I'm worried about crowds

[Planogirl]

We will be there towards the end of August and we have to stay offsite this time. Between early entry for resort guests and talk of people camping out, I'm a little worried about how mobbed the new attractions will be and I wonder how Universal will control the crowds. I'm almost rethinking even bothering with HP this trip and just enjoy the rest of IOA and the Studios.

Then again, IOA and the Studios might also be way more crowded than normal. Any thoughts? Am I overthinking this?

 

[nmartin]

We will be there towards the end of August and we have to stay offsite this time. Between early entry for resort guests and talk of people camping out, I'm a little worried about how mobbed the new attractions will be and I wonder how Universal will control the crowds. I'm almost rethinking even bothering with HP this trip and just enjoy the rest of IOA and the Studios.

Then again, IOA and the Studios might also be way more crowded than normal. Any thoughts? Am I overthinking this?

I don't know the answer! I am going at the same time (Aug. 22 to the 28th) but I am lucky enough to be staying on site. I am going to Universal to do Universal. The opening of HP is a bonus but is not why I am going. I was looking forward to a nice slow vacation will lots of relaxing by the pool and long meals at City Walk. Who knows if that will be reality or not

 

[damo]

We'll be there too, onsite. We were there last year too and stood in line for a few hours for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. I am sure lines will be very long but there are so many other things to do that it should still be lots of fun. I think we have to forget about small attendance at IOA for a while and just roll with it.

 

[mjohnson96]

We will be there towards the end of August and we have to stay offsite this time. Between early entry for resort guests and talk of people camping out, I'm a little worried about how mobbed the new attractions will be and I wonder how Universal will control the crowds. I'm almost rethinking even bothering with HP this trip and just enjoy the rest of IOA and the Studios.

Then again, IOA and the Studios might also be way more crowded than normal. Any thoughts? Am I overthinking this?

I think it will be busy, but by the end of August the newness would have worn off. I think the first few weeks will be the worst, yes we are going week 1, and the crowds will be pretty bad then.

People won't be able to camp out inside the resort area, so that would mean they would need to be out at the entrance on the sidewalk. I don't think we will see to many people doing this. You might see the crowds to get into the park first thing in the morning crazy, and if you are driving from an offsite hotel or just coming in from another area trafffic will be pretty crazy the first month or two.

Wait until the first few weeks of June are done and then check out the boards to see how people are doing with the crowds.

 

[Claire-Bear]

I think people are planning to "camp out" somehow the night before the grand opening, but don't think that will literally be the case for the time after that.
We're going just a couple of days after it opens (accidentally since we thought it would open in May). I'm used to going during summer crowds without staying onsite. I know the queues will be longer this time (although I imagine most concentrated in the WWOHP), but I wouldn't let that stop us enjoying ourselves. We're at Universal for 3 days and plan on doing everything we want to including HP :

 

[nmartin]

We'll be there too, onsite. We were there last year too and stood in line for a few hours for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. I am sure lines will be very long but there are so many other things to do that it should still be lots of fun. I think we have to forget about small attendance at IOA for a while and just roll with it.

How long do you think the "lines will be very long" will be with the FOTL? Just as an educated guess as this is my first trip.

 

[damo]

How long do you think the "lines will be very long" will be with the FOTL? Just as an educated guess as this is my first trip.

When we were there last August, we stood in line for RRR for at least two hours. However, that ride didn't have express as I don't imagine the Forbidden Journey will. Everything else's lines were under 15 minutes.

I expect the lines for Forbidden Journey to be about 3 hours during the summer.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm thinking about buying the Express Pass this time even though we normally don't. I'm also considering booking one night onsite even though it's pricey. I'm most concerned about IOA because all of those people who are there to see HP have to go somewhere once they're done. IOA gets jammed in the afternoon anyway so I just imagine it being worse in general. How bad will Spidey be?

A three hour line sounds daunting to me. I hate lines!!! I'll wait but ugh.... (And hopefully it's not even worse.)

 

[Claire-Bear]

Thing is I guess we'll never really know what the crowds will be like until it actually opens. At least the express plus pass can be bought in the park on the day.

 

[Planogirl]

Thing is I guess we'll never really know what the crowds will be like until it actually opens. At least the express plus pass can be bought in the park on the day.

True. I guess that it's way too hard to plan for something that hasn't happened yet. I'll just wait and see.

 

[Loudbmw]

We have previously seen a significant drop in crowds during last two weeks in August as most schools in the Northeast are back in session.

This year is anybody's guess.

