5 Dumb UO questions. Humor me, please!

[DLgal]

1. How do I make reservations for city walk or hotel restaurants? Is there an app, do I do it through the Universal website, or does each restaurant have their own system like Open Table or something?

2. What are park hours *usually* for the end of August?

3. How do we ride the new rides (Hagrids, Velicicoaster) if we aren't morning people? Is there just always a normal standby line? We don't mind waiting. Or is it a virtual queue thing where you have to be there early just to ge a spot for later?

4. What are the rules about cell phones on rides? Could a phone be placed inside a running belt that is secured against the body under clothing? I will be traveling without my family and need to be reachable by the husband who is clueless about most things involving the kids and running the house.

5. Are the massive summer crowds usually mostly gone by late August? That seems to be the case at WDW for the most part. Oniy ever been to Universal in the off season.

 

[TwoMisfits]

1. How do I make reservations for city walk or hotel restaurants? Is there an app, do I do it through the Universal website, or does each restaurant have their own system like Open Table or something?

2. What are park hours *usually* for the end of August?

3. How do we ride the new rides (Hagrids, Velicicoaster) if we aren't morning people? Is there just always a normal standby line? We don't mind waiting. Or is it a virtual queue thing where you have to be there early just to ge a spot for later?

4. What are the rules about cell phones on rides? Could a phone be placed inside a running belt that is secured against the body under clothing? I will be traveling without my family and need to be reachable by the husband who is clueless about most things involving the kids and running the house.

5. Are the massive summer crowds usually mostly gone by late August? That seems to be the case at WDW for the most part. Oniy ever been to Universal in the off season.

1. https://www.universalorlando.com/we...ng-experiences/reservations#theme-park-dining Click the reserve now buttons for each place and it will lead you through seeing available reservations by date, time, and party size.

2. When I went in the past, I'd expect something like 9-6/7, depending if it's a weekday/weekend and if Florida schools are back or not...

3. At the end of August, it will likely be standby.

4. Not sure - we always checked a bag b/c I had to bring food for my allergies.

5. Yes, but...this may be a special year both with Disney's 50th, "cooped up" travelers, and international borders possibly getting opened - aka, I would not assume past is prelude, although no Disney free dining might weirdly help keep travelers down somehow...

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Three rides - Hulk, Rip Ride Rockit & Velocicoaster - all have metal detectors so no cellphone is allowed on those at all.

There are several other rides - Hargid's, MIB, Mummy - that require either a 3-prong fanny pack sort of bag or to leave loose articles in a locker, too.

 

[Lynne G]

Sometime you can also find some of the restaurants on the Open Table website ( and app I think, though I never downloaded it).

 

[DLgal]

Three rides - Hulk, Rip Ride Rockit & Velocicoaster - all have metal detectors so no cellphone is allowed on those at all.

There are several other rides - Hargid's, MIB, Mummy - that require either a 3-prong fanny pack sort of bag or to leave loose articles in a locker, too.

But on Velocicoaster, you can bring the phone through the line with you, right? That's the one with lockers right before you board? That won't be a problem.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

But on Velocicoaster, you can bring the phone through the line with you, right? That's the one with lockers right before you board? That won't be a problem.

Yep, that's true for Velococoaster

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You can also have your phone and anything else that fits in your pockets on any ride other than the 3 metal detector coasters. That means you can just have it in pocket for Hagrids too. I never have a bag but rarely use lockers because phone (& camera) fit in pockets.

 

[DLgal]

You can also have your phone and anything else that fits in your pockets on any ride other than the 3 metal detector coasters. That means you can just have it in pocket for Hagrids too. I never have a bag but rarely use lockers because phone (& camera) fit in pockets.

Oh, that's helpful! Thank you!

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Hey there, DLgal!

We just did a full day there yesterday and I think making dining reservations is a must. In my opinion Universal is a hot mess right now, they are so understaffed it's crazy. We waited about 30-45 minutes at every food location and nearly an hour for icecream in the Harry Potter area. Most food places had ONE person working when you can tell it's usually equipped to handle more. Hopefully by August they get more folks hired. You can definitely see the strain the staffing shortage has caused there. Most of the employees were pretty miserable/cranky and I don't blame them. Bring a big water bottle with you so at least when you do wait at one of the Coke Freestyle machines (which seems to be the main place to find water) to fill it up it lasts longer. The wait for water was the biggest pain. I honestly wish we had our hiking Camelbacks with us- hard not to get dehydrated when getting water is such an issue.

