XGatorHead 8904 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 It's been 12 long years, but next week I'm finally making it back to Universal and IoA. That's right, the last time I went was almost exactly 1 month after IoA first opened, June 1999. Now, I've read this topic which had a little advice about visiting IoA after the addition of Harry Potter, but that was back during the off-season. What I'm looking for are any tips anyone might have for visiting in the summer months, the peak season. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, in fact I've never seen any of the movies in it's entirety, but I plan on watching at least the first two this week. I do want to ride the HP ride at least once because of the glowing reviews, and possibly get some butterbeer, but the shops, wand selection, etc. hold little interest to us. I had checked on the parks' hours a few months ago, and then again this past Friday. IoA extended their hours in that time to open one hour earlier, at 8:00. We're going to Magic Kingdom on Sunday, and they also extended their hours, to close one hour later than originally scheduled. So this tells me one thing: they expect it to be busy! Magic Kingdom I have down since I've visited there more frequently, but any tips anyone has to help maximize my time at both Uni parks, IoA in particular since it's the one I'm most worried about with the HP addition driving crowds in, would be greatly appreciated. We're spending one day in each park, Uni on Monday and IoA on Tuesday. I have a 6 year old thrill seeker with us who's not 48" yet, and I've ridden all the coasters at IoA so I can skip them (if I have to! ) to make sure she gets to do some of the more kid oriented stuff. I would like to get a ride on The Mummy at least since it wasn't there last time, and possibly Rip Ride Rockit (but Mummy has priority between those two!). Thanks in advance for any help you can give! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofbeast214(v2.0) Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 for harry potter ride i would recommend riding tht the night of a concert. ex. if a concert starts at 6pm ride tht at 6-7pm. but for everything else i would HIGHLY RECOMMEND express! i guarantee 15min or less for everything else NOTE: harry potter ride and rip rocket roller coaster have NO express. express cost about $50-70 per person U WILL HAVE LOADS OF FUN!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI FANATIC 37 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I was there last year. Let me ask you a quick question, "Are you staying on site at one of the hotels?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XGatorHead 8904 Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 Sorry, I'm not doing the express. It's just too much money per person for us. And there's no concerts when we're there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel_SoB_fan Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Sundays at Magic Kingdom are not terribly crowded, depending on your definition of crowded. If you are not a fan of the Main Street Electrical Parade, then ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountains during those parades. Also I will be working in Frontierland on Sunday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekidd33 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 ^Wrong park... As far as tackling summer crowds goes, I don't have much to offer as I have only been there in the winter. I can say that the Butterbeer is pretty amazing and that even in January we had a 90+ minute wait for The Forbidden Journey so I would imagine it would be at least that long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongliveKingsCobra Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Well I too went in the off-season but still there were crowds. As for IOA. Work in a circle. It's a bad news bears to try and just walk around and hit different parts of the park. I usally go: Marvel, Cartoon, Jurrisc, and then swing by and get a ticket to enter Harry Potter, YOU MUST HAVE A TICKET TO GET IN, so get one (for everyone in the party) then keep going through the rest of the park and re hit things that you want. Once your ticket time for Harry is up, make your way over there since you must enter I believe with in a 10 minute timeframe after the time on the ticket. When you get in HP-world there is tons to do! Just remember that the shops are scale models so they are small, and most of the shops have lines to get in them! Olivanders will have a HUGE LINE! I actually suggest skipping unless you absolutely want to wait and see if Gator Girl gets picked to have a wand "chosen" for her. (NOTE all of the things that can be bought in HP world (wands, candy, robes books etc. can be bought in the front of the park as well. So if you don't want to wait 30-40 minutes to enter a shop you can do your shopping there). Rides: I found that Dragon Challenge really didn't have that long of a wait. Rode it twice within 10 minutes. Forbidden Journey is the big one. While there is a line, the line is your tour through the castle (save the part when your in the green house), the line is just as cool as the ride, (btw don't get scared by the Demetors....scared the crap out of me on that ride). Check out both shows. The frog show choir is AMAZING!!! As well as the "schools" show. It is important to note, once you are in HP world you DO NOT HAVE TO LEAVE UNTIL YOU WANT; but we warned once you leave you can not enter