***OI Meetup*** June 3-4, 2022

[Krisshay13]

125 Days To Go!

Ahh it's so cold here in N. Al right now, even had snow flurries yesterday, I can't wait for sunshine and warm weather and all things Universal! I see they opened a new "Universal Monsters" store/front/tribute since the Mummy is closed (sad face) and I wonder if that will be open when we come in June??? I see they have the tribute store getting ready for Mardi Gras, wonder what it might be for summer? So many wait and sees!

​

getting close to the under 100 count down!! that's when I feel it takes off!! OMG, it is so cold. I've been at my mom's to help her, for a week, outside of Jackson, MS.........woke up to drive home yesterday to mid-20s.......brrr. I am so ready for some warm up but, last time I went to WDW in June, it was so darn hot. That's another reason I grabbed tickets to OI. I just can't handle the midday heat.
I'm so sad the Mummy will be closed. It was one of our favorites in Nov when we went. and yes, on the wait & see.....too much time for things to change.
Thanks for keeping us updated with a count down!!!

 

[RocketCityMama]

I am over the cold weather!! I am ready for Spring! So I saw today that Oi is sold out of the 2 night tickets, only single fri or sat tickets available- which I mean you can buy one each lol but I am guessing the price is a little higher for each night vs the 2 night cost.

I keep hoping maybe they will be done with the mummy early, just never know! I really wish we could make a trip for Mardi Gras during Spring Break but it is too far for a couple days, so we are heading to Chattanooga instead. The kids have been begging to go back, it has been about 10 yrs.

I think we are at 118 days til the meetup now. Last time we brought some fun stickers to pass out and hide as well, and have some left so we will be doing that again. I might grt some other stuff to hide as well.

Have a great weekend!

 

[Krisshay13]

I am over the cold weather!! I am ready for Spring! So I saw today that Oi is sold out of the 2 night tickets, only single fri or sat tickets available- which I mean you can buy one each lol but I am guessing the price is a little higher for each night vs the 2 night cost.

I keep hoping maybe they will be done with the mummy early, just never know! I really wish we could make a trip for Mardi Gras during Spring Break but it is too far for a couple days, so we are heading to Chattanooga instead. The kids have been begging to go back, it has been about 10 yrs.

I think we are at 118 days til the meetup now. Last time we brought some fun stickers to pass out and hide as well, and have some left so we will be doing that again. I might grt some other stuff to hide as well.

Have a great weekend!

I am so over the cold weather, too!! Our cruise is 20 days away so, at least, I have that!!!

I also keep hoping for good news on the Mummy. We rode it a couple times in Nov & really liked it. Mardi Gras trip would be fun. The sad thing is, our cruise is on the Mardi Gras, out of Port Canaveral. But, we don't have any spare time for UO. We did a 5 day cruise 2 years ago out of PC & did Disney before & after. My DH didn't care for it, just not into Disney parks without the grandkids so, I booked 7 day cruise instead. Now, I wish we had more time so I could show him Universal. Oh well.

Not too far from the 100 day mark!!!

 

[policycobb]

Hello everyone!

My daughter and I love Universal and Disney. We attended our first meetup December 2019 as a gift to myself for my 50th birthday and became addicted.

Here's our list:
December 13-14, 2019 Aventura
February 29, 2020 Sapphire Falls
Had tickets to the canceled June 2020 meetup.
December 5-6, 2020 Royal Pacific
December 11-12, 2020 Portofino Bay
June 4-5, 2021 Sapphire Falls
December 3-4, 2021 Portofoino Bay
December 10-11, 2021 Portofino Bay
June 3-4, 2022 Aventura

 

[Melanie415]

I’m so glad that I heard about this event! Just bought tickets for both nights for me, hubby, DD11 & DS13. I have had our trip planned for 10 months and didn’t even realize what the OI meetup was until recently! Luckily, I timed our vacation just right to attend. This will be our 2nd visit to UOR, the last time was fall 2016 when we stayed at Portofino, followed by WDW.

This time, we are starting at WDW for 2 weeks (2 of those nights on the Galactic Star cruiser!), then moving to the HRH June 3-8. I am glad we have this event to look forward to after having (hopefully) a great time at WDW. Last time, we thought UOR was more relaxing than WDW, so we are switching it up this time.

