What if UO or IOA are at capacity?

[pixieprincess925]

Planning a spring break trip and expecting one or both parks to hit capacity each day. If you go to the park early in the day, then leave for a break (or meal), are you allowed back in if the park has reached capacity? Or is the rest of the day a throw away?

New to Universal and not sure how this works.

 

[bchbetha]

You won't have priority for re-entry unless you are staying onsite. I would plan to stay put for the day. Plenty of food options in the park. Maybe make a reservation at Mythos or another sit down place for meal+break without leaving.

 

[the46zone]

From what I have heard if you stay at the hotels you are always admitted in. Not sure you are staying or not on site.

 

[greg9x]

If you have date based ticket you are counted in the capacity for the day.. on site hotel stays have also been being let in when park reaches capacity, even though wording says only priority entry, most people say they have been admitted.

If you have an off site hotel and general admission tickets, that is where you will be not allowed in if reach capacity. Some have said they were allowed to go between parks and re-enter if they got in before capacity, so seems you would be allowed to leave and come back....but not sure something would be willing to risk.

 

[pixieprincess925]

Staying outt site with a general admission ticket...

Do the capacity limits stay capped throughout the day? Or are additional folks let in as people leave?

 

[bchbetha]

Staying outt site with a general admission ticket...

Do the capacity limits stay capped throughout the day? Or are additional folks let in as people leave?

People will be let in as others leave but that probably won't happen until later afternoon. I wouldn't want to chance that.

 

[peanut520]

does having a AP (lowest non-resident) allow you priority access?

 

[macraven]

does having a AP (lowest non-resident) allow you priority access?

It did not when I went in February on a Saturday.

our group was at Disney and did 4 day trips to UO.
I have the preferred AP and did not get a pass to enter when the park was at capacity

But take that as a grain of salt as policies change a lot.

When is your trip?

 

[Mr. Drauer]

does having a AP (lowest non-resident) allow you priority access?

only during times when it's AP appreciation, not regular days. AP appreciation is usually in the Fall (August - September).

 

[peanut520]

It did not when I went in February on a Saturday.

our group was at Disney and did 4 day trips to UO.
I have the preferred AP and did not get a pass to enter when the park was at capacity

But take that as a grain of salt as policies change a lot.

When is your trip?

The plan is go this Sunday. Completely last minute and I’m honestly freaking out because I’m a planner (I can plan out a day at Disney while I sleep now) and this is my first trip to universal.

 

[peanut520]

only during times when it's AP appreciation, not regular days. AP appreciation is usually in the Fall (August - September).

i was being hopeful, but now I’m thinking of switching my planned purchase of AP to regular tickets since I can’t even get an on-site room.

 

[Mr. Drauer]

i was being hopeful, but now I’m thinking of switching my planned purchase of AP to regular tickets since I can’t even get an on-site room.

AP discounts on rooms are significantly better than at WDW, even for the 3 EP resorts. Well worth it for that.

 

[peanut520]

AP discounts on rooms are significantly better than at WDW, even for the 3 EP resorts. Well worth it for that.

Unfortunately there are not rooms available at any level when I've been checking multiple times a day.

 

[Disxuni]

Short version of my advice:
- Arrive first thing in the morning. Way before official opening.
- Stay in the parks. Less mess, less drama. I mean, can't worry about not getting back in, or not that way.
- Have a nice meal and/or enjoy shows during mid-day when you want to relax.

The long version / explanation:
The park can even reach capacity before the official opening depending on how busy it can be. Know this is possible as it happened during the Christmas holiday season. During most of those busy days, they didn't necessarily close before official opening, but closed often within minutes, or roughly only an hour of being open. So, it's essential to arrive early, because whether it gets to capacity, or not, as the day goes on (depending on how busy it is) the wait times add up due to the limited capacity of the rides.

Staying in the parks guarantees you won't have to worry whether you may, or may not come back. However, as others stated, it is possible to come back in. However, the key word is possible. That being said, I personally if I really felt I needed, or planned to stay as late as possible. I would just stay in the park. While the leaving part may be easy, you'll have to spend time and effort coming back into the park (especially if it does reach capacity).

You can find plenty of places to eat and relax. You have U-Rest areas in order to sit down, take off your mask, and relax. You also have plenty of table service restaurants in which you can take your time to relax, eat, and enjoy the air conditioning. You can also save Horror Make Up Show and the Bourne show as a way to relax in some air conditioning as well in the mid-day. While Sinbad isn't open, it's one of the U-Rest areas in IoA and for fans of theme park history, or used to be a fan of the show, it's a nice place to relax and really admire the stage/set as it's still intact.

 

[Makmak]

I second @Disxuni about arriving early. Also check the posted early opening times for AP/on-site guests as we went once and they changed to an hour earlier because they expanded park hours. We met people that had planned in advance and not checked recently and they were way way back in the line that forms before opening. Also kind of random but at IOA there are gates in the middle and people will be lines up at the stationary scanners but they “roll out” two more at the gates so you can line up there too.

 

[abitterbuffalo]

If we go to UO first, for example, and then IOA reaches capacity. Will we still be able to ride Hogwarts Express over to IOA?

 

[Gizmo74]

If we go to UO first, for example, and then IOA reaches capacity. Will we still be able to ride Hogwarts Express over to IOA?

Yes, we were told once you are scanned in at a park you are good to go to the other park.

 

[NMK62303]

If we go to UO first, for example, and then IOA reaches capacity. Will we still be able to ride Hogwarts Express over to IOA?

Yes you would still be able to get into IOA. The issue that could come up is that if the Hogwarts Express reaches capacity, you may have to wait to get in line for that. This happened to us in January, we were told that we could either wait to ride the train to IOA from US or we could go walk the crossover near Rip Ride Rockit (they open this on crowded days to move people between the parks). We opted to wait it out because we wanted to ride the train, but if we had been pressed for time we would have walked because they could not give us a time estimate on how long it was going to be.

 

[nkereina]

Do the capacity limits stay capped throughout the day? Or are additional folks let in as people leave?

As others have said, they do allow more in as people leave. But we were there in October, which was not even Spring Break time, and the standby line for people waiting to be let in when the park was at capacity was long. At Universal, it extended from the park gates all the way down past Hard Rock Cafe. People were sitting on the ground and it looked like they had been there a while. There was no way that entire line would have been allowed in prior to park closing that day.

 

[abnihon]

As others have said, they do allow more in as people leave. But we were there in October, which was not even Spring Break time, and the standby line for people waiting to be let in when the park was at capacity was long. At Universal, it extended from the park gates all the way down past Hard Rock Cafe. People were sitting on the ground and it looked like they had been there a while. There was no way that entire line would have been allowed in prior to park closing that day.

What if we want to take a break and return about 6 or 7pm? Should it be easy to get in then?
Does being an on-site guest guarantee us entrance or give us priority if they’re at capacity?