Universal Orlando Resort (USO, IOA) Discussion Thread

[tndank]

Finally made my first visit to this park for HHN yesterday. They were calling for tornados and rough storms all day. Never happened and park was fairly dead except for 9-12ish. Rained for 20 min at 3:00. 

Glad I took Bills advice and made the Bourne show with stay and scream entry. Bourne was incredible. Tech is amazing. Screen and projectors are amazing. No glitches. Wow. 

Had a fun night and did everything. Actually did 15 house walkthroughs since we had express and knocked out most without it first trip around the park. Saw the Fuel show. Good times. 

[Jew]

On 10/29/2021 at 6:18 PM, tndank said:

Finally made my first visit to this park for HHN yesterday. They were calling for tornados and rough storms all day. Never happened and park was fairly dead except for 9-12ish. Rained for 20 min at 3:00. 

Glad I took Bills advice and made the Bourne show with stay and scream entry. Bourne was incredible. Tech is amazing. Screen and projectors are amazing. No glitches. Wow. 

Had a fun night and did everything. Actually did 15 house walkthroughs since we had express and knocked out most without it first trip around the park. Saw the Fuel show. Good times. 

I thought the tech was amazing, but the show itself was kind of lacking in the writing/action department.  T2 was better IMO.

[grsupercity]

all booked. Plane tickets, park hopper ticket and express passes. We are only doing one day at the parks. Its my first trip so I will happily take any tips or tricks you guys have for me!!!!!

[Haymaker]

1 hour ago, grsupercity said:

all booked. Plane tickets, park hopper ticket and express passes. We are only doing one day at the parks. Its my first trip so I will happily take any tips or tricks you guys have for me!!!!!

Skip Flight of the Hippogriff (short and lame, like Barnstormer) and Dr. Doom's Fear Fall (S&S Spaceshot with theming). If you dont want to get drenched, skip Ripsaw Falls and Popeye's Bilge Rat Barges. Although Ripsaw Falls wont get you quite as wet as Popeye and is a great flume overall. Ride Velocicoaster as much as you can. Others recommend rope dropping Hagrids, I think because its not on Express Pass. I didnt have it (family of 4, too expensive) and didnt rope drop so cant confirm. If youre prone to motion sickness, pop Dramamine before Forbidden Journey.

[jarmor]

^if they have express then why on earth are you telling them to skip things especially since it's their first time at the park?!?  Not sure if you are staying on site but If you are, take advantage of the early entry and start with that park.  If not, I would start with IOA as their rides have a greater chance of going down vs the studios, which are mostly indoors.

[Haymaker]

16 minutes ago, jarmor said:

^if they have express then why on earth are you telling them to skip things especially since it's their first time at the park?!?  Not sure if you are staying on site but If you are, take advantage of the early entry and start with that park.  If not, I would start with IOA as their rides have a greater chance of going down vs the studios, which are mostly indoors.

I gave my reasons in the post. Plus, they only have one day. 

[jarmor]

By skipping those two attractions they would save, at most 30 mins.  Please do not skip anything because you never know when you will be back and if the attractions would still be there. 

[Haymaker]

He's a grown man (or woman) who can make their own decisions. They asked for suggestions and I gave them. If he skips Dr. Doom, he could ride any of the other S&S Spaceshots in the country and have the same or similar experience. Likewise, suggesting a grown adult skip a kiddie/junior coaster isnt that crazy of a suggestion, unless they have kids. 

[Chiselphane]

A person spending one day in a busy park? Yeah, advice on skipping rides that aren't worth the time is valuable.   I mean what's next, telling them 'oh you can't miss out on Jimmy Fallon, nobody else has it'  , have we really sunk that low

[jarmor]

A person WITH express is totally different than a person doing standby.  Have we sunk so low to tell people to miss something because other parks have similar attractions?  Might as well just not go to the park since it's something similar to it in other parks all over.  And lets be honest, between the two parks they have like what 20 attractions and rides?  We aren't talking about someone trying to visit all the Disney world parks in one day, this is Universal.

 

So I say, figure out what park you want to go to first, set yourself a timeframe to be in the park, rank what you want to do from important to less important, if you have to time to do it all, do it all don't just skip stuff for the hell of it.

[grsupercity]

Thank you for the advise everyone!

[coasterbill]

On 11/12/2021 at 2:35 PM, grsupercity said:

all booked. Plane tickets, park hopper ticket and express passes. We are only doing one day at the parks. Its my first trip so I will happily take any tips or tricks you guys have for me!!!!!

With Express passes, not a ton of strategy is needed. Rope drop Hagrid's, then go to Velocicoaster... otherwise ride whatever you want to ride. For the dark rides, even with express you can skip Fallon and Fast and the Furious. Fast and the Furious is terrible and there are 800 pre-shows so it will take forever. You can also skip Shrek if it's not closed forever by then.

For the other dark rides, some have their fans and some have their haters but I'd say with Express you should just do them all and make up your own mind. Do NOT under any circumstances skip Forbidden Journey, Spiderman or Gringotts but I mean... duh. Things like Cat in the Hat, Simpsons, Minions and Shrek are probably skippable if you want to ride Velocicoaster more but they have their fans. Ride ET or I'll block you.

For the water rides, ride River Adventure if it's open but it probably won't be depending on when you're going (it's closed 1/10 - 1/28/22). You won't get that wet and it's very good. Ripsaw Falls and Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges are good rides but you will absolutely drown. I love log flumes, I don't ride Ripsaw Falls because you drown. If you want to ride them, they sell ponchos and there is no shame in buying them.