We have a HRH rockstar suite booked but I also have 2 rooms reserved at Royal Pacific. Trying to make up my mind. On the one hand, it would be nice to have two bathrooms at RP but it would cost more and on the other hand, the HRH suite looks pretty cool, and I think it has a separate shower & bath….decisions, decisions.

I need to research previous OI meetups to figure out a game plan. So far from the videos I have seen, it seems like people EAT A Lot LOL, with a few rides thrown in. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat but if it’s hot and the kids want to go from ride to ride, I don’t think we can eat that much.

 

[Chiasgirl]

This time, we are starting at WDW for 2 weeks (2 of those nights on the Galactic Star cruiser!), then moving to the HRH June 3-8. I am glad we have this event to look forward to after having (hopefully) a great time at WDW. Last time, we thought UOR was more relaxing than WDW, so we are switching it up this time.

Which nights are you on the Starcruiser? We are cruising on the May 30th departure.

 

[RocketCityMama]

I am so over the cold weather, too!! Our cruise is 20 days away so, at least, I have that!!!

I also keep hoping for good news on the Mummy. We rode it a couple times in Nov & really liked it. Mardi Gras trip would be fun. The sad thing is, our cruise is on the Mardi Gras, out of Port Canaveral. But, we don't have any spare time for UO. We did a 5 day cruise 2 years ago out of PC & did Disney before & after. My DH didn't care for it, just not into Disney parks without the grandkids so, I booked 7 day cruise instead. Now, I wish we had more time so I could show him Universal. Oh well.

Not too far from the 100 day mark!!!

Aww man, how fun it would have been to hit UO and the cruise for Mardi Gras! Maybe another time I hope you have an amazing time on your cruise!

Hello everyone!

My daughter and I love Universal and Disney. We attended our first meetup December 2019 as a gift to myself for my 50th birthday and became addicted.

Here's our list:
December 13-14, 2019 Aventura
February 29, 2020 Sapphire Falls
Had tickets to the canceled June 2020 meetup.
December 5-6, 2020 Royal Pacific
December 11-12, 2020 Portofino Bay
June 4-5, 2021 Sapphire Falls
December 3-4, 2021 Portofoino Bay
December 10-11, 2021 Portofino Bay
June 3-4, 2022 Aventura

Hey hey! I am so glad to see you here We sure do love these meetups! I can't believe we are going to our 3rd one already lol and have become slightly addicted but I guess there are worse things to be addicted too, so I'll take it

I’m so glad that I heard about this event! Just bought tickets for both nights for me, hubby, DD11 & DS13. I have had our trip planned for 10 months and didn’t even realize what the OI meetup was until recently! Luckily, I timed our vacation just right to attend. This will be our 2nd visit to UOR, the last time was fall 2016 when we stayed at Portofino, followed by WDW.

This time, we are starting at WDW for 2 weeks (2 of those nights on the Galactic Star cruiser!), then moving to the HRH June 3-8. I am glad we have this event to look forward to after having (hopefully) a great time at WDW. Last time, we thought UOR was more relaxing than WDW, so we are switching it up this time.

We have a HRH rockstar suite booked but I also have 2 rooms reserved at Royal Pacific. Trying to make up my mind. On the one hand, it would be nice to have two bathrooms at RP but it would cost more and on the other hand, the HRH suite looks pretty cool, and I think it has a separate shower & bath….decisions, decisions.

I need to research previous OI meetups to figure out a game plan. So far from the videos I have seen, it seems like people EAT A Lot LOL, with a few rides thrown in. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat but if it’s hot and the kids want to go from ride to ride, I don’t think we can eat that much.

Hi Melanie and welcome aboard! You guys are going to have such a great time, it's such a different experience at the meetup than during reg day time hours. Walk on rides, walk up to food, grab and go, the ambiance, the people, the fun! You will LOVE it! We are staying at HRH as well this time again, we loved it in June 2021. It's such a fun hotel! We stayed at Royal and while I did love the atmosphere better at RPR, I love a laid back, Hawaiian type place, I preferred HRH's rooms/size in comparison. Plus the walk was a bit shorter! Which after late nights it was nice to be so close! You will probably be happy either way.

