August park hours / early entry / lockers / touring plan

Anal Annie

at least I KNOW I'm a kook...I just can't help it
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OK, so we're planning a 2 day / 1 night adventure from WDW to U / IoA in the middle of our August vaca. I sort of figured we'd just take a taxi and bring a duffle or backpack with what we need for the night (booked at HRH). Since we'll be returning to WDW by taxi again at the end of our 2nd day I was wondering if our best option is to bring our day bag to the parks & put it in a locker (there ARE lockers, right?) or should we leave it with bell services and then go back to the hotel to retrieve it & pick up a taxi? Also, I looked at the park hours and the week we're there the park hours go from opening at 8:00 am the previous week to 9:00 am the week we're there (both close at 10:00). Does this mean that the early entry for resort guests will be at 8:00 am? The early opening will just be for IoA, right? I was thinking we should try to grab a taxi & leave WDW around 7:00 am so we could get to the HRH by about 7:30ish to check in and get our tix for the day...that means we can get the early entry into IoA at 8:00, right? Does the timing sound about right? (We will be staying at the Boardwalk Villas if where we're staying makes any time difference.)

Would you try to do both early mornings at IoA (WWoHP) and then park hop to the Studios later or would you just do the Studios one day & IoA the other day? What's the most efficient use of our time? We always park hop at Disney but then we know what we want to do there. If we do the Studios on our first day is there enough time to finish everything and still have time for an R & R / pool break in the afternoon and then go back in the evening? I would kind of like to have time to enjoy this $225 room a little bit. :rotfl:

Do people do touring plans for U / IoA like they do for the Disney parks? Disney we know inside & out but we don't know what we're doing here...do I need to make a plan of some sort or just wing it? Which rides are known to have THE worst waits (or will it not matter so much with the onsite express pass thing)?
 
Early park admission to IOA is one hour earlier than the posted opening time. So if the park opens at 9, early admission is at 8. They generally start letter people in at 7:45. You want to be checking into your hotel around 7 am, to allow sufficient time to get to IOA. It is the only park with early admission.

I would bring along a bag and leave it will bell services if your room is not ready.

Personally, I don't feel a touring plan is necessary, other than to do Ollivander's first. I never use one at Universal or Disney. As long as you arrive early, you should be able to easily get everything done in your two days since you are staying onsite.
 
1. Since we'll be returning to WDW by taxi again at the end of our 2nd day I was wondering if our best option is to bring our day bag to the parks & put it in a locker (there ARE lockers, right?) or should we leave it with bell services and then go back to the hotel to retrieve it & pick up a taxi?

2. Also, I looked at the park hours and the week we're there the park hours go from opening at 8:00 am the previous week to 9:00 am the week we're there (both close at 10:00). Does this mean that the early entry for resort guests will be at 8:00 am?

3. The early opening will just be for IoA, right?

4. I was thinking we should try to grab a taxi & leave WDW around 7:00 am so we could get to the HRH by about 7:30ish to check in and get our tix for the day...that means we can get the early entry into IoA at 8:00, right? Does the timing sound about right? (We will be staying at the Boardwalk Villas if where we're staying makes any time difference.)

5. Would you try to do both early mornings at IoA (WWoHP) and then park hop to the Studios later or would you just do the Studios one day & IoA the other day? What's the most efficient use of our time? We always park hop at Disney but then we know what we want to do there.

6. If we do the Studios on our first day is there enough time to finish everything and still have time for an R & R / pool break in the afternoon and then go back in the evening? I would kind of like to have time to enjoy this $225 room a little bit. :rotfl:

7. Do people do touring plans for U / IoA like they do for the Disney parks?

8. Disney we know inside & out but we don't know what we're doing here...do I need to make a plan of some sort or just wing it?

9. Which rides are known to have THE worst waits (or will it not matter so much with the onsite express pass thing)?

1. There are pay lockers at the front of both parks, but in your situation I would probably just go back to HRH to pick up my bags at the end of the day.
2. If the published park open time is 9:00a, then early entry starts at 8:00a. That said, you may even be able to get in 10 to 15 minutes earlier than that.
3. Yes, and just for WWoHP. Right now Spiderman at IoA is also open during EE, but we don't know how long that will last.
4. I'd probably leave my WDW resort closer to 6:30a to be safe. I'm not a fan of travelling I-4 during rush hour, and with the traffic into town.
5. Up to you. The two parks' entrances are a 5-minute walk apart, so park-hopping is not the time suck that it is at WDW.
6. Yeah...maybe. That sounds like a long day to me. See #8 below.
7. Not really, and not really necessary.
8. Wing it. With two days of Express privileges, you'll be sitting pretty.
9. Universal Express pretty much cancels out most waits. There are four attractions that don't honor it though: Forbidden Journey, Ollivander's, and Pteranadon Flyers at IoA, and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at the Studios.

