Opinions on doing Universal

[scoobydooby]

In August 2015 we are doing a 19/20 day trip. So far I have booked 14 days at OKW but we also want to go to the beach for two days and Universal for three or four days as we have done Disney a lot. I had planned to book Universal for the first few nights for the FOL passes and early entry. However, that means we've got to do Universal consecutive days which I'm not over the moon about. I'm thinking I might just extend the OKW booking and get one night at the beach in the middle somewhere cheap to reduce the driving. The Universal site (price for this August) has 4 day hopping tickets with unlimited front of line pass which can be used over a 14 day window for about £250 each, so 1k for us all, which didn't seem too horrible. I think this is going to suit us better apart from not getting that early entry to the Harry Potter stuff. So, after a long post my question is. If we get these tickets and arrive for normal rope drop, how awful will the lines for HP be? We last went when HP was pretty new at Christmas and I recall queues about 40 minutes for Forbidden Journey. I could cope with that of we have Express Pass Plus. What do you think? I just fancy the flexibility of doing the beach in the middle and doing Universal/I of A when we feel like it.......

 

[orangetiggs]

Last year we stayed at okw we got to universal for rope drop and went straight for hp and lines were ok, we walked on, then we went back about an hour before closing and we walked on several times. That was nov time so quiet time really

 

[peajay18]

We do the same - be at Uni for rope drop and you'll get a lot done before any crowds appear. Express Pass is a great perk, but unless you're there during the peakiest of peak times, it's not really a necessity.

As you probably know, no Potter stuff has Express pass anyway.
The longest we waited for Forbidden Journey was 20 mins, and that was just by making our way there ASAP after arrival.

 

[scoobydooby]

What time of year did you visit?

 

[flortlebap]

Rope drop really works well at Universal. The big crowds don't start until the afternoon - even in peak season most rides were walk on to 20 minutes for the first two hours!

That said HP is likely to be busy early with the 8am opening. But I'm not sure the cost of the hotel is worth the extra hour unless you need accommodation anyway! HRH was about £100 cheaper per night than our YC accommodation, so tagging a universal hotel on was a no brainer for us

 

[wayneg]

We had AP's for about 9 consecutive years, never really had a problem with lines but if there was a long line for something we just did it the next time we visited at rope drop.
Only time we had FOTL passes we stayed onsite, we didn't get much use out of them, that was in August.

Do Universal still do staggered opening times for the rides? not been in for a few years but they used to open some rides later in the morning, Jaws was one of them, now that's gone I don't know.

 

[LeaversOnTour]

I am sure the new part of HP opens later this year!

In which case you may find that the usual crowds will be spread over the two parks rather than all congregated in IOA.

We went xmas this years and it had waits in excess of 2 hours - needless to say we did not ride forbidden journey.

They also closed it off on a one in one out basis a few times during our stay, but this was PEAK season - If you went on the quieter days and got there for rope drop you would probably be ok.

 

[disneyholic family]

we've only been to universal/IOA twice - didn't like it either time.

but we did stay on property for it both times specifically for FOTL and i would do that again the next time we go.

Backing up, the first time we went, we stayed for two nights.
We did one day at IOA and one day at universal (this was before harry potter).

We really didn't enjoy either park. There were a few things we enjoyed, but overall we didn't like it and planned on never ever going back.

Then they built HP.
DS and DDIL are both HP fans (none of the rest of us are).
But we all were interested in seeing it so i booked us for one night on property.
We did the early opening at HP.
That worked well as we raced to the wand shop line first (thanks to the advice of a family in front of us in line).
So we were the second group into the wand shop. (after that there was a one hour line and then later a two hour line).

after the wand shop we walked right onto the harry potter ride (whatever it's called). well, those of us who can ride it (i can't).

they did that ride twice without wait.
And then the early entrance time was over.

we then used front of the line at the other rides we do at IOA (jurassic park, hulk, spiderman, popeye, and dudley)
We were done by 1 pm, headed back to the hotel, checked out and headed back to WDW (woo hoo)!!
i hadn't checked out of WDW, so we just went back to our rooms there.

(yes, i had us double booked for one night - easier than checking out and back in - that way we left most of our stuff over at WDW).

will there be a next time?
yes. We'll go again to see diagon alley. But just that.
So again, it will be one night and that's it.

but i know we're weird. lots of people love universal. there are many who prefer it to WDW (i can't fathom why, but there are).
however, i don't think you need to stay there for 4 days.

The first time we were there, we did pretty much everything in universal in one day and everything in IOA on the next day.
So 4 days seems like overkill to me. But maybe you'll be in the group that loves it and wants to do it over and over.

 

[joolz1910]

I have booked the first two nights of our August 2015 trip at Hard Rock Hotel and then we will move on to OKW. Those 2 nights will cost me £1000 but I want to experience Universal at least once.

 

[scoobydooby]

I can live without it I hate big coasters and spinning simulators. The kids however love both those things and we all like HP.

 

[Princess Leia]

We have been 4 holidays to Florida and have visited Universal/ IOA on our 1st and 3rd visit. On our first holiday we moved to Royal Pacific Resort for 2 nights during our Orlando part of trip, which was followed by a week at the coast. On our 3rd trip we were staying at Yacht Club. We went to IOA for early park entry with our Virgin tickets. It was great at first but then got far too busy to get on rides. Having been with express passes and without I would definitely stay on site to get express passes at peak periods. Summer 2015 I have booked first night at Universal Fairfield Inn, followed by 1 night at Hard Rock Hotel. We will be able to book into the Universal hotel early on the first morning effectively getting 2 days of express passes. Then we will move to OKW for 12 nights.

 

[jothp]

We were considering booking a night at one of the universal hotels during our stay at OKW but it seems quite a lot of money to pay on top of tickets when we are already paying for another room. We were thinking that FOTL may be quite valuable in August but if we could do without it and skip the universal hotel that would be a bonus.

I was looking at this page yesterday. I don't know how accurate the queue times are but it might be worth keeping an eye on for your equivalent dates this year to give an idea of queue lengths.
http://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/attractions/islands-of-adventure.html