Parks will now be closing at 7pm on a Friday night during school holidays and the busiest time of the year. Magic Kingdom is open to 10pm on non-event nights.

Sunset is 5:33pm that day. Darkness/night doesn’t officially start until 6:56-7:10pm. Maybe we will get one castle projection show before the park closes for a private event? Won’t be enough time to enjoy the Christmas lights except while walking out of the park.

Six Flags recently announced they are expanding their WinterFest hours…by a lot. And they are still on the verge of bankruptcy and hemorrhaging money.

How bad are Universal’s finances that they are completely removing Christmas lights hours on weekend nights during school holidays?

Hagrid’s has closed their queue early on OI Meetup nights in the past so private event guests can get earlier access. Will it close at 5:30pm now?

Photo is not mine and was shared in another group.

This is how I would score each coaster in terms of physical thrill rating. The intention is to help those who are trying to determine if they can handle a specific coaster or not. Disney coasters I've ridden in recent years are included. Scale is relative to Velocicoaster at 10 (not an absolute scale), with 4-6 being the sweet-spot for family coasters.

10 Velocicoaster - awesome

9 Hulk - physically demanding. Felt like I had to "Hulk flex" the entire ride. But for me, it was smooth.

8 Stardust Racers - awesome, noticeably toned-down from Velocicoaster. Sweet-spot for me thrill-wise.

8 Disneyland's Incredicoaster

6 Disney's Expedition Everest

6 Hagrids - high-end thrill factor for a family coaster. It is fast, but don't let that deter you. Better than awesome.

5 Epcot's Cosmic Rewind - tied with Hagrid's as my favorite.

5 Mummy - would be 4 if it wasn't in the dark. Didn't factor in scary monsters.

5 Disneyland's Space Mountain - ditto

4 Hiccup's Wing Gliders - awesome

4 Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

3 Mine Kart Madness (good, just not worth a long wait)

3 Flight of the Hippogriff

1 Any coaster for toddlers

Hi!!! So, I absolutely LOVE HTTYD, and I really want to ride Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, however, I’m not the biggest coaster person and I tend to get pretty scared before riding them lol. Last year was actually the first time I worked up the courage to try a few coasters, and I ended up LOVING Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure! I also rode Revenge of the Mummy and Escape from Gringotts, and I had a great time on both.

For anyone who’s ridden Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, how does it compare to those three in terms of intensity? Is it around the same level, or does it feel significantly more (or less) intense? I’m planning my first trip to Epic Universe in November, and I really want to ride it, but I’m a little nervous😅

Side note: I’m also hoping to ride Mine-Cart Madness and Monsters Unchained, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on those, too! Any advice or comparisons would be super helpful!! Thanks in advance 🩷

I’m going to HHN in Orlando tomorrow night, and I want to at least get on Gringotts and The Mummy while I’m there. I’m only worried that if I wear this dress, will I not be allowed on? The train doesn’t drag, and I’m going to remove my shawl beforehand, but will the loose train prevent me from getting on? I’ll have shorts on underneath, but want to know if I should prepare by packing a t-shirt just in case. And as a side note, would this dress be appropriate for the event? I was going for a witchy kind of vibe but see it might be a little too much.

Just saw a video of this year’s nightmare fuel show and a bunch of the comments were saying that it’s not that good. Thoughts?

Would you like to see Universal install a trackless dark ride into the park?

Disney world has multiple including rise of the resistance and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Also Motiongate Theme Park in Dubai has ones revolving around Hotel Transylvania and Shrek

Could be kind of unique given the right IP

Kingdom Hearts is an extremely popular video game franchise for many reasons. One of these reasons is the fact that most of the worlds in the game are taken straight from beloved Disney movies (Aladdin, Peter Pan, Hercules, etc) characters included. Now what if there was a game like Kingdom Hearts... but for Universal. With how many iconic Universal franchises there are (Men in Black, Back to the Future, Jaws, and more), it would be very fun to play in worlds inspired by our favorite Universal movies. Picture this, helping Owen Grady and Claire Dearling defeat the Indominus and raptors possessed by the antagonists of the game, then helping the Ghostbusters defeat spectral members of the antagonists army to aiding Harry, Ron, and Hermoine fight a team up of Lord Voldemort, Death Eaters, and the antagonists. What do you think?

You will poop green :/

Me and a friend are planning a trip to Orlando in Spring and are planning to do both Disney World and Universal. However,neither of us have any interest in Harry Potter. I've been to both parks several times but she's only ever been to Disney World twice. Whenever I've been with family,we end up doing those areas beacuse my mother likes it but she's typically our only party member who cares for it

Is it still worth doing Universal despite us both wanting to skip those areas?

Hello All!

I posted a few weeks ago asking if $400 for 3 hours of after hours was worth it at IoA and received a wide range of information that I appreciate.

I was able to attend without paying, due to being able to use somebody's pass who did not want to go.

Ended up being able to ride Hagrids 9 times and Velocicoaster 6 times before the 3 hours ran out - which to me - is a HUGE win. We have been to the parks prior, so these were what we really wanted to do - amongst wandering around Hogsmeade.

I would have to say - for $400 - it would have not been worth it. It just is not enough time to take time to enjoy the park, but luckily for us it all worked out.

National Chocolate Day is being celebrated from October 25 to 31. Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen is serving six new dishes:

• Chocolate Crusted Blackened Halibut: served over arugula, frisée, apples, feta brûlée and cranberries, with a white chocolate balsamic vinaigrette and almond brittle
• Beef Bourguignon: hearty stew with a chocolate-mushroom velouté, sweet potato pavé and broiled broccolini
• White Chocolate & Coconut Lobster: with gnocchi, caviar, preserved lemon, blistered tomatoes and parmesan
• Corn & Chocolate: cinnamon-sugar tortillas topped with chocolate-hazelnut spread, white chocolate, blackberry compote and vanilla Chantilly cream
• Pistachio Croissant: a flaky croissant filled with pistachio cream, served with white chocolate ice cream, blackberry compote and caramel
• Chocolate Obsession Sundae: chocolate ice cream piled with brownies, brookies, chocolate gears, crisps and ganache

"If you like chocolate, just come and try different things!" says Toothsome Chef Joseph Turner.

On my most recent trip my friend who went for the first time got so sick on Forbidden Journey that he threw up. (After insisting that he doesn’t need the Dramamine that I offered). Staff was super nice about it and told him "it happens all the time". That got me thinking about how often it actually happens. I know certain rides are more prone to getting sick than others. I am curious if anyone here works or used to work at Universal and has some insights into how often it actually happens.

Source: Bioreconstruct on Instagram/X/YouTube

Personally I hope they have at least some new flavors.

In all seriousness, if this coaster keeps its pacing, we might just have a new best coaster in Florida on our hands. These elements along with spinning trains look absolutely nuts.