Give me some wait time encouragement

[Calee]

We have been to Universal twice in the past year-we got AP's last March, and then also went in July. Both times we stayed at EP hotels. This is our only Universal experience.

We have just a couple weeks until our AP's expire so we have decided last minute to go next week. We will be there Wednesday and Thursday-could also go in on Friday for a bit. This time there is no AP rate availability at an EP hotel so we are staying at Cabana Bay.

1. Anyone love Cabana Bay recently? I have one kiddo that doesn't really like rides so I'm thinking he and I will have some pool/resort time.
2. Any ideas on the lack of EP on a Wed and Thurs in late May? My kids (12 and 10) and my husband lol are spoiled by only having had been with EP. They won't do the largest coasters, but Harry Potter is a priority.

Talk me off the ledge-will we hate hate hate not having EP's next week?

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Getting one last trip on APs will be worth it, no matter what the wait times IMO. The crowds do seem to thin later in the evening so plan to be there very early, head back to CB for swim time and then back to the parks until closing. I'm sure you'll have an amazing time.

 

[Kit Jackson]

If it helps, for Forbidden Journey, if they have only done EP, you can spin the line as the Castle tour. "You get to see more of Hogwarts castle, and you still get to do the ride." This may or may not work depending on who your kids are.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Use early morning park hours for any of the rides in wizarding world of Harry Potter. Most others rides will have decent wait times (less than 30 minutes)

 

[ajsamett]

Because you've ridden everything before, I'd just use single rider whenever possible ( though I've heard that vel and hagrids isn't much of a saver). For Forbidden Journey, Gringotts, MIB and Hulk, I've even had it faster than EP lines (I'm a premier passholder so I do both on my trips). Go early, break and stay late. The lines aren't too bad right now, especially during the week too. I'll also recommend spending this time riding the less exciting ones that you always skipped for the bigger ones!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you've always done EP, you will be surprised how themed the queues are. That, plus the constant moving along, makes the lines not feel too bad.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

With Hagrid's and VeliciCoaster open it takes the heat off the other HP rides and most especially in the morning.

Be aware that Hagrid's can go down at times (so can VeliciCoaster but Hagrid's more IME). We were just there and 2 out of the 3 mornings Hagrid's was down during Early Entry (one morning they had everyone leave the queue and closed it off) but we did ride it twice eventually, actually the morning that they had closed the queue completely by the time my husband had gotten done with VeliciCoaster the line was back open at Hagrid's which was about an hour later but it could also be an extended downtime. Just keep an eye out on the app.

Single rider was not open for VeliciCoaster on a Thursday or Friday, it was open on a Saturday for a while but had shut it back off towards the end of the evening. My husband def. got in faster with single rider at VeliciCoaster when it was open but he just did it the one time and it was technically just when the park had officially opened. He rode it on May 7th with a posted wait time of 45mins during Early Entry with single rider not being open in probably about 35mins, when he came out single rider was open so he rode it again and was back in line and completely done with the ride and back to me in 13 mins. I didn't check if the posted wait time had increased but I know it hadn't decreased. On the other hand on May 6th he was on VeliciCoaster just before 8am, wait time posted 15mins, went on it twice due to it being a walk on. So I'd say I'd do single rider if it was open if you notice the wait posted is long but your morning may be a better bet in general IF anyone in your party is willing to brave the coaster My husband loved it, it's his fav ride overtaking Hulk but it's a no for me on it. I did do Hagrid's and it was a one and done for me but I did like that I could try it out once. Second time my husband rode it I just went with him in line and then right when they get to the loading spot I was placed on the side with the child swap area.

Our day without EP was a Thursday on May 5th and we didn't feel it was that bad but keep in mind my husband rode by himself a decent amount or he used single rider because I didn't ride most of the rides but his waits and the waits we did we didn't feel bad at all. It was a lot worse over at WDW for us in that respects.

If the one advice I can give is to utilize Early Entry. It's an hour long but even if you don't get there right when it starts you're going to be able to at least walk into the areas open and queue up if you want to or just be in there. I know for one morning in particular they let non-Early Entry guests in but held them back at Seuss Landing in a separate line. FJ and Gringotts consistently had very low waits (5-25/30mins) during Early Entry/right around park opening. If it were me I would have one morning focused on trying to get to Hagrid's IF your party is planning on doing it, then if successful do another morning focused on FJ and Gringotts.

If you look at High in the Sky's wait time just know that they only have 1 side running due to construction on the carousel.

For Early Entry when we went ONLY IOA was open. Both parks are open for Early Entry May Friday 27th- Tuesday the 31st (covers Memorial Day makes sense). But if you're going Thursday May 26th or earlier only IOA is open during Early Entry. https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/early-park-admission

 

[keishashadow]

This time there is no AP rate availability at an EP hotel so we are staying at Cabana Bay.

Keep an eye out for the last minute cancellations before the penalty kicks in, you may be able to work something out.

going on a weds & thurs will assuredly be less crowded than any weekend, including upcoming Memorial Day. Not Poo-poo‘ing it, just that we’ve been to U that time period and the crowds didn’t compare to crazy busy weekends surrounding 4th of July.

 

[JoyW]

We stayed at Cabana Bay in January and absolutely loved it. My youngest, 10, said that he loved the resorts even more than the parks. CBBR has great theming and pools. We are going again soon, and are staying there again.
Our last trip (granted, it was definitely a lower crowd time) we did 2 days with no express passes and then 2 days with. We had equal amounts of fun all four days, though we did ride more during the last 2 days. I also recommend utilizing early park entry and riding things that tend to have longer waits earlier on. For example, we rode Escape from Gringotts in the middle of the day with express passes and waited about half an hour. If we had ridden it right after early entry was over, it would have been that or maybe even less in stand by. We will be doing that on our upcoming trip also hoping to beat the heat by starting early then getting out during the hottest part of the day.

 

[theFoof]

1. Anyone love Cabana Bay recently? I have one kiddo that doesn't really like rides so I'm thinking he and I will have some pool/resort time.
2. Any ideas on the lack of EP on a Wed and Thurs in late May? My kids (12 and 10) and my husband lol are spoiled by only having had been with EP. They won't do the largest coasters, but Harry Potter is a priority.

1. Cabana Bay is an awesome resort, I stayed there last year so not super recent but I wouldn't think it has changed all that much.

2. You should be ok on wait times, expect them to kick up on Thursday/Friday though due to the holiday. Keep in mind Universal, like Disney, tends to exaggerate wait times.

I regularly go to the parks by myself and single rider can help sometimes but I find for Hagrids/VC it usually doesn't save you much time at all and it kills my feet not moving very much for that long so I opt for the regular line unless I can see single rider is particularly short that day. Gringotts is hit or miss, if it's all the way at the bottom of the staircase I usually go back to the main line.

I tend to have good luck with single rider for Forbidden Journey/Jurassic Park/Transformers/F&F/MiB/Spiderman (when they have the line open).

The parks are open until 9/10pm on your dates and the Universal crowds do tend to really thin out in the evening so keep that in mind as well.