If you are at the USF gate early, you can watch the first Shrek show, ride the Mummy a few times, then high tail it over to IOA and take a lap with short waits.
US has early entry for hotel guests? Is there a schedule? (i.e. IOA opens early on MWF, US on the other days???) How early is this opening for hotel quests?? Is opening 9am for the gen'l public?? Sorry, I've never been, taking our 1st trip this Dec...and trying to learn as much as I can about the ways of Universal.
US has early entry for hotel guests? Is there a schedule? (i.e. IOA opens early on MWF, US on the other days???) How early is this opening for hotel quests?? Is opening 9am for the gen'l public?? Sorry, I've never been, taking our 1st trip this Dec...and trying to learn as much as I can about the ways of Universal.
The parks don't have early entry for hotel guests in general. There are certain packages people book that include days for early entry for a specific attraction. It is not for everyone, just those who have it included in their package.
I have witnessed early entry on several occasions. The particpants receive a letter gained from purchasing special hotel/park packages. They bring the letter and are directed to the rightmost turnstile. It ranges from 15 minutes to a half hour prior to general admission. A couple of my turnstile attendant buddies let us in with the others on one occasion. Some packages are for Shrek, others for Mummy and I've seen them for the Hulk as well. Our entry was for Shrek. There were crew members stopping guests from going on to the Mummy. There was only about 20 people in the pre-show room and the Henchman kept stalling to see if others would show up. He finally started the show and when we went into the auditorium it was kind of neat to be in the theater with only 20 people but the early entry gained us a mere 15 minutes which would hardly be worth the extra cost of the package.
Right now it is just for Shrek. Other times it has been for Mummy. If you go for Shrek, you will still have time to hit Mummy before the park gets crowded.
I hate it when they wait for the theater to completely fill up for the first Shrek show. I'll be first to the gate, run to Shrek, go in, and then stand around for 10 minutes while a few stragglers make their way into the preshow room. They need to give the people who show up early a reward for being there first.
Let the main group of people in, and start the preshow right away. The stragglers can wait 10 minutes.
Doesn't matter, because now I go straight to the Mummy for a few rides.