Transformers: The Ride - Summer 2013

[freediverdude]

I know as someone who lives about an hour away, that all the rain we're getting here every day is keeping a lot of locals from visiting. I hear over and over, "We were going to go over for the evening, but then it started storming again." It's just been relentless, like almost every day there's a rainstorm during some part of the day, frequently with lightning and thunder. And I think people living in Florida are a fair percentage of the visitors, maybe more than Disney/Universal would like to admit, hehe.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Transformers has been accepting Express since June 21st.

It's been for quite a while now.

Thanks guys :thumbs:

 

[Mad Dog]

I know as someone who lives about an hour away, that all the rain we're getting here every day is keeping a lot of locals from visiting. I hear over and over, "We were going to go over for the evening, but then it started storming again." It's just been relentless, like almost every day there's a rainstorm during some part of the day, frequently with lightning and thunder. And I think people living in Florida are a fair percentage of the visitors, maybe more than Disney/Universal would like to admit, hehe.

Your theory seems very plausible. The same thing has been happening with our local park Kennywood. We had three weeks of relentless rain,lots of local flooding, and attendance dropped, even though it's summer season.

 

[Hockeyman55]

How about crazy gas prices keeping people from driving more than they used to? That keeps us from driving up more than we used to.

 

[ulto]

Not sure if I am reading this right, but if I am, this is illegal (price colluding) - competing firms cannot agree to set a price with each other. Obviously admission prices are the same across Orlando theme parks, but these prices were set by the market.

Maybe I am misreading what he said, but I think he means why doesn't Universal lower their prices, making it much cheaper than Disney, not both colluding. Lower prices mean more people will go to Universal instead of Disney.

This starts getting into predatory pricing at a certain point.

 

[Teebin]

Um... it rains almost every afternoon in Florida in the summer, always has, year after year. If you are saying that it has been raining for the full day every day then that is another situation. There was a major push of National Parks by the NPS this early spring, and the idea was featured on the news and talk shows quite a bit.

 

[IzzyB]

It has been raining more than normal. It is not just our afternoon showers. We had one week where it was raining morning, then stop, afternoon, then stop, and then evening again. It has been crazy weather that has been killing many people's plans. Being the crazy ones, we finally said screw it, lets go this past weekend. We got less time in legoland, but the time we did get was smaller lines. Same with the Beach yesterday. Yes, it was cloudy, yes we couldn't go out until 4, but it was EMPTY when we did go out.

Our afternoon 20 minute showers, have not just been in the afternoon and not just 20 minutes.

 

[Milla4Prez66]

I live about 30-45 minutes from Universal and wouldn't say rain would keep me away. Unless there was an obvious storm coming, the forecast wouldn't factor much into my decision. I expect it to rain at least once anyways. Gas money is the big factor. I had the day off work today but chose a lazy day at home instead of Universal mainly because I don't want to get gas this week, I'd prefer next week when I get paid.

 

[Teebin]

It has been raining more than normal. It is not just our afternoon showers. We had one week where it was raining morning, then stop, afternoon, then stop, and then evening again. It has been crazy weather that has been killing many people's plans. Being the crazy ones, we finally said screw it, lets go this past weekend. We got less time in legoland, but the time we did get was smaller lines. Same with the Beach yesterday. Yes, it was cloudy, yes we couldn't go out until 4, but it was EMPTY when we did go out.

Our afternoon 20 minute showers, have not just been in the afternoon and not just 20 minutes.

Well that sucks. I don't miss Florida summers at all. It was 90 here today, but the humidity is only 45%. Feels fine with the dryer air.

 

[gator]

During the week following the 4th of July weekend, there was one day that the MK had just over 22K. And 3 days that week that DAK had less than 10K. These are not typical "Summertime Crowds".

I was at IOA the weekend after the 4th (6th-7th) and many times rides were walk-ons even though they had decent wait times posted. Even commented to my friend how crazy that it wasn't crowded considering it was a holiday weekend. If it weren't for all the foreign tour groups, the place would've been dead.

