Lines at IOA after 7 PM?

[rowan555]

We're going to Universal/IOA starting August 18th. I'm still debating the merits of staying off site versus on site the Sunday we arrive in town, as we will most likely get there around 6 PM. Should we stay off site, we will most likely still go activate our passes/tickets and spent 2 or so hours at Islands of Adventure, which I believe closes at 9 PM.

How "bad" should I expect the lines for rides to be between 7 and 9 PM on a Sunday in late August? I'm wondering if it's worth going at all for just two hours if we don't have the express passes yet.

We'll save about a hundred bucks by spending that first night off site - which my husband says I shouldn't worry over, but heck, that's a few days worth of meals for me and my daughter while we're in Orlando - I'd just as soon save it if the only major inconvenience is having to check in to Royal Pacific Monday morning before hitting the parks!

Any opinions are appreciated!

 

[macraven]

i would stay onsite so you are already organized and ready to hit the parks early the next day.

instead of hitting the parks for 2 hours that evening, spend that time around the pool.

 

[rowan555]

i would stay onsite so you are already organized and ready to hit the parks early the next day.

instead of hitting the parks for 2 hours that evening, spend that time around the pool.

I definitely understand/appreciate the relaxing by the pool approach, but my daughter swims every single day of her life (often in a very nice resort style pool with slides at the Y) so I don't think that will appeal to her our first few hours of our vacation. We could wander City Walk, but I figured we'd take advantage of our annual passes (and take advantage of getting them activated right away for convenience).

I definitely understand the appeal of being onsite from the beginning - but I also find the concept of saving $100 PLUS having a free breakfast buffet that first morning in town VERY appealing.

 

[RMulieri]

I am going down that same timeframe for a week..that day is still projected as heavy crowds( schools are back in session the next day).Not sure how busy IOA will be at 7pmish, but we aren't going to the parks that day.We are hanging at our resort

 

[Threeboysandachickie]

I'd be most worried that my room on site might not be ready until 4 pm if I stayed offsite first. If it rains, is too hot, or you want to change clothes midday, you might not have a room to use until late afternoon. We always take a midday rest, so having a guaranteed room would be my priority!

 

[rowan555]

I'd be most worried that my room on site might not be ready until 4 pm if I stayed offsite first. If it rains, is too hot, or you want to change clothes midday, you might not have a room to use until late afternoon. We always take a midday rest, so having a guaranteed room would be my priority!

That's a great point, and one I hadn't really considered. I've read so many comments about rooms being ready REALLY early that I guess I sort of assumed we'd have a room by noon or so. You've given me one more point to think about!

 

[macraven]

I definitely understand/appreciate the relaxing by the pool approach, but my daughter swims every single day of her life (often in a very nice resort style pool with slides at the Y) so I don't think that will appeal to her our first few hours of our vacation. We could wander City Walk, but I figured we'd take advantage of our annual passes (and take advantage of getting them activated right away for convenience).

I definitely understand the appeal of being onsite from the beginning - but I also find the concept of saving $100 PLUS having a free breakfast buffet that first morning in town VERY appealing.

if the $100 is appealing, staying off site will be good for you then.
you'll be saving money and receiving a free breakfast buffet.

 

[rowan555]

if the $100 is appealing, staying off site will be good for you then.
you'll be saving money and receiving a free breakfast buffet.

Well, I have both options booked, and I'm going to give it some thought. We're switching our original plans from a 5 night trip to a 10 night trip, so I'm trying to cut corners where possible while still having the best time ever.

 

[MDer2FL]

I definitely understand the appeal of being onsite from the beginning - but I also find the concept of saving $100 PLUS having a free breakfast buffet that first morning in town VERY appealing.

It's hard for me to see $100-&-change and breakfast making-or-breaking it on a 10-day trip. At this point it really will be whatever you're "psycholgoically" comfortable with.

 

[AustralianJetsetter]

If it were me I would just want to get there and get settled in. But hey that's just me. $100 out of a 10 day trip is really not THAT much....well for me anyway.

I am sure you will enjoy yourselves whichever way you go

 

[KorbensMomma]

We checked in to PBH on a Wednesday and our room wasn't ready early. It wasn't ready till almost 4. I have stayed at RPR and our room wasn't ready till 6pm, they gave us a free drink coupon. I have also been able to check in and get a room at 7am before so it just depends.
I personally would go ahead and check in to RPR.
Sure free breakfast would be nice but less hassle or stress is more appealing to me.

 

[rottiemom]

OP, I see that you've never gotten an answer to your original question about lines in the parks after 7 PM and I'll be no help since I'll be visiting UO/IOA at the same time you are (otherwise I'd offer to let you know what I found out ).

FWIW I suggest that you stay onsite from that first night. I'm all about saving money but in this case you'll be saving yourself STRESS if you just stay onsite from the beginning. This way you're checked in, you can head to the parks if you want (with no worries about lines since you'll have the express pass) or even stay in, decompress and check out the pool. But you'll have options, you won't have to worry about checking out of one place, into another, your room being ready, what to do with your stuff, etc.

Regarding the resort pool- I don't know how old your daughter is but my son swims every day as well and he is always beyond excited to check out the pool on the rare occasions that we travel. In April we stayed at a Hampton Inn for a friend's wedding and even the basic, mundane hotel pool was a delight for him because it was different from the one he was used to.

Good luck! I'm riding the stress train right now and I'd gladly pay a hundred buck to get off of it .

