I Have A Lot Of Questions && Any Help Would Be WONDERFUL!! - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I Have A Lot Of Questions && Any Help Would Be WONDERFUL!!
Helo an thank you for taking the time to read this. I need your help! I have NEVER been to any theme park other than DollyWood & Six Flags (over GA). I have my 1st trip to Universal FL paid for && I am so ready to be there! I'm 25 so you can just imagine how excited I really am! We're spending 2 days an each park 1 full night in City Walk plus after the parks there as well. Has anyone traveled in Sept? Do you know how the crowds are? Also, what if your a thicker traveler? Not everyone is a size 2 of course. I've tried watching some youtube vids to see how the seats on rides are but I've not had much help. I know they have the test seats at the ride to make sure everyone will be comfy but still... Any advice at all on this would be wonderful. Any tips on extra good things to take with us would be wonderful to. I just wanna ease my mind an make sure that we have the best trip ever!! Thank you so much for your help
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we were there last September, croeds were not bad, I would still recommend hitting Harry Potter Early. We were disappointed with the hours, closed at 6. The rides are pretty accomadating.
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Welcome to the boards!
I just returned from there yesterday, but I'm afraid I don't have any answers for your specific questions.
The one thing to look out for is that MANY of the rides require all carry-on items to go into lockers before getting on the ride (free for 30 minutes, a problem if you're in a huge line, I suppose). Look for the most remote lockers--they're controlled from a few touch screens, and use your fingerprint for ID, and sometimes lots of people are queued up to use them. A couple of areas (including the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket) have a half-hidden row of lockers in the back that don't get so crowded. On this trip, instead of the usual string backpack, I carried one of the little Le Sac purses, and that worked well. I still had to check it on the rides, though.
For Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey, I kept my auto-focus digital camera with me so I could get photos of the theming, and it actually fell out of my pants pocket during the ride! Fortunately, I felt it fall out and managed to grab it and wrap the strap around my wrist to keep it safe. That ride has very deep seats...I found a bunch of change in one seat, so I'm not the only one to have stuff fall out of my pockets!
The funny thing about those deep seats is when you see your ride photos, everyone looks like these little short-bodied midgets because your bottom sits lower than your knees!
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Thank you both for your help! I've been reading a lot of the boards on here. I think everything will work out the way it should. Any help at all is still great to have.. I'm a planner! We booked our trip in Feb for Sept. Now I'm doing the research! Can you ride with small bags? Or does everything have to go in the lockers? I also saw somewhere that Harry Potter FJ has compartments under the seats for your persone things? I'm not sure where I saw this. Oh and I've figured out some of the codes... but is there somewhere I can look to see what they mean? It can be confusing thanks y'all
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No, you can't ride with any kind of bag. They will send you to the lockers. While the locker areas are a bit chaotic, they are easy to use.
If you can't make it to the Harry Potter area at park opening, then just wait and do that part in the late afternoon and take advantage of the other areas of IOA being more empty first. Make sure you look to see what the major rides are in each park are and do those first thing so you don't have long lines. Fill in the other attractions once you've accomplished those.
We're staying at RP. We wanted to take advantage of the early access to Harry Potter and breakfast at 3 broomsticks. We're thinking go there an then make our way around the park an later in the day head back over to HP. So maybe we should get a locker early at hogworts since we'll end our day there? They only thing I planned on taking to the park was my phone an camera, sunglasses, an CC with my ticket. I wanted to get something like the PP to wear on my neck an then worry abt the rest later.
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We're staying at RP. We wanted to take advantage of the early access to Harry Potter and breakfast at 3 broomsticks. We're thinking go there an then make our way around the park an later in the day head back over to HP. So maybe we should get a locker early at hogworts since we'll end our day there? They only thing I planned on taking to the park was my phone an camera, sunglasses, an CC with my ticket. I wanted to get something like the PP to wear on my neck an then worry abt the rest later.
The ride lockers are only good for an hour or whatever the wait time is when you put your stuff in. There are some lockers at the train station but you won't want to leave your stuff in the locker all day. You'll want that camera with you.
The ride lockers are only good for an hour or whatever the wait time is when you put your stuff in. There are some lockers at the train station but you won't want to leave your stuff in the locker all day. You'll want that camera with you.
So you can't even take a camera with you? I know I wanna take pics, but I don't wanna get to the ride then go put my camera up an get back in line?
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If your camera fits in your pocket, you can take it. Otherwise, you'd have to put it in a locker. You can do the walk-through line later for pictures inside the castle (that's what we did). That line is a separate queue that leads through the building next to the standby line and exits before you get to the ride vehicles.
