Universal will reopen June 5th!

[yulilin3]

this is probably going to be long here's my report and I have seen several other people reporting back, I can only truthfully give you my thoughts on my experience
Got to Universal around 8am, no line for the garage, no line for temp check or bag check. Walked right over to IOA, was by the lighthouse waiting for opening, everyone around me was keeping some sort of distance (not necessarily 6ft but not normal close) at exactly 9am they opened the park. I was live streaming so I couldn't grab any VL. Walked clockwise starting at Superhero Island, no one around, like ghost town, I'm assuming everyone went to Hagrid's. Pretty uneventful, went into a couple of gift shops, all the TM were super excited to be back, got to Hogsmead and the queue to enter FJ was out of the castle and up to the snowman , this is going to be the biggest issue moving forward, the queues spilling out because of social distancing,
Loved all the characters everywhere, they were all out and it cute places to take pics
Left IOA around 10:20am saw Ryno and Craig entering the park at that point
Walked to US and even though the queue to enter the park seemed long it didn't take me more than 5 min. The park seemed busier than IOA, obviously it was later in the day, saw Marilyn's show, Blues Brothers and Beat Builders, then headed to Diagon Alley, it was not that crazy inside, I even went into the store and it was completely empty. At this point it was Noon and I was starving, I said goodbye to the stream and mobile ordered my lunch from Leaky Cauldron thinking it was like Disney and I could skip the line. It wasn't. I had to get in line with everyone else, which made sense as they are controlling the capacity inside. The line snaked into Nockturn Alley and it was one hour long. By the time I got seated I was cranky and starving. The TM kindly came to take my order number (they are trying for everyone to mobile order, but if you can't they still take regular card or cash) I gave him my order number and in about 10 min he delivered my food along with cash back from my AP discount (I actually completely forgot about that and I didnt ask him for it but they were doing that for everyone who mobile ordered)
While in line waiting to eat I had booked Mummy VL for 1:50-2:20 and then Despicable Me was the only thing left with a VL so booked that. I wanted to try out the system
So I left Leaky Cauldron at 2:45pm and went to Mummy. Very organized, everyone was keeping tabs on the markers on the floor. There was 1 guy in front of me, then me (another single rider) they are loading only front and back of the vehicle so for our ride we were only 2. If you are a group then obviously you take a whole row. The wait for Mummy was about 10 min. After I headed for Transformers, a walk on again only front row and back row were being loaded. Then of course I had to do ET, same thing only front and back row were loaded. Again as a singlle rider I had a row to myself because they are not putting different parties in the same row.
I asked about the hand sanitizer thing when people are allergic and you can now go to guest relations and explain your allergy and they will put a wristband on you so that TM know you cannot use the hand sanitizer, after you ride the TM will then clean your seat if you cannot use hand sanitizer
As I was leaving I bumped into Ryno and Craig again, they were obviously not impressed with the handling of the situation
I can honestly say (and you can watch the live stream replay if you wish) I did not encounter any issues other than the long line for food and the restaurants at 30% capacity it makes sense
Now I have seen pictures of crowds at Citywalk for temp checks and long lines to enter the parks so I know it happened, it just didn't happen to me
I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have

 

[osufeth24]

Sorry, but who's Ryno and Craig?

 

[atricks]

thanks so much for reporting back!! When you say overwhelmed do you mean not up to the capacity or glitchy? And did you only ride 4 things today? thanks again!

Bit of both.

We also did storm force, and Transformers, ate at Finnegans (Reservations for the sit downs are a MUST with limited capacity, if you walk up you won't get a time anywhere close. If you are going tomorrow or later this week, do yourself a favor and do it now, it's much less hassle than the quick serve with reservations). (We had a 5 year old with us so we took our time, and used the "U Rest" areas in IOA by starbucks and in the Sindbad theater in lost continent. We probably could have done more if we didn't take it so leisurely. Kong was full on the VQue when we tried. Spiderman and Transformers weren't doing virtual queue today. I think they were trying with and without in certain rides to see what works better.

We also parked at 8:30 and saw NONE of the temp check issues that some people reported. So arriving early I think has a lot to do with it.

