We Hated US/IOA

[Diz]

Total waste of money as far as we were concerned.

My 17 year old daughter, her 18 year old boyfriend, as well as my 15 year old daughter were bored like I've never seen before at both US and IOA.

It rained ALL day EVERY day we went.

The wait times for the rides were 2+ hours.

Express passes were gone by 10am, so they were useless.

The rides at US were lame and in dire need of updating.

Other than Spiderman and Hulk, the IOA park was lame as well.

My kids said that the local Six Flags offered MUCH more than these two parks combined.

We bought a 7 day pass and only went two days. Stayed manybe a total of 12 hours. Seen it all in that time several times over and had no desire to return.

Staff members at the parks were rude and unhelpful. They seemed less interested in being there than we did.

We decided to do an informal poll of folks and the comments we kept getting were that the parks were boring and the lines way too long.

The only good thing about the parks were my daughters know to never take there kids there

Seriously, we were VERY unimpressed with US/IOA.

We ended up spending the rest of our vacation in the Tampa area. Now that was a good time at the beaches!

 

[Cris]

Its been raining a lot all over Florida. I am sorry to hear your dissapointment. I always say try everything once.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

your so full of guano its coming out your ears.

 

[rocketman23]

Um, are you sure you were at the right parks? Granted USF is not great, both have plenty to do if you do it all. And if I may ask, if lines were 2 hours+, how did you see everything several times over in 12 hours??? I just don't see how this is possible.

 

[jtopicz1]

Well, I feel the need to comment. Threads like this always suck me in for some reason.....

It rained ALL day EVERY day we went.

Well that MUST be Universals fault...... (this is a complaint I'll never really understand)

The wait times for the rides were 2+ hours.

Then....

We bought a 7 day pass and only went two days. Stayed manybe a total of 12 hours. Seen it all in that time several times over and had no desire to return.

Well....maybe my math skills are off......but If you did even only 10 attractions you would have spent at least 20 hours in line.....So are you basing your views of the parks on only doing 5 or 6 total attractions (2 or 3 in each park)?

Express passes were gone by 10am, so they were useless.

I almost agree with this comment!! I don't like the express passes at all! I'd rather use the single riders line. I don't like having to "plan" my trip to the parks....which express passes require.

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the parks though. Unfortunatly I think many people judge these parks based on unreal expectations. If you go during the heart of the busy season, as well as the middle of Floridas rainy season, and then complain and fault the parks because it was crowded and rainy, that just doesn't make sense. The situation would have been the same on those days at Disney, Sea World, Busch Gardens, etc. Obviously it didn't rain at the beach.

 

[jtopicz1]

Quit arguing my points Rocketman!!! j/k I'm just glad someone else noticed that too!

Jim

 

[WebmasterBarry]

It rained a lot while I was at Animal Kingdom. Does that make it a bad park? Not necessarily.

I wonder too about the 2+ hour waits. If you arrive in the afternoon and go first to Marvel Super Hero Island, you may see two hour waits. However, if you go to some of the rides in the back of the park, you might see shorter waits for some of the rides. Did you see a 2 hour wait for Triceratops Encounter?

I also wonder how you got to see some attractions several times with everything 2+ hour waits.

I have to wonder too when you arrived. I've never seen Universal Express tickets run out at 10 am. That's when the tickets usually start distribution. I've seen tickets available for Spider-Man until at least 1 pm or so on busy days.

I have to wonder how Diz enjoyed WDW, if she visited. Magic Kingdom crowds are a lot worse than Universal on its busiest days.

Aside from my comments, I apologize that you did not like Universal, but I have some things that did confuse me about your trip.

 

[Diz]

No, we did not "see" everything, the lines were too long and after awhile it was plain silly to us to stand in line for 2 hours for a ride that last 60 seconds.

Maybe our expectations were too high, but like I said, my kids were the judges. They have season tickets to the local Six Flags and they were the ones bored to death.

I was surprised at how small the parks were. You could cruise around either one in less than an hour. No real attractions to see most of the time, just food stands.

To those who love the park, I am happy you do. We just didn't think they had anything to offer, no big deal.

BTW, we did go to Busch Gardens and they LOVED it there. The lines were MUCH shorter and the rides were MUCH better........Again, that is our opinion.

 

[WebmasterBarry]

What time did you arrive?

What rides did you go on and what were the wait times of them?

Do you recal the wait times of the rides that you passed?

I'm still confused on some things. My pardons in advance.

 

[Diz]

"What time did you arrive?"

We arrived each day at 9:30-10:00. By then the express passes were either closed or the "come back" time was listed at 7PM or later.

"What rides did you go on and what were the wait times of them?"

Hulk- 2.5 hours, and 1 hour with an express pass.

Spiderman - 3 hours, and 1 hour with an express pass.

Duleing Dragons - 1.5 hours and 30 minutes with an express pass.

