Anyone else going to be at IOA for the Minecon private event??

[pjlla]

First disclaimer.... I am a tried-and-true Disney girl. I've been many, many times and never even CONSIDERED visiting Universal Studios. Other than WWOHP, the family has never even talked about it.

But DS and I will be in Orlando early November for MINECON (Minecraft Convention) and we have just discovered that there is a FREE (for Minecon ticket holders) private event at IOA. I've never passed up FREE and so it looks like, instead of an evening at DTD, I'll be at IOA that night!

Just wondering who else might be there and what more experienced folks can tell me about IOA. I do understand that for private events it won't be the entire park open, but just select rides.

Any words of advise for an IOA "virgin"? ...................P

 

[Bluer101]

I will be there that weekend with family. A few are attending minecon and the rest are doing the parks. We are staying at RPR and they are driving to the event. I don't know if they are aware of the private event at IOA that night.

 

[truck1]

Won't be doing IOA but I'll be working the convention center as medical standby.

 

[gayles]

What is this and When "

 

[pjlla]

I will be there that weekend with family. A few are attending minecon and the rest are doing the parks. We are staying at RPR and they are driving to the event. I don't know if they are aware of the private event at IOA that night.

It wasn't advertised with the Minecon tickets. In fact, we bought our tickets the day they went on sale back in late August or early Sept., but only found out about the IOA thing this past weekend.... and it took two newsletters before we found out that it was a "FREE" event that came as part of our Minecon tix. Tell them to check their email!

Won't be doing IOA but I'll be working the convention center as medical standby.

Hope we don't need to visit you!

What is this and When "

Minecon is Saturday/Sunday November 2/3 at the Orange County Convention Center. When we bought our (very expensive) Minecon tickets we knew NOTHING about the IOA event, so we are really excited to find out that we got this "bonus" event! That being said, it has definitely eaten into my plan to get just a "taste" of Disney while we were in FL. I had originally planned that DS and I would have dinner at DTD and maybe ride the monorail loop. There is NO WAY I was going to dish out the cash for an evening visit to a park, but I figured I'd soak in the MAGIC any way I could for free. But I certainly don't want to pass up this event at IOA, so my Disney plans have been scrapped. .............................P

 

[Threeboysandachickie]

Why didn't my children mention this? GEESH, they begged to go to Paris last year...Orlando I could have handled!! Too bad tickets are sold out.

 

[pjlla]

Why didn't my children mention this? GEESH, they begged to go to Paris last year...Orlando I could have handled!! Too bad tickets are sold out.

My DS also begged to go to Paris last year... but obviously I am not that great of a Mom! When it came up again this year I was ready to say NO again, but I told DS to ask his Dad and that I would go along if the answer was YES.... and to my total surprise, it was YES! DS was online the day the Minecon tix went on sale and we had no problem getting them day #1 (I guess they sell them in two sections over two days to allow more folks an opportunity).

I was kind of excited for the possibility of a quick bit of Disney Magic while we were down there..... I figured dinner at DTD and maybe a monorail ride... or possibly even a character meal like Chef Mickey's! But alas, it is not to be. We don't arrive until late Friday night and are heading out again Sunday night. We didn't want DS to miss any school. Of course, since we bought the airline tix we have learned that he doesn't have school that Monday, but I haven't been able to get the tix changed without paying a lot more $$ for the new flight, so I haven't done it.

That being said, I'm kind of excited about the IOA thing, since it is an unexpected bonus. But I don't want to get my hopes (or DS's hopes) up that the WWOHP will be open during this event. That is the ONLY part of IOA that anyone in my household has ever expressed any interest in seeing.

BTW, my DS is Luke also ............P

 

[Threeboysandachickie]

Usually from what I've read of private events, superhero island and Harry potter world are open. I hope it is for you! My kids love universal! We go at least once a year. It really is too bad we missed out on minecon. I really could have made it work into vacation plans.

How old is your Luke?

 

[Krista in MA]

That's the weekend my sister and I will be visiting as well. I think your enjoyment might have a lot to do with 1. how old your son is, if he is able to get on the rides (height), and if he (and you of course), like any of the "lands" (WWoHP, superheroes, Jurassic, and Seuss (is that all?)), and more importantly 2. Don't go into it comparing everything to Disney. It's not disney! IMO - Disney tries to immerse (and trap! haha) you in all things Disney while UO tries to show you a good time that centers around fantastic rides centered around theming. When I visit FL, we try to do a few days of each. There are some things that I like better with each park. One for example is 3D stuff. I thought I loved the 3D shows at Disney until I went on the spiderman ride at IoA. I think they took what Disney had (3D clip / movie) and made it so much more fun by having you ride through the clip / movie!

