Really disappointing Universal visit

[Guest]

I last visited Floriday berfore FOTL and fast passes were introduced and regularly quesed for over an hour sometimes upto 2 hours. I realise it will be busy when we visit next August but 45 minutes I think I can cope with. May even give US & IOA a miss this time and go another a visit and stay at a hotel with the benefits.

[Adora]

We went to Universal on Monday and did both IOA and US in one day, including all the big rides and shows. We got there for just after 9, the longest queue was for FJ, which was a 20 min wait. If you don't plan your days then I don't think you can really complain when everything isn't a walk, it pays to plan and get there early.
Both parks were also very clean, particularly considering that by mid-afternoon it was quite busy.

[Guest]

Simple rule. Get there early otherwise you ave two choices which consist of buying express tickets or queuing for 40 mins plus.
In my opinion getting out of bed to get to park the minute it opens is a better use of time than an hour extra in bed . If you chose to sy in bed or not get ready ASAP then you have to accept the consequences.
I do fel your pin though and I am sorry your day was not the best .if it makes you feel better we had xpress tickets for horror night t Universal and still queued for 45 mins minimum.

[Edam1975]

Originally Posted by Adora

We went to Universal on Monday and did both IOA and US in one day, including all the big rides and shows. We got there for just after 9, the longest queue was for FJ, which was a 20 min wait. If you don't plan your days then I don't think you can really complain when everything isn't a walk, it pays to plan and get there early.
Both parks were also very clean, particularly considering that by mid-afternoon it was quite busy.

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Snap so did we. We got to IOA for opening and went straight to FJ. It was posted as 20 mins wait but was more like 5 mins after we walked through Hogwarts. We fit loads in and then went to Universal for about 2pm. It seemed a bit busier there but we waited about 20 mins for Despicable Me, 15 mins for MIB and walked into Shrek. The Mummy and ET were both 40mins and we didn't do these but i didn't expect it to be quiet at time. Going back Monday first thing to do these and then heading over to IOA for water rides as it was too cold for these last monday.

[lorrie36]

Done Universal today, we got to all rides and shows,means getting up early,but it really is worth it. We will do I.O.A this week before our tickets run out. That will be another early start. We also went on Halloween, but not to the horror night, I knew it was going to be packed,but wanted to feel the atmosphere. Still enjoyed it though.

[florida girl]

Several years ago we were at US during a busy period where the lines for most rides were an hour or over, we vowed never again we did enjoy our day there but did'nt fit in many rides.

In 2010 we went back to US/IOA but we had 3 nights at the Portofino Bay which was brilliant. We intend to just do US (as DD's BF's have'nt been before) on our trip in February which will be half term/Presidents holiday so will definetely be purchasing Express passes,for us it is money well spent to avoid spending most of the day standing in lines.

[disney babe]

US and IOA are my favourite parks we have queued many tomes but have queued even longer for some disney rides we always go July Aug so expect it, stayed at RPR2 night's this yr, well worth it. Going Oct Nov next yr for first time so hoping for less queues

[wedinflorida]

Its funny how we can all get different experiences. We have always been huge disney fans, still had no problems with the other parks though. However on this trip i would say we actually preferred Universal, IOA, Busch and Seaworld. I can't put my finger on why, but we just seemed happier at them parks.

We found disney very very crowded this year. I don't know if we got unlucky but i picked non busy days etc. Our first week at disney the crowds were not to bad and with fast pass got on most things we wanted to do. However with having to baby swap every ride with height restrictions it really ate into our day, as it could take up anything between 10-30 mins as in some cases as we found some of the fastpass queues quite long, much prefer universals system of going through the exit for baby swap.

I also found some of the disney cms very rude and abrupt. Our toddler fell asleep during our fastpass return for toy story mania, i explained to the cm, and asked if there was any form of baby swap so i wouldn't miss out on taking the others on, but i got a right lecture and was told that i could take her on asleep. So the rest of the party rode and i missed out. Fair enough its the policy not to do baby swap for rides that little ones can ride i but could of done with a more friendly reply.

Also a few times the counter service people messed up our orders and our food was literally thrown at us without any word of a sorry, and them basically blaming us for ordering wrong. Which by showing them the receipt showed that we hadn't.

We still did really enjoy Disney though, and most of the CM's were friendly as normal. All the staff were pleasant at universal, only park i found to be dirty was busch gardens but no different to our theme parks so it didn't spoil our day.

[Guest]

Remember too that if you stay at a Universal hotel you get an early morning entry for Wizarding World of Harry Potter. You have an hour before general public are allowed in.

[tracey1302]

I wouldn't let it put you off forever. You probably just went on a very very busy day. Every experience we've had at Universal has been brilliant. The popular rides are always going to have bigger queues, especially Despicable Me. And as far as eating goes - maybe try eating on Citywalk. We always eat at HRC and have never been disappointed.