"Do you recal the wait times of the rides that you passed?"

All the kiddy rides and anything other than those listed above that had wait times of over an hour.

"I'm still confused on some things. My pardons in advance."

No problem. US/IOA was just not our bag, no ones fault. We felt the place was boring and the staff rude. The should take a close look at Busch Gardens, THAT is how a park should be set up.

Face it, waiting 2+ hours, in wet humid conditions, for a 60 second ride is mindless.

 

[Robinrs]

Sorry you didn't like the parks, Diz. To each his own I guess....

We were there the same time and did not have this experience. FAR from it in fact.

Your preferences I do understand though. I don't like bigger parks, I happen to despise Six Flags for that reason and even though I hold an AP to Busch Gardens I don't like that park either, due to the fact that it is so much like 6 Flags.

I went to IOA on Saturday in 1999 and spent 60 mins on one line for a 60 second ride. It was then I vowed NEVER to go without onsite UE access or a VIP tour. The parks are not the same without it. I have a medical condition that makes it hard for me to stand for long periods of time so I have to go that route.

Again, I'm sorry, after all you've planned that you had such a bad time. It rained every single day I was there also, but I know the parks and enjoyed them regardless.

 

[damo]

Did you try the single rider's line? How long was the line for MIB. It's our very favorite? The single rider's line usually can get you on faster than anything else. Ditto on Spiderman and many other rides. I know how you feel as our family feels that way about Disney parks but I would never post them fightin' words on their boards. Glad you have broad shoulders!

 

[HauntFreaks.com]

there are coaster park people and then there are theme park people .... Diz is coaster park person... these are the same people that dislike disney as well... lets all reflect on the last time we were at a six flags type park.... remember the people??.. now do you understand?? lol.... have a great day

 

[rangebob]

One hour waits for Express pass line, yeah right. The line must have wrapped around the building. I was there last weekend and the express pass line was only about 10-15 min for all the rides. The normal line was only 1 hour for Hulk, 1 hour possibly 75 min for Spiderman and 30 min for DD. I saw the wait times for Popeye & Dudley at 45 min. I think Posideon was 30 min wait. I really don't know what signs you were looking at but they weren't the signs posting the wait times.

 

[Tigger Woods]

I agree with you that "waiting 2+ hours, in wet humid conditions, for a 60 second ride is mindless." So is purchasing four '7 Day Passes' to a park you'd never been to. (If you'd like to get rid of the remaining 5 days cheap, let me know.)
By the way, doing both parks and taking an informal 'poll' in 12 hours time has to be some kind of record. Perhaps you should contact the folks at Guinness. On the plus side, I'm glad you didn't find the beach wet, humid or boring.

 

[kmc]

i also just returned and have the opposite opinion-it was me , my mom and my 4 yr old son and we all loved it and thought that there was alot to do for both younger kids and adults..our experience would probably not have been so great if we had to wait 2 hours in line for a ride but we opted to stay onsite and it was worth every penny--the longets wait was 20 min for spiderman and 15 min for the hulk everything else was less than 10 min..disney is still my favorite but i must admit it will be hard to return and wait 40 min for dumbo after this experience--it definitely spoiled me!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SRRN]

Diz,

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,but I find it so hard to believe,that you couldn't find one thing positive about your stay.Did you eat at any of in MANY great restaurants?Did you visit City Walk?Did you check out any of the "on-site"hotels,just to rest and cool off for awhile?

 

[rocketman23]

Originally posted by Diz
"What rides did you go on and what were the wait times of them?"

Hulk- 2.5 hours, and 1 hour with an express pass.

Spiderman - 3 hours, and 1 hour with an express pass.

Duleing Dragons - 1.5 hours and 30 minutes with an express pass.

"Do you recal the wait times of the rides that you passed?"

All the kiddy rides and anything other than those listed above that had wait times of over an hour.

Hmm, I've never seen Hulk's wait time say "150 minutes", anyone else? Asides from that, you only rode 3 rides?!?! That's insane, with single rider lines and patience you could've tried other things. This seems to be exaggerated to me. I hardly think Express passes ran out that early, there were no single rider lines to help out, & every attraction's wait was over an hour(Storm Force, Flying Unicorn, Caro-Suess-Al???).

I realize their are strictly coaster park people, I like to enjoy evry attraction, but then again why would you like the Disney parks if this was true? I mean after all Magic Kingdom is about the only park at WDW that overwhelms the number of attractions at IOA and the waits there are often just as long. I'm still confused...

 

[The Green Goblin]

Hmm....Why are some confused? It's blatantly obvious that they posted this to get on our nerves. They probably didn't even go.

 

[WebmasterBarry]

The longest wait I've seen on the Hulk is 90 minutes and that was during a Saturday during Christmas week.

That certainly doesn't compare to a Test Track wait during the 2nd week of July at 8 pm -- 3 hours!