Probably not going

[3DisneyNUTS]

We are probaly going to skip Universal now. My concern are the lines for non resort guests. I have heard from two families that just got back (neighbors) that the express passes were given out for the day by 10- 10:30. I really don't want to have to wait on killer lines with a just turned 4 year old. Plus my son has special needs and while a few lines may not bother him if we are waiting for 45 minutes each ride it will get hairy. I am pretty bummed but maybe when he gets older we will chance it or maybe if it is completely off season we will try again. I am bummed because he loves spiderman but the stories from our neighbors were scary. I definitely don't want to "waste" vacation time in huge insane lines. Also we own DVC so to justify spending more $$ onsite at Universal just doesn't make sense.

ANyone able to sway me? I am just bummed but am really afraid we will be aggrivated with the lines.

 

[JT3000]

I definitely don't want to "waste" vacation time in huge insane lines.

What will you do then? Surely you won't be going to any other parks, since the lines are the same at them all.

 

[lovetheparks]

Even without being a hotel guest or buying the express books, many of the rides have an express ticket from what I heard is similar to DW's Fast Pass. I'm not too familiar myself becuase we live an hour away and with AP's when it's busy we simply go very early and never have to wait anyway.

 

[Motherfletcher]

A good touring plan can greatly affect line waiting time at any park. We have gone to MK on major holidays like Christmas, 4th of July and Easter when the parade is televised and were still able to get on more attractions than most other guests. Our plan is to arrive early, leave when the park fills up and return in the evening when everyone else is leaving. A second option is to bring things to do in line like a hand held electronic game. My kids only stop exercising their thumbs to eat. Universal has less wait time than any WDW park.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Originally posted by JT3000
What will you do then? Surely you won't be going to any other parks, since the lines are the same at them all.

I have been to WDW and the fast passes have never been gone by 10 - 10:30 BUT the original plan was to just stay at the resort and do non park activities. So rather than wait in horrendous lines I would rather do that then have a 4 year old freaking out in Universal. But and from my experience I have never heard people complain about WDW like I have heard (from neighbors) recently about Universal. I am just apprehensive of not enjoying myself if I am not an onsite guest. It has come up alot on the bopards too. Which I did not give much credence to but after hearing it from 2 seperate families IRL now I am worried.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Originally posted by Motherfletcher
A good touring plan can greatly affect line waiting time at any park. We have gone to MK on major holidays like Christmas, 4th of July and Easter when the parade is televised and were still able to get on more attractions than most other guests. Our plan is to arrive early, leave when the park fills up and return in the evening when everyone else is leaving. A second option is to bring things to do in line like a hand held electronic game. My kids only stop exercising their thumbs to eat. Universal has less wait time than any WDW park.

I hope so. My plan was to use express pass and do Universal just like I would WDW. I rarely wait in lines over 20 minutes at WDW because of the fast pass. I would FP the longer rides and while waiting go to a shorter lined ride. If all the express passes are gone by 10-10;30 how could I do this?

I know with FP you can only get one per ride, like if I fast passed test track then I would have to wait until that time came up before getting another one. Is this how Express pass works? If so I would only be able to get 2 Express passes by the time 10;30 happenes. We are early risers so we would be able to get there at park opening but I would like to enjoy the day at Universal. I honestly would not enjoy splitting the day up.

 

[JT3000]

Express passes gone by 10 AM? There's barely anyone in the park at 10 AM. I have NEVER seen Express passes for an attraction sold out that early.

Express/FastPass is the Devil. Purely my opinion.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Originally posted by JT3000
Express passes gone by 10 AM? or 10 PM? There's barely anyone in the park at 10 AM. I have NEVER seen Express passes for an attraction sold out that early.

I know I was floored when I heard this from my neighbor. That is what really got us rethinking going to Universal. They said an employee told them they would be better off buying the book of passes. Who wants to pay and additional $30 each though?

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

sorry I miss read the post they were gone by 10-10;30 am.

 

[JT3000]

Who wants to pay and additional $30 each though?

Someone who relies on Express?

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Originally posted by JT3000
Express passes gone by 10 AM? There's barely anyone in the park at 10 AM. I have NEVER seen Express passes for an attraction sold out that early.

Express/FastPass is the Devil. Purely my opinion.

It is weird but when I quoted you 10pm came up...strange anyway I agree with you in the respect that express fast pass is the devil. It makes the regular lines insanely long.

 

[lovetheparks]

I think maybe you confused the express passes, there are 3 ways for FOTL access

1) Onsite guest (as you know)

2) Buy an express pass plus booklet (? name) that contains one ticket for each ride. (I think this is what you may have heard sell out early)

3) Many rides have their own express passes that you slide your ticket, get a pass that you use at a certain time and can only have one per hour or so. These do not get sold out or have a limit.

HTH

 

[JT3000]

Indeed. The majority suffer so that the people who got the passes feel special. I prefered the good ole' days when everyone waited in 1 line, a line that didn't constantly get stopped so people in another line could get on the ride.

It is weird but when I quoted you 10pm came up

I remembered that the parks are rarely even open that late.

And the normal Express passes DO sell out, they aren't unlimited. They just don't sell out that early.

 

[robvia]

You can do IOA if you arrive early. The parking garage opens at 08:00am, be there a few minutes before that. Walk to the gate of IOA, find out what side they are going to open, and stand at the front of the line. There are 5-6 lanes that will open, so stand in front of an empty lane and be first.