(as a side note - how do these private events work? are there tour guides that take participants around to the open areas, or do regular folks have to show regular tix to get through to unopened event areas?!)

 

[pjlla]

Usually from what I've read of private events, superhero island and Harry potter world are open. I hope it is for you! My kids love universal! We go at least once a year. It really is too bad we missed out on minecon. I really could have made it work into vacation plans.

How old is your Luke?

We are super excited at the possibility that WWOHP might be available to us! That would definitely take this weekend over the top! My Luke (actually Lucas but he now prefers Luke) will be 16 this winter.

That's the weekend my sister and I will be visiting as well. I think your enjoyment might have a lot to do with 1. how old your son is, if he is able to get on the rides (height), and if he (and you of course), like any of the "lands" (WWoHP, superheroes, Jurassic, and Seuss (is that all?)), and more importantly 2. Don't go into it comparing everything to Disney. It's not disney! IMO - Disney tries to immerse (and trap! haha) you in all things Disney while UO tries to show you a good time that centers around fantastic rides centered around theming. When I visit FL, we try to do a few days of each. There are some things that I like better with each park. One for example is 3D stuff. I thought I loved the 3D shows at Disney until I went on the spiderman ride at IoA. I think they took what Disney had (3D clip / movie) and made it so much more fun by having you ride through the clip / movie!

(as a side note - how do these private events work? are there tour guides that take participants around to the open areas, or do regular folks have to show regular tix to get through to unopened event areas?!)

I have no doubt we will enjoy IOA.... I've always been mildly interested in visiting, but we are such "dyed-in-the-wool" Disney fans, we haven't been able to pull ourselves away.

I have absolutely NO IDEA how this private event is going to work.... still awaiting another email with that information.

My DS is 16, so no worries about ride heights and such, but thanks for thinking of it.

BTW, where in MA are you? I grew up in Sturbridge, went to college in Framingham, met DH in Lowell and have family in Sturbridge,Brimfield, Attleboro, Mansfield, Dracut, and Sandwich!!
*************

Well.... I was FINALLY able to change our flights so that we go out on Monday afternoon instead of Sunday evening.... plus it got us a NONSTOP! That means..... (drumroll please.......) we get our DISNEY MAGIC on Sunday night! No, not a park visit, but a visit to DTD and hopefully a monorail ride (or two). It will definitely be PAINFUL to be "so close but yet so far" but I don't have the available $$ for park tix.... especially tix that would only be for a few evening hours. So Minecon all day Saturday and all day Sunday, IOA private event Saturday night, and a bit of Disney magic on Sunday night! I might actually ENJOY this trip!! THanks for your suggestions and information!.......P

 

[truck1]

Hope we don't need to visit you!

Hope not. Im working the 3rd. They havent told us which bldg or med room yet. Were usually in Med 3 if its the west bldg, or Med 6 for the north bldg.

 

[Krista in MA]

BTW, where in MA are you? I grew up in Sturbridge, went to college in Framingham, met DH in Lowell and have family in Sturbridge,Brimfield, Attleboro, Mansfield, Dracut, and Sandwich!!
*************

Well.... I was FINALLY able to change our flights so that we go out on Monday afternoon instead of Sunday evening.... plus it got us a NONSTOP! That means..... (drumroll please.......) we get our DISNEY MAGIC on Sunday night! No, not a park visit, but a visit to DTD and hopefully a monorail ride (or two). It will definitely be PAINFUL to be "so close but yet so far" but I don't have the available $$ for park tix.... especially tix that would only be for a few evening hours. So Minecon all day Saturday and all day Sunday, IOA private event Saturday night, and a bit of Disney magic on Sunday night! I might actually ENJOY this trip!! THanks for your suggestions and information!.......P

Assuming they let you in the superhero area + WWoHP areas (there's also a comic type area where they have at least two rides that I know you get very wet on, but they're so much fun IMO) if you and your son enjoy 3d (spiderman), loopy fast coasters (the hulk & the coasters in WWoHP), then I'm sure you'll enjoy those rides (+ more) and just walking around and looking at stuff

Now that you're going to "Disneyfy" your Sun. evening - don't forget to see if maybe you can make a reservation and squeeze in a character dinner (or maybe even Mon. breakfast?) at one of the monorail resorts if that's of interest!

