What time would you get a taxi from AKL to Universal stud IOA for 9am opening?

[MrsJobba1]

Hi we are staying on disney - the villas at animal kingdom lodge and are planning on taking a taxi to Us IOA. It opens at 9am - what time would you get the taxi - we want to be there as soon as it opens.

Also anyone know where a taxi would drop you off - we have our tickets already and want to go straight to HP world

Thankyou in advance

 

[crabbie1]

depending which day you are going.I would probably get the bus to dtd and grab a cab from there it will cut the cost a little. Will cost around $30-35 well it did when my friend went 3 weeks ago and $23 from DTD. If you get a cab the whole way allow 35-40 mins or if other route leave about 7.45

 

[wayneg]

I would also say very early, possibly 7:45am or earlier, will take you 30 mins+ from AKL, then the walk in there from where the taxi drops you but if you have not already maybe do some research on the Universal boards for crowd levels at 9am. I just found 1 saying the line was 120 mins at 9am. remember onsite guests can get in from 8am. possibly better going later in the day or book a 1 night stay at a Uni hotel.

"I just got back from Orlando and this is what I experienced: IOA opened at 8:00 and I arrived at about 9:00. I went straight to WWOHP and found a 120 min. wait for Forbidden Journey. We decided to go ahead and wait because I was afraid of even longer waits as the day went on. Later in the day, the wait went down to 90 min. Other rides in IOA varied from 10 min. to 65 min."

 

[disneyholic family]

if you're going on a weekday, remember the roads are clogged with commuters going to work...so it will take longer than the middle of the day....

i've reserved a room for us at universal so that we'll get Front of the line and also get into harry potter for early opening...

but we're not actually staying in the room, just taking it to get early entry..

so we'll also have to drive from WDW (in the rental car)..

i decided we should go on a sunday, so that we wouldn't encounter as much rush hour traffic....
early opening when we go is at 8 (right now, early opening is at 7, but it moves back to 8 when we're there)..
so i figure we have to leave WDW at 6:30 to get there in time...
i'm hoping no more than 30 minutes on the road, and then we have to park and get our tails over to the gate...

i'll have the tickets in advance (and i'll check in the night before)...

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hi ,

We are thinking of going Mon 23rd Aug / Tues 24th . Not sure if schools are still off but there will be commuters.

 

[disneyholic family]

Hi ,

We are thinking of going Mon 23rd Aug / Tues 24th . Not sure if schools are still off but there will be commuters.

if you're planning on going on two days, why don't you take a room at universal on monday night..
when you stay one night, you're entitled to two days of front of the line priveleges..

you can check in early in the morning on monday and go to universal on monday and then go to IoA on tuesday - going for the early opening (which on the days you're there is at 8 am)..

makes a lot more sense to me then driving all the way back and forth to WDW on two days....this way, if you actually stay in the hotel at universal, you'll only need to take a taxi there and back once each way (not twice)..

 

[Cyrano]

Onsite guests get early access to WWHOP at 7.00am. The gates are open to the other guests at 8.00am.

DSIL2 who arrived later each day had to stay until the end of the day before she was able to walk through the castle. She had no intention of riding the Forbidden Journey. By 8.00am the queues were up to 45 mins with Olivanders even longer.

 

[wayneg]

Onsite guests get early access to WWHOP at 7.00am. The gates are open to the other guests at 8.00am.

Only til 13th August Reid, then its 9am opening with 8am for onsite guests.

 

[disneyholic family]

Onsite guests get early access to WWHOP at 7.00am. The gates are open to the other guests at 8.00am.

DSIL2 who arrived later each day had to stay until the end of the day before she was able to walk through the castle. She had no intention of riding the Forbidden Journey. By 8.00am the queues were up to 45 mins with Olivanders even longer.

early opening in late august switches back to 8 am (with regular opening at 9), though of course they could change the hours again (but i just checked the universal site)..

oops - i didn't notice Wayne's post...
i checked because we're going to universal on the 21st i think it is..

 

[wayneg]

though of course they could change the hours again (but i just checked the universal site)..

You do need to double check Universal opening times more than any other park, we have twice got there to find they opened an hour earlier, they tend to be more flexible if the crowds continue beyond dates they expect.

 

[disneyholic family]

You do need to double check Universal opening times more than any other park, we have twice got there to find they opened an hour earlier, they tend to be more flexible if the crowds continue beyond dates they expect.

i'm planning on getting us there really early....
we're not sleeping in the hotel, so we'll have to leave disney at the crack of dawn...

i'll check the night before to see what they say the opening is - 8 or 9.

if early opening is 8, i'll aim us to get there at 7 am.....
i think if we leave disney at 6:30 on a sunday morning, we should be able to get to universal by 7 (i've done it that fast in the middle of the day, so early sunday morning should be ok)..

i'll park at the RPR, and walk from there....we should be at the gate by 7:30...
hopefully that will be enough....

if early opening is at 7, god help us....
that would mean leaving disney before 6 am...
which means getting the troups awake by 5 am
not sure if that's doable..

i suppose we could sleep at universal on saturday night....we have the rooms (two rooms, since there are 6 of us - you can only get early entrance for 5 people in a room, so for 6 people, we need two rooms to get early entrance for all of us)..
but that would mean 3 couples in two rooms....hmmm....not likely...
although i could have the young couples at universal, one couple in each room, and then DH and i could sleep at disney and drive to universal to join the two couples..
that's an interesting idea..
maybe i'll go with that..

DH and i have no problem getting up whenever and getting wherever we have to be in time...

i like that idea....

so we all can head to universal late saturday night (after our late dinner reservation at disney), check in at RPR, then DH and i would head back to disney....DH will work all night, just like he always does when we're on holiday...then he and i will head back to universal at say 5 am to be sure we get to the hotel by 6 to wake the troops so they have time to eat breakfast..

then walk over to IoA in time for early opening, whenever that might be..

yes, i like that idea...

 

[jen_uk]

DH will work all night, just like he always does when we're on holiday.

 

[disneyholic family]

you can say that again!!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

You do need to double check Universal opening times more than any other park, we have twice got there to find they opened an hour earlier, they tend to be more flexible if the crowds continue beyond dates they expect.

Wayne's right - at christmas we got 'caught out' one day and they had literally decided the day before to extend park hours as it had been busier than they had predicted. Its great that they are flexible, but sometimes its not publisized well and people miss out on the earlier openings

 

[princess jackson]

Can a 1 night stay be booked, what's the average cost for 1 night. I'm travelling oct 6, 2 weeks. Would really like early entry to wwohp

 

[wayneg]

Can a 1 night stay be booked, what's the average cost for 1 night. I'm travelling oct 6, 2 weeks. Would really like early entry to wwohp

Yes you can book for 1 night but usually more nights the cheaper it gets. 6th Oct would cost $246.38 at RPR
Check other dates yourself here. http://www.universalorlando.com/OverviewPages/Hotels/three_world_class_hotels.aspx

 

[disneyholic family]

Can a 1 night stay be booked, what's the average cost for 1 night. I'm travelling oct 6, 2 weeks. Would really like early entry to wwohp

that's what we're doing - just staying there one night to get the early entry...

my kids seriously hate universal, so even the one night is more than they want there - a rather costly endeavor just to see HP, but that's what we're doing...