Wait Times Today

[wareagle57]

Is there some reason wait times are so horrendous today? We were going to pop over to use a couple of express passes that expire soon but given these wait times I’m afraid of the crowds.

It’s only been a week or two since I was last at Universal. In the 5 or so trips I’ve made since they reopened (mostly on the weekends) I’ve never seen anything other than hulk be more than a 30 minute wait. Most things nearly a walk-on. How are waits this long with the capacity limits in place?

Shrek is 75 minutes

Hogwarts Express 85

Rip Ride Rocket 75

Hulk 110

Spiderman 50

Basically nothing under an hour except for a few things that are almost always walk-on like ET and MIB at “only” 35 minutes.

 

[ForWhomTheMouseTolls]

When I was a kid, ET had a 120 minute wait times all the time.

 

[Pixie Dusted Dee]

Its Saturday.
Larger crowds have been reported on weekends at Universal especially in August.
It appears its mostly locals.

 

[HashberryOTG]

For some this is a last weekend before school starts.

 

[tony67]

I think with all deals for locals weekends will continue t be busy at Universal for the rest of the year

 

[Nhebron]

I wonder if the lines are bad even with express pass. I was planning to do a long weekend but use express pass to help with lines.

 

[ShadeDK]

Noticed Volcano Bay is currently closed today for capacity.

Agree with earlier post that this seems to be a weekend thing and mostly locals (that Florida resident ticket deal seems to have primed the crowds) . Had a report that the parking lot at Royal Pacific was maybe 15-20% full all week - until last night when it was packed solid and people were circling for an open spot (that’s probably also driven by moving all those Sapphire Falls reservations over).

Same person, however, reports Express still works great. Walk on during the week in most instances and maybe 5-10 minutes today.

 

[wareagle57]

But the parks closed to capacity even within the first month of park opening and it was never like this. If there is a true park capacity, then “locals on the weekend” shouldn’t explain it unless they’ve increased capacity right? They have closed a very small number of attractions but I can’t imagine that’s had much impact. Also seems strange they’d need to close those rides if they are this busy. I know most on here are staying at a Universal resort and it thankfully won’t affect your waits that much.

 

[Pixie Dusted Dee]

But the parks closed to capacity even within the first month of park opening and it was never like this. If there is a true park capacity, then “locals on the weekend” shouldn’t explain it unless they’ve increased capacity right? They have closed a very small number of attractions but I can’t imagine that’s had much impact. Also seems strange they’d need to close those rides if they are this busy. I know most on here are staying at a Universal resort and it thankfully won’t affect your waits that much.

Volcano Bay has reached capacity quite a lot.
It also is not as large as the theme parks so capacity is smaller to begin with.
Personally I think Universal has upped its cap without really making it public.
They are offering a crazy deal that's like buy a day get the rest of 2020 free so lots of locals are going and weekends are becoming more crowded since school is back in session.
Its also easier to plan a spur of the moment visit to Universal compared to Disney in general and especially right now.
And when everything is in the same place its gonna just feel more crowded overall.
People are all coming in through City Walk and then filtering into the parks or hanging in City Walk.

 

[tony67]

But the parks closed to capacity even within the first month of park opening and it was never like this. If there is a true park capacity, then “locals on the weekend” shouldn’t explain it unless they’ve increased capacity right? They have closed a very small number of attractions but I can’t imagine that’s had much impact. Also seems strange they’d need to close those rides if they are this busy. I know most on here are staying at a Universal resort and it thankfully won’t affect your waits that much.

Keep in mind the rides and shows have a reduced capacity - so for example MIB has cars of 1 or 2 people going instead of 6.
Most rides are seating every other row so that also reduces capacity - so wait time are basically doubled from what they should be at the current capacity IMO

 

[snowpack]

Keep in mind the rides and shows have a reduced capacity - so for example MIB has cars of 1 or 2 people going instead of 6.
Most rides are seating every other row so that also reduces capacity - so wait time are basically doubled from what they should be at the current capacity IMO

I wonder how long that will continue with them skipping every other row.