No virtual queues for Hagrid yesterday- it was all standby. We waited until the sun went behind the clouds about 3ish but then we were the last (!!) group on after waiting about 70 minutes to ride before they closed for rain for the rest of the day. Ride those early if you can, just in case of weather changes. Both lines are constantly moving so doesn't feel too bad of a wait even though it can be long. Seems like everyone rope drops these rides and within 20 minutes after opening both were at nearly 2 hour waits so Id say wait until about two hours after opening. Loved the new Hagrid's ride, by the way! It's worth the wait.

As for August crowds, who knows. I've never seen our airport at home so crowded, our shuttles, etc. I think everyone is in major travel mode so you could still be dealing with crowds. But by then both Disney and Universal should (hopefully) have more staff to deal with it.

 

[DLgal]

Hey there, DLgal!

We just did a full day there yesterday and I think making dining reservations is a must. In my opinion Universal is a hot mess right now, they are so understaffed it's crazy. We waited about 30-45 minutes at every food location and nearly an hour for icecream in the Harry Potter area. Most food places had ONE person working when you can tell it's usually equipped to handle more. Hopefully by August they get more folks hired. You can definitely see the strain the staffing shortage has caused there. Most of the employees were pretty miserable/cranky and I don't blame them. Bring a big water bottle with you so at least when you do wait at one of the Coke Freestyle machines (which seems to be the main place to find water) to fill it up it lasts longer. The wait for water was the biggest pain. I honestly wish we had our hiking Camelbacks with us- hard not to get dehydrated when getting water is such an issue.

No virtual queues for Hagrid yesterday- it was all standby. We waited until the sun went behind the clouds about 3ish but then we were the last (!!) group on after waiting about 70 minutes to ride before they closed for rain for the rest of the day. Ride those early if you can, just in case of weather changes. Both lines are constantly moving so doesn't feel too bad of a wait even though it can be long. Seems like everyone rope drops these rides and within 20 minutes after opening both were at nearly 2 hour waits so Id say wait until about two hours after opening. Loved the new Hagrid's ride, by the way! It's worth the wait.

As for August crowds, who knows. I've never seen our airport at home so crowded, our shuttles, etc. I think everyone is in major travel mode so you could still be dealing with crowds. But by then both Disney and Universal should (hopefully) have more staff to deal with it.

Thanks for the information!

We are hoping by late August that some of the crowds will be diminished and staffing levels will have been boosted somewhat.

We are also NOT in any way being theme park commandos this trip. We are primarily interested in getting rides on Velocicoaster, Hagrid's, the 2 main HP land rides, and maybe Hulk and Spiderman. That's all we really care about. This trip is mainly about sitting poolside with some good drinks and spending time at Volcano Bay.

We always bring at least a 24oz insulated water bottle, so we should be all set there.

We really don't want to be tied down to dining reservations, because we are trying VERY hard to keep this a spontaneous vacation, and we agreed we are okay with eating whatever, whenever we can get it. I did make us an arrival night reservation at Vivo, so we will have at least one good sit down meal. We are totally happy with chicken tenders and burgers from our resort also, though, and aren't below grabbing some Panda Express at City Walk if there isn't anything else easily available. We are kind of just crossing our fingers that the availability of dining improves in the next 2 months, so that we can make some more on the fly decisions about eating.

 

[pxidst119]

Panda Express was one of our worst lines on 2 different occasions last week. It didn’t look long but it took almost 90 minutes. We jumped out of line when our second attempt looked much like the first. They had 2 people up front (one serving and one doing the register and drinks) and people were getting 4-5 meals each for their families. We kept thinking we didn’t have long to wait and it just never moved. I hope things improve before you go. On a positive note, we actually lost a few pounds on this trip since we ended up skipping meals lol.

 

[nkereina]

1. How do I make reservations for city walk or hotel restaurants? Is there an app, do I do it through the Universal website, or does each restaurant have their own system like Open Table or something?

PP linked the web site, but just wanted to mention that if you're staying on-site, some of the restaurants will also offer priority seating. I don't think I've ever made a reservation and usually either wing it, eat at off times, or use priority seating. I think our longest wait has been at Cowfish which was about an hour. Worth it to keep the spontaneity.

4. What are the rules about cell phones on rides? Could a phone be placed inside a running belt that is secured against the body under clothing? I will be traveling without my family and need to be reachable by the husband who is clueless about most things involving the kids and running the house.

As mentioned, the running belt would likely work on the "locker" rides - technically it should have a 3 prong clasp but I'm guessing it wouldn't even be visible if its under clothing. But for the 3 metal detector rides, you'd have to put the belt in a free locker.

5. Are the massive summer crowds usually mostly gone by late August? That seems to be the case at WDW for the most part. Oniy ever been to Universal in the off season.

We have been the last week of August into Labor Day weekend before and found the crowds very manageable. Southern schools usually start back up by then which causes crowds to drop off.