I agree about UO being so much more laid back than DW, we love Disney but it's definitely a lot of planning needed, especially these days! So there are a lot of great videos out there about the meetup and they do show a lot of food things and such, but you can do so many rides in a small amount of time because they are almost all literally walk on! Like it's longer to walk thru the queue lines than anything! VC and Hagrid is typically the "long" lines, but they still move fast. We do a little of both, ride for awhile, grab a snack or meal, ride more, snack, lol ride, snack. Some people like to do half/half, some go more food and atmosphere and a few rides. With 2 nights, you can do and see a lot and eat pretty hardily too. While June is hot, I found the evenings after the sun went down to pretty bearable, I wasn't dying. Let us know if you have any questions!

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112 Days to Go!

So UO just relaxed their mask policy, will probably change more times than we can count before the meetup ha! Also OI just announced that there will be exclusive Borne shows at the meetup! How exciting. We loved the show and have seen it a couple of times, but will likely skip it unless it's pouring rain and we need to get of it. I really hope they add the Horror Makeup Show, we've seen it several times, but I will go see it for sure! I am hoping we'll start to get more info about fun things for just our meetup. I also wonder if they will do the gift cards again, meal tickets, bonus bites, or what, if anything! We bought shirts for the Nov meetup, and they were really cute, hoping they have some merch this time around as well. ​

 

[Melanie415]

Which nights are you on the Starcruiser? We are cruising on the May 30th departure.

We are boarding 5/22 and I am having the hardest time figuring out Galactic attire for the fam., especially the glamorous Gala nights. I am going to have So.Much.Luggage! at least we can wash clothes at Boardwalk villas before heading to UOR.

 

[Melanie415]

Aww man, how fun it would have been to hit UO and the cruise for Mardi Gras! Maybe another time I hope you have an amazing time on your cruise!


Hey hey! I am so glad to see you here We sure do love these meetups! I can't believe we are going to our 3rd one already lol and have become slightly addicted but I guess there are worse things to be addicted too, so I'll take it


Hi Melanie and welcome aboard! You guys are going to have such a great time, it's such a different experience at the meetup than during reg day time hours. Walk on rides, walk up to food, grab and go, the ambiance, the people, the fun! You will LOVE it! We are staying at HRH as well this time again, we loved it in June 2021. It's such a fun hotel! We stayed at Royal and while I did love the atmosphere better at RPR, I love a laid back, Hawaiian type place, I preferred HRH's rooms/size in comparison. Plus the walk was a bit shorter! Which after late nights it was nice to be so close! You will probably be happy either way.

I agree about UO being so much more laid back than DW, we love Disney but it's definitely a lot of planning needed, especially these days! So there are a lot of great videos out there about the meetup and they do show a lot of food things and such, but you can do so many rides in a small amount of time because they are almost all literally walk on! Like it's longer to walk thru the queue lines than anything! VC and Hagrid is typically the "long" lines, but they still move fast. We do a little of both, ride for awhile, grab a snack or meal, ride more, snack, lol ride, snack. Some people like to do half/half, some go more food and atmosphere and a few rides. With 2 nights, you can do and see a lot and eat pretty hardily too. While June is hot, I found the evenings after the sun went down to pretty bearable, I wasn't dying. Let us know if you have any questions!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

112 Days to Go!

So UO just relaxed their mask policy, will probably change more times than we can count before the meetup ha! Also OI just announced that there will be exclusive Borne shows at the meetup! How exciting. We loved the show and have seen it a couple of times, but will likely skip it unless it's pouring rain and we need to get of it. I really hope they add the Horror Makeup Show, we've seen it several times, but I will go see it for sure! I am hoping we'll start to get more info about fun things for just our meetup. I also wonder if they will do the gift cards again, meal tickets, bonus bites, or what, if anything! We bought shirts for the Nov meetup, and they were really cute, hoping they have some merch this time around as well. ​

Ya, I decided to go with HRH. We already live somewhere tropical and we are staying a couple days at Poly too, so the tropical ambience isn’t that important. Plus, the food sounds better for us at HRH. We reserved a cabana for Friday, which is our HRH check in day, and the first night of the Meet. That way we have somewhere to hang out if our room isn’t ready. I still need to buy tix for US for the other 3 days. I see that you can buy 3 days with 2 free. However, I don’t think we should go to the park early on Meet days or we will be too tired to make it to close. We plan on doing 1 day at volcano bay (got a cabana there too).

