Crowd size at Universal and I.O.A. August 11-17?

jrobinson424

New Member
Original Poster
Please folks don't kill me. My family goes to WDW for 2 weeks every year and have been since 2002. We are die hard Disney freaks. However, my children want to go to Universal this year and I was wondering if anyone can tell me how bad the crowds are the week we are going. When does school start back in Florida? My wife and I went to Universal in August of 2000(honeymoon) and I don't remember the crowds being that big. At least not compared to WDW.
 

jrobinson424

New Member
Original Poster
How can I be in the wrong forum? I put this thread under trip planning and by golly that is what I am doing. It's amazing how folks get mad if you mention Universal or I.O.A. I remember at one time, there were a lot of nice kind people on here who would help out fellow travelers anyway they could. It seems like here lately all you read on here on any thread is negativity. If someone could just get past the Universal thing and help me out, that would be great. THANK YOU WHERE EVER YOU ARE.
 

dave2822

New Member
Hey there,

Are you staying at a Uni resort? If so, don't you get to the front of the line for most attractions?

Even still, if you have 6 days there and you get to the parks pretty early, you will have NO trouble getting everything done. Attractions can warrant some pretty big waits, but if you can handle the WDW crowds, you can certainly handle Uni.

Oh, and Hook wasn't being rude, there is in fact a seperate Universal forum :)

Enjoy your trip
 

Chezman1399

Active Member
To my knowledge, Universal gets almost all of its attendance during the summer and tend to have a pretty slow fall and winter. When I was there in August a few years ago there was about a 2-3 hour wait for the Hulk at IOA and even with there free fast pass-like thing that they had then it was 1 1/2 hour wait for Deuling Dragons. The waits are not really from the fact that there were a lot of people there, just that the paths aren't really that big there and there are really only about 5 or 6 attractions worth caring about. The Studios side has a lot of outdated things and attractions like Shrek 3d that blatantly make fun of Disney, however rides like The Mummy, Twister, Men in Black, and Back to the Future do get large crowds as far as wait time goes.

Last time I was there it was spring '06 and they had a decent amount of people in the park nothing was like that one Summer I went though. I've got an Annual Pass for there, just because if I go there twice during the year it pretty much pays for itself. Even on a slow day I've never managed to park anywhere near the park in the parking garages. Finally beware their Express Pass, it changes price depending on the season I've seen it almost at $70-$80 one time last spring, so I wouldn't count on being able to use it. I mean unless you like to spend money or it's at a really good price that day for whatever reason. If the lines are longer use Single Rider Lines wherever you can or meet a very nice lady with Medical problems that has a handicap pass to allow her and family onto rides, that's what my friends and I did one time.
 

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
How can I be in the wrong forum? I put this thread under trip planning and by golly that is what I am doing. It's amazing how folks get mad if you mention Universal or I.O.A. I remember at one time, there were a lot of nice kind people on here who would help out fellow travelers anyway they could. It seems like here lately all you read on here on any thread is negativity. If someone could just get past the Universal thing and help me out, that would be great. THANK YOU WHERE EVER YOU ARE.

Now then - no need to throw your teddy out of the pram.

This is a WDW Website - therefore Trip Planning is about WDW trip planning - you'll find (further down the Forums page) a section for Universal.

I'm not getting mad - I was pointing out (in a nice way) your error

I am one of the kind people who help people out (boy, you do go on when you think someones having a pop at you).
 

goofyfamily

New Member
We went in May and my advice to you is if possible try to stay at one of the 3 resorts, even if for one night, it was so worth it. Just for the front of the line pass alone It wasnt that crowded but if we didnt stay there wait times for the big coasters were an hour at least. If you stay for one night you can use the front of the line option for the 2 days. I wouldnt go there wihout it. Have fun.
 

Lindsy1052

New Member
How can I be in the wrong forum? I put this thread under trip planning and by golly that is what I am doing. It's amazing how folks get mad if you mention Universal or I.O.A. I remember at one time, there were a lot of nice kind people on here who would help out fellow travelers anyway they could. It seems like here lately all you read on here on any thread is negativity. If someone could just get past the Universal thing and help me out, that would be great. THANK YOU WHERE EVER YOU ARE.

Don't get upset over response. Some of these people are not business people and do not understand the concept that competition is healthy. You will not find the crowds as large as those at Disney. Some of the schools here start on August 20th. Keep in minds your length of stay. Universal has only two parks, both of which on a slow day can be done in one day. Again, for you best advice, there is a Universal thread and you may be able to get more answers from there. Enjoy your trip.
 

MiRi

Member
I was just there this past Saturday. There was a nice crowd, but it wasn't horrible. We got to IOA first and got in right after they opened the gates. My boyfriend got to ride Hulk two times in a row. I believe the wait time was like 10-15 minutes. We pretty much walked on Popeye & Dudley Do Right. Spider-Man had a 5-10 minute wait when I went on it. We did pretty much everything we wanted to do. We just went to IOA first, did the major rides, and then went to Universal.

Universal was more packed though. We had passed by Shrek 4D and it had like a 50 minute wait time and then we passed by again later on and it had a 20 minute wait time. Jaws had like a 20 minute wait time as well.

It wasn't so bad at all, even with the Express Plus people going through first. We did everything we wanted to do, except for E.T. & Men in Black. We were satisfied though. We were gone from Universal by 5:30pm.

On the other hand, Disney was pretty packed. MGM & EPCOT weren't so bad, but the MK was just crowded.
 

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