting that wet on that ride.

8. We met up with my cousin and had lunch at the comic cafe (I forget the name.) I wish we had gone elsewhere.

9. Onto Popeye, the ride we've been waiting for since the last time we rode (when WWOHP opened.). It was good... But we didn't get that wet! That was shocking as we got completely soaked last time. It was a reversal of that and rip saw.

10. Spider-Man line was long so we skipped it and went to Hulk which had no line at all. That is one of my favorite coasters of all time.

11. Heard Spider-Man was revamped so we decided to make the wait. The clock was ticking so this was worrying me about missing out on some US stuff. Same ride with new graphics, loved it.

We made our way through Dr. Seuss land and cut behind green eggs and ham cafe to make our way to the Hogwarts express.

12. Hogwarts express estimated wait was 1 hour.... WHAT!?!? Yea, so we got on and eventually got on the ride. I had no idea what expect. It blew me away, it was really cool! We only waited about 45 minutes in the end.

By the time we got to US it was around 3 or 4 in the afternoon... About 2-3 hours after I originally wanted to get there. Nonetheless we made our way out of the train station and took a look around at London, anxiously looking for Diagonal Alley. When I saw a weird entrance with a few people going in and out, I asked a TM standing there if that was Diagonal Alley and she said yes.

I got my family to follow me in to just pure awesomeness. Diagonal Alley is amazing! I didn't want to start relaxing just yet, I wanted to see what the time posted for EFG was. It said 60 minutes!!!

13. We immediately got on line for Gringotts as that probably was going to be the best time to go on. The line was deceiving as you walk through the front to get to the back that reveals a parking lot sized snaking line. It wasn't full and seemed like the line was moving rather quickly. Either way I wasn't about to miss the ride.

The line was moving and we were all excited. Just as we were about to go up and into the bank, the line seemed to slow down to a halt. 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes went by and we only moved a couple of feet. Slowly we got in the bank and inched slowly. At least the amazing animatronics kept us entertained as we waited and waited.

The next part was very annoying. We entered into room where you get a preshow, then exited into madness. There was a wall of people. We slowly spilled into the madness and before we knew it, more people were spilling in from behind. There is something unbalanced as there is more room on one side, while the other has all the glasses. I got aggravated as many people passed and we got left behind.

All in all we finally made it to the ride (which was awesome) after having waited about 2 hours in line. I'm not sure if the ride broke down a few times or if there was another reason, but the line was moving at first as well as the posted wait time was only an hour... But then slowed to a stop and the estimated wait time was up to 120 minutes. We were happy to have gone on and checked that off our list.

14. We walked around Diagon Alley a little more before heading out.

15. We made our way to the Mummy, as I have been hyping that up to the kids and they were eager to ride. My little one was too short, so we had to do a rider swap. Everyone loved the mummy.

16. I directed everyone to Transformers. It was new to me so I needed to go on. The wait was about 45 minutes. It was good but I was rather disappointed that it was the same exact thing as Spider-Man.

17. We were very hungry at this point and the time was getting short. I suggested we try the Diagon Alley restaurant (I forget what it's called) and everyone was down. The place was great, the lemonade was amazing, and it satisfied us. We the took another stroll through Diagon Alley and I'm glad we did. I explored and saw a dark alleyway which a couple strolled into, so I followed. I had found Knockturn Alley. I didn't even know that existed! I told my fam and they followed me. What a cool place. Next time we come we will make it a full trip so we can spend time doing all the wand tricks.

18. It was getting close to park closing so we headed over to Springfield. My wife gets sick on simulators and the Simpsons ride is the worst of all for her so we skipped it. We rode on that new dumbo type ride with the alien... Lol. We explored Springfield some more and decided to get the big pink donut. We all shared and liked it.

19. We rushed over to E.T. as that is a family favorite and got to ride with no waiting at all as the doors opened when we got there. The little E.T.'s are so cute.

20. We had a few minutes left so I took the kids on the Woody woodpecker coaster... We got to ride twice as no one else was there and the TM's were nice.

All in all it was an amazing day. We crammed in as much as we could and we're happy with the results. Oh, did I mention we surprised the the kids with this trip? We got them up really fast when we told them that morning. Everything worked out perfectly with the exception that I felt sick (bad cold.). We can't wait to go back!

 

[pbruce706]

We went on August 28th for one day, booked a night at the Hard Rock to get the early entry and the FOTL benefit. We'd been to Universal in Feb 2013, so there were things we definately wanted to do, and things we weren't worried about doing again.

Got up extra early (was an 8AM Early Entry opening) and had breakfast in the room. Walked to the park and was there by 7:25AM, gates opened a few minutes after that. We were walked to the waiting point in by Fear Factor, but only waited a few minutes there before being let into Diagon Alley.

Got in to Gringott's with about a 15 minute wait, were out of the ride and back in DA by 8:20.

Shopped around Diagon Alley for a half hour or so.

Went to Transformers but the ride was closed, was told Megatron was on the loose and the area wasn't safe.

Rode to Rip Ride Rockit

Rode Revenge of the Mummy

Did some shopping at some of the stores

Transformers was still closed, so went to ET, it was also closed

Rode Simpsons

Rode MIB: Alien Attack

Went back to Transformers, it was open so rode that

Had lunch at Mel's Diner (wasn't quite noon yet)

Saw the Horror Make-Up show

Got on Hogwart's Express to Hogsmeade

Rode Dragon Challenge

Rode Forbidden Journey

Shopped in Hogsmeade

Rode The Hulk

Rode Spiderman

Stop and shopped, walked up through Toon Lagoon and Jurassic Park

Rode Hogwart's Express back to King's Cross Landing

Had dinner at The Leaky Cauldron (was close to 6:00pm)

Walked over to ET and saw it was running so rode it

Rode Rip Ride Rockit

Shopped some more and made our way to the gate to pick up our purchases

Left the park at around 7:30pm

It wasn't overly busy, and while the FOTL pass helped some (mostly for Spiderman and The Mummy), they weren't an absolute necessity. We got everything done that was on our list and a few others, didn't feel overly rushed. The only time it felt crowded was in Hogsmeade, fortunately the wait for FJ wasn't too long despite the crowds.

Hope this helps someone's planning!

 

[TracyK]

A big thanks to Albytap and pbruce for the detailed information. We will be visiting Universal at the end of August 2015 and I can't decide yet whether we are going to be staying on site so both your experiences are very helpful. Alby, can you remember which day of the week you visited?

 

[allanahx]

we went august and we did three separate days, one for universal, one for islands of adventure and one for just harry potter and we are so glad we did. We got in early for our harry potter day because we had virgin early entry passes. Without FOLP we were waiting an hour for minions, the gringotts ride we got on in 45 mins (but when we got out the queue was adverting 2 1/2 hours) simpsons was 45 mins, men in black was 60 mins, transformers was the same. However some we just walked on.