 

[yulilin3]

Sorry, but who's Ryno and Craig?

both members of the DisUnplugged. Ryno was very vocal on Twitter today about Universal's handling of crowds

 

[Anna_Sh]

this is probably going to be long here's my report and I have seen several other people reporting back, I can only truthfully give you my thoughts on my experience
Got to Universal around 8am, no line for the garage, no line for temp check or bag check. Walked right over to IOA, was by the lighthouse waiting for opening, everyone around me was keeping some sort of distance (not necessarily 6ft but not normal close) at exactly 9am they opened the park. I was live streaming so I couldn't grab any VL. Walked clockwise starting at Superhero Island, no one around, like ghost town, I'm assuming everyone went to Hagrid's. Pretty uneventful, went into a couple of gift shops, all the TM were super excited to be back, got to Hogsmead and the queue to enter FJ was out of the castle and up to the snowman , this is going to be the biggest issue moving forward, the queues spilling out because of social distancing,
Loved all the characters everywhere, they were all out and it cute places to take pics
Left IOA around 10:20am saw Ryno and Craig entering the park at that point
Walked to US and even though the queue to enter the park seemed long it didn't take me more than 5 min. The park seemed busier than IOA, obviously it was later in the day, saw Marilyn's show, Blues Brothers and Beat Builders, then headed to Diagon Alley, it was not that crazy inside, I even went into the store and it was completely empty. At this point it was Noon and I was starving, I said goodbye to the stream and mobile ordered my lunch from Leaky Cauldron thinking it was like Disney and I could skip the line. It wasn't. I had to get in line with everyone else, which made sense as they are controlling the capacity inside. The line snaked into Nockturn Alley and it was one hour long. By the time I got seated I was cranky and starving. The TM kindly came to take my order number (they are trying for everyone to mobile order, but if you can't they still take regular card or cash) I gave him my order number and in about 10 min he delivered my food along with cash back from my AP discount (I actually completely forgot about that and I didnt ask him for it but they were doing that for everyone who mobile ordered)
While in line waiting to eat I had booked Mummy VL for 1:50-2:20 and then Despicable Me was the only thing left with a VL so booked that. I wanted to try out the system
So I left Leaky Cauldron at 2:45pm and went to Mummy. Very organized, everyone was keeping tabs on the markers on the floor. There was 1 guy in front of me, then me (another single rider) they are loading only front and back of the vehicle so for our ride we were only 2. If you are a group then obviously you take a whole row. The wait for Mummy was about 10 min. After I headed for Transformers, a walk on again only front row and back row were being loaded. Then of course I had to do ET, same thing only front and back row were loaded. Again as a singlle rider I had a row to myself because they are not putting different parties in the same row.
I asked about the hand sanitizer thing when people are allergic and you can now go to guest relations and explain your allergy and they will put a wristband on you so that TM know you cannot use the hand sanitizer, after you ride the TM will then clean your seat if you cannot use hand sanitizer
As I was leaving I bumped into Ryno and Craig again, they were obviously not impressed with the handling of the situation
I can honestly say (and you can watch the live stream replay if you wish) I did not encounter any issues other than the long line for food and the restaurants at 30% capacity it makes sense
Now I have seen pictures of crowds at Citywalk for temp checks and long lines to enter the parks so I know it happened, it just didn't happen to me
I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have

Thanks for the report! I’m glad you had a good experience! Do you have any tips for successfully wearing a mask in the Florida humidity?

 

[atricks]

both members of the DisUnplugged. Ryno was very vocal on Twitter today about Universal's handling of crowds

I looked this up, yeah vocal is too kind, it's straight up whining. It wasn't that bad (at least for us) for day one. Watch this be VERY different tomorrow.

 

[hertamaniac]

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have

Thanks for the report!

No Velociraptor encounter right now?

 

[yulilin3]

Thanks for the report! I’m glad you had a good experience! Do you have any tips for successfully wearing a mask in the Florida humidity?

remind yourself to take a water break, like every 30 min. I took a bottle filled with powerade and made myself take a sip often. Obviously the regular heat tips, do outdoor attractions/queues early, leave indoor attractions/queues for the middle of the day

I looked this up, yeah vocal is too kind, it's straight up whining. It wasn't that bad (at least for us) for day one. Watch this be VERY different tomorrow.

I wouldn't say whining. The picture did look awful of people at Citywalk waiting and there should've been more markers, I saw that when there were markers people definitely paid attention
For day 1 I think it was managed really well. Obviously it does depend the time of day you go in. The issue with the parking garage is that TM are going extra and social distancing the cars, which makes parking longer. I honestly don't think they need to continue doing that
As usual the arlier you get the better it'll be but we know not everyone rope drops, so lines will be longer later on.
Weather permitting I am going to VB on Friday and hopefully another spin around IOA

 

[yulilin3]

Thanks for the report!

No Velociraptor encounter right now?

yes, they actually have a brand new area, but I walked past it very early, before 10am and it wasn't open. I am hoping the weather cooperates and I'm able to visit Blue on Friday

 

[atricks]

We did do the new raptor Encounter area, it's themed to the raptor pens. They have blue and a new "baby raptor" puppet that comes out, I like the new area a lot (over the old ones). At that point we had our 5 year old and a friend with another 5 and 2 year old, and we got the baby, which I'm kind of glad. It works better with kids, Blue is definitely better with older folks.