 

[rowan555]

Thanks SO much. I forgot about the time change (Orlando is Eastern time, right?) so we'll actually be arriving an hour later than I realized. After being gently slapped by enough folks on this thread, I will suck it up and raise the white flag. I guess I'm being cheap. I've always looked at money differently than other people (including my husband) and I tend to see things on a mental checklist, where that $100 savings appears on the other side as available for more meals in parks, etc. But I'm not balancing the federal budget here, I'm splurging for a last minute vacation with one of my kids. I need to get over myself and see the "value" in the convenience, etc. Easier said than done...but I'm working on it!

What hotel are you guys staying at?

 

[Hootch]

on a Satruday in late June. We were switching between Disney and Universal. Arrived at Universal around 2:00 PM and the room was not ready. We received a text a little after 4:00 PM that it was ready.

To your original question; we only did The World of Harry Potter at that time. We were there to do some last minute shopping and ride a couple of things. My daughter rode the Hippogriff ride a couple of times but we did have the Express Passes. The wait for the Forbidden Journey was about 35 minutes. I did the single rider line and rode it twice in about 20 minutes total. I don't know if the SLR is an option for you.

The only other thing we did around that time was Poseidon's Fury which is more driven by timing of the show. The show we attended was pretty full.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I find that Universal crowds tend to be lower in the evening. It looks like you will have similar crowd levels to the ones we experienced the week before Christmas. During that trip, we hit the busiest part of the park - Harry Potter - each morning and each evening. We probably rode the castle ride 100 times that week using those times and the single rider line.

For us, it saved thousands staying off site during the week (we were gifted a condo), and I didn't miss the express pass at all. Now, when we went during the week between Christmas and New Years in 2010, we really appreciated the express pass.

 

[rowan555]

I find that Universal crowds tend to be lower in the evening. It looks like you will have similar crowd levels to the ones we experienced the week before Christmas. During that trip, we hit the busiest part of the park - Harry Potter - each morning and each evening. We probably rode the castle ride 100 times that week using those times and the single rider line.

For us, it saved thousands staying off site during the week (we were gifted a condo), and I didn't miss the express pass at all. Now, when we went during the week between Christmas and New Years in 2010, we really appreciated the express pass.

ACK! Now you're making me second guess staying on site at all, lol!!! But I have already promised my daughter an onsite stay and the luxury of the express passes, so we'll stick with that plan, I suppose!

 

[RMulieri]

We are staying at Portofino Bay.We have only gone in off season ,and the passes are still FANTASTIC..Our week( starting the 18th) is moderate crowds, not dead or low.It is still summer

 

[rottiemom]

ACK! Now you're making me second guess staying on site at all, lol!!! But I have already promised my daughter an onsite stay and the luxury of the express passes, so we'll stick with that plan, I suppose!

Don't second guess your onsite stay, I think it's awesome that you're doing that and would do it in a heartbeat. Better to have all of those options to get back to your room whenever you want and not have to pack for the parks like you would for WDW plus have the express pass and early entry perks even if you end up not needing them. I'd do onsite in a heartbeat of we could afford it. Like I said earlier, much less stress...you can't put a price on that .

We're staying at HGVC and can only swing this trip because I have enough HH points to cover the accommodations. No way could we have afforded to stay onsite at UO (though the hotels look SO cool). Theme park tickets are killing me BUT my better half is determined to go to LEGOLAND and my son & I want to go to UO/IOA (and it looks like we'll only have one day to do that...without the benefit of express pass...like I said, STRESS ). At least staying at HGVC will give us quick queue for SW.

Aaaand it's a vacation. I'm thankful to be able to take one this year. But believe me, I hear you on the $. 100$ IS a lot but in your case I'd say it's money well spent to save you aggravation.

Good luck! We can cry on each other's shoulders (virtually ).

 

[rowan555]

Don't second guess your onsite stay, I think it's awesome that you're doing that and would do it in a heartbeat. Better to have all of those options to get back to your room whenever you want and not have to pack for the parks like you would for WDW plus have the express pass and early entry perks even if you end up not needing them. I'd do onsite in a heartbeat of we could afford it. Like I said earlier, much less stress...you can't put a price on that .

We're staying at HGVC and can only swing this trip because I have enough HH points to cover the accommodations. No way could we have afforded to stay onsite at UO (though the hotels look SO cool). Theme park tickets are killing me BUT my better half is determined to go to LEGOLAND and my son & I want to go to UO/IOA (and it looks like we'll only have one day to do that...without the benefit of express pass...like I said, STRESS ). At least staying at HGVC will give us quick queue for SW.

Aaaand it's a vacation. I'm thankful to be able to take one this year. But believe me, I hear you on the $. 100$ IS a lot but in your case I'd say it's money well spent to save you aggravation.

Good luck! We can cry on each other's shoulders (virtually ).

I'm just so excited I did enough research to wait until later in August AND get the annual pass. The original rate for an onsite hotel was $284 a night, and we were going to stay ONE night on site. By waiting a few weeks and getting a pass for myself (about $90 more than getting the 14 day unlimited ticket), we're paying only $154 a night at Royal Pacific.

I appreciate everyone's advice and patience with me. My OCD is in overdrive and I know I've been a pain in the butt. I have a notebook on my desk with over 30 pages of lists of prices of every possible option of hotel and tickets. My husband is about to take it and burn it, and I'm not allowed to even MENTION anything about the vacation and its cost. He's done with my crazy, lol! So I'm glad I can rely on you guys to keep me off the ledge

 

[Siriusblack]

I wil be at universal that week too! Also did that same time frame 2 years ago and was very glad to be on site, as it was still quite crowded. In the heat of August it was great to be able to go back to RPR for a rest and return in the evening. However I learned that in Florida , summer evenings it's not cooler, just darker!