 

[shawthorne44]

We really don't want to be tied down to dining reservations, because we are trying VERY hard to keep this a spontaneous vacation, and we agreed we are okay with eating whatever, whenever we can get it. I did make us an arrival night reservation at Vivo, so we will have at least one good sit down meal. We are totally happy with chicken tenders and burgers from our resort also, though, and aren't below grabbing some Panda Express at City Walk if there isn't anything else easily available. We are kind of just crossing our fingers that the availability of dining improves in the next 2 months, so that we can make some more on the fly decisions about eating.

I would really really recommend making some in-park lunch reservations. They don't take a credit card and there is no penalty for cancelling. You just need to confirm the reservation that morning.

The lines for everywhere can get really really long. Even for places with crappy food. Lots of people think like you. The lines for everything are obscene. As in you see two people working, and you can't see the end of the line. In-park full-service reservations are an oasis of no-lines and air-conditioning.

I didn't experience it myself, but people reported that they couldn't even do a Mobile Order because of the Spring Break Crowds.

At VB, I liked the Pizza and the Shrimp mac and cheese.

 

[Bethany10]

I would really really recommend making some in-park lunch reservations. They don't take a credit card and there is no penalty for cancelling. You just need to confirm the reservation that morning.

The lines for everywhere can get really really long. Even for places with crappy food. Lots of people think like you. The lines for everything are obscene. As in you see two people working, and you can't see the end of the line. In-park full-service reservations are an oasis of no-lines and air-conditioning.

I really agree with this. We were there at the beginning of June, and EVERYWHERE for food was awful. The lines even for chicken tenders were, at minimum, an hour. With Universal now removing mobile order I don't see how it's going to improve. I know they've been hiring like crazy, but I think it's going to be an uphill climb just from the shear numbers of people showing up every day. We did lunch at fast food boulevard one day and the line did not shrink in the 2 hours it took us to get our food, and that was with mobile ordering. DH and DD had Panda Express on our last day and said it was over an hour in line to get a meal.

I had a couple of reservations I just cancelled once we got down there and it didn't work on the day.

 

[DLgal]

We really don't WANT to do a sit down meal every day. That's not how we vacation and we only have 4 days total so don't want to have to commit to planning around mealtimes. We really are easy. It's just 2 adults who aren't gonna throw a fit if we have to wait an hour in line for fast food. It's really not an issue for us. We plan to eat breakfasts in our room every morning and will most likely be at our resort at lunch time.

I'm waiting on park hours to be released for August and if the parks will be closing early, like 7pm, we we go ahead and make dinner reservations each night for around 7:30 or 8, since at that point there won't be much else to do.

 

[macraven]

Take a look at past park hours to get an idea of closing times

 

[shawthorne44]

We really don't WANT to do a sit down meal every day. That's not how we vacation and we only have 4 days total so don't want to have to commit to planning around mealtimes. We really are easy. It's just 2 adults who aren't gonna throw a fit if we have to wait an hour in line for fast food. It's really not an issue for us. We plan to eat breakfasts in our room every morning and will most likely be at our resort at lunch time.

I'm waiting on park hours to be released for August and if the parks will be closing early, like 7pm, we we go ahead and make dinner reservations each night for around 7:30 or 8, since at that point there won't be much else to do.

Eating at the resorts seems to be much easier/normal.
Where are you staying?

 

[DLgal]

Eating at the resorts seems to be much easier/normal.
Where are you staying?

Cabana Bay. Which means we can also walk across the street to Sapphire and Aventura if we want.

 

[shawthorne44]

Cabana Bay. Which means we can also walk across the street to Sapphire and Aventura if we want.

I was hoping that was it. Particularly since you mentioned VB.

You shouldn't have any problems with lunch then. When we stayed there this April/May, we had a Big Fire dinner reservation. The gas wasn't working and they won't take the FS dining plan for the three biggest steaks (even though I'd verified ahead of time that they would). So between the two things, literally everything we'd planned on ordering wasn't an option. So, we left and went back to CB. We went to the diner and was able to walk right in, and DD even got some steak. Granted not the same quality as a steak place. There had been what appeared to be a line to get into the food area, but it was really just for the grill. We ate there several times and never had a wait, and the food was a reasonable quality for the price.

I heard good things about some particular dishes at Sapphire, but it wasn't open yet when we were there. You can also walk to sapphire and catch the boat.

 

[Cuchman]

Just to answer #5:
We have frequently gone the last week of August into September and the crowds are usually manageable. Not super slow but not scary.
One caveat - things could be different this year - seems like the "world-is-now-open-again" enthusiasm might increase the crowds a bit. But who knows if that will carry all the way until August.
We're going the first week of September - so also hoping for low crowds!