Have fun!
 
Early park admission to IOA is one hour earlier than the posted opening time. So if the park opens at 9, early admission is at 8. They generally start letter people in at 7:45. You want to be checking into your hotel around 7 am, to allow sufficient time to get to IOA. It is the only park with early admission.

I would bring along a bag and leave it will bell services if your room is not ready.

Personally, I don't feel a touring plan is necessary, other than to do Ollivander's first. I never use one at Universal or Disney. As long as you arrive early, you should be able to easily get everything done in your two days since you are staying onsite.

1. There are pay lockers at the front of both parks, but in your situation I would probably just go back to HRH to pick up my bags at the end of the day.
2. If the published park open time is 9:00a, then early entry starts at 8:00a. That said, you may even be able to get in 10 to 15 minutes earlier than that.
3. Yes, and just for WWoHP. Right now Spiderman at IoA is also open during EE, but we don't know how long that will last.
4. I'd probably leave my WDW resort closer to 6:30a to be safe. I'm not a fan of travelling I-4 during rush hour, and with the traffic into town.
5. Up to you. The two parks' entrances are a 5-minute walk apart, so park-hopping is not the time suck that it is at WDW.
6. Yeah...maybe. That sounds like a long day to me. See #8 below.
7. Not really, and not really necessary.
8. Wing it. With two days of Express privileges, you'll be sitting pretty.
9. Universal Express pretty much cancels out most waits. There are four attractions that don't honor it though: Forbidden Journey, Ollivander's, and Pteranadon Flyers at IoA, and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at the Studios.

Have fun!

Thanks guys...why Ollivander's first? I thought FJ was the big draw? Have I read before somewhere that FJ takes like an hour (so ie potty first)?!:rotfl: So the way to do it is Ollivander's first THEN FJ then what? This Pterandon Flyer thing?

If we're doing this hop over to HRH so early in the morning where would you suggest we try to grab some breakfast? Is there some sort of CS option at the HRH or would you wait until you get to the parks or would you bring a box of doughnuts with you in the taxi??:rolleyes1 We usually eat breakfasts in our DVC villa but in this case it might be a bit too early for me to get my act together for anything other than a cup of coffee...

The entrances to the 2 parks at Disneyland Paris are also right next to each other and BOY was that nice to just be able to walk on over. I do hate how much time park hopping can eat at Disney...
 

Thanks guys...why Ollivander's first? I thought FJ was the big draw? Have I read before somewhere that FJ takes like an hour (so ie potty first)?!:rotfl: So the way to do it is Ollivander's first THEN FJ then what? This Pterandon Flyer thing?

FJ is certainly the big draw, but has much more capacity than Ollivander's. Add to that an interesting queue at FJ. Ollivander's first at the beginning of EE for sure.

PF is in Jurassic Park and is a very slow loader, so the earlier the better there too. Be aware that this has a maximum height restriction for one of the riders. While still fun, it is designed for kids. If you don't have a kid smaller than the height requirement, you will not ride.
 
FJ is certainly the big draw, but has much more capacity than Ollivander's. Add to that an interesting queue at FJ. Ollivander's first at the beginning of EE for sure.

PF is in Jurassic Park and is a very slow loader, so the earlier the better there too. Be aware that this has a maximum height restriction for one of the riders. While still fun, it is designed for kids. If you don't have a kid smaller than the height requirement, you will not ride.

OK...Ollivander's first THEN FJ. Gotcha. Our "kid" will be 15 in May and is already like 5'7" so sounds like PF is one we'll be skipping. Thanks again!:goodvibes
 
FJ won't take you an hour first thing in the morning. Probably won't even take you 20 minutes. Unless you want to ride over and over and over---like we have!!!

If you are prone to motion sickness, I suggest some less drowsy dramamine taken a while before....just saying.
 
Early park admission to IOA is one hour earlier than the posted opening time. So if the park opens at 9, early admission is at 8. They generally start letter people in at 7:45. You want to be checking into your hotel around 7 am, to allow sufficient time to get to IOA. It is the only park with early admission.

I would bring along a bag and leave it will bell services if your room is not ready.

Personally, I don't feel a touring plan is necessary, other than to do Ollivander's first. I never use one at Universal or Disney. As long as you arrive early, you should be able to easily get everything done in your two days since you are staying onsite.

Exactly what I would recommend.:thumbsup2:thumbsup2:thumbsup2
 


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