Attempting a live trip report. I’m not big on taking pictures in the park, but hopefully my words help someone.
We drove down on Tuesday night and got to Endless Summer around 9:15. Checkin was slow. There was only one agent at the desk and 4 people in front of me (plus one checking in). After 6 more people got behind me, they opened a second desk which helped a lot.
The room was fine. Small. Towels are rough. Beds are just okay. The pillows are lumpy and thick; there was no squishing them down. For the price, it was fine.
This morning (Wednesday) we checked out and went to our hotel for the rest of the stay, HRR. We got to the lobby around 7:20am. The rewards check in wasn’t open, but they had 2 agents and the line went relatively quickly. It takes a while to check in each group - longer than you think it should be, but they do throw a lot of information at you. It’s a lot for someone who has done research before going, I can’t imagine how much it is for those that show up without a clue.
In a first for us at Universal, the room was ready so we took our bags and parked the car. We headed down to the water taxi and waited about 10 min and were in the entry line at IOA at 8:20. By 8:30, the entry queues were back across the bridge.
Gate opened at 8:45.
While walking the queue, we saw a line way over on the left that goes in through the exit. Looked faster. Might try that next tomorrow. It looked like it opened a bit after the main gate lines, but only by a minute or so. Even the shortest line could end up taking longer depending on the folks in front of you and their luck in scanning tickets and fingerprints.
Scanned in at 8:50
Headed to Hagrid's. We walk slow. Queue goes around the fountain and back into the old stunt show theater. It was a pretty steady walk through the queue. We were off the ride at 9:30
Took the train over then on Gringotts. EP line ducks off the the right before the bank lobby. Very short wait. We stopped about 8 steps from the top. Standby was posted as 100 minutes. There’s no way it was that long.
Locker areas, so far, are much better than they usually are. We found this to be true all day. Some of the locker areas are a bit more confusing than normal - there are often 2 lines: one for getting a locker and one for retrieval.
We road MIB and it was pretty much a walk-on, too.
We have the Horror Night Freestyle cups from a few years ago. We tried getting those reactivated and had varying degrees of success. My wife’s worked right away, mine gave the ‘no remaining refills’ error. Went to a different kiosk and they tried to fix mine - still didn’t work. Went back and the TM said these cups were always a pain. She managed to get me up and running.
A few hours later, we tried to fill again and mine worked and my wife’s didn’t. Another stop at a kiosk to get hers working. The TM called over what may have been a manager, so hopefully we’re all set for tomorrow.
The line for Fast Food Boulevard was long so we decided to try Bumblebee Man tacos for the first time. They were really good. That line was long and moved slowly, but that’s on us for trying to eat at exactly noon. There was only one TM working in there.
We went to see Bourne for the first time. We got there about 20 min before a show and stood in the pre-show building for a long time. Most everyone sat on the floor. An older gentlemen complained to a TM that they needed chairs in there. I think having some kind of countdown would go a long way towards helping in that room. At least watching the clock tick would be something so and you’d know something was happening.
The show is really good! We really enjoyed it and I see it as something we’ll do every trip.
As we exited, a Makeup show was about to start, so we did that. Also a fun show that we do pretty much every time. It’s a hidden gem, I think. Even more hidden now that you enter through the exit.
At Mummy, it showed a 70 minute wait and the standby line was out the door - I still don't think it would be 70 minutes. The locker area only had about 4 people when I dropped off my bag. We were through pretty fast in the EP line. When I returned to get my bag, the locker room was empty. It was me and two TMs.
We walked through the Bride of Frankenstein house. I went in front and got lost about 3 times. It’s so hard to see where to go. TMs would eventually jump out and waive us in the right direction. We didn’t seem to hit a lot of the scares, or at least they didn’t get me. One got my wife.
Hit a few more things then headed back to the hotel for a quick rest before dinner.
NBC Grill quoted a 50 minute wait so we walked over to Red Oven. At least 1/3 of the tables were empty but they still said it would be 40 minutes. We decided that was fine and waited. Service was slow - they must have been operating with a smaller crew. Pizza was still good - one of our favorite places to eat.
We wanted to grab some Voodoo donuts for breakfast for the next three days. I asked for the UOAP donut and the TM said they were out of all of the seasonal donuts (AP, pumpkin, and Jack (which would have been my next choice). So I asked for the Universal Orange Creme and they were out of that. So I said the Mango Tango and 2 others.
As they were filling the order, a TM called me over and said they were out of the mango and to choose another. I chose the raspberry filled and she grabbed two of those and threw them in the box - so an extra one for the inconvenience. Once again, our fault for tying to get donuts at 8:45
Tomorrow’s plan is to do EPA again and hit Hagrid’s. We’ll play it by ear after that.
