Should we bother going into IOA an hour before park closing?

[A&Bmama]

Here's our situation. We are first time visitors at the Universal Parks and are staying at RPR for our arrival night before moving over to Disney. We arrive on Thursday Feb 10th and IOA closes at 7PM.

Barring any flight delays we should be checking in between 5 and 5:30. I was thinking that if we can arrive inside the park by 6 we might get a feel for the park and ride a couple of rides with our express passes. Do you think we should bother? How much can be accomplished in the last hour of the day? We will have lower crowds and the universal express in our favour.

We plan to do 2 full days in the universal parks, the first the day after our arrival and another day later on during our stay. Also, on our first full day we intend to take advantage of the early entry hour to get a jump start on touring WWoHP, then after a couple hours of touring a few headliners we would use our Park to Park passes to hop over to Universal and get some of the headliners under our belt there. Is it a good idea?

 

[the Dark Marauder]

In an hour, you wouldn't be able to see much. You could probably ride Hulk, Doctor Doom, and Spider-Man before the park closed, and that's about it.

Alternately, you could head straight for WWOHP (walk fast!) and ride Flight of the Hippogriff and Forbidden Journey. If you're lucky, you could even eke out a ride on both dragons. Either scenario would consume your hour.

IMHO, I'd skip those options. Use your time to get comfortable with the RPR (it's gorgeous!) and check out Citywalk a bit. Relax, unpack, and get some rest so you can be up early to be at the gate by 730 for Early Entry.

Whatever you choose, have fun!

 

[Pumbaa7287]

I would have to agree with the lord of shadows on this one... Not enough time to do anything without feeling really rushed. Better to wait it out, and get a nice meal at citywalk!

 

[ducky_love]

It isn't worth paying for an extra day. But back when I had to drive by Uni to get home from work I would pop in the last hour of the day all the time! It was enough time to get on FJ and one other ride then shop my way to the exit. You certainly have to hustle to get that much in, though!

 

[ladylinda65]

I wholeheartedly agree with everyone here. Don't rush that first night. You will be travelling and probably tired. Enjoy a nice meal at Citywalk and then get up bright and early to get into IOA.

Usually people will start lining up about a half hour before the early hours start so you will have to leave your hotel at like 7:15 to make an 8AM gate.

Enjoy and have a great time!!

 

[Metro West]

In an hour, you wouldn't be able to see much. You could probably ride Hulk, Doctor Doom, and Spider-Man before the park closed, and that's about it.

Alternately, you could head straight for WWOHP (walk fast!) and ride Flight of the Hippogriff and Forbidden Journey. If you're lucky, you could even eke out a ride on both dragons. Either scenario would consume your hour.

IMHO, I'd skip those options. Use your time to get comfortable with the RPR (it's gorgeous!) and check out Citywalk a bit. Relax, unpack, and get some rest so you can be up early to be at the gate by 730 for Early Entry.

Whatever you choose, have fun!

 

[IdesOmarch]

Yes definitely if you have a multi day ticket, definitely not if you are talking about paying a full day ticket just for 1 hour. Now when we went we had the 7 day pass and did something similar to you, we got there several hours before closing, but yes we went in and checked things out and just strolled around (not that I needed to since I have been there before, but just for the sake of taking advantage of every moment we had).

If you go, it does give you a good idea of what it is like and what you may want to do on your full days, I would advise not necessarily riding too many rides, but taking a quick walk around the park (its in a circle), maybe taking some quick digital camera shots of things, then if you have time maybe doing Spiderman on the way out, since it is fairly close to the exit. But if you hustle, you should be able to walk the circle in an hour if you don't stop, except maybe just to take some pics.

 

[schumigirl]

I would definately relax, unpack and have a nice meal in either the hotel or Citywalk.

The restaurants in the hotel are lovely, particularly Jakes Bar on the ground floor and the Sushi Bar in the lounge. It is a beautiful hotel and nice to just chill in.

Then you`ll be well rested to start bright and early the next day

 

[stepheb]

we will be the same days - and since we have a 7 yo and 8 yo with us - I thought it would be neat to walk in WWoHH for an hour that night and ride maybe a ride or two before going to get something to eat.

They will be excited (this is a surprise trip for them) so I figure that it will get the weekend started off perfect!