Universal Guests Wait Nearly Two Hours to Enter Theme Park

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Crowds at Universal Orlando Resort Parking garage

All images credit Inside the Magic

Universal Orlando Resort has been returning to normal over the past few months. With summer crowds returning to the theme Park destination, wait times to enter the Park are increasing. 

Crowds at Universal Orlando Resort Parking garage
Credit: Inside the Magic

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When Guests visit Universal Orlando Resort, everyone must enter through the CityWalk entrance after parking in the parking garage. Unless you are staying at a Universal hotel, then there are other ways you can enter the theme Park instead of CityWalk. For many Guests, Universal’s security checkpoint takes place before the CityWalk entryway. All Universal Guests must go through metal detection no matter what point of entry they use.

Crowds at Universal Orlando Resort Parking garage
Credit: Inside the Magic

Yesterday, I visited Universal Orlando Resort, and although things ran smoothly, entering the theme Park took nearly two hours. We arrived at 10:00 am and were able to enter the parking garage around 30 minutes after. If you plan to arrive at the theme park during the first few hours of the day, it is important to know that getting to your parking spot will take time as many Guests are arriving.

Crowds at Universal Orlando Resort Parking garage
Credit: Inside the Magic

Related: Intense Crowds Continue to Pour Into Disney Hour After Park Opening

Once we made it to the security line, it extended past all of the extended queues set out by Universal. When you move through security, Universal will let a large group of people go through the metal detectors and then hold the rest back until there is more room to release the next group. This means that as you wait, you will move forward by a lot every few minutes.

Crowds at Universal Orlando Resort Parking garage
Credit: Inside the Magic

Universal Team Members were moving very efficiently to ensure Guests were able to move through the line. Still, it seems the sheer number of Guests excited to visit the park caused the wait to be very long, no matter how quickly Universal was moving. Around 11:45 p.m., we made it through security and got into CityWalk!

Crowds at Universal Orlando Resort Parking garage
Credit: Inside the Magic

If Guests are planning on visiting Universal Orlando Resort to enjoy Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure in the upcoming months, we suggest arriving early to account for possible prolonged wait times. Now that Universal is running at full capacity and international travel is beginning to resume, there is definitely a noticeable increase in Guests visiting. Of course, there may be days when the line to enter CityWalk is much shorter, which would just be the cherry on top of a perfect day at Universal!

Have you visited Universal Orlando Resort lately? Do you plan to this year? Let us know in the comments below!

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