 

[IzzyB]

Well that sucks. I don't miss Florida summers at all. It was 90 here today, but the humidity is only 45%. Feels fine with the dryer air.

The funny part is humidity this summer has not been bad at all. Normally to me it seems much worse.

I was there July 6th and I wouldn't say stuff was walk ons. There was a pretty long transformers line and even express was pretty long. It broke down while we were in line and ended up leaving. One fish Two fish was posted at 40 and looked it. We waited for 4 PM to hit to use express. The normal stuff was walk ons, carousel, storm force, etc. But everything else had longer lines. I haven't been there and waited in lines forever though, so I can't compare it to last year. But DM was 100 minutes and express was 30 when we got into studios.

 

[Grumpy73]

The funny part is humidity this summer has not been bad at all. Normally to me it seems much worse.

I was there July 6th and I wouldn't say stuff was walk ons. There was a pretty long transformers line and even express was pretty long. It broke down while we were in line and ended up leaving. One fish Two fish was posted at 40 and looked it. We waited for 4 PM to hit to use express. The normal stuff was walk ons, carousel, storm force, etc. But everything else had longer lines. I haven't been there and waited in lines forever though, so I can't compare it to last year. But DM was 100 minutes and express was 30 when we got into studios.

Is there an after 4PM express? (I know I could just look myself lol), may be willing to do this if price is decent but I can NEVER bring myself to pay for express any other time, I did it ONE time and only because I was hosting out of town family in the middle of summer and wanted to make sure they saw everything...

 

[IzzyB]

It is an annual pass thing. The highest level (Premium I think it is called) has express after 4 PM. We upgraded (probably paid too much) recently to get this because we wanted the closer parking, express after 4, and halloween horror tickets. It would be worth it if done for the entire year, but we didn't upgrade until recently. Oh well...worth it for us to not have to wait in lines after 4.

 

[Hockeyman55]

I wonder if the ever increasing ticket prices are playing apart in lite crowds all around. Im not really sure what the average person's limit is before they they just decide to do something else tbat is cheap. I know being the theme/amusement park fan that i am, my limit might be a little more than the average Jack, Jill and the kids

 

[TylerDurden]

I wonder if the ever increasing ticket prices are playing apart in lite crowds all around. Im not really sure what the average person's limit is before they they just decide to do something else tbat is cheap. I know being the theme/amusement park fan that i am, my limit might be a little more than the average Jack, Jill and the kids

The ticket prices were raised pretty recently--Id guess most vacations of this scale are planned before then. Not to mention multi-park multi-day tickets are still pretty reasonable which is what Im guessing most tourists buy.

 

[April]

Is there an after 4PM express? (I know I could just look myself lol), may be willing to do this if price is decent but I can NEVER bring myself to pay for express any other time, I did it ONE time and only because I was hosting out of town family in the middle of summer and wanted to make sure they saw everything...

They do sell an after 4 express pass as well.

 

[UK-Trigg]

They do sell an after 4 express pass as well.

I never knew this, any idea on how much it costs? and can you get AP discount on it?

 

[Grumpy73]

It is an annual pass thing. The highest level (Premium I think it is called) has express after 4 PM. We upgraded (probably paid too much) recently to get this because we wanted the closer parking, express after 4, and halloween horror tickets. It would be worth it if done for the entire year, but we didn't upgrade until recently. Oh well...worth it for us to not have to wait in lines after 4.

And free bottled water!!! That's what I get for being cheap.... Could have had a HHN ticket, preferred parking, express passes AND FREE water! :bang: I should have read the fine print, maybe next year..

 

[April]

I never knew this, any idea on how much it costs? and can you get AP discount on it?

I think it's usually like $35.99/person, but that could vary. I don't think it's always offered. I'm not sure about annual passholder discount...I'll have to find out.

 

[UK-Trigg]

I think it's usually like $35.99/person, but that could vary. I don't think it's always offered. I'm not sure about annual passholder discount...I'll have to find out.

Thanks for the reply :thumbs: