Universal Studios Hollywood - Jurassic World

[goodeats]

Lower lot usually opens one hour after the park opens.

Here today and HPFJ opened for EE at 8:30 and Lower Lot opened at 9. Huge bottleneck on escalators. I would recommend stairs. We didn’t get to line until 9:10 (and we were part of rope drop pack) and off ride by 10:10. They had some technical issues and had to unload some boats.

Ride was more fun and more wet than I expected. Scared the crap out of my 7 year old though.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

We’re coming in August and really our two priorities is everything Harry Potter and this ride. Is it worth it to go straight to the Jurassic ride or should we just hit our HP things first then go there? Sounds like you end up waiting either way?

 

[goodeats]

We’re coming in August and really our two priorities is everything Harry Potter and this ride. Is it worth it to go straight to the Jurassic ride or should we just hit our HP things first then go there? Sounds like you end up waiting either way?

We did not have early entry, but we were still let through the gates around 8:40. We decided to go all in for JW and were held at a rope right before Springfield. Around 8:55 they moved us to a holding place right before the escalators. I don't know if there was another rope on the back side of Hogsmede. Like I said earlier due to bottlenecks and issues with the attraction we weren't off the ride until 10:10. We then headed straight to Hogswarts and the sign said 60 and it ended up being 90 minutes+. I believe the ride had issues too because there was one point in line we didn't move at all. For some reason in the morning we were waiting outside the castle for most of the line and then walked through the inside portion. Around 6:00 the line was only 45 minutes and you could walk into the castle, but then the bulk of the line was inside. Not sure why the switch.

By 1:00 we had only ridden JW and HP and the FJ and eaten at the Three Broomsticks. I noticed lines were a lot shorter for everything except JW later in the day. If I had EE I would have ridden HPFJ first and then squeezed into rope drop crowd. I don't know if we would be in good position, but it would have made the rest of the day better. We never got on Transformers and The Mummy (my kids probably wouldn't have liked anyway), but since I have the second day "free" we may go back in August to try. Of course then I have to pay for parking and food again.

Hindsight being 20/20 I think the EE tickets through Universal would have been my better buy even though they were $30 more.

 

[StageTek]

Right now the lower lot is opening with park opening.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Been eyeballing the app every so often now that our trip is in a few days and the wait times for the ride are still averaging 120 minutes... yuck. Anyone been recently that can share rope drop experience?

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Huge bottleneck on escalators. I would recommend stairs.

Are the stairs right next to the escalators?

 

[dina444444]

Are the stairs right next to the escalators?

Yes, they are attached to the escalator structures. Just a note if you haven't been before there are 4 sets of escalators with landings in between (some larger than others) so you are going to be walking down several flights of stairs if you go the stairs route.

 

[goodeats]

Yes, they are attached to the escalator structures. Just a note if you haven't been before there are 4 sets of escalators with landings in between (some larger than others) so you are going to be walking down several flights of stairs if you go the stairs route.

And even though the park just opened and the vast majority of people were heading down the escalators they still had two running down and two running up. Maybe they are hard to switch mid day?

You can switch from stairs to escalators and escalators to stairs at each landing too.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

This rope drop to JW sounds really athletic we’ll see how well we do.