Let's see.... I'm originally from Quincy, went to college in Boston, and am still in Quincy Other family we have is along the coast down Plymouth way. I guess we're "ocean folk" :-D

 

[Lisa0620]

I just wanted to say I'm so jealous! I was so excited when they announced it would be in Orlando. We tried to get tickets all three times they went on sale and couldn't get through. We were hoping to do a Minecon/WWoHP trip too, luckily our boys were super good sports about it falling through (better than I was!) Enjoy!

 

[baloo's girl]

We'll be there for Minecon too. And we've never done Island of Adventures-we're Disney fans. My son doesn't want to do roller coasters but my daughter does. My husband and I are pooh sized people, so I don't know how much he or I will be able to enjoy the rides. We know 3 other families who are planning to attend as well.

 

[pjlla]

Assuming they let you in the superhero area + WWoHP areas (there's also a comic type area where they have at least two rides that I know you get very wet on, but they're so much fun IMO) if you and your son enjoy 3d (spiderman), loopy fast coasters (the hulk & the coasters in WWoHP), then I'm sure you'll enjoy those rides (+ more) and just walking around and looking at stuff

Now that you're going to "Disneyfy" your Sun. evening - don't forget to see if maybe you can make a reservation and squeeze in a character dinner (or maybe even Mon. breakfast?) at one of the monorail resorts if that's of interest!

Let's see.... I'm originally from Quincy, went to college in Boston, and am still in Quincy Other family we have is along the coast down Plymouth way. I guess we're "ocean folk" :-D

Well, since I had to buy Reward points in order to change our flights AND use a bunch more of our hotel points for the additional night, there isn't much $$ left in the coffers for a character dinner. But we have to eat SOMEWHERE so a sandwich at Earl of Sandwich or something from the new food trucks at DTD is definitely on the schedule!

I just wanted to say I'm so jealous! I was so excited when they announced it would be in Orlando. We tried to get tickets all three times they went on sale and couldn't get through. We were hoping to do a Minecon/WWoHP trip too, luckily our boys were super good sports about it falling through (better than I was!) Enjoy!

I didn't realize how very hard it was to get these tickets. DS was in charge of that and got them on the first day, first try. But I was checking out the Minecon FB page and there are a LOT of very angry people who couldn't get tickets. It is really too bad that I (and other parents) have to take up tickets when we really aren't that interested in the event. My DS is nearly 16 and it actually kind of silly for me to be tagging along, but this is supposed to be Mother/Son weekend and I want to show an interest in his hobbies, so I'll be there!

We'll be there for Minecon too. And we've never done Island of Adventures-we're Disney fans. My son doesn't want to do roller coasters but my daughter does. My husband and I are pooh sized people, so I don't know how much he or I will be able to enjoy the rides. We know 3 other families who are planning to attend as well.

If your daughter is too young to ride the coasters alone, feel free to PM me and perhaps we could meet up for a bit so she would have someone to ride with. I don't love coasters, but I will ride them.

*************

Having a hard time getting excited for this event. Anyone hear any more about the IOA party?? I keep looking for an email to come, but haven't seen anything recently...............P

 

[MMitchell29]

Ok guys my plan is to drive down to Orlando for 3 days for a quick Universal fix spending that Sunday and Monday Nov. 3rd and 4th in the parks because I figured it would be a slow time being right after Halloween. Now after reading about Minecon (honestly not too sure what it's all about) should I rethink my plans? I just wasn't looking to go when it's crazy crazy busy

 

[pjlla]

Ok guys my plan is to drive down to Orlando for 3 days for a quick Universal fix spending that Sunday and Monday Nov. 3rd and 4th in the parks because I figured it would be a slow time being right after Halloween. Now after reading about Minecon (honestly not too sure what it's all about) should I rethink my plans? I just wasn't looking to go when it's crazy crazy busy

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Not sure exactly what to tell you about how Minecon might effect the crowds at IOA. They sold about 7,000 tickets to Minecon. My guess would be that most of those folks would be spending all day Sat and all day Sun at the convention.... but no guesses about Monday. Plus I couldn't begin to guess how many folks might send a child and parent to Minecon while other family members visit the parks over the weekend.

Honestly, my best guess would be that this wouldn't effect the parks significantly over the weekend, but I wouldn't really hazard a guess about the Friday and Monday bracketing the weekend.

********

Well, I finally got another email from the convention organizers about times and transportation to/from IOA for the private event, but still no information about what part(s) of the park might be open for the event. So I guess we will just go and keep our fingers crossed the WWOHP is open for us... .and even if it is not, we will enjoy whatever we get to see!....................P

 

[pjlla]

Anyone else out there getting excited for this weekend? Still no specific word about what PART of IOA will be open for this private event, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

I'd love to meet up with any fellow DIS'ers that might be attending!.......P