Park capacity ever reached during holidays?

[Llama mama]

Has either Universal Park ever reached capacity the week of Thanksgiving? I have stayed Christmas week and Thanksgiving week at Disney World with insane crowds. Does Universal Studios get as crowded during holidays?

 

[FoxC63]

We stayed at RPR for a week this past Thanksgiving and the parks never closed down. When googling I only saw a few posts dated years ago of closures. In terms of crowd levels WDW is super insane. Make sure you stay at a Universal resort with free Unlimited Ex. pass even with that you'll still have a wait but it won't be as long.

 

[Llama mama]

We stayed at RPR for a week this past Thanksgiving and the parks never closed down. When googling I only saw a few posts dated years ago of closures. In terms of crowd levels WDW is super insane. Make sure you stay at a Universal resort with free Unlimited Ex. pass even with that you'll still have a wait but it won't be as long.

We are at Royal Pacific 11/21-11/29 . I was hoping the parks might lighten up at night kinda like Disney does. We have plenty of days to explore. Did you utilize any Early Entry or did you sleep in and relax Because of the express pass?

 

[FoxC63]

We are not early risers anymore, did too much at WDW over the years. The parks did slow down later in the evening making it very pleasant but there is still a wait especially on the popular rides. The EP allowed us to hop on and off other rides with little to zero wait so we got a lot done. We never did get to ride Hagrids, if that's something you're interested in you might want to consider going in early. There's a dedicated thread too: Hagrids

And if you haven't seen the RPR thread, here ya go: RPR

Lastly if you would like to save money on Gift Cards go: here

 

[Tormania]

We are at Royal Pacific 11/21-11/29 . I was hoping the parks might lighten up at night kinda like Disney does. We have plenty of days to explore. Did you utilize any Early Entry or did you sleep in and relax Because of the express pass?

We'll be at RPR from 11/26 - 11/28 and based on all I have read so far in preparation for our first trip to USO since 2003 we plan to rope drop at least one of our 3 days there in order to go straight to Hagrids and ride that with minimal wait. Other than that we plan to leverage express passes for everything else and enjoy the lack of needing to commando plan like we do for WDW the following week. LOL!!

 

[TommyJK]

We'll be at RPR from 11/26 - 11/28 and based on all I have read so far in preparation for our first trip to USO since 2003 we plan to rope drop at least one of our 3 days there in order to go straight to Hagrids and ride that with minimal wait. Other than that we plan to leverage express passes for everything else and enjoy the lack of needing to commando plan like we do for WDW the following week. LOL!!

Your trip is still a far ways away, so by November it's feasible that Hargrid's might have Express Pass added to it by then.

 

[Llama mama]

We'll be at RPR from 11/26 - 11/28 and based on all I have read so far in preparation for our first trip to USO since 2003 we plan to rope drop at least one of our 3 days there in order to go straight to Hagrids and ride that with minimal wait. Other than that we plan to leverage express passes for everything else and enjoy the lack of needing to commando plan like we do for WDW the following week. LOL!!

It kinda feels liberating not have to book and plan everything. Lol . If we get to ride Hagrids. Great if not we are ok with that. Hope you have a great trip!!

 

[Tormania]

Your trip is still a far ways away, so by November it's feasible that Hargrid's might have Express Pass added to it by then.

True, with 10 months to go it most definitely SHOULD be different than today so not too terribly worried about it.

It kinda feels liberating not have to book and plan everything. Lol . If we get to ride Hagrids. Great if not we are ok with that. Hope you have a great trip!!

It is nice, although it's still fun to think about all that we will do just without as rigid a plan necessary to make it all happen. The following week at WDW, different story, but being our 3rd trip in the last 7 yrs it's not nearly as daunting as that first one was.

 

[FoxC63]

I can't remember the site we booked our dining reservations, it was super easy and you could book them anytime without calling. Does anyone remember?

@Llama mama I bring this up because we couldn't agree on a time frame, one month prior to departure I called to booked RPR Thanksgiving Feast on Thanksgiving day and was told they were booked up to 9pm. I used a restaurant booking site and was able to secure 4:30pm. Anyway, we were seated immediately and had plenty of time to go back to the parks for "calm" rides LOL, and enjoy the shows.

 

[Tormania]

I can't remember the site we booked our dining reservations, it was super easy and you could book them anytime without calling. Does anyone remember?

@Llama mama I bring this up because we couldn't agree on a time frame, one month prior to departure I called to booked RPR Thanksgiving Feast on Thanksgiving day and was told they were booked up to 9pm. I used a restaurant booking site and was able to secure 4:30pm. Anyway, we were seated immediately and had plenty of time to go back to the parks for "calm" rides LOL, and enjoy the shows.

Possibly Open Table??

 

[FoxC63]

Possibly Open Table??

Yes! When AARP starts mailing "Join Now" pamphlets to your home, MOVE!!!! Senior moment, brain fart you pick, Guilty! Thank you.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Is open table really the way to go when making dining reservations for universal?
I ask because I don't know. We are doing Christmas as there don't wanna miss out.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Is open table really the way to go when making dining reservations for universal?
I ask because I don't know. We are doing Christmas as there don't wanna miss out.

 

[FoxC63]

Is open table really the way to go when making dining reservations for universal?
I ask because I don't know. We are doing Christmas as there don't wanna miss out.

It was for us, like I stated earlier when we finally decided to book our Thanksgiving dinner RPR told us they didn't have availability until 9pm but when booking through Open Table we were able to get the time we wanted without any issue. From my understanding they use this service to book when you call. Why bother calling when you can do this on your own.

 

[Llama mama]

It was for us, like I stated earlier when we finally decided to book our Thanksgiving dinner RPR told us they didn't have availability until 9pm but when booking through Open Table we were able to get the time we wanted without any issue. From my understanding they use this service to book when you call. Why bother calling when you can do this on your own.

Does Open table have a website or App?

 

[AngiTN]

We are at Royal Pacific 11/21-11/29 . I was hoping the parks might lighten up at night kinda like Disney does. We have plenty of days to explore. Did you utilize any Early Entry or did you sleep in and relax Because of the express pass?

They aren't open late enough for the crowds to lighten up

Does Open table have a website or App?

Both