Universal hours

[Csaks]

We are here now and was wondering why regular park hours are so early. HHN shortens Studios but on non HHN nights it's 7pm.
Guess we are so used to Disney's later hours and love parks at night.
Is there a reason? Tried searching the forum but came up empty.

 

[sherlockmiles]

We are here now and was wondering why regular park hours are so early. HHN shortens Studios but on non HHN nights it's 7pm.
Guess we are so used to Disney's later hours and love parks at night.
Is there a reason? Tried searching the forum but came up empty.

Been complaining about this for years.

 

[tony67]

We are here now and was wondering why regular park hours are so early. HHN shortens Studios but on non HHN nights it's 7pm.
Guess we are so used to Disney's later hours and love parks at night.
Is there a reason? Tried searching the forum but came up empty.

Yeah - tis one thing that always frustrated me with Universal. Hopefully Epic will be different.
To be fair the late nights at Disney are not what they used to be - I can recall staying to 1AM many times - that is a lot less rare now.

Still Universal has always been ridiculously early IMO - other than HHN.

That said if your a late night person and don't have an AP it might be worth watching for the Orlando Informer weekends.
Its a little more expensive than a two day tickets - but you get it till 12:30 or 1:30 AM depending on the night.
It also includes food and snacks throughout both parks and a walkway between t he parks.
Its a lot less crowded and you can get in at 5PM - park closes at 7PM or 8PM for the general public.

Very short waits and overall its well worth it IMO - as long as you don't already have an AP or tickets.

 

[DisneyMom93]

I hate the short Universal park hours. I also don’t like that they don’t have dinner reservations in the parks. The full service restaurants close so early.

Maybe they want people to go to Citywalk in the evenings. Although their quick dining options are horrible there. And so crowded with little seating. We always prefer a full service restaurant there.

 

[Csaks]

Yeah - tis one thing that always frustrated me with Universal. Hopefully Epic will be different.
To be fair the late nights at Disney are not what they used to be - I can recall staying to 1AM many times - that is a lot less rare now.

Still Universal has always been ridiculously early IMO - other than HHN.

That said if your a late night person and don't have an AP it might be worth watching for the Orlando Informer weekends.
Its a little more expensive than a two day tickets - but you get it till 12:30 or 1:30 AM depending on the night.
It also includes food and snacks throughout both parks and a walkway between t he parks.
Its a lot less crowded and you can get in at 5PM - park closes at 7PM or 8PM for the general public.

Very short waits and overall its well worth it IMO - as long as you don't already have an AP or tickets.

We are Canadians, down for a week. Main reason is HHN but a bit perplexed at the early closing even today for both parks. Walking out of Islands last night after seven it was an amazing atmosphere. Wish they'd even stay open till 9PM.
Ya Disney was great for that being on property but now they want more money for that privilege. Nothing like Magic Kingdom at midnight with low crowds. We were even thinking of tossing in a few Disney days this week, until we looked up the prices. One day for just admission for two, its $350USD, $485CAD. Think we've finally found our Disney breaking point. Universal is still reasonable for us at the moment, Epic might change that.

 

[tony67]

We are Canadians, down for a week. Main reason is HHN but a bit perplexed at the early closing even today for both parks. Walking out of Islands last night after seven it was an amazing atmosphere. Wish they'd even stay open till 9PM.
Ya Disney was great for that being on property but now they want more money for that privilege. Nothing like Magic Kingdom at midnight with low crowds. We were even thinking of tossing in a few Disney days this week, until we looked up the prices. One day for just admission for two, its $350USD, $485CAD. Think we've finally found our Disney breaking point. Universal is still reasonable for us at the moment, Epic might change that.

Yeah - its a head scratcher - there is really not much to do after the parks close IMO.
That's one of the reasons I go during HHN and Mardi Gras - there is a little more going on and HHN has the late nights.

Epic pricing so far has been much better than expected - I'm also thinking it will be open later - but that is just a guess.
This biggest issue is currently when you buy a 3, 4 or 5 day ticket its only one day at Epic.

I thought the same thing about Disney - maybe do a day or two at Disney well staying at the Universal hotels - even with Uber its a big savings - I've done that before and its not bad at all - but its expensive for the tickets and Id need a hopper on top of that - just not worth it IMO.