Welcome to an extremely busy Saturday here at the Universal Orlando Resort. The parks hit capacity around noon today, and no surprise considering the crowds we encountered entering the park. We started our day over at Universal Studios Florida for a little bit of Mardi Gras.
The crowds were intense as soon as we arrived. Everyone is ready to enjoy the beautiful weather and catch those beads!
A new drink tent was added near Gramercy Park, featuring some of the alcoholic beverages from different booths in the park. It was a very popular spot in a prime location.
The Trinidad/Tobago foods can now be found at a food truck across from the Mardi Gras Tribute Store and one of the pirate floats from San Francisco is now stationed near Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon.
There was actually a small line for the Tribute Store today, too.
We haven’t seen it this crowded in a while!
Outside of the parks in CityWalk, there were long standby lines for guests hoping to enter the park. Once the parks hit capacity, these lines are often set up so that when the parks begin to clear out a bit, more guests can enter. These lines are really long and all in the sun, unfortunately.
Islands of Adventure didn’t feel nearly as crowded as Universal Studios, but it was still pretty packed. Lots of people in Hogsmeade, as usual.
This is how we feel when the parks are at capacity.
Lines for food are always long on weekends, especially on days when the parks are at capacity.
Many attractions had long wait times, including Jurassic Park River Adventure with a 75 minute wait. Even in the cooler weather, everyone wants to see the dinosaurs!
The Mess Tent near Skull Island: Reign of Kong is now selling a variety of ice creams.
Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges reopened on schedule today, along with Wimpy’s. Now we can get those amazing views of the Jurassic World VelociCoaster!
It’s been a long, exhausting day navigating the crowds, so that’s all for now. Thanks for joining us around the parks today and be sure to stay tuned for more updates from the Universal Orlando Resort!
Not a single mention of the pandemic that is reaching the horrible milestone of half a million dead. Surely the theme park industry can and must forego profit-seeking for the next year it will take to gain control over the virus. And, of course, part of that financial loss should include job protection and ongoing payment for park workers, who are bearing the brunt of such greedy malpractice. I understand that this web site and many other theme park-dependent businesses are suffering as well…I’m from Orlando…but economic health must take a back seat to physical health.