Trying the "other" side for Easter this time...wish us luck!

[kittylady1972]

So last year we were Disney passholders and did Disney for the first time Easter week...we vowed NEVER again. The lines were truly insane!

This year we are tempting fate a bit and attempting the Universal parks. We'll probably only go on Friday and Saturday of Easter weekend, so I've booked RPR for Friday night because I'm sure we'll need the Express passes. My DD and I won't be able to hit the parks until later in the afternoon both days due to other commitments, but my son and DH will probably be able to go early.

For those experienced in these parks during Easter...who have also done the Disney parks at Easter...how do they compare? I recall last year the line for the TEACUPS was around the outside of the ride and well beyond the regular gates, and Monsters Inc show had a 60+ minute wait also around the outside of the building.

Will the Express Pass lines be reasonable enough? We've used EP in the past but many times we didn't even need it. I have no illusion this time that it will be necessary. DD and I probably won't even get to the parks until after noon both days.

 

[Siome42]

We'll be there with you! I agreed to upgrade to 3 nights at RPR instead of 3 nights at CB just so we can have the EP. It'll be our first time at Universal, so I'm hoping we'll have a good time. We'll be there 4/18-22/19, with EP the 19-22. We've got two boys, 1 at 48 inches, and the other at 44, so at least we already have some rides crossed off our lists. I went ahead and bought interactive wands & robes for the boys so we can go straight to spell casting. I have pretty low expectations as far as what we'll manage to do. Other than the Minion breakfast & wandering around Harry Potter, I'm pretty much open to chasing the shortest lines through the app. I wouldn't even be attempting this, but we have air tickets that expire soon, and somehow spending money at Universal made more sense than just losing the air credits. Although my cheap heart cringes every time I encounter a new charge. I don't even want to think about what our food budget is going to look like.

 

[skylock]

We'll be there with you! I agreed to upgrade to 3 nights at RPR instead of 3 nights at CB just so we can have the EP. It'll be our first time at Universal, so I'm hoping we'll have a good time. We'll be there 4/18-22/19, with EP the 19-22. We've got two boys, 1 at 48 inches, and the other at 44, so at least we already have some rides crossed off our lists. I went ahead and bought interactive wands & robes for the boys so we can go straight to spell casting. I have pretty low expectations as far as what we'll manage to do. Other than the Minion breakfast & wandering around Harry Potter, I'm pretty much open to chasing the shortest lines through the app. I wouldn't even be attempting this, but we have air tickets that expire soon, and somehow spending money at Universal made more sense than just losing the air credits. Although my cheap heart cringes every time I encounter a new charge. I don't even want to think about what our food budget is going to look like.

Try to make early entry for the kids to do the wands. The area will have the lowest amount of people of probably any other time of the day. I would also watch a few youtube videos because there is a bit of a knack to getting the wands to do what they are suppose to and if you already know where the sensors are, it will help. It also seems it is more wrist action than whole arm movement.

I sat and watched for a long time while I was eating my ice cream and some kids did it first time and some never got it. There is often a team member close by to help, but there was not one that day.

As far as what you will get to do, with express passes and the length of stay, I would say you will be able to do everything.

 

[holden]

We will be there then too. We are Disney "experts" but have only been to Uni once eight years ago (a one day visit). We are hoping for the best. With three park days I think we will get to see and do what we want.

 

[kittylady1972]

Glad to see that I will not be alone! DD and I are actually doing a short trip THIS weekend where we'll probably do Universal parks on Sunday but with no EP this time. We are by no means Universal experts, but we've been a few times over the years (last time as a family in November 2016) and in fact DH and I took a trip back in September just for HHN which was fantastic. So we aren't experts, but we have done most of the rides before so if we miss out on something it won't be the end of the world. DD just wants RRR this trip and I love MIB and Gringotts but beyond that we'll just do what we can and maybe use Single Rider lines as much as possible for this weekend.