 

[wareagle57]

Keep in mind the rides and shows have a reduced capacity - so for example MIB has cars of 1 or 2 people going instead of 6.
Most rides are seating every other row so that also reduces capacity - so wait time are basically doubled from what they should be at the current capacity IMO

This is no different than the months before when I visited. Ride have no less capacity today than they did June 15th

 

[macraven]

I wonder how long that will continue with them skipping every other row.

Probably until covid 19 is no longer a threat

 

[tony67]

This is no different than the months before when I visited. Ride have no less capacity today than they did June 15th

Obviously there are more people now than June 15th - my point is even at half the capacity of the same time last year wait times will be about the same as last year.

 

[mrd7896]

i will be at the parks this coming saturday, so yesterday i was looking at the wait times throughout the day and wasn't thrilled. we have the extra morning hour and hopefully can guarantee a ride or two with VQ, but just everything was consistently an hour or more.

i even had wait time alerts set for when a few of the popular rides got under a 30 minute wait...the only one that ever did was hulk and i think it was about 40 minutes before closing.

unsure if the wait times were overstated or accurate.

i guess its good (but probably for local crowds, bad) that the parks will be open until 8pm this coming saturday. some more time to get on things.

i was about to purchase a one day express pass for me and my DBF but he told me not to.
we will still be going back to universal on weds 9/9 which will HOPEFULLY be a good day

everyone keeps saying yesterday and today is the last weekend for a lot of florida residents to go to the parks, but i'm assuming next weekend will equally draw crowds..it's a 3 day weekend.
but what do i know?

definitely getting nervous

 

[tony67]

i will be at the parks this coming saturday, so yesterday i was looking at the wait times throughout the day and wasn't thrilled. we have the extra morning hour and hopefully can guarantee a ride or two with VQ, but just everything was consistently an hour or more.

i even had wait time alerts set for when a few of the popular rides got under a 30 minute wait...the only one that ever did was hulk and i think it was about 40 minutes before closing.

unsure if the wait times were overstated or accurate.

i guess its good (but probably for local crowds, bad) that the parks will be open until 8pm this coming saturday. some more time to get on things.

i was about to purchase a one day express pass for me and my DBF but he told me not to.
we will still be going back to universal on weds 9/9 which will HOPEFULLY be a good day

everyone keeps saying yesterday and today is the last weekend for a lot of florida residents to go to the parks, but i'm assuming next weekend will equally draw crowds..it's a 3 day weekend.
but what do i know?

definitely getting nervous

Yeah - Wednesday should be pretty nice - from all I have heard its the weekends that are "packed"

 

[wareagle57]

We decided to go the last 3 hours hoping the crowds would clear out a bit while we were there. It was a huge mistake. Other than finally getting to see Borne it was a huge and dangerous waste of time. They are simply letting way too many people into the parks. Whatever they claim their capacity limit is currently is too high for it to be safe. It felt like a busy day even for the before times. And I’m not just talking about wait times. I mean simply being there and trying to navigate the park. Mask usage was at an all time low, and with the crowded walkways it made it impossible to avoid. I would not recommend going on the weekends even with Express.

 

[Nhebron]

We decided to go the last 3 hours hoping the crowds would clear out a bit while we were there. It was a huge mistake. Other than finally getting to see Borne it was a huge and dangerous waste of time. They are simply letting way too many people into the parks. Whatever they claim their capacity limit is currently is too high for it to be safe. It felt like a busy day even for the before times. And I’m not just talking about wait times. I mean simply being there and trying to navigate the park. Mask usage was at an all time low, and with the crowded walkways it made it impossible to avoid. I would not recommend going on the weekends even with Express.

you went the last three hours on Saturday? This is disappointing but understandable I guess. People want to get out. I ended up booking for Columbus Day weekend and will adjust my expectations.

 

[wareagle57]

you went the last three hours on Saturday? This is disappointing but understandable I guess. People want to get out. I ended up booking for Columbus Day weekend and will adjust my expectations.

Even in the last 30 minutes every popular attraction had a significant wait. Hulk was 130 with an hour for express. But the worst thing was the mass of people being funneled out the bottle neck that is the walk from Islands through city walk to the parking garage.

 

[tony67]

Yeah - I was watching one of the vloggers walk around the park and I was a bit shocked at how busy it was.
If you check out Rix Flix eating around IOA from yesterday it is really busy looking to m so that will give you an idea of just how busy it was