We were there last summer, ride was great,but wait was horrible then ran us through the castle with no time to look at anything and rushed us onto ride.
Nit only that but we had breakfast at the three broomsticks and because they don't cook any food at any of the restaurants ( their wording, not mine) my wife got food poisoning and then heat stroke. Then I called for medical staff to help took over five minutes and they couldn't help all that much as their TWO wheelchairs were occupied took my wife 20 minutes to walk to van. When we got off ride my wife was laying on the ground, nobody managed to ask if she needed help no one from universal came to check on her.
Lost 3 days of our vacation thanks to them. Received absolutely no restitution from them or their insurance.
We surely won't be returning EVER!
Thank G-d for Disney. It saved our vacation
I think you will have a blast at Universal - we love it there! We've been 5 times and had great experiences every time. Are you staying on site? Universal hotels are great because they are in walking distance to the parks. And the perk of showing your room key and going in the Express entrance is awesome.
We've been once in September - Labor Day - and it was great - not crowded at all.
Get to the gates early - sometimes they open the gates before the posted opening time. Do as much as you can in the morning before the bulk of the crowds arrive. For some reason a lot of Universal guests are a bit lazier and don't get there early.
If your camera fits in your pocket, you can take it. Otherwise, you'd have to put it in a locker. You can do the walk-through line later for pictures inside the castle (that's what we did). That line is a separate queue that leads through the building next to the standby line and exits before you get to the ride vehicles.
It fits in my pocket!! I didn't even know they had a line just for the castle. I thought it was if you wanted to skip the tour! Thanks for the info! I'm super excited!!!!
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I think you will have a blast at Universal - we love it there! We've been 5 times and had great experiences every time. Are you staying on site? Universal hotels are great because they are in walking distance to the parks. And the perk of showing your room key and going in the Express entrance is awesome.
We've been once in September - Labor Day - and it was great - not crowded at all.
Get to the gates early - sometimes they open the gates before the posted opening time. Do as much as you can in the morning before the bulk of the crowds arrive. For some reason a lot of Universal guests are a bit lazier and don't get there early.
We are staying on site at the Lowes Royal Pacific! We plan on being up early!!!! We are leaving on Sept 18th an we have 4 full days to use for the parks! We get the early entry for WWoHP that was one of many reasons we wanted to stay on site. Thanks for your help! Anything is helpful! I'm the one planning it all lol. We'll both be 25 so we can take advantage of City Walk as well. I see a lot of tips for traveling with kids, but this is a trip for just my cousin an I.
We were there last summer, ride was great,but wait was horrible then ran us through the castle with no time to look at anything and rushed us onto ride.
Nit only that but we had breakfast at the three broomsticks and because they don't cook any food at any of the restaurants ( their wording, not mine) my wife got food poisoning and then heat stroke. Then I called for medical staff to help took over five minutes and they couldn't help all that much as their TWO wheelchairs were occupied took my wife 20 minutes to walk to van. When we got off ride my wife was laying on the ground, nobody managed to ask if she needed help no one from universal came to check on her.
Lost 3 days of our vacation thanks to them. Received absolutely no restitution from them or their insurance.
We surely won't be returning EVER!
Thank G-d for Disney. It saved our vacation
I'm really sorry that this happened to you!!! When did y'all go?? I hope your wife was okay after an got the treatment she needed.
I need all the help I can get with planning too. I went to US (universal studios) when I was 13 & I've never been to IOA (islands of adventure) so this is really like a first visit for me too. I am very excited I'm sure it's gonna be great...But nothing holds a candle to my true love Disney lol I am a Huge Disney nut but no worries I'll get my Disney fix this trip too I wouldn't worry too much about not being a size 0 if that was the only people who could go on rides & enjoy the parks most of us couldn't enjoy them. If you really want some extra answers just try calling their 1 800 # that way you can rest easy knowing about that kind of stuff. Everyone here is wonderful so your in the right place for answers my dear. Happy planning it's a huge part of the fun!!
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I Have A Lot Of Questions && Any Help Would Be WONDERFUL!!
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Welcome to the boards!
Michelle - with my step sisters!
I'm sure it's gonna be great...But nothing holds a candle to my true love
Disney 
I wouldn't worry too much about not being a size 0 
if that was the only people who could go on rides & enjoy the parks most of us couldn't enjoy them. 
If you really want some extra answers just try calling their 1 800 # that way you can rest easy knowing about that kind of stuff. Everyone here is wonderful so your in the right place for answers my dear.
Happy planning it's a huge part of the fun!!
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