USH - Random Questions for Last Minute Trip

[Niltiac]

Hi everyone. I have a last-minute trip to USH this weekend and I’m hoping someone can help me out with a few questions. I’ve never been, and my partner was a young teen when she went, so she doesn’t remember much.

1. How wet do you get on Jurassic Park? I’ve read it’s hit or miss, but those reports are from the summer and I’m wondering if they lower the levels in winter. I’m all for water rides being water rides, but I’m wondering if a change of clothes or shoes will be needed. So worst-case-scenario, is it closer to Splash Mountain or GRR?

2. The touring strategies I’ve found are from before Harry Potter and they suggest Minions, then lower lot, then Simpsons and finally shows/backlot tour depending on the schedule for the day. Any suggestions to modify this with Harry Potter? We’ll have all day Saturday and a couple of hours on Sunday morning. It’s ok if we miss a few things because we’ll try to come back some other weekend.

3. Does anyone know if the 9-month California Neighbor pass includes early entry? I assumed not, but in the terms and conditions it says “Early Park Admission begins one hour before the Them Park opens” (but it doesn't explicitly say if the pass includes it every day, only the first day, etc.). Also do we print the tickets and take them directly to turnstiles like at DLR?

4. Are the daytime and nighttime backlot tours significantly different? Is one better than the other?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Darkbeer1]

!. Not very, especially in Winter Mode. Closer to Splash Mountain, maybe even a bit drier. I did a filming there a few years ago, and rode the ride many times in the same day, and had no issues with getting wet, even with the equipment we were using.

2. My current touring plan has you going directly to the Lower Lot, and get everything done on the lower lot, in this order, Transformers, Mummy and then Jurassic Park. See everything you want, as I wouldn't plan to come back. While in line and on the escalators, look at the show times for the day, and plan those as best you can. On the way back up, check out the current wait board and see what the waits are like, if short, do the Tram Tour next, and then The Simpsons Ride, Minion Mayhem, Walking Dead and Shrek 4-D. When you get to about 2 hours left, then hit Wizardly World. Seems like the majority of folks go straight there, so the afternoon waits are less.

3. No early entry, and as for the tickets, yes, straight to the turnstiles.

4. The daytime is the classic, and easier to see everything. They added lights to help run a night tour (So they can have a higher capacity per day). So different, I tend to prefer the daylight tour.

Hope that helps.

 

[Niltiac]

That was extremely helpful. Thank you!

 

[Steven G]

Note that early entry is only Harry Potter land, everything else is closed off.

If you don't have early entry definitely avoid Harry Potter until late afternoon or evening.

Also, they have the grinchmas area now on certain days.

They also released an app for your phone which is very helpful.

 

[Niltiac]

3. No early entry, and as for the tickets, yes, straight to the turnstiles.

I just wanted to see how sure you are of this, because you seem to know what you're talking about, but I just bought our passes and the print out says "Enjoy early park admission to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter one hour before the theme park opens". Maybe it's changed recently. Or maybe your right and that's just boilerplate language that appears on all printed tickets.

If we do have early entry, would you suggest changing your touring plan to do Wizarding World first, or is it still a good idea to get to lower lot at normal opening time? I'm thinking we could go to WW and just do one or two things depending on crowds, then go to lower lot at normal opening time and return to WW in the evening.

 

[Steven G]

If you can do early entry, definitely do Harry Potter then, I got both rides done, basically walking on to each. You then have at least 30 more minutes to explore wizarding world, including ollivander which for me was just a minute wait, until the full park opens, maybe even get breakfast at 3 broomsticks. I returned to wizarding world later in the day to get a butterbeer, and rest a bit.

once the rest of the park is open, definitely go to lower section first, and follow the plan in previous post.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I just wanted to see how sure you are of this, because you seem to know what you're talking about, but I just bought our passes and the print out says "Enjoy early park admission to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter one hour before the theme park opens".

Go with what your ticket says. The tickets/passes change frequently. You just go by what it says on your ticket and not the website. The exception would be if your ticket says, "subject to change," in which case anything can happen anytime.

 

[Niltiac]

I'm definitely feeling like I have a better grasp on everything now, and I've installed the app which looks like it will be really useful. Thanks everyone!

 

[Andrea]

Which app did you install? I haven't even thought to look in the app store

 

[Steven G]

Official universal studios Hollywood app.

It's relatively new, and I am not sure why reviews in the apple App Store were negative, it worked great for me, even waittimes.
There's one for android as well.

 

[bumbershoot]

I just wanted to see how sure you are of this, because you seem to know what you're talking about, but I just bought our passes and the print out says "Enjoy early park admission to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter one hour before the theme park opens". Maybe it's changed recently. Or maybe your right and that's just boilerplate language that appears on all printed tickets.

So how did it go?

 

[Niltiac]

So how did it go?

I think we would have gotten early admission based on the ticket, but my partner wasn't feeling well and needed to sleep in, so we didn't try. At any rate we didn't need it - I don't think we ever had to wait in a legitimate line for anything except for the Three Broomsticks (which was one heck of a line, but worth it). We got passes for the studio tour for doing a survey so we saved that for the afternoon, and otherwise somewhat followed Darkbeer's plan and most rides were close to walk-on even though we didn't get there at opening. When the sun set it got really cold and everyone cleared out, so we grabbed the extra sweatshirts we had stashed in a locker and stayed in Wizarding World until closing. Crowds were just not anything to be worried about for someone who's dealt with DLR crowds.

Now I'm planning another quick trip to take my sister for her birthday since we have the 9-month passes anyway.

 

[Steven G]

Glad you had a good time.