Busy President's Day weekend without Express!

[U2_rocks!]

We were at IOA on Saturday Feb 18th and it was very difficult to do anything without Express and/or early entry! The trouble with IOA is Forbidden Journey - first of all, the resort guests get in before the regular folks, so no matter how early you get there you are behind the crowds. Then, it takes a long time to do Forbidden Journey because the wait times are over 30 minutes at regular park opening (because of resort early entry crowds). We weren't finished with FJ until almost 10, at which time the crowds were heavy everywhere. Unfortunately we were not able to do evening at IOA - we had another event in Kissimmee we had to be at by 6 p.m. Our shortest wait was 30 minutes, but most rides (at least the popular ones) were 60 - 75 minutes by 11.30, and by 2 p.m. we were fed up. We then lost part of our crew and had to beg for help from Universal team members (dead cell phone - couldn't contact them ourselves). It was nuts! We even resorted to doing the Barges and getting soaked because it was one of the only rides with a short wait time! My shorts were wet for hours, even after springing $5 for the people dryer.

We did Universal on President's Day, and it was a bit better. There was no early entry, and when we got there around 8.30 the turnstiles weren't even open yet. The minute we arrived I started looking for turnstiles without lines, and I saw one that had team members walking towards it, so I left the others in a regular line and went up and asked them if they were going to be opening that one too and they said yes! So we jumped in and were first in line for that one! Being at the front of the crowd made all the difference. By 9.45 we had ridden RRR and Mummy twice and were headed for Simpsons. From there we started to encounter 30 minute lines, but we didn't mind so much because we only had a few other things planned for the day. We left around 2 p.m. having only managed to do RRR, Mummy, Simpsons, Men in Black, Disaster and Shrek. Luckily that was all we really felt the need to do - well, we would have done Terminator if we'd been in the mood, but we were ready to leave.

Last time we did the Universal parks was in october 2010, and we stayed onsite. That experience was so different. I am not in a hurry to go back to Universal at a high crwod time without Express! This trip was a budget trip, which was why we didn't buy Express either.

 

[123Dis4Me]

Thanks for your post! I am planning on being there next President's weekend and I am going to try to get the Express Passes - hopefully it will work out!

 

[macraven]

i stay away from ALL parks during holiday times. (exception is hhn)


crowds impact on my sanity.

 

[ibob52]

thank you for the TR - I would be happy to get that number of rides - I really should try getting to the parks earlier in the future.

 

[cjsteiger]

We were there that same day and I know what you mean. We went directly to FJ and waited the 1/2 hour, coming out and seeing that it was now 60 minutes, yikes. We rode DC with a 15 min wait but when we came out to ride the second one it was 40 min so we didn't do the other one. We decided to go to other parts of the park and come back later to look around Hogsmede and it was no better. We had to wait to get in the stores and even then I just wanted to get out because it was so crowded. We waited like 20 min to buy butter beer. I was really upset because I really loved the Harry Potter books and just introduced my son to them and I wanted to enjoy it and soak it all in but I just couldn't wait to get out of there.
I know that it is a busy time of year but... this was just bizzare.