This Just In - Current USH Happenings

[Jerroddragon]

Just noticed on some weekdays now the park reduced hours and they are only open till 5. Previously slow days would always be 10am-6pm. I'm thinking it could be low staff, vaccine/outdoor mask requirements, and not enough to do in the park. Have noticed crowds at USH and SFMM have been smaller after the mandates, in comparison to Disneyland (always busy) and Knott's.

Slow time of the year as well

So to me it makes sense. Funny enough last Thursday which was a holiday the park was packed and even extended hours

 

[Ron101]

Slow time of the year as well

So to me it makes sense. Funny enough last Thursday which was a holiday the park was packed and even extended hours

Have they reduced hours to 5pm before?

 

[Jerroddragon]

Have they reduced hours to 5pm before?

Not sure. But like I said this month until next week is normally dead

so I get why they don’t feel the need to start open later when not many people are showing up

 

[tacalert]

Slow time of the year as well

So to me it makes sense. Funny enough last Thursday which was a holiday the park was packed and even extended hours

Yes A federal holiday.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Want to note the parks on weekdays are perfect to go right now.

Lines are short or walks all day and they even have the night time show back

I do want to note Grinchmas sucks, it is the most barebones excuse for entertainment I've seen in a while. Just so many cut backs, I hope Nintendoland brings people in to make this a real event again,

Also I know many love the Mummy, but I dont think I'll miss it much because of its loading system. Every other ride was a walk on when I went the other day but Mummy was not and its because they load one car at a time and only use the second station when the parks are full. I will be excited for a ride with a better load system to replace it

 

[Clive]

Want to note the parks on weekdays are perfect to go right now.

Lines are short or walks all day and they even have the night time show back

I do want to note Grinchmas sucks, it is the most barebones excuse for entertainment I've seen in a while. Just so many cut backs, I hope Nintendoland brings people in to make this a real event again,

Also I know many love the Mummy, but I dont think I'll miss it much because of its loading system. Every other ride was a walk on when I went the other day but Mummy was not and its because they load one car at a time and only use the second station when the parks are full. I will be excited for a ride with a better load system to replace it

There are more characters on weekends, but yeah, it really has been cut to the bone.

 

[Jerroddragon]

USH is now requeing any child over 5 to be Vaccinated

So FYI to anyone going with kids

 

[salismetho]

Seems that single rider lines have been closed on the lower lot. Anyone know if this is permanent or just for holiday season?

 

[fryoj]

Seems that single rider lines have been closed on the lower lot. Anyone know if this is permanent or just for holiday season?

I'd assume it's a covid measure to keep from combining non-connected parties.

 

[salismetho]

I'd assume it's a covid measure to keep from combining non-connected parties.

That seems unlikely to me for a ride like Jurassic World that is largely outdoors and has you surrounded by guests anyways. But that def makes sense for Transformers and Mummy. I read that the queue space is currently being used for VIPs so it's possible they just wanted to cut down on lines for them.

 

[Ron101]

Could of just taken the signs down for the holidays as the single rider lines can get crazy long when it’s busy. The app still lists the rides as offering the service though. Also doesn’t make sense why VIP needs their own line, is express not good enough?

 

[Jerroddragon]

Mummy on many days I get told "single rider" is not open today so many times dont use it

Sucks they are making it harder to get on these rides now...but in a week these rides will be walk on's anyway. So would advise people to just want until school is back and enjoy the empty parks then

 

[salismetho]

Could of just taken the signs down for the holidays as the single rider lines can get crazy long when it’s busy. The app still lists the rides as offering the service though. Also doesn’t make sense why VIP needs their own line, is express not good enough?

I'd assume with longer lines, means longer Express lines. Since VIP paid extra they likely want to extra accommodate. And yeah, I forgot that they shut down single rider when it gets too long. Still a bit concerning that the actual signs were taken down (as of the 22nd). Conflicting tweets on whether or not this permanent

 

[salismetho]

Mummy on many days I get told "single rider" is not open today so many times dont use it

Sucks they are making it harder to get on these rides now...but in a week these rides will be walk on's anyway. So would advise people to just want until school is back and enjoy the empty parks then

Really? The only time I've seen closed single rider was when Transformers was getting really backed up one day so they told us to just go through regular queue. Granted I almost never go to Uni on a non-empty day so that might be part of it

 

[Jerroddragon]

