In case anyone is wondering...
Went to Universal today. Official opening was 9am but they opened the gates plenty early, I’d say around 8:20. There were a lot of people waiting but the lines moved fast once the gates were open.
Wait times did not seem crazy at all. Previous weekends there were some crazy wait times reported but I never saw anything like those 180 minute Jurassic World waits today. Forbidden Journey was 20 minutes much of the afternoon but when I got in the regular line for it around 7pm, that “20 minutes” was a walk on.
Thuy were selling express pass upgrades in the park in the morning if you are interested in upgrading your ticket.
I did have the express pass and every express pass line was walk on, except Simpsons, which was about a 15 minute wait for some reason (standby was 90 minutes at that point and was the longest wait in the park).
With express pass there is no need to enter the virtual line for Pets. You just walk on. Although I don’t think they were even doing the virtual line today.
The park is really clean and nice looking and felt heavily staffed. There were team members everywhere and they were all very friendly. Felt way more staffed than
Disneyland to me.
I have to say I think Universal has done a better job at feeling “normal” than Disneyland. Mask enforcement was good. There were distancing markers, and stores had dedicated entrances and exits, but the park felt “normal”. Rides were operational, stores and dining locations were open. The Harry Potter area felt much more normal at Universal than Galaxy’s Edge felt at Disneyland. The entire park felt more normal than Disneyland.
Sure, Universal is not the same as Disneyland, but I felt like I was getting the full Universal for my money. As opposed to Disneyland, where I felt I was only getting a lesser percentage of the park.
By the way, Universal has shows - Animal Actors and the awesome Waterworld show. Not only is that nice to have, but it adds to the full park experience.
I have nothing but good things to say about Universal. They’ve done a great job reopening and providing their full experience for the money. And at least today, seem to have solved whatever was causing crazy wait times the last couple weekends.