The Bourne Stuntacular is a tough sell to anyone who only has one day but it's fantastic even if you're like me and you couldn't pay me to watch those movies or really most action movies.

Also, when is your trip. Is it before or after 1/7... asking for a friend. My friend's name is Brendan Fraser and he really needs a cup of coffee.

[grsupercity]

We will be at the park on 1/8. We plan on rope dropping Hagrids and then riding Velocicoaster next because it looks amazing 

[coasterbill]

Is there like… any way you can switch it to 1/6? If you're in Orlando on 1/6 and just doing another park, switch it because Mummy closes until late summer starting 1/7.

If you're not then Mummy sucks anyway and you're not missing much and I'm totally not just telling you that to make you feel better, Nope... not this guy,

[grsupercity]

2 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

Is there like… any way you can switch it to 1/6?

haha I wish. We don't even fly in until 1/7

[coasterbill]

Oh well, now you just need to come back. If you love it, consider the annual pass in the future. It basically pays for itself in two visits.

Consolation prize: River Adventure is open and it's fun and you should ride it. No poncho needed for that one. lol

I also have this strange glimmer of hope for you that they'll realize that there's no reason to close Mummy on a Friday and not the following Monday but I probably just threw that out into the world to give you hope and then crush your dreams.

[CaptainUnknown]

I visited both parks back in 2010. I did HHN in 2016/2017. With that in mind, I have a couple questions a few weeks out from my trip:

-I'll have express unlimited through Hard Rock Hotel; is the system more akin to the CF's Fast Lane or SF's Flash Pass system? Are any merge points far from load/pre-show?

-Any hidden gem spots to watch the Macy's parade?

-Is it a better idea to rope drop Hagrids or Velocicoaster? Do either have Single Rider lines?

-Anything else I should know?

[PKI Jizzman]

5 hours ago, jarmor said:

A person WITH express is totally different than a person doing standby.  Have we sunk so low to tell people to miss something because other parks have similar attractions?  Might as well just not go to the park since it's something similar to it in other parks all over.  And lets be honest, between the two parks they have like what 20 attractions and rides?  We aren't talking about someone trying to visit all the Disney world parks in one day, this is Universal.

 

So I say, figure out what park you want to go to first, set yourself a timeframe to be in the park, rank what you want to do from important to less important, if you have to time to do it all, do it all don't just skip stuff for the hell of it.

It all depends on your goals though, I would definitely skip Dr Doom and Hippogriff to get an extra ride on Velocicoaster or extras on Hulk or Mummy. 

[coasterbill]

1 hour ago, CaptainUnknown said:

I visited both parks back in 2010. I did HHN in 2016/2017. With that in mind, I have a couple questions a few weeks out from my trip:

-I'll have express unlimited through Hard Rock Hotel; is the system more akin to the CF's Fast Lane or SF's Flash Pass system? Are any merge points far from load/pre-show?

-Any hidden gem spots to watch the Macy's parade?

-Is it a better idea to rope drop Hagrids or Velocicoaster? Do either have Single Rider lines?

-Anything else I should know?

- It's more akin to Cedar Fair's system. Hop in line whenever you want. Because of that, it just totally depends what lines will be long even with Express. I feel like I've always had bad luck with Gringotts though but that could just be me. The merge is fine, but the line is always long. I can't really think of a ride with a bad merge.

- Not sure about the parade

- Rope drop Hagrid's.

- They both have single rider queues.

[jarmor]

3 hours ago, PKI Jizzman said:

It all depends on your goals though, I would definitely skip Dr Doom and Hippogriff to get an extra ride on Velocicoaster or extras on Hulk or Mummy. 

This is the last i am going to speak on this as it kinda is getting exhausting lol.  Look, they are going a week after the busy season.  The parks will be dead and having express is just icing on the cake.  There is no reason to skip anything other than preference.  My response is and has always been do not skip things (assuming you would want to experience them) because it is similar attractions elsewhere AND if you have ample time to do them.  The poster should have no issue getting multi rides on Velocicoaster nor hulk, rockit and hagrids as the mummy will be down.  All I am saying is to just dont skip things just to skip them lol, that's it!  If it is a matter of what you like or don't like or time then you made the decision just don't go into the game planning on skipping things for the hell of it.

 

Now, let's move on. . .

[PKI Jizzman]

He liked my post, but I hear ya✌ 

[jarmor]

1 hour ago, PKI Jizzman said:

He liked my post, but I hear ya✌ 

The person who liked your post is not the person who's going to the park and asked for the advice lol lol .  And when did it ball down to post likes lol lol.  

[PKI Jizzman]

I just hope they have a great time and ride Velocicoaster 10x. Life is too short for lame drop towers and borderline kiddie coasters when you have 1 day at Universal and the arguably best coaster on the planet at IOA. Everyone has different preferences and priorities, that's my advice. 

[bert425]

I've only been on Flight of the Hippograff at USJ. . but agree that it's a glorified kiddie coaster  (I was unimpressed and we had skip the line passes for it. .. I would have been really annoyed if we had waited in that lengthy line for it).

[Nrthwnd]

^ If we ever get over there, I wasn't sure whether I'd skip that coaster, or not. But .....

At my age, I have become a passionate whore for "some" coaster credits. Go figure.