Really? The only time I've seen closed single rider was when Transformers was getting really backed up one day so they told us to just go through regular queue. Granted I almost never go to Uni on a non-empty day so that might be part of it

They normally have a person near the VIP entrance and been told single ride is closed....I have no idea if it is or not. Jusrassic makes more sense when they've closed it before either the line is too long or the normal line is so short they just want you to go with everyone else

I hope they keep single rider because its great but sadly could see them taking it away if VIP is going to start using it more offend now. But honestly during the off season most rides are pretty much walk on's anyway. Especially now that covid is slowing travelers from coming to Hollywood. But in a few years after Nintendoland is a thing and maybe we get a new Potter ride we will need it because sure by then crowds will be back

 

[salismetho]

I hope they keep single rider because its great but sadly could see them taking it away if VIP is going to start using it more offend now. But honestly during the off season most rides are pretty much walk on's anyway. Especially now that covid is slowing travelers from coming to Hollywood. But in a few years after Nintendoland is a thing and maybe we get a new Potter ride we will need it because sure by then crowds will be back

honestly just shaving off like 10-15 minutes of queue time for me in Single Rider makes the experience so much better, so I'd be sad if this is permanent and would likely go on a less-often basis. But yeah, I think Nintendo Land alone is gonna cause a major crowd surge as it'll be the only place to offer it in the US for quite some time, even longer than originally intended I believe. Like with WW, we saw an insane growth in crowds and that was a lessened version of what already exists in Orlando. Will def be interesting to see, I'll prob stay clear for a bit unless they do a passmember preview lol

 

[Jerroddragon]

honestly just shaving off like 10-15 minutes of queue time for me in Single Rider makes the experience so much better, so I'd be sad if this is permanent and would likely go on a less-often basis. But yeah, I think Nintendo Land alone is gonna cause a major crowd surge as it'll be the only place to offer it in the US for quite some time, even longer than originally intended I believe. Like with WW, we saw an insane growth in crowds and that was a lessened version of what already exists in Orlando. Will def be interesting to see, I'll prob stay clear for a bit unless they do a passmember preview lol

Maybe?

Like its hard to really know with Covid how anything will be 100% but to me Nintendoland will bring people in next Christmas (if its open by then) but do I think early 2023 will look much different from this year....not much. I think Nintendoland will get people in but think mainly it will bring Ap's to want to visit the park more then get people to travel in for a land with one ride....could be wrong but SW land didn't really bring in a surge to either park it was built at so think Nintendoland is a good step but they need more rides...we need more Potter and more nintendo before we see more people willing to travel to USH.
Could be wrong but considering Potterland it self didn't bring in as many people as they liked I think so will Nintendoland, like people will come but doubt it will make the parks much more crowds on none busy days but who knows until it happens

 

[salismetho]

Maybe?

Like its hard to really know with Covid how anything will be 100% but to me Nintendoland will bring people in next Christmas (if its open by then) but do I think early 2023 will look much different from this year....not much. I think Nintendoland will get people in but think mainly it will bring Ap's to want to visit the park more then get people to travel in for a land with one ride....could be wrong but SW land didn't really bring in a surge to either park it was built at so think Nintendoland is a good step but they need more rides...we need more Potter and more nintendo before we see more people willing to travel to USH.
Could be wrong but considering Potterland it self didn't bring in as many people as they liked I think so will Nintendoland, like people will come but doubt it will make the parks much more crowds on none busy days but who knows until it happens

Disagree with you on a few points. For starters, HP basically only has one real ride, not too different from Nintendo Land, and its impact on the park's performance has been massive. Since opening in Orlando, USH saw massive attendance improvements. I'd assume that extra media coverage to Universal parks helped with that, as park attendance didn't drasticlly change in DL from 2009-2014. Then, upon opening, Harry Potter gave a one million attendance boost in one year alone, massive considering that Orlando already had Diagon Alley a few hours flight away. SW Land didn't really get a chance to prove itself after RotR was added, and Disneyland managed to reach capacity on many days. Nintendo also has a giant fandom who I could definitely see flying or traveling to go to this land until EU gets its full version. Aside from fandom, SNW is a next step up in terms of theme park land design. I really think this park is gonna do loads for the park in attendance and capacity if they do a good job advertising it. If they added a Nintendo store, similar to the one in New York, to Citywalk I think that could attract even more. More Potter would help, but now with the Pets ride and the Mario Kart ride, I think Universal is getting to the point where they don't need to rely on that one IP

 

[Jerroddragon]

