Welcome to a hot, sunny day at the Universal Orlando Resort. When we arrived early in the morning, the lines for security were long, but moved quickly. We were really expecting the park to be extremely busy, but the crowds weren’t nearly as bad as we expected.

Looking at the cars pulling into the parking lot and the long lines at security had us concerned about what we would find in the park. It’s still spring break for some schools, but we don’t expect it to bee too busy, especially since the park hours have been shortened. The shorter hours are usually a good indication that the parks won’t be too busy.

We decided to start our day at Islands of Adventure.

We spotted new hand sanitizer bottles with cute little Universal Studios labels. These blue labels have the Universal globe and arch and say “Universal Studios” at the top. They come with a clip and can purchased from almost any retail location in the park for $3. We did spot a few stores around the park that still have the old Universal hand sanitizers, but a majority of the stores have the new bottles available.

There’s still work happening on the pathway down to the raptors and the bypass bridge. We could hear the sounds of construction equipment on the opposite side of the scrims and planters. We can’t wait to see the new pathway.

The Discovery Center is still getting refreshed with new paint. We’ve watched the Jurassic Park Discovery Center sign over the entrance get painted bronze and then painted over with a green color to give the sign a textured look. Now, the Dinostore and Burger Digs are getting repainted and are a rich, bold brown color. We expect we’ll see more done to these signs before they’re completed.

Over behind the construction walls next to Thunder Falls Terrace, the “mysterious structure” we saw recently is now covered in plants. Not nearly as thrilling as we hoped, but we’ll be waiting to see what else pops up in this area when the construction walls come down.

Around lunch time, lines were long, but not as bad as they have been for the last two weeks. When we saw a short line at the Watering Hole, we decided to grab a quick bite. We ordered the Pulled Pork Nachos. These nachos are covered in meat, beans, and cheese and would compliment an alcoholic beverage perfectly.

The crowds were really relaxed in the afternoon and much better than yesterday.

Wait times weren’t too bad, either. The wait times ranged from 10 minutes up to around 60 minutes. The Incredible Hulk Coaster was only a 35 minute wait! We need to start riding the coasters to get ready for the grand opening of VelociCoaster on June 10!

“If I Ran the Zoo” is still getting painted and the name has been painted over on the flag. We’ll be interested to see this area when it reopens.

Over at Universal Studios Florida, the park felt a little busier than Islands of Adventure, but still very slow compared to the recent spring break rush.

The lines for food were really short this afternoon. Some days, the food lines look longer than the lines for attractions! Thankfully, the lines for food were manageable today.

Out in CityWalk, the new Universal Studios Store has added some more details on the outside of the building. The store recently opened, but the outside didn’t look completely finished.

The pavement here has started to get refreshed, too. Last week, we saw a small area being painted with new yellow and purple colors. You can see how bright this area is compared to the surrounded pavement.

That’s all for this trip to the Universal Orlando Resort. Thanks for following us around the parks today and be sure to stay tuned to Universal Parks News Today for more updates!