Crowds don't scare me at all, and we've done WDW parks numerous times during Thanksgiving week in the past and we've managed. That Easter trip last year though was truly insane, I was shocked at how little we were able to do without FPs there. I guess we'll just have to see how things go with Universal.

 

[Tebrown96]

We'll be there for 4 days leading up to Easter, as well, and sadly, no EP for us. I am now terrified about how little we'll be able to get done, esp. since we've never been before and are Universal clueless. I am trying to convince myself to just go with the flow, enjoy the things we *can* do and escape to the resort for pool time if we're just totally overwhelmed. At least I bought the tickets during the 'buy 2 get 2 promo,' so even we just get into the parks for early mornings each day, hopefully we can get at least a few things done!

 

[kittylady1972]

We'll be there for 4 days leading up to Easter, as well, and sadly, no EP for us. I am now terrified about how little we'll be able to get done, esp. since we've never been before and are Universal clueless. I am trying to convince myself to just go with the flow, enjoy the things we *can* do and escape to the resort for pool time if we're just totally overwhelmed. At least I bought the tickets during the 'buy 2 get 2 promo,' so even we just get into the parks for early mornings each day, hopefully we can get at least a few things done!

I think having the 4 days, and taking advantage of getting to the parks early, you will probably be okay. We have found 2 days is more than enough for us to get through what we want to do, all the 'big' rides and headliners, in both parks with EP. I would imagine without, if you focus on the popular stuff like HP stuff in the mornings (or Minions...that's one you also have to do first thing) and then move on to the rest of the park in the afternoons, maybe a hotel break, and maybe back for the last few hours of the evening you should be okay. I must say though, I saw some people posting yesterday that even at 7pm at Universal the waits for the more popular rides were up to 70 minutes. I remember the time we went and did the HP stuff it was during the last hour or so the park was open and the lines were pretty low. So I will be very interested to see what my DD and I get done this weekend there since we will NOT have EP and we won't be able to take advantage of any early entry since we aren't onsite. I know she would like to sleep in, but I almost feel like if we want to squeeze in a few of our favorites we'll need to be there close to the 9am opening, ride a few things, then maybe relax at the hotel in the afternoon.

 

[Tebrown96]

I think having the 4 days, and taking advantage of getting to the parks early, you will probably be okay. We have found 2 days is more than enough for us to get through what we want to do, all the 'big' rides and headliners, in both parks with EP. I would imagine without, if you focus on the popular stuff like HP stuff in the mornings (or Minions...that's one you also have to do first thing) and then move on to the rest of the park in the afternoons, maybe a hotel break, and maybe back for the last few hours of the evening you should be okay. I must say though, I saw some people posting yesterday that even at 7pm at Universal the waits for the more popular rides were up to 70 minutes. I remember the time we went and did the HP stuff it was during the last hour or so the park was open and the lines were pretty low. So I will be very interested to see what my DD and I get done this weekend there since we will NOT have EP and we won't be able to take advantage of any early entry since we aren't onsite. I know she would like to sleep in, but I almost feel like if we want to squeeze in a few of our favorites we'll need to be there close to the 9am opening, ride a few things, then maybe relax at the hotel in the afternoon.

Thanks for your perspective! I'm not necessarily worried about getting everything done in the 4 days, I'm more worried about whether our daughter (11) will have the patience to wait in a ridiculous line. I know my patience wears thin! I'd love to hear how you guys make out this weekend w/o EP or EE. I was checking the app for wait times yesterday and yes, even into the evening, many rides had waits upwards of an hour. I am now REALLY considering buying EP for one day or our stay. We ended up canceling our rental car, so one day of limited EP (better than no EP!) would cost about the same as that would have been. Gotta talk to the hubs tonight.

