Tr: Ioa/bgt 03/28/02 - 03/29/02

[robvia]

TR: IOA/BGT 03/28/02-03/29/02

Cast: Me (38)
DD (10)

South Florida residents who drive up and stay at cheap hotels. If you've wondered what happens when you don't stay onsite, read on. Basically, you can take 1 lap around IOA in the morning, if you're at the gate, but after that, forget it, the place is packed.

Arrived IOA at 08:40am, to our surprise, the park was completely open, meaning, they didn't do the wait at the bridge thing. Thanks IOA, this helps out a lot, keep up the early openings. Walk-on ride for Hulk, 10 minute for Spiderman, 10 minute for Dr. Doom. Kept going clockwise and went on Popeye, walk-on. Got soaked, but we expected that, held our feet up to keep our shoes dry. Ripsaw falls, JPRA, then to DD. Got a fast pass for DD, waited 40 minutes for a front seat ride on Fire, but it was worth it. The reride doors we're not open, meaning, you could not enter the queue from the exit side. That's why we got the fast pass, it took us to a door just before where you choose the dragon you want. Back row ride on Ice, awesome, the first drop is so fast.

Lunch at Mythos 12:00 noon. Daughter had the Mythos burger, I had "It's a wrap." Now this is something different to try. A green tortilla with Barbeque chicken. Now, the chicken is not smothered with the sauce, just a light coating, you barely taste it, the chicken is golden brown. To a side of each wrap is potatoes, with tomatoe and lettuce. Of coarse, everyone knows, their potatoes are the best, so I guess that's why they are added to the wrap as a side. It's good, a different taste. You get your chicken, potatoes, and veggies all in a wrap. Many people we're ordering this, I think (IMHO) just to see what it was, because it doesn't say exactly what it is on the menu yet, a surprise, and a good one at that.

1pm, the park is packed. My DD and I look at the board near the front of the park. The major rides (Hulk, Spiderman, Ripsawfalls) have a wait of 90 minutes. You gotta be kidding me. The place is packed. We leave and go check in to our hotel.

We come back to 6pm, to Universal to ride ET. 45 minute wait. We go to MIB and do the single rider thing, about 20 minute wait. Then back to ET. The timer still says 45 minutes, but we go in. We get thru the line quickly in about 30 minutes, ride is great, definitely a must ride. What's the differance? Just the preshow. SP says it's the 20th anniversary ride a few times. And in the queue waiting, they have a trivia quiz about the movie. I've also heard they have more fog in some spots of the ride. ET did say our names correctly.

We go back to IOA trying to ride the coasters, but to our surprise, DD still has a 45 minute wait. Wow, we say forget that. We go back to Universal and wait for the parade.

A little after 10pm, it starts. My DD gets lots of beads. I don't agree with the late start. The parade should start at 8pm before the band plays. Drove back to the hotel and finally got to bed at midnight. That's why I don't agree with the late start of the parade. My DD (10) could care less about a rock band. Do the parade at 8pm.

I still couldn't believe the long lines at IOA at 9pm. The wait times we're still 45 minutes, even that late. IOA needs those early openings and late closings.

03/29/02
Checked out of our cheap hotel and headed towards BGT, arriving a little late at 9pm. The parking lot was filling up fast, I was surprised.
We went in, rode Gwazi once (10 minute wait), 20 minute wait for Montu, skipped RR with a 60 minute wait (family people, raise your hands), 10 minute wait for Kumba. River Raft was in rehab, Stanley falls was 30 minutes and so was Tidal Wave. We didn't wait, we gave up, the place was packed. We walked out at noon and the line of people buying tickets to get in went to the fountain. Now, if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. That's about 50 people in 8 lines, waiting to buy tickets at noon. The Florida Fun Card line was 1 hour. The parking lot is completely full at noon. Get the idea? The place is packed.

Oh, while on Kumba, I looked at the open field and didn't see any flags or markings. Scrub those rumors, nothing is happening.

Crazy, the people are back. BGT was packed like you wouldn't believe. If you wanna get your rides, then you gotta be there when they open.
I hope they use some of that money to buy a new coaster. That's always the key to having fun at parks. Get there early before the gates open.