Lou

 

[nmartin]

I thought I read that guests on site would be able to ride Forbidden Journey one time per day FOTL. If not, 3 hours is a very long wait but if it is only one ride with that long of a wait I guess we can suck it up. My fear is that every ride is going to have a hour wait even with FOTL. I was kind of looking forward to be able to experience what others have commented on, that they were able to ride and run around and get right back on without waiting but it doesn't look like it.
Hopefully, as Lodbmw stated, the last 2 weeks in August seem to be a little quieter in years past.

 

[damo]

I thought I read that guests on site would be able to ride Forbidden Journey one time per day FOTL. If not, 3 hours is a very long wait but if it is only one ride with that long of a wait I guess we can suck it up. My fear is that every ride is going to have a hour wait even with FOTL. I was kind of looking forward to be able to experience what others have commented on, that they were able to ride and run around and get right back on without waiting but it doesn't look like it.
Hopefully, as Lodbmw stated, the last 2 weeks in August seem to be a little quieter in years past.

Lots of people were told the one ride per day thing for onsite guests. However, I haven't that lately. So who knows.

 

[TwingleMum]

I thought I read that guests on site would be able to ride Forbidden Journey one time per day FOTL. If not, 3 hours is a very long wait but if it is only one ride with that long of a wait I guess we can suck it up. My fear is that every ride is going to have a hour wait even with FOTL. I was kind of looking forward to be able to experience what others have commented on, that they were able to ride and run around and get right back on without waiting but it doesn't look like it.
Hopefully, as Lodbmw stated, the last 2 weeks in August seem to be a little quieter in years past.

we are also going at the end of Aug (8/19-8/22). We are staying onsite HRH. I was told 2 different things by reservations ~ A) that we will get 1 FOTL for FJ a day or B) onsite guests will be admitted 1 hr before public to WWOHP. What happens in reality is anyones guess.

 

[Metro West]

we are also going at the end of Aug (8/19-8/22). We are staying onsite HRH. I was told 2 different things by reservations ~ A) that we will get 1 FOTL for FJ a day or B) onsite guests will be admitted 1 hr before public to WWOHP. What happens in reality is anyones guess.

Yup...Universal has really screwed this up with the inconsistant information they are giving the reservationists.

 

[abooch]

We have previously seen a significant drop in crowds during last two weeks in August as most schools in the Northeast are back in session.

This year is anybody's guess.

Lou

Schools in the Northeast are generally not back in school until the first week of September..It's the schools in the south that are back in school...

 

[donaldduck352]

Anyway you try to do it,it's gonna be crazy busy.3hr wait times are putting it mildly.For the 1'st few months is anyones guess!

Onsite-offsite,no matter what.You will be standing in line for a long long time...

 

[nmartin]

Anyway you try to do it,it's gonna be crazy busy.3hr wait times are putting it mildly.For the 1'st few months is anyones guess!

Onsite-offsite,no matter what.You will be standing in line for a long long time...

I am going to try to stay positive and HOPE that you are wrong!

 

[U2_rocks!]

The longest I've ever stood in a theme park line was 30 minutes - I'm kind of worried about things like bathroom breaks! I think before getting in line we'd all have to make sure we had water or some other drink and some snacks (nuts, cereal bars etc.), and of course we will have the kids use the bathroom as soon as possible before. But are people generally underatanding if one adult in the party takes a few kids to the bathroom after an hour or two? Luckily we will have 4 adults in our party and 4 kids, so even if one adult takes the girls as one shift, then when they get back another adult takes the boys, there will always be a group remaining in line. That FJ queue sounds like it's designed to hold many hours' worth of waiting - dare we hope that washrooms have been added?

 

[Metro West]

The longest I've ever stood in a theme park line was 30 minutes - I'm kind of worried about things like bathroom breaks! I think before getting in line we'd all have to make sure we had water or some other drink and some snacks (nuts, cereal bars etc.), and of course we will have the kids use the bathroom as soon as possible before. But are people generally underatanding if one adult in the party takes a few kids to the bathroom after an hour or two? Luckily we will have 4 adults in our party and 4 kids, so even if one adult takes the girls as one shift, then when they get back another adult takes the boys, there will always be a group remaining in line. That FJ queue sounds like it's designed to hold many hours' worth of waiting - dare we hope that washrooms have been added?

Starting when WWoHP opens, those days of 30 minute waits are going to be a memory...at least for a while. I'm not sure how people will react to leaving the line for bathroom breaks...I'm guessing it won't go over well but I don't know. Good luck to you though.