 

[kittylady1972]

Ok back to provide a quick report on our weekend. I may not be the best person to determine what you can and can't do, because there weren't too many rides we really felt were must-dos for us. We were good with what we accomplished. Here's a quick summary:

Saturday: Arrived at USF around 8:30am, exchanged our tickets for vouchers, were allowed to roam the front of the park but not any rides. Once park was open to "regular" people, we headed directly to Rip Ride Rocket, wait was about 15 minutes (it wasn't even running yet) and that was easy enough. Afterwards we headed over towards the HP stuff (I can never remember what each area is called, not a big HP fan) and the line for Gringotts was already 45 minutes plus, so we jumped into standby...and maybe waited 10-15 minutes and were on the same train in different cars. Once off that, we grabbed some Butterbeer and wandered a bit, making our way eventually over to MIB which posted a 15 minute wait, and that was probably 20 because they were only running one side of the ride. Once the other side was operating, it moved more quickly. We skipped Simpsons (it may have been 15 or 20 minutes) but I made her to the other ride there (it's similar to Dumbo...small kiddie ride where you control up and down...but I've never done it) and then we wandered back into the area of Jimmy Fallon and did that one. That has a virtual queue where you grab a ticket and get in line when your time is there, similar to Fastpass...the ticket was for about 15 minutes later so we waited, watching some Marilyn Monroe show in the street, then rode Fallon which she enjoyed. We probably left the park close to noon and walked back to our resort (Doubletree) which was a nice pleasant walk.

Sunday: Arrived around 9am to IOA, headed right to Hulk, waited maybe 20 minutes for that one (I show us with a photo after at 9:45am). We grabbed a snack and ate, and rode Dr. Doom Fearfall with maybe a 5 minute wait, then over to Jurassic Park where we rode the river adventure, off that around 10:30am. Headed to Harry Potter area there, contemplated Flight of Hippogriff until we saw the 45 minute wait! Decided instead to do single rider on Harry Potter ride there, that was pretty much a walk-on in single rider or a 70 minute wait I think? After that, we rode the Cat in the Hat ride (no wait) and then Storm Force (maybe 5 minute wait). Spiderman was 45+ minutes so we skipped it. We left the park and had lunch at Toothsome. After lunch, needed to walk so headed to USF again, and Rip Ride Rocket showed 15 minute wait (around 1:30pm) so we hopped in line and rode that. Proceeded to walk around more, watched a bit of the 2pm parade, then rode Mummy in standby at a 25 minute wait...pretty close to that. We left the park after that and headed to the airport.

So...we missed a lot of rides mostly due to lack of interest. We've done Kong before...didn't feel a need to do it again, same with it's "sister" ride Fast and Furious...same ride, not nearly as good, but my son and DH may want to try that one when we return in a few weeks. I would have done Simpsons even though it isn't a favorite...but no real desire, I think we walked by when it was 25 minutes or so. I'd say your longest waits will be for the HP rides, so hit those up early, if you do one each day you'd be good, and at least those queues are interesting with a kid who might not like to wait. We didn't do Spiderman even though I do like that one, but I think again hitting that early is good or maybe at the end of the day. If you want to do Shrek or Minions, those also should be an early morning priority...I'm not a fan of either one but have done them once. I would have liked to see some of the shows, but DD wasn't into them so I was okay enjoying the sunshine and beautiful weather instead. So as far as I'm concerned we did the stuff we wanted to do in our two short days there without Express Pass and by using Single rider lines. Going back in two weeks we'll probably do about the same stuff but with Express Pass so we won't have to do single rider.

 

[ChrisM]

Wait, you went already? I thought you were going Easter weekend, which isn't for almost 3 weeks.

 

[kittylady1972]

Wait, you went already? I thought you were going Easter weekend, which isn't for almost 3 weeks.

BOTH. We went over the weekend, just 2 of us, to do a volunteer orientation at GKTW. We wanted it done so we could spend more time Easter weekend volunteering at GKTW. My husband and son will be spending more time at the Universal Parks Easter weekend, but my daughter and I are hoping to squeeze in a little bit of time at the parks before/after volunteering.