Disagree with you on a few points. For starters, HP basically only has one real ride, not too different from Nintendo Land, and its impact on the park's performance has been massive. Since opening in Orlando, USH saw massive attendance improvements. I'd assume that extra media coverage to Universal parks helped with that, as park attendance didn't drasticlly change in DL from 2009-2014. Then, upon opening, Harry Potter gave a one million attendance boost in one year alone, massive considering that Orlando already had Diagon Alley a few hours flight away. SW Land didn't really get a chance to prove itself after RotR was added, and Disneyland managed to reach capacity on many days. Nintendo also has a giant fandom who I could definitely see flying or traveling to go to this land until EU gets its full version. Aside from fandom, SNW is a next step up in terms of theme park land design. I really think this park is gonna do loads for the park in attendance and capacity if they do a good job advertising it. If they added a Nintendo store, similar to the one in New York, to Citywalk I think that could attract even more. More Potter would help, but now with the Pets ride and the Mario Kart ride, I think Universal is getting to the point where they don't need to rely on that one IP

My bad, I should have stated for Hollywood it did not get the attendance numbers boost they wanted.

SLOP is great but do I think it in anyway is big enough to draw people in like Pokemon, Mario or Potter. Not even close

You could replace simpsons land with some new animated land from any dream works or Ilumnation film and it would not come close to a Pokemon or Potterland in terms of seeling merch and getting people in.
SLOP doesn't have robes or wands you can buy or raids like Nintendoland.

Disneyland while doing just fine is not at a peak because of Star Wars..sure they are selling merch but they wanted EVERY day to be sold out im sure after SWland opened and that summer it did was pretty normal.
I'm sure Nintendoland will help get more people in, no doubt but USH will still have off months unless people realllllly love Mario Kart ride which who knows maybe they will but think it will mostly get AP's like me to visit more but its not the 90s any more...we have 1 billion ways to entertain our selves and most people know Universal/Disney rarely make rides exclusive most people in Florida will not be traveling to CA for a MK ride they are like 99 percent sure will make it's way to their local parks in 2-3 years.

Would both love and hate to be proven wrong but think MK will make a big splash but a month later be a walk on in January which I will abuse and ride that thing a million times

 

[salismetho]

My bad, I should have stated for Hollywood it did not get the attendance numbers boost they wanted.

SLOP is great but do I think it in anyway is big enough to draw people in like Pokemon, Mario or Potter. Not even close

You could replace simpsons land with some new animated land from any dream works or Ilumnation film and it would not come close to a Pokemon or Potterland in terms of seeling merch and getting people in.
SLOP doesn't have robes or wands you can buy or raids like Nintendoland.

Disneyland while doing just fine is not at a peak because of Star Wars..sure they are selling merch but they wanted EVERY day to be sold out im sure after SWland opened and that summer it did was pretty normal.
I'm sure Nintendoland will help get more people in, no doubt but USH will still have off months unless people realllllly love Mario Kart ride which who knows maybe they will but think it will mostly get AP's like me to visit more but its not the 90s any more...we have 1 billion ways to entertain our selves and most people know Universal/Disney rarely make rides exclusive most people in Florida will not be traveling to CA for a MK ride they are like 99 percent sure will make it's way to their local parks in 2-3 years.

Would both love and hate to be proven wrong but think MK will make a big splash but a month later be a walk on in January which I will abuse and ride that thing a million times

i think you may have misunderstood what i said. when HP opened in Orlando, Hollywood also saw massive attendance boosts that were furthered when it actually opened here. this is likely due to association. SLoP helps add the ride count to the park, so even if that ride itself doesn't draw people (though i do think it'll help with younger families) just having another ride listed makes the park seem bigger/more worth it. again, DL just didn't really have a chance once RotR opened and regardless the land itself did not come out as great as HP and Nintendo lands are. It's not about the Mario Kart ride, it's about the Nintendo IP and how the land looks/will look in advertising material. in both of those, this land is a major win. Mario is a universally loved and known character, and you can see through Switch sales that this is still something the general public cares about. People are also not reading rumors and leaks and won't necessarily know that this is coming to Orlando, and even if they did might not want to wait 3 years. I do think if we see a summer opening (unlikely though it may be) it would do a lot more than a winter opening. also, LA is already a tourist destination. a lot of this is driving tourists already coming to the parks, not just getting them to make a trip for the park. if they can get people to do one day disney and one day universal instead of two days disney, that's gonna help.