until you have a ticket. For the Other park: Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit: not that impressed. Fun ride but not worth waiting over an hour for... Shrek 4-d is super fun and really cool! The line can be bad but we went early in the day and we walked right on. I did not ride Jimmy Neutrons adventure thingy so I can't attest, however I've watched Youtube vids and they seem kinda fun Twister is really cool! Waiting in the destroyed house is really creepy, even I was kinda scared. The show is Ho-hum but it can cool you off like no other . THE MUMMY!!!!: OMG-SUS! That ride is so cool and def. worth the wait! Disaster the Ride! Its just like Earthquake but still a lot of fun! Jaws, we didn't ride, but I heard its a fun ride. The Simpson’s, SO FUN! I got a little dizzy but it doesn't last long. They even spray scents into the ride. MIB Alien Attack, its kinda fun. Only really fun when you start to spin around. However, because we used are express pass (although you say you don't want to spend the money its the best way to ride stuff more than once) I didn't know where nor how to shoot the monsters so...yeah not that fun. Terminator 3d is an amazing ride, but before you get into the actual show area you have to stand for a pretty long time. Just remember though its tons of fun! Don't forget that in both areas there are walk around characters ("Students" in HP world, Marylyn Monroe in Hollywood) so don't forget to stop by. I find this park to be an all day experience if you HAVE TO. Its a lot of walking, and my feet almost died both days. If you are staying at one of their hotels Def. go back in the middle of the day and relax a little! Then go back since you can get back in the same day, or even go hit up City Walk, its a fun place to catch a movie or dinner! That’s all I can think of with my extremely long post! I hope it helped!! Oh one more: HAVE SO MUCH FUN! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XGatorHead 8904 Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks for the tips! Keep 'em coming if you got 'em! I was there last year. Let me ask you a quick question, "Are you staying on site at one of the hotels?" We're not staying on property at WDW or Uni. We are staying on International Dr though, about 2.5 miles from Uni. Sundays at Magic Kingdom are not terribly crowded, depending on your definition of crowded. If you are not a fan of the Main Street Electrical Parade, then ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountains during those parades. Also I will be working in Frontierland on Sunday We are HUGE fans of the nighttime parades. But since they'll be running twice, we'll see it once and hit rides during the other. Mrs. Gator wants to skip Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, but GatorGirl and I may just overrule her on that! Do you know where in Frontierland you'll be working that day? Well I too went in the off-season but still there were crowds. As for IOA. Work in a circle. It's a bad news bears to try and just walk around and hit different parts of the park. I usally go: Marvel, Cartoon, Jurrisc, and then swing by and get a ticket to enter Harry Potter, YOU MUST HAVE A TICKET TO GET IN, so get one (for everyone in the party) then keep going through the rest of the park and re hit things that you want. Last time we went we did IoA in a circle, which is pretty easy because that's how the park's set up! Once your ticket time for Harry is up, make your way over there since you must enter I believe with in a 10 minute timeframe after the time on the ticket. When you get in HP-world there is tons to do! Just remember that the shops are scale models so they are small, and most of the shops have lines to get in them! Olivanders will have a HUGE LINE! I actually suggest skipping unless you absolutely want to wait and see if Gator Girl gets picked to have a wand "chosen" for her. (NOTE all of the things that can be bought in HP world (wands, candy, robes books etc. can be bought in the front of the park as well. So if you don't want to wait 30-40 minutes to enter a shop you can do your shopping there). That 10 minute timeframe seems a little harsh, but if it works for them... We're planning on skipping the shops, I've heard horrendous things about them and the crowds due to their size. GatorGirl's not really into HP so skipping them's not a big deal for her. Rides: I found that Dragon Challenge really didn't have that long of a wait. Rode it twice within 10 minutes. Forbidden Journey is the big one. While there is a line, the line is your tour through the castle (save the part when your in the green house), the line is just as cool as the ride, (btw don't get scared by the Demetors....scared the crap out of me on that ride). I rode Dragon Challenge back in it's Dueling Dragons days, so it's not a must-ride for me, especially since GatorGirl's not tall enough for it. She will be wating in a few lines with us that she's not tall enough for, and I'd rather it be rides that I haven't experienced yet like Forbidden Journey and The Mummy. I'll ride Dragon if the line's short. When I went last in 1999 I was lucky enough to get it as a walk-on. For the Other park: Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit: not that impressed. Fun ride but not worth waiting over an hour for... Shrek 4-d is super fun and really cool! The line can be bad but we went early in the day and we walked right on. I did not ride Jimmy Neutrons adventure thingy so I can't attest, however I've watched