 

[elfling8]

We are going then too - Wed-Sun with 3 1/2 park days since our flight out Easter Sunday isn't until 8pm. We also were originally booked at cabana bay but switched to RPR for the EP. We are planning on hitting early hours the first two days and then see how we feel the last 2 about sleeping in. Nice that both parks are EE. That should help spread the crowds a little in the mornings. For sure we plan to head back for a swim or a nap mid day when it is hot and crowded, and want to return at night. Looks like it is open until 10pm every night we are there, so that should help too. Kids are 14 and 16 so no problem staying up late!

 

[kittylady1972]

We are going then too - Wed-Sun with 3 1/2 park days since our flight out Easter Sunday isn't until 8pm. We also were originally booked at cabana bay but switched to RPR for the EP. We are planning on hitting early hours the first two days and then see how we feel the last 2 about sleeping in. Nice that both parks are EE. That should help spread the crowds a little in the mornings. For sure we plan to head back for a swim or a nap mid day when it is hot and crowded, and want to return at night. Looks like it is open until 10pm every night we are there, so that should help too. Kids are 14 and 16 so no problem staying up late!

Cool! We only have the one night at RPR so Friday and Saturday will be our park days. I'm not sure if my son and DH will do the EE stuff, since DD and I have volunteer duties at 8am both Friday and Saturday. We are planning to do the parks together later Friday/Saturday, so after 1pm most likely. I'm glad they are open late, since having those extra hours and the EP should allow us to do what we want to do as well. We probably won't stay too late on Saturday since our Sat/Sun night hotel reservation is a Disney hotel...but no plans to visit any Disney parks. With a 14 and 16yo with us also the staying up late shouldn't be an issue for us either!

 

[kittylady1972]

So we survived the Easter trip...but honestly did not do a lot at either of the parks.

Friday DD & I volunteered at GKTW from 8:30am until 12pm. We returned to RPR hotel and walked over to IOA, arriving closer to 2pm maybe. DH and DS14 had already done Universal that morning with Express Pass and did every ride they wanted to do and the Monsters Makeup Show (were DS14 was "the kid"). DD and I were hungry so we stopped at Moe's in Citywalk for food and DS and DH met us there. We walked to IOA together and did The Hulk, followed by Spiderman and then headed to Kong...as the dark clouds were rolling in and I knew we'd get wet. Well we came out of Kong, headed towards the exit, and the skies OPENED up...there was no fighting it. We were SOAKED when we returned to our hotel. We had showers and dried off then went off property for dinner. We returned around 8pm and headed to Universal Studios and rode RRR first thing, then headed towards the back of the park and rode Mummy. After that, it was close to time for the evening show on the water, so we saw that but since were in the back I don't think we got the full effect of it. It was okay.

Saturday we volunteered again from 7:30am-10:30am, so we didn't get to the parks until around 1pm as traffic just driving back to RPR was terrible. This time we headed directly to IOA from RPR and got snacks to hold us over as DH and DS were riding Hogwarts Castle. We met up and did Hippogriff using Express Pass, still a 20 minute wait I think. Then DH wanted to do the Hight the Sky Seuss Trolley (a 60 minute regular line wait) ride at Seussville. We then decided to ride The Hulk again, this time waiting for front row, and we followed that with Dr. Doom's Fearfall. Beyond that, we weren't interested in anything else, and so we decided to leave the Universal bubble and head to our Disney resort (SSR).

I heard a lot of people talking about the long lines. I don't think we would have done much of anything with Express Pass but really we didn't do a lot even with it, but I am sure the boys got through a lot more stuff on Friday without us. Saturday DS14 wasn't feeling well so they hung at the hotel (RPR) until they absolutely had to leave the room...and then headed out to a park when DS felt a little better.

I ended up upgrading my Military Salute 4-day 2-park pass to an annual pass as we plan to return once more in the fall and DH still has 2 days left on his 4-day pass.

Oh and we also spent several hours Thursday at Volcano Bay. We really enjoyed that waterpark for the most part, but it was AT CAPACITY that day.