I want to start off saying my family thoroughly has enjoyed Universal since starting back up the day after Christmas and we have gone 3 times and liked it all 3 times. The theming, the rides, everything really good. But operations wise it has been insane. Luckily we knew it would be busy and so we had packed our patients, but I don't know if my husband will be as patient if this continues.
However, I do agree there is a lot of negative Disney on here and excuses for Universal. I did a calculation in another post since I last was at uni vs what was built at Disney and Universal and Disney by far had more rides and I would argue better rides than some of the ones as UF. But all I hear on here is about how Disney is doing nothing. This by far is causing capacity issues at IOA and UF. When express takes 30 minutes at multiple attractions you have a capacity issue.
I don't understand this. Universal has plenty of money and MIB/Simpsons are some of the more popular rides at the park. Comcast has plenty of money. What the heck are they thinking?
I disagree that MIB/Simpsons are "popular". They have the lower waits than other rides. While I do disagree with this move as this is something the SW did that always made me mad since you didn't know in advance and you would walk to something to only find it closed. It is annoying and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
With all the fancy lighting and fountains with LEDs being added in... I hope so. Especially with all the special lighting effects some of the rides will have.
And during the timeframe between when this board was created and now, we've seen tremendous attendance & revenue growth from the resort... still the same old ways of operating. This is the point I'm trying to make with the way Universal operates their parks... they haven't changed. They haven't modified the way they operate their parks to match pricing and attendance levels. They've stagnated in that regard.
I do agree with this. The issue is they have not changed and this causes LONG lines and LONG waits. 3 Broomsticks and Leaky Cauldron were meant to be counter service restaurants. You go to counter for faster service than sit down. That was not my experience. From ordering food to getting it took LONGER than a typical sit down. I mean my kids went out did spells at 3 broomsticks and then came back in and still had such a long wait after that they got super antsy and I don't have super antsy restaurant kids. We don't give tablets in restaurants they know they need to wait for food. I actually allowed them to start playing Pokemon Go on my phone. Then when nothing was left on Pokemon GO I got my phone back and I started to worry they didn't even get my order because the app went all crazy. I was just about to go up and check when our food FINALLY arrived.
With Epic opening next year, it’s probably likely they are projecting soft crowds and are making adjustments.
Not saying it’s right or wrong. Just offering a possible POV.
It was not light this past weekend, so I don't think they should be closing stuff when waits are above 100 minutes on a regular basis on several rides. I could see if it actually was slow, but it was not at all and based on park hours they were not expecting slow. Which I would say it was JUST as busy yesterday as the day after Christmas so they should have still had the 10 park closing but did not. They are reducing hours before the slow season even begins which is an issue.
Keep those ride lines long and sell more Express passes. Mornings are almost always a good time to tour the parks. With half the park closed off with barriers before 10:00 AM, that will be a bit tougher.....The lessened Universal Experience continues.
If only Express was Express. This is where I really notice a huge difference in how this park has not kept up with its growth. I used express all the time before. I am not going to get into the why or how of this, but for 18 months I had unlimited express. I walked up, maybe waited 5 minutes and got on the ride, 10 was considered a long wait back then. This was pre-Diagon, but post-Hogsmeade. We never avoided busy times of the year at any park before. Now with Express after 4, multiple times we waited 30 minutes in express since we started back up our passes. Capacity is an issue and park hours absolutely need to be adjusted to help that capacity issue so more people can ride more things and not come out of the park thinking they spend $140 to ride a handful of rides.
Honestly, while IOA may technically be the superior park, I spend MUCH more time in Studios and prefer it by a wide margin. I often have to manufacture reasons to venture beyond Marvel or Seuss - Hogsmeade is so incapable of handling crowds it’s not fun, I don’t usually want to get soaked in Toon, JP is… kinda boring, and there’s absolutely NO entertainment, let alone rewatchable, improv-y entertainment. The biggest draw in the back half for me is the Halloween Store. Studios just has a charm IOA lacks.
I agree about Hogsmeade and crowds. I don't know if we hit it at a wrong time or what, but the line to the bathroom was INSANE and just walking to get to flight was ridiculously crowded. I don't know what happened but we entered that land at the WRONG time. However, we rode several rides and came back and the line to the bathroom was still insane. At that point I had no option but to bite the bullet and wait in it.
But Jurassic Park area is not to be missed, so I disagree only the front is worth it. Our best visit was yesterday by far at IOA.
I'm mixed about Animal Actors. I'd be happy to see it remain, but if the people brainstorming things at Creative told me they needed that space to accommodate a dark ride in KidZone/DreamWorks or Springfield's replacement, I'd let them take it.
Ideally, that loss would be somewhat offset by a new show somewhere else.
The problem is shows allow people to do stuff without waiting in insane lines. Both parks need more shows not less to balance out the insane waits in lines.