 

[hertamaniac]

yes, they actually have a brand new area, but I walked past it very early, before 10am and it wasn't open. I am hoping the weather cooperates and I'm able to visit Blue on Friday

Yeah...I saw that new area; it looks good. Did you check out the U Rest area at Fear Factor?

 

[atricks]

I want to reiterate the food situation there with low capacity begs folks to go to the full service sit down (Mythos & Confiscos at IOA, Finnegan's and Lombard's at UNI) restaurants with reservations ahead of time. It's MUCH more relaxing this way than trying with Quick serve, much starker difference than in the past. Honestly they probably should start doing reservations for the higher end quick serve also, like Leaky and 3 Broomsticks.

 

[Llama mama]

I want to reiterate the food situation there with low capacity begs folks to go to the full service sit down (Mythos & Confiscos at IOA, Finnegan's and Lombard's at UNI) restaurants with reservations ahead of time. It's MUCH more relaxing this way than trying with Quick serve, much starker difference than in the past. Honestly they probably should start doing reservations for the higher end quick serve also, like Leaky and 3 Broomsticks.

Reservations through open table? Or through the universal app? New to Universal

 

[atricks]

Reservations through open table? Or through the universal app? New to Universal

I couldn't find it on the Universal app, it's on the website though

Finnegans (Uni): https://www.zomatobook.com/widget/uoreservation.aspx?id=EGPOTKPVI
Mythos (IOA): https://www.nextable.com/widget/uoreservation.aspx?id=O7S175ASN
Confisco (IOA): https://www.zomatobook.com/widget/uoreservation.aspx?id=1M69HPY6D
Lombards (Uni): https://www.zomatobook.com/widget/uoreservation.aspx?id=407W27FY1

This is probably something they need to add to the app more directly.

 

[Raggou]

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have

@yulilin3
Do you need to link a ticket in the universal app to sign up for a Virtual Line?

Or is it your just in one of the parks and you can grab one?

 

[yulilin3]

Yeah...I saw that new area; it looks good. Did you check out the U Rest area at Fear Factor?

I used the one at Central Park, entrance by the Back to the Future train, they had tables with umbrellas there, very nice

I want to reiterate the food situation there with low capacity begs folks to go to the full service sit down (Mythos & Confiscos at IOA, Finnegan's and Lombard's at UNI) restaurants with reservations ahead of time. It's MUCH more relaxing this way than trying with Quick serve, much starker difference than in the past. Honestly they probably should start doing reservations for the higher end quick serve also, like Leaky and 3 Broomsticks.

Yes, the food situation was the only real problem I experienced, if you need to do quick service I would say to eat at off times, like early or late lunch

@yulilin3
Do you need to link a ticket in the universal app to sign up for a Virtual Line?

Or is it your just in one of the parks and you can grab one?

you do not. The app just recongnizes that you are on property (CityWalk, US, or IOA) you can make reservations for either park, only limit is 2 at a time so once you use one you are bale to grab another one if available.

 

[SmittS]

What time are you able to access the VL? I see reports of people getting in for Hagrids at 8:50 or so. I’m curious if it’s a mad dash at a certain time like RotR or is it a little more haphazard?

We’ve decided to put our unactivated WDW APs on hold and finally check out UOR and SW in early July. I like what I saw today, so we’re all really excited to try out something new. Having never been, we have no baseline to compare to with the restrictions, so we won’t really know what we’re missing. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

 

[yulilin3]

What time are you able to access the VL? I see reports of people getting in for Hagrids at 8:50 or so. I’m curious if it’s a mad dash at a certain time like RotR or is it a little more haphazard?

We’ve decided to put our unactivated WDW APs on hold and finally check out UOR and SW in early July. I like what I saw today, so we’re all really excited to try out something new. Having never been, we have no baseline to compare to with the restrictions, so we won’t really know what we’re missing. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

it's sort of like RotR but with no actual official time for the VQ system to open. I also believe that people were able to get on the ride without a VQ at least for the first 30 minutes of park opening because someone in line behind me told me they did

 

[Raggou]

it's sort of like RotR but with no actual official time for the VQ system to open. I also believe that people were able to get on the ride without a VQ at least for the first 30 minutes of park opening because someone in line behind me told me they did

@yulilin3
One more question are they running the "express line?" How does that function?

 

[yulilin3]

@yulilin3
One more question are they running the "express line?" How does that function?

express was running as well. I'm not sure if all of them though, as I was walking past FJ and the TM was saying that express was not available to day. Not sure if it was just because of previews, but I did see people use express at Mummy and Spiderman