We drove down on Tuesday night and got to Endless Summer around 9:15. Checkin was slow. There was only one agent at the desk and 4 people in front of me (plus one checking in). After 6 more people got behind me, they opened a second desk which helped a lot.
The room was fine. Small. Towels are rough. Beds are just okay. The pillows are lumpy and thick; there was no squishing them down. For the price, it was fine.
This morning (Wednesday) we checked out and went to our hotel for the rest of the stay, HRR. We got to the lobby around 7:20am. The rewards check in wasn’t open, but they had 2 agents and the line went relatively quickly. It takes a while to check in each group - longer than you think it should be, but they do throw a lot of information at you. It’s a lot for someone who has done research before going, I can’t imagine how much it is for those that show up without a clue.
In a first for us at Universal, the room was ready so we took our bags and parked the car. We headed down to the water taxi and waited about 10 min and were in the entry line at IOA at 8:20. By 8:30, the entry queues were back across the bridge.
Gate opened at 8:45.
While walking the queue, we saw a line way over on the left that goes in through the exit. Looked faster. Might try that next tomorrow. It looked like it opened a bit after the main gate lines, but only by a minute or so. Even the shortest line could end up taking longer depending on the folks in front of you and their luck in scanning tickets and fingerprints.
Scanned in at 8:50
Headed to Hagrid's. We walk slow. Queue goes around the fountain and back into the old stunt show theater. It was a pretty steady walk through the queue. We were off the ride at 9:30
Took the train over then on Gringotts. EP line ducks off the the right before the bank lobby. Very short wait. We stopped about 8 steps from the top. Standby was posted as 100 minutes. There’s no way it was that long.
Locker areas, so far, are much better than they usually are. We found this to be true all day. Some of the locker areas are a bit more confusing than normal - there are often 2 lines: one for getting a locker and one for retrieval.
We road MIB and it was pretty much a walk-on, too.
We have the Horror Night Freestyle cups from a few years ago. We tried getting those reactivated and had varying degrees of success. My wife’s worked right away, mine gave the ‘no remaining refills’ error. Went to a different kiosk and they tried to fix mine - still didn’t work. Went back and the TM said these cups were always a pain. She managed to get me up and running.
A few hours later, we tried to fill again and mine worked and my wife’s didn’t. Another stop at a kiosk to get hers working. The TM called over what may have been a manager, so hopefully we’re all set for tomorrow.
The line for Fast Food Boulevard was long so we decided to try Bumblebee Man tacos for the first time. They were really good. That line was long and moved slowly, but that’s on us for trying to eat at exactly noon. There was only one TM working in there.
We went to see Bourne for the first time. We got there about 20 min before a show and stood in the pre-show building for a long time. Most everyone sat on the floor. An older gentlemen complained to a TM that they needed chairs in there. I think having some kind of countdown would go a long way towards helping in that room. At least watching the clock tick would be something so and you’d know something was happening.
The show is really good! We really enjoyed it and I see it as something we’ll do every trip.
As we exited, a Makeup show was about to start, so we did that. Also a fun show that we do pretty much every time. It’s a hidden gem, I think. Even more hidden now that you enter through the exit.
At Mummy, it showed a 70 minute wait and the standby line was out the door - I still don't think it would be 70 minutes. The locker area only had about 4 people when I dropped off my bag. We were through pretty fast in the EP line. When I returned to get my bag, the locker room was empty. It was me and two TMs.
We walked through the Bride of Frankenstein house. I went in front and got lost about 3 times. It’s so hard to see where to go. TMs would eventually jump out and waive us in the right direction. We didn’t seem to hit a lot of the scares, or at least they didn’t get me. One got my wife.
Hit a few more things then headed back to the hotel for a quick rest before dinner.
NBC Grill quoted a 50 minute wait so we walked over to Red Oven. At least 1/3 of the tables were empty but they still said it would be 40 minutes. We decided that was fine and waited. Service was slow - they must have been operating with a smaller crew. Pizza was still good - one of our favorite places to eat.
We wanted to grab some Voodoo donuts for breakfast for the next three days. I asked for the UOAP donut and the TM said they were out of all of the seasonal donuts (AP, pumpkin, and Jack (which would have been my next choice). So I asked for the Universal Orange Creme and they were out of that. So I said the Mango Tango and 2 others.
As they were filling the order, a TM called me over and said they were out of the mango and to choose another. I chose the raspberry filled and she grabbed two of those and threw them in the box - so an extra one for the inconvenience. Once again, our fault for tying to get donuts at 8:45
Tomorrow’s plan is to do EPA again and hit Hagrid’s. We’ll play it by ear after that.
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