The week after Christmas is a big travel time.
With many people on break from school and work, we’ve noticed the theme parks getting fuller and the lines for attractions getting longer. It can be incredibly difficult to plan for a fully booked limited capacity day in the parks, especially when you’re not sure if you can get in. That’s the case at Universal Orlando right now, and we’ve got a very important piece of advice if you’re planning a trip there in the next few days!
Throughout the month of December, we’ve seen Universal Orlando hit capacity every weekend. When the parks fill up, Universal Orlando Resort announces the time on their Twitter account, and on those Saturdays when the parks filled up, it was usually in the 11AM hour.
However, as we rolled into the Christmas week, we started to see the parks fill up more frequently and even earlier than before. On Sunday, December 20th, Universal stopped allowing guests inside at 11:20AM, but that time got lower in the subsequent days, dropping to 10:55AM and then 10:15AM. Things calmed down a bit in the following days and the parks surprisingly didn’t hit capacity any day between December 23rd and December 26th.
The crowds picked up again on December 27th, with the parks hitting capacity at 11:36AM, and the time has gotten earlier every day since. Yesterday, the announcement came at 8:32AM, and today it came at 8:10AM, just 10 minutes after the parks initially opened! Because of these early closures, Universal shared a post asking guests to consider visiting on a different day.
We expect our theme parks will reach capacity very early in the day on Wednesday, December 30th. If your plans are flexible, please consider visiting another day. Before your visit, check our social channels or call the capacity hotline at 407-817-8317 for real-time updates. pic.twitter.com/UY30heup6x
— Universal Orlando Resort (@UniversalORL) December 30, 2020
As you can see, things are pretty hectic over at Universal Orlando right now with capacities. Since they don’t have a park reservation system like Disney does, making it into the parks is on a first-come, first-serve basis. So, if you’re planning on visiting this week, make sure you get there early!
And when we say early, we mean EARLY. With the parks filling up at 8AM, we recommend arriving at 6AM to make sure that you’re in the group that will actually make it in the parks. Once you’re inside, expect the crowds to be thick and the wait times to be long, so make sure to have a game plan (and make sure you know how to use Virtual Line).
We know that’s incredibly early in the morning to arrive at the parks, but sometimes Universal hits capacity for the day and doesn’t reopen again.
Since there’s not a reservation system for Universal Orlando, it can be difficult to figure out when the crowds will die down, but based on availability for Park Passes at Disney World, it seems as though things will be pretty busy until January 5th.
We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for more capacity announcements in the coming days, and we’ll make sure to keep you updated on any big Universal Orlando news!
Universal Orlando Hits Capacity 10 Minutes After Opening!
Have you been to a theme park on a full capacity day this year? Let us know your experience in the comments!
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