Anyone been to USF/IOA lately?

[jtimmons]

How are the lines, without FOTL?

 

[Laurajean1014]

DH and DS were there a few weeks back. But they bought the FP. They had a limit as to how many times they could ride the ride...... and it cost $100 to get into the place. ($55 tix and $40 FP plus tax).

DH said the lines were very long and w/o FP it would have been a disaster.

US/IOA is a ripoff. (Sorry for the vent).

 

[bubba's mom]

DH and DS were there a few weeks back. But they bought the FP. They had a limit as to how many times they could ride the ride...... and it cost $100 to get into the place. ($55 tix and $40 FP plus tax).

DH said the lines were very long and w/o FP it would have been a disaster.

US/IOA is a ripoff. (Sorry for the vent).

Sorry you feel it is a rip-off, but for the price of the off-site hotel and purchasing FP, it would have been about the same price of staying on-site (at least w/ a AAA discount). When you purchase the FP, it is only ONE time per ride....that's why so many peeps just stay on-site....FP for length of stay! IMHO, UO is cheaper and more fun than Disney.... when we go (& stay onsite), we are able to do EVERYTHING at UO...shows, play areas and all the rides we want...over and over.... all for a cheaper price of "standing in lines" at Disney. My DH hates to stand in line, and I am literally dragging him to Epcot for 2 days next year just because DS hasn't seen Epcot yet....then I promised we can go to UO for a few days.

 

[jtimmons]

Let me rephrase the question, anyone WITHOUT a grudge against UO/IOA been lately? How are the lines?

 

[robvia]

I've been lately, TR is here, and we had a great time.
http://www.nogodforme.com/PBH2006.htm

Major attractions will have a wait of 60-75 minutes during the day.

The thing is, the length of the lines is subjective to when you arrive. Show up first thing in the morning, and you can take a lap of walk on rides. Show up at 11am and the major attractions will have an hour wait. If a rain storm comes thru at 3pm, the park clears out, yet the storm passes in an hour.

Now thru the 1st week of August is the most busy time of the year. And even if you have UEPs, you still want to be there early so you can get front seat rides on the coasters.

The walkways are packed from noon to 4pm, plus it's very hot out. Best to leave during this time and come back after the daily rain shower. The parks stay open until 10pm thru the 1st week of August. Then they cut back an hour each week and the crowds become very light as the kids go back to school.

 

[jokan]

I just got back last night. The lines were crazy during mid-day 60 to 90 minute waits for the major rides. However from 9:00 - 11:00 there was no wait whatsoever.

From 1:00 to 4:00 the FOTL wait was 15 to 20 minutes.

It should to be noted that during July it seems the entire Contry of Brazil shuts down and comes to Orlando. They were there in full force and were very nice, just alot of them.

 

[Amity 3]

the longest wait I've seen lately is 90 minutes for MIB. there are A LOT of 45-60 minute standbys during the day, use the single rider lines when possible. and don't go by the times on the satellite electronic boards around the parks, they've been way off lately.

 

[baileysgm]

Let me rephrase the question, anyone WITHOUT a grudge against UO/IOA been lately? How are the lines?

We also got back last night and I was very pleasantly surprised, however...without the FOTL passes and staying on site, it would have been miserable. We were there four days in the RPR which was just okay IMO, but being in the express line was priceless. Rides and shows were very good in both parks, even those I thought would be outdated like MIB, BTTF and ET. We loved all of those. My granddaughter did think Jaws was a waste of time and I have to agree with her. Breakfast at Critico's was actually pretty good and the characters spent a lot of time at our table ( really wanted Thing 1 and Thing 2 to move on, they were just as annoying as you would expect them to be .

 

[bubba's mom]

and don't go by the times on the satellite electronic boards around the parks, they've been way off lately.

i agree...when we were there, they would display a 5 minute wait for Hulk c'mon...... (they never seemed accurate)

 

[wmackleit]

We just got back..... We felt very sorry for the other people in line that did not have the express pass we would just walk right by everyone that had been in line .....we stayed onsight and everyone in our party agreed that we would not have had such a great time or been able to do as much as we did without the express pass. It was priceless!! As indicated previous the lines are gone at night!!!

 

[JawsCPA]

We were at US/IOA via Hard Rock Hotel the last week of June. This was our first trip and we had a blast. See my trip report "Newbies Trip Report" on the other board.

As to the lines, listen to the people on these boards - they know - go early when parks open. The parks and lines were very manageable until about 2pm. On our "water ride" day at IOA our seatmates on Popeye said they waited over an hour. With FOTL we had maybe a 10-minute wait.

I did see the wait time for Dudley's in the afternoon - it was 90 minutes. Again with FOTL 10-minutes at best.

But earlier in the day, we walked on all the water rides with no wait. The lines to everything gets longer in the afternoon.

Go early and hit the major rides before 1pm.

 

[babieemelly]

We're in Orlando right now. I'm on the laptop in my vacation home. I don't know how everyone else experienced such long lines because we didn't experience any. On Monday, July 24 we left our vacation home at 4:00 and ate at Margaritaville at 5:00. We then headed over to the Universal Studios at 6:00 and within the next three hours we were able to do Shrek 4D, Twister, The Mummy, Earthquake, Men in Black, ET, see the Street Breaks Show and the fireworks at 9:00. The longest line was for Shrek 4D which was fifteen minutes. We walked right onto The Mummy and Men in Black within no more than five minutes. We didn't encounter any lines at all!

At Islands of Adventure the day before, on Sunday, July 23, we were able to do the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley, Poseidon's Fury, Spiderman, meet Popeye and Olive Oil and eat at Mytho's all within three hours. It was great!

 

[jtimmons]

We're in Orlando right now. I'm on the laptop in my vacation home. I don't know how everyone else experienced such long lines because we didn't experience any. On Monday, July 24 we left our vacation home at 4:00 and ate at Margaritaville at 5:00. We then headed over to the Universal Studios at 6:00 and within the next three hours we were able to do Shrek 4D, Twister, The Mummy, Earthquake, Men in Black, ET, see the Street Breaks Show and the fireworks at 9:00. The longest line was for Shrek 4D which was fifteen minutes. We walked right onto The Mummy and Men in Black within no more than five minutes. We didn't encounter any lines at all!

At Islands of Adventure the day before, on Sunday, July 23, we were able to do the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley, Poseidon's Fury, Spiderman, meet Popeye and Olive Oil and eat at Mytho's all within three hours. It was great!

Was that with or without the FOTL?

 

[babieemelly]

Was that with or without the FOTL?

Without Front of the Line. The passes are $40 per person now and there's no way we would pay that. I'm glad we didn't because we wouldn't have needed it!

 

[lovethemagic]

I was there in late June and did not experience super-long lines, even without FOTL (which I did not have, nor the express passes). I think it's all about having a plan and getting there early. Arriving at Universal Studios one day at park opening time and at IOA at opening another, I was able to make a quick lap of each park and hit all the major rides with minimal waits. I found you could ride just about anything without a long wait until about 11:00. I then used the mid-day period for less popular attractions and shows. Maybe consider leaving the parks for the mid to late afternoon period when crowds and heat are the worst. Found that lines thinned out a bit again shortly before closing which is another chance to hit any of the big rides (for the first or second time) that you didn't want to wait for mid-day.