Can you go to the wand ceremony during the event? My HP loving daughter is turning 11 and it would be great if we could get her a wand.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

During the Meetup, do they have you walk the regular queues or do they use the Express queues?

 

[RocketCityMama]

Ya, I decided to go with HRH. We already live somewhere tropical and we are staying a couple days at Poly too, so the tropical ambience isn’t that important. Plus, the food sounds better for us at HRH. We reserved a cabana for Friday, which is our HRH check in day, and the first night of the Meet. That way we have somewhere to hang out if our room isn’t ready. I still need to buy tix for US for the other 3 days. I see that you can buy 3 days with 2 free. However, I don’t think we should go to the park early on Meet days or we will be too tired to make it to close. We plan on doing 1 day at volcano bay (got a cabana there too).

Can you go to the wand ceremony during the event? My HP loving daughter is turning 11 and it would be great if we could get her a wand.

I get that! I love beachy themes, it us my happy place lol but I like a few things better at HRH for sure! I typically do not recommend going to the parks before the meetup, it is tiring lol we made that mistake the first time, even though it was early and we rested midday, the younger kiddo was exhausted. Lesson learned! Sleep in, explore hotel, relax by pool, and nap!

Yep, Ollivanders is open during the meetup. It is probably a better chance of getting chosen as well.

During the Meetup, do they have you walk the regular queues or do they use the Express queues?

We have done both, I think it depends on the Tm’s working and such. Either way you walk pretty much straight on to the ride so you don’t spend any time in the line lol

 

[Darrah]

Hey everyone! We finally bought our plane tickets, so that makes it more real! We're flying into Tampa on the 31st, spending a couple of days in Sarasota/Siesta Key, then heading to Orlando on Thursday. Now looking at regular park tickets and rental cars to pass the time.

 

[RocketCityMama]

Hey everyone! We finally bought our plane tickets, so that makes it more real! We're flying into Tampa on the 31st, spending a couple of days in Sarasota/Siesta Key, then heading to Orlando on Thursday. Now looking at regular park tickets and rental cars to pass the time.

Yay, that sounds like fun! I wish I had time to add on for a beach trip lol but we have will have spent all of our vacation days between now with Spring Break and this summer trip lol so I guess we'll just have to wait to Fall Break!

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We are slowly inching closer and closer to the 100 day mark, right at 109 right now!
Also Happy Valentine's Day Friends!

Not much else to report right now. I've been busy planning our spring break trip and finishing up my long term assignment at work. I am taking this week off and then on Friday I leave to chaperone my dd's thespian troupe to their competition. Oh and don't forget my own school work as well. I just keep dreaming of summer vacation to get me through it all! lol Have a great week! ​

 

[policycobb]

So excited, since we will already be there for the meetup, I just booked a senior photo shoot for my daughter the morning of June 4th at IOA and US! Hopefully, she won't be too tired and cranky from the Friday night meetup. It was the only time available.

Yeah for the addition of the Bourne Stuntacular to the June meetup! I hope the water rides are added too.

 

[Darrah]

So excited, since we will already be there for the meetup, I just booked a senior photo shoot for my daughter the morning of June 4th at IOA and US! Hopefully, she won't be too tired and cranky from the Friday night meetup. It was the only time available.

Yeah for the addition of the Bourne Stuntacular to the June meetup! I hope the water rides are added too.

I could be wrong, but I think I remember the issue with the water rides being a safety thing after dark? Maybe they wouldn't be able to see someone if they fell into the water? Maybe I'm completely making that up! LOL

We enjoyed the Bourne show when we went last time, but I don't know that I would take time out of my meetup schedule to see it. The show is great when you need to get out of the sun for a bit during regular park hours!