Now, let's talk about one more thing. What made our trip so fun? Getting on all the rides at IOA in the morning. What made it a bummer. The long lines at BGT. Parks know this, which is why they keep playing with line systems for money. Short lines for rides are the key to having fun. BGT is an awesome park, but the long lines just kill it.

Parks can help out by having early openings. IOA seems to realize this with the 08:30am start. More parks should do this. If they can't open the entire park early, then at least open the major rides first and let everyone get to them. Right now during spring break, any park that is running should be open at 8am with the maximum number of trains.

DRINK BUD and SEE A UNIVERSAL MOVIE.

 

[SherryfromOK]

How bad were the express lines? My husband and daugher both had surgery on knee and foot and we are staying on site to hopefully not stand in those 90 minute lines. Did you notice how the express lines were?

 

[nhrenee]

Thanks for the report Rob! Too bad about the crowds but it sounds like you had fun anyway.

 

[robvia]

The express lines are usually 20 minutes or less no matter how large the regular crowds are. Express line for MIB was a walk on at night. For ET, you'll get to go right to the door leading into the building, then skip the line where you walk thru the trees, you can't get any faster than that. The biggest advantage to staying onsite is that the express ticket machines run out of tickets in the afternoon, but hotel guests can keep going thru those lines late in the day/night. So by the late afternoon, everyone has used up their express tickets, leaving only hotel guests to use those lines. Having a magic key will make your stay fun even if the park is packed.

Yes, we had a good time at IOA taking a lap ahead of the crowd. The rest of the time was a little frustrating with so many people, but we got over it. What really amazed me was seeing hundreds of people waiting in line to buy tickets at 1pm to USF. Wait times for most rides we're 1 hour or more, and people we're still arriving, and this was on a Thursday. Same thing for BGT on a Friday. We left at noon and the masses of people buying tickets to a full park was amazing.

 

[treasuredude]

You seem to know your stuff about IOA and USF. I have a few questions if you don't mind.

We will be in Orlando from May 29 - June 4th. We will be hitting a couple of the Disney parks, USF/IOA, and a day at the beach. I was planning on going to USF on Saturday June 1 and IOA on Monday June 3rd. It will be myself and my 14 year old son. We are staying off site and have no problems about getting up early and getting to the parks.

For IOA, I was planning on Marvel Island first and then working our way clockwise. Hit Hulk, Spiderman, Dr. Doom, then onto Bluto and Ripsaw. Also DD-Fire and DD-Ice. We also want to do the Jurassic Park River Ride. After that round of rides, I thought we would do dinner at Mythos and then take in some of the shows. Speaking of Mythos, what is the best time to go and how far ahead should I make reservations?

At USF, I am not as clear as to a plan. Get there early and hit MIB. Any other ideas?

I picked Saturday for USF as Sunday appears to be Gayday at USF/IOA. I thought Monday would be a good day to do IOA. We leave on Tuesday the 4th. Our plane doesn't leave until 4:30 PM, so I thought we could go back that morning and redo our favorites in both parks.

We are staying off site in Kissimmee at the Holiday Inn - Nikki Bird outside of WDW. Any idea how long the trip will take from there to Universal?

Sorry for all the questions and the length of this post, but I appreciate any help you could give me. Thanks.

 

[robvia]

No problem, that's what everyone is here to do, answer questions.

I don't know if IOA will open early when you go, let's just pretend they open at 9am letting people in the gate at 08:45am. Try to be in the parking garage at 08:00am. From the hotel in Kissimme, the drive is about 10 minutes. You take I-4 East, get in the left lane, and exit at Kirkman Road and you're there, left lane into the parking garages. Traffic will be light, but be careful, there is some construction near Sea World, keep both hands on the wheel. You park, put on suntan lotion, and start walking.
Now you're at the IOA gate at about 08:30. The park will either be open, or they'll let you in the gate at 08:45am and stop you at the bridge leading to Hulk.
Your ride selection is correct, it's exactly what my DD and I did on the last trip. We went clockwise in order and stayed one step ahead of the crowd.