With a 4 year old, I'm not sure they can even ride Spiderman.
You'd probably make a right after the entrance and grab an express pass for One Fish Two Fish. Then you'd head to Jurassic Park for Pternadon Flyers before the line gets long.

The 4 year old will enjoy the playgrounds.

The big crowds arrive at 11am. If you arrive to the parking garage by 8am, you can stay ahead of everyone, take a lap around IOA, then leave at lunch, go back to your hotel room, and take a nap.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Originally posted by lovetheparks
I think maybe you confused the express passes, there are 3 ways for FOTL access

1) Onsite guest (as you know)

2) Buy an express pass plus booklet (? name) that contains one ticket for each ride. (I think this is what you may have heard sell out early)

3) Many rides have their own express passes that you slide your ticket, get a pass and can only have one per hour or so. These do not get sold out or have a limit.

HTH

Ok I have to really talk to my neighbor again because he made it sound like the ticket machine (the one silimlar to fast pass) was done giving out the days worth of passes by 10 10;30.

If they continue to hand them out all day then the park should be doable for us. My son has medicinally controlled epilepsy. The meds can make him moody. On a good day (more often than not) he would be able to tolerate a 30-40 minute wait but on a bad day it is not even a good idea to go to a park. But with that said he basically operates more on good days than bad. If you saw him IRL he looks and acts pretty typical. He is speech delayed as well. BUT I don't want to ask for a GAC if we don't need too. We did Walt Disney World 2 times with him without any problems even waiting in line he was really well behaved.

Do they have GAC at Universal ? It is a guest assistance card for people with disabilities at WDW. If we did decide to go with Universal and DS was having a hard time could we request a GAC (or the equivilent)?

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Originally posted by robvia
You can do IOA if you arrive early. The parking garage opens at 08:00am, be there a few minutes before that. Walk to the gate of IOA, find out what side they are going to open, and stand at the front of the line. There are 5-6 lanes that will open, so stand in front of an empty lane and be first.

With a 4 year old, I'm not sure they can even ride Spiderman.
You'd probably make a right after the entrance and grab an express pass for One Fish Two Fish. Then you'd head to Jurassic Park for Pternadon Flyers before the line gets long.

The 4 year old will enjoy the playgrounds.

The big crowds arrive at 11am. If you arrive to the parking garage by 8am, you can stay ahead of everyone, take a lap around IOA, then leave at lunch, go back to your hotel room, and take a nap.

That sounds like a plan. I have to speak to DH about it all again. We where totally planning on going until we heard the horror story from our neighbor. One was really upset about the passes....the other just complained about the lines.

 

[Motherfletcher]

When were you going? The peak season ended the 16th and they next peak would be Thanksgiving weekend, then it dies off to nothing until Dec. 22nd.

 

[JT3000]

Universal has GAP's. They let you into the Express lines. I'm not sure if they'll give you one though unless it's an obvious condition (like being handicapped). If he looks and acts normal, that might be a problem...

 

[maine_jennifer]

I can't speak for IOA because I've never been, but my first trip to US was President's Day, 2002 with 2 other adults and 2 girls 9 & 10. We were not onsite guests, did not have any express passes or anything and even though they say that is one of the busy times of yeat, we still had a great time. We were in the parking lot 1 hour before park opening, got our tickets (which you can do online before you leave to save time) and got in line for opening. We waited no longer than 15 minutes for any ride, with the exception of MIB, we waited 35 minutes for that. Only thing we missed was the Nickelodeon live taping or whatever, because we forgot to go back and get the tickets. They weren't making them available until 10am and we didn't want to wait around just for them. Oh well, we still had a great time. My job for vacation was getting out the door by 7am so we could go for breakfast and be at the parking lot 1 hour before opening. Doing that one thing saved SO much time each day.

Get up early and be at the park 1 hour before opening. Do the "big" rides that you think'll have long lines first, have lunch around 11:30 before the rush and catch some shows in the afternoon. I think if you can do that you'll be off to a good start and still get to see most of what you want.

HTH,

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

We are going the week of thanks giving. We will be there from the Sun before tillk the Sat after.

As far as my son's medical condition. He had a stroke in utero and lost 2/3rds of his brain to it. He has been left with a speech delay and a seizure disorder and may have some learning issues in the future. Right now he is in an intergrated preschool. He is doing well but the speech delay makes it hard for him. With the speech delay can come behavioral issues. His are not too bad unless he is pushed over a line....like hungry, tired etc. But that is pretty typical of any 3 year old. So if you see him happy content and rested he is typically behaving. If you see him tired, hungry, hot, impatient etc... he will have a melt down. So far we have been able to deal with lines and waiting turns like any other family with a 3 year old since he has to learn patience just like any other kid. It is actually a learning experince for him to wait his turn etc. BUT with that said there is a fine line from when it is a learning experience and just plain torture to him and those who would be around us. So far in the last 2 WDW trips and visits to the carnival we have not had any instances with major breakdowns on his part and he has handled regular park attending well. His seizures are not an issue because they have been controlled for almost a year. Sept 7th he will be seizure free 1 year Woohoo!
So we have never needed a GAC. Although I know if need be I could explain everything just as I had to you guys and he would probably receive one. The thing is that hopefully we won't need one. I don't like to focus on him like that. I want our experiences to be "normal".

But the whole reason for my "worry" is that I don't want to purposely put him (or us) in situation's that could turn into a melt down. KWIM? Having to wait on 45+ lines all day will not be fun for anyof us.