I tried the February once and agree it seemed much more crowded. I also found the pools unbearably cold versus just fine in December. I did enjoy the Mardi Gras part of the February though.
Thanks so much! This is super helpful. Your top picks are the same as ours. Any idea how long Hagrids is during the meetup? Have a great time at your meetup!About 2 weeks before your Meetup, you'll receive an email from OI with a lot of the logistics details. Check-in begins at 3pm and takes place in a production building next to Hard Rock Cafe on CityWalk (there's a little path on the right-hand side of the restaurant, aka to the north, I think it used to be the Blue Man Group building?). There will be plenty of big signs/flags and staff members directing you to the exact spot. If you have daytime admission, you can check in at the US park next to the Minion Mayhem ride (there will be signs and staff there as well to help guide you).
You have the choice to begin with whatever park you want - if you want to watch the Holiday Parade, start with Universal Studios. Some people recommend starting with watching the shows like the Bourne Stuntacular or the Horror Makeup, which don't run during the Meetup.
We're going the 15th-16th which won't have the parade, so we're probably going to check the ride times on the app at 5pm and decide from there whether to hit US or IOA first. We're probably going to grab a snack from the check-in bites and hit a few lower wait rides in that 5-7pm timeframe. A lot of people in the FB group recommend doing one park per night, but I think we're going to play it by ear a bit - our top priorities are Hagrid's, Velocicoaster, Gringotts, and Mummy. Everything should be a walk on (or close to it) after 7pm, except Hagrid's, so I'm trying to chill and not overplan (despite my anxiety dreams where I somehow don't have time to ride a single ride haha... ha...).
We waited about 25-35 minutes for Hagrids at a few different meetups
Thank you! This is helpful to know.
The ride has been closed since April and hasn't reopened.
They got rid of that when they switched to the food offerings at check in unfortunately. I liked getting those gift cards
Can you clarify for me? We can check in at 5 on Saturday I believe. Are you indicating you can get the complimentary food at 5:01? I thought 8pm was the earliest?
When you go check in the building behind hard rock cafe where you get your wristband etc... I believe that starts at 3. You can enter park at 5
You should have received that by now - if you email Orlando Informer (meetup@orlandoinformer.com), they'll re-send it to you. It will have your QR code tickets, check in instructions, and the food, ride, and entertainment maps & times.
Check in opens at 3pm. There is a large soundstage building at check in that will have free snacks and drinks available until 7pm. You can enter the parks at 5pm. The restaurants and snack carts will begin opening at 7pm (Friday) and 8pm (Saturday).
Thank you!
I know this won't help you now, but for anyone else who is going to UO for first time for the meetup, there are 3 ways to switch parks
In our case, we had taken the hogwarts express from IOA to UO early in the night. Walked right up, got on the train no wait.
Last time I did it in Feb the whole party didn't need to be there. I think as long as the person who bought the tickets is there checking in
