arrive early tip

[dennis in neworleans]

I just returned from a week at disney and universal and cannot thank you guys enough about the tip to be at the garage at universal at 8am and at the gates at opening. Even though it was Presidents day week we did this three times at universal and felt like we had the park to ourselves for 3 hours each time. We walked right onto everything. Thanks again for the great advice.

 

[robvia]

Welcome aboard. Glad it worked. I keep repeating the same thing over and over, it's the only way to get the point across.

What's funny is that the arrive early thing can be done any day of the year at Universal and it works. Why? Because the rides don't have a long pre-show. People can come on the most busy summer day in July, take a lap of walk on rides, then go back to the hotel at noon. Most have this idea they need to spend an entire day in the park. There's a lot that can be done in a few hours.

It kinda works at Disney for a couple rides, but each has a pre-show. For example, at MGM you can get a fast pass for Rock N Roll Roller coaster, ride it, go on ToT, then use the fast pass for RnR. The lines get longer and it's time to move on. The pre-shows take up valuable time.

 

[kirbsam]

totally agree with this. our family has never been able to stay at a park for more than 4 or so hours at a time. at universal, if you get there early, you can do walk on rides all morning long.

 

[macraven]

even in the slow times, be at the gate to enter by 8:30.
i can't even begin to tell you how many times i have been able to enter the parks before 9.

UO is good about letting guests in if the line starts to build.


it is great to take pics of the buildings and streets, attractions with no one or very few others around.

it's like you are the only ones there in the park.

 

[maslex]

OOHH, maybe this helps me out a bit. See, we have a 1day-2park pass in the middle of July (Friday the 13th to be exact)

We've been to UO about 6yrs ago but never been to IOA. So my plans were to go to IOA from about 9am to about 2-3pm (we'd break for a late lunch/early dinner at HRC) Then after dinner head on over to UO (we have tickets to see Blue Man Group at 6pm) after the show, we could walk around UO and do whatever we could then.

So basically, you're saying if we're at the gates before opening (which we usually are at Disney...so no problem here) we should be able to do what we came to do (Spiderman, MAYBE Hulk, Ripshaw Falls, Popeye's Barge, Jurassic Park River Adventure, MAYBE Dueling Dragons, Posiedon's Fury, and then walk around Dr. Suess Land to take some pictures (I have bigger kids who probably wouldn't want to go in there) We could get all that done between 9am-3pm? If so, that'd be great!!!!

Now what about UO? By the time our BMG Show gets out, I'm assuming it'll be between 7:30-8:00 (show starts at 6 and is an hour and a half long). If the park closes at 10pm. How much can we expect to see in just a couple of hours at nighttime?

Sorry for all the questions!!!

 

[macraven]

seussland..........too old for it?????



i am not a kid.......i'm older than the hills and i love that place.
do try the cat in the hat ride, the trolley ride and fish.......

so kewl ............the ambience of that land is well worth the time there.


be at the gates before 9.
be there around 8:15ish.......you will be let in early if the line is long.

i would start at the hulk and do doom (it's just my thing even though many here don't care for it...) then hit spiderman.

from there, go to the back of the park and hit the other rides you listed.
most of the people will be still hanging out in the front of the park.
you will have the back of the park and the rides without any crowds.

do hit seuss land before you go over to the studios side.

use the back way behind the hard rock cafe to cut over to the studios.
no crowds there.

enjoy the studios before your bmg show. if you have assigned seats, you won't have to stand in line a long time for entrance to bmg.

when the show is over, return to the studios.

get the guide map when you enter so you can see the locations of the rides and attractions. if there are shows you want to see, work around your schedule for them. i always recommend people to see the horror gory make up show ......

enjoy your trip !