We stopped at guest services and put in a reservation for Mythos on the way into IOA, it's on the right side as you enter the turnstiles. Mythos doesn't open till 10am, so the person at guest services gave us his extension to make sure he made the reservation, we called from a gift shop. They don't make reservations for Mythos at the stand in front of City Walk anymore. The wait time was only 10 minutes, you really don't need a reservation for lunch.
When you go clockwise, you hit all the major rides, and then Mythos, you'll end up there at about noon. Go in at this time and eat, it's a huge lunch and you'll be full. You won't need a big dinner after this, just some snacks like ice cream at the stands.

USF, if ET is running, hit this first, then goto MIB, Jaws since it's right next to it, Kong. After that it would probably be Earthquake, Twister, T2 and some shows. You see, MIB, Jaws, and ET are lower capacity rides compared to the others which fill a room and are like a show.

No matter what day you go, the park will be empty early in the morning, then quickly fill up by noon. The idea is to be waiting at the gate before they open so you're first thru, then take your lap ahead of the crowd. After that you can have a long lunch, and see some shows. The sun will be beating down on you at 1pm, so you'll probably go back to your hotel, take a nap, then come back for the evening. Hopefully the lines will drop as the tired are leaving, but that wasn't the case for us, maybe it was because of spring break. At least it's dark and the temperature is dropping.

I dunno, for offsite guests, it's almost like you get 3 hours in the morning to do everything, then it's hot, you leave, come back and hope the lines are dropping. If the lines don't drop, then you'll end up waiting 45 minutes for a ride, which isn't too bad. It's just that you get spoiled from the morning walkon rides, and kids usually don't have any patience. For my daughter, if the wait is 30 minutes, she says no. For ET, we made an exception and said ok for 45 minutes. It ended up being about 30. But most of the time, if the digital wait time clock on front of each ride says 30, my DD says no.

You'll get your rides if you're at the gate before the park opens. And you can visit the park on your last day, then catch your afternoon plane ride home. You'll have alot of fun, but expect the huge crowds in the afternoon. It's like most people don't realize the key to short lines is being at the gate before the park opens. Many people arrive at 10am, or 11am, like they need the park to open first. What are these people thinking? Wake up at 6am, eat breakfast at 7am, arrive to the park at 8am. That is the key for guests staying offsite.

 

[treasuredude]

I really appreciate the detailed post. It was/will be a lot of help. Thanks!

 

[Vderon]

To the poster who asked about Express line wait times- we where there on March 23, and it was unbelievable. We did Spiderman twice in 15 minutes. We walked on Dueling Dragons, Hulk was about a 5 to 7 minute wait, and MIB and Jaws were just about walk ons.

Disney's MGM two days later was a nightmare compared to IOA and Universal with the Express line privelege.

My kids are too old to pull out of school, so I have to go during peak times. I'll take advantage of the on site benefits as long as they are available! To top it off, HRH was the best place I have ever stayed in Orlando, including the Disney Resorts.

 

[suzysezso]

Hey Rob-
We were at BGT on 3/29 also! Luckily we'd purchased our Funpasses at Publix the day before and walked right through the Nairobi gate at 9 am. The entry attendant there gave us good advice to go back for the picture card processing about 4pm when the crowds were down but we stupidly forgot and ended up joining the queue after the park closed at 8:30pm. Finally got our passes about 9:45pm.
Anyway you are right about Friday being amazingly crowded. It wasn't too bad until about 11 am then it just got crazy. We figured Saturday would be worse since it was the last weekend of Spring Break, so we signed up for the smaller of the 2 VIP tours, which included lunch, the Serenghetti Safari, 2 shows and FOTL for all of the coasters, Rhino Rally, and a few other rides. WELL WORTH IT! The funny thing was that the crowds literally disappeared on Saturday. Even our guide said he was astounded by how empty the park was!
We did have a few mishaps, my son's wheelchair got stolen while we were on the safari- Security recovered it within an hour. Then when we were on the Congo River Ride it broke down and we had to get out of the boat and walk in the river back to the start. Thank God a member of our group was a fireman and hoisted JH up on his back for the hike! That night the skyride also broke down with people on it, thankfully not us! LOL
We still had a blast-I hate to sound blasphemous but I think I liked it better than IOA though not as much as USO- I am just not a coaster person- Anyway, wish we had seen y'all there!

 

[lakoda]

How do you know if the reride doors are open?

 

[Winston112]

Thanks so much for the trip report. I love reading these.