Youtube vids and they seem kinda fun Twister is really cool! Waiting in the destroyed house is really creepy, even I was kinda scared. The show is Ho-hum but it can cool you off like no other . THE MUMMY!!!!: OMG-SUS! That ride is so cool and def. worth the wait! Disaster the Ride! Its just like Earthquake but still a lot of fun! Jaws, we didn't ride, but I heard its a fun ride. The Simpson's, SO FUN! I got a little dizzy but it doesn't last long. They even spray scents into the ride. MIB Alien Attack, its kinda fun. Only really fun when you start to spin around. However, because we used are express pass (although you say you don't want to spend the money its the best way to ride stuff more than once) I didn't know where nor how to shoot the monsters so...yeah not that fun. Terminator 3d is an amazing ride, but before you get into the actual show area you have to stand for a pretty long time. Just remember though its tons of fun! Mummy is a must-ride for me, HRRR I'll ride only if I can get it when the line's not too long. Jaws is one of my favorite rides anywhere, Mrs. Gator & I love Twister, and Shrek, Simpsons and MiB are new to us so they're must-dos. We'll probably skip Terminator since Mrs. Gator & I have already done it twice and it doesn't interest GatorGirl. Jimmy Neutron we'll ride... as long as it's open. With the press release of the Despicable Me announcement, they said Jimmy Neutron would stay open until August 18th, but the ride is no longer on their website. I find this park to be an all day experience if you HAVE TO. Its a lot of walking, and my feet almost died both days. If you are staying at one of their hotels Def. go back in the middle of the day and relax a little! Then go back since you can get back in the same day, or even go hit up City Walk, its a fun place to catch a movie or dinner! When we go to parks on vacation, particularly the FL ones, we're not the type to go back to our hotel to relax. Since we typically only leave one day to do each park, we don't like taking the time to leave the park and come back. We do however take some time to relax inside the parks. We'll sit and have a Dole Whip Pineapple Float in Adventureland, sit in the rocking chairs near The Hall of Presidents, sit in Frontierland and watch the boat while having a frozen fruit bar, etc. I made a list of all the rides/attractions in the three parks we'll be visiting, and GatorGirl and I prioritized how important each one is to us so that we can make sure to hit the ones we REALLY want to do first. We each put a 1 next to the ones we definitely wanted to do, a 2 next to the ones that we'll do if we have time, and an X next to the ones that we're alright with skipping. Most of our priorities are the same, but she surprised me with a couple. She scared of BBoBH at KI, but she put a 1 next to Haunted Mansion (I've been preparing her for this and some of the other "scary" rides like Jaws and Jurassic Park), and she's VERY scared of storms, but she put a 1 next to Twister after I explained it to her. I think it helped that I stressed that everything... the ghosts, the tornado, the shark, the dinos, etc... are not real. Mrs. Gator is going to make her picks tonight. Animal Actors and Beetlejuice are musts, and surprisingly GatorGirl really wants to see the Horror Make-Up Show and Fear Factor Live. Last night I watched my first HP movie ever, Sorceror's Stone. I liked it, and I'm looking forward to seeing the others. I had always intended on watching them, but with visiting IoA now that kind of urged me to start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frisbeefan Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 I went in February this year and had a blast! I agree with Cobra on his suggestions especially with HRRR. Some of the rides I really enjoyed were:Shrek 4D, Mummy(which is a great attraction), MIB, and if you enjoy getting drenched Jurrasic Park and Popeye. Another one I remember as a kid was E.T. and enjoyed riding it this year as well. I really loved the detail throughout the parks, especially IOA and hope you have a great trip. Sorry I couldn't offer any planning tips since I went in the off-season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XGatorHead 8904 Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 Of course, ET is the one that GatorGirl is most excited about at Studios! Especially after we told her about him saying everyone's name at the end. And I love that queue line! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongliveKingsCobra Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 The 10 minute thing might be a little off....I'm not sure how long it is, but I am sure its not an all day time frame though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frisbeefan Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Of course, ET is the one that GatorGirl is most excited about at Studios! Especially after we told her about him saying everyone's name at the end. And I love that queue line! In February I was the only guest in the building and it was a pretty weird feeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel_SoB_fan Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 I do not know where in Frontierland I will be, won't know until I clock in. Also for the exciting news just announced today. On the day you will be visiting Magic Kingdom , therell be not one but two Celebrate a Dream Come True parades. The first at Noon and the second at 3 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.