Universal WITHOUT FOLP

[Scuttler01]

Any help much appreciated.

We are doing universal over 4 days. We do not have FOLP passes. I'm not really "up" on the rides etc at Universal so its there a strategy required or juyst turn up and go with the flow?

(We've been before but had FOLP and I didnt pay any attention to lines or queues!)

Interested in others experiences.

For info, park days are starting Wednesday28th August..

2 adults and 2 adventurous kids for the rides...

Many thanks

[bex85chelt]

We've never had a plan before going with Universal, if we get there nice and early and are ahead of most of the crowds we would head for Harry Potter area first, last time we went the queues were already showing long waits so we took advantage of the fact everyone else was there and did a large portion of Studios with very little waiting.

[tink111]

We always go with the flow at universal.. maybe try to do the Hulk and Harry Potter at IA early as it does get very busy!
We've never done it with any fast passes, i quite like this though as you dont have to pre-plan like you do in disney

[lizzie145]

You should be fine at that time of day with the exception of hagrid. Get there about 7.30 to queue if you want to ride it.

Wait times go in waves so if long wait do something different and it most likely will drop down later. Make sure you spend an evening in the parks too

[Guest]

Never had a plan for universal, just wander around in no particular order.

[Squidgyness]

We usually just went in one direction round the parks. IoA we go right after entry - don't know why we just always do lol, we also go right at EPCOT come to think of it. Universal Studios we go straight ahead then right after Jimmy fallon and circle round the lake hitting the major attractions.

August-September is when things start to calm down a little so you might be alright. When we go in early-mid september EP aren't really necessary just a convenience.

[Nimbus]

In the 8 times we've visited Orlando, we've only ever had express passes once. And that was because we were there just after Easter, we were worried it was going to be busy, and we wanted to do Universal in just 2 days. For the other 7 times we've not had express passes and managed fine. If you've spending 4 days in the two parks in late August then you should be fine.

We visited at the end of August back in 2014 and the queues were reasonably short (well, short for Orlando theme parks anyway - the queue for the Harry Potter rides were still around 45 minutes). The new Hagrid ride will still have long lines but having an Express pass would not help with that anyway. The rest of the park should be ok.

As always - try to get to the parks before rope drop and/or wait until the end of the day. Queues tend to be shorter in the first and last hours. Otherwise, we don't tend to have much of a plan of attack at Universal.

[Nordboy]

I have them as part of the universal room deal. Most of the day yesterday all the ride queues were much less than an hour (usually around 20 mins), apart from Hagrid's ride (when they could be bothered to open it) which was constantly over three hours.

I think we're resigned to not being able to ride this one.

[Scuttler01]

Fantastic, really appreciate it. thanks

[lizzie145]

Originally Posted by Nordboy

I have them as part of the universal room deal. Most of the day yesterday all the ride queues were much less than an hour (usually around 20 mins), apart from Hagrid's ride (when they could be bothered to open it) which was constantly over three hours.

I think we're resigned to not being able to ride this one.

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Think that is unfair, they would open if running. They also say its 180 minutes but usually not that long