Here in east central Kansas, we are in the middle of a pretty significant (for us) snowstorm. It's making me long for Florida all the more! My timer says 102 days until we leave, so probably closer to 105 for the meetup itself!

 

[RocketCityMama]

So excited, since we will already be there for the meetup, I just booked a senior photo shoot for my daughter the morning of June 4th at IOA and US! Hopefully, she won't be too tired and cranky from the Friday night meetup. It was the only time available.

Yeah for the addition of the Bourne Stuntacular to the June meetup! I hope the water rides are added too.

Fun! I bet she'll be a little tired but you can always go back and nap after the photos are done! Which I totally would LOL

I could be wrong, but I think I remember the issue with the water rides being a safety thing after dark? Maybe they wouldn't be able to see someone if they fell into the water? Maybe I'm completely making that up! LOL

We enjoyed the Bourne show when we went last time, but I don't know that I would take time out of my meetup schedule to see it. The show is great when you need to get out of the sun for a bit during regular park hours!

Here in east central Kansas, we are in the middle of a pretty significant (for us) snowstorm. It's making me long for Florida all the more! My timer says 102 days until we leave, so probably closer to 105 for the meetup itself!

So last June they did open the Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls® for the meetup, so you just never know! I can't remember the timing, if it ran the whole time but it was open after the park closed! If I was only going to the meetup and no reg. day time hours, I would see the Borne show during the meetup, but since we've seen it multiple times, we'll skip too. It's a great show, everyone should watch at least once! I found I got motion sickness (which I typically never have) sitting too close, the further back was much better! So keep that in mind, if you get motion sickness, the screen moves a lot and up close, whew!

I saw about the snowstorm, meanwhile here in AL we have severe weather threat today. So over the spring weather LOL

 

[Darrah]

Fun! I bet she'll be a little tired but you can always go back and nap after the photos are done! Which I totally would LOL




So last June they did open the Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls® for the meetup, so you just never know! I can't remember the timing, if it ran the whole time but it was open after the park closed! If I was only going to the meetup and no reg. day time hours, I would see the Borne show during the meetup, but since we've seen it multiple times, we'll skip too. It's a great show, everyone should watch at least once! I found I got motion sickness (which I typically never have) sitting too close, the further back was much better! So keep that in mind, if you get motion sickness, the screen moves a lot and up close, whew!

I saw about the snowstorm, meanwhile here in AL we have severe weather threat today. So over the spring weather LOL

Then I am definitely misremembering! LOL Don't listen to me at all. And I was even there last year! Ha ha ha!

 

[policycobb]

I could be wrong, but I think I remember the issue with the water rides being a safety thing after dark? Maybe they wouldn't be able to see someone if they fell into the water? Maybe I'm completely making that up! LOL

We enjoyed the Bourne show when we went last time, but I don't know that I would take time out of my meetup schedule to see it. The show is great when you need to get out of the sun for a bit during regular park hours!

Here in east central Kansas, we are in the middle of a pretty significant (for us) snowstorm. It's making me long for Florida all the more! My timer says 102 days until we leave, so probably closer to 105 for the meetup itself!

The 2021 June meetup, Ripsaw Falls was opened as a special meetup extra. They also had a popsicle/icecream cart opened up in Toon Lagoon. We ate the icecream but didn't ride Ripsaw Falls. Had planned on doing that at the end but didn't make it.

My daughter loves the Bourne show. It's good but I'm okay missing it. It's also a good place to hang out in the rain. We also hit Mel's Diner while over that way. The apple pies were really good. I was surprised.

Sorry about the snow. It was 67 degrees yesterday, no sun. Today rain and a cold front moving in, temperature will be in the 30's when I leave work, in the 20's when I come to work tomorrow. Rather have this than snow and ice.

 

[policycobb]

Just changed my daughter's age to 17 in my signature and realized she was 3 when I first got onto the Disboards.

 

[RocketCityMama]

We also hit Mel's Diner while over that way. The apple pies were really good. I was surprised.

OMG yes the apple pie was delish and then get a vanilla shake and apple pie ala mode, heaven!!! We are def eating Mels again at the meetup!