Tips on IOA and Sea World Florida

I am going to Islands of Adventure and Sea World Florida between July 25-30. I want some tips on how crowded lines are going to be and what the lines would be like at certain times of the day.

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TITAN IS THE TEXAS' GIANT


-Coastergoose
Another Coasterbuzzer
*** This post was edited by coastergoose on 6/24/2001. ***

I found that sprinting (literally) to Incredible Hulk would get you on the first or second train (depending on if you get to the front gates before the park opens). When I went, I didn't run into a very long line on Dueling Dragons.

I can't speak for July (I was there in March), but I will make one comment on length of lines...

I got there at opening and the line for the front seat of Hulk was not that bad in the morning, though it was around 20 minutes later in the day. The rest of the train was either a walk on or a max of a 2 train wait. However, dueling dragons was at least a 10 minute wait in the morning, and a 30 minute wait in the afternoon. Not sure why. They were only running one train in the morning and two in the afternoon, but even though the lines were getting longer, they stopped for a few minutes to take one set of trains off the tracks and only ran with one set. The back up was incredible after that... at least 45 minutes. After doing Dragons for one final time (and after some shopping in Seuse Landing) we went to Hulk and did two re-rides in the span of about 15 minutes. Some days Dragons backs up incredibly.

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

I went last week and it was crowded! Hulk was an hour and Dueling Dragons around 3o minutes. Spiderman was around two hours and this was on a Tuesday. Also a lot of people showed up early and got in line and i got there 30 minutes early and was a ways away from the turnstiles.

I've been to IOA 3 times this year. Things are changing as we speak, it involves thier Express Pass system.
This will take some explaining, so bear with me.
IOA installed Kiosk machines that could read a multi-day ticket and give you an express pass, 3 rides could be checked out at a time. Guests staying at their hotels (Portifino Bay and Hard Rock) got FOTL (Front of the Line) access.
But now all that is changing. Hotel guests don't get FOTL anymore, the response to it was so great, they had lines and couldn't call it that anymore. Hotel guests will soon get unlimited express passes, and the multi-day ticket holders get 1 express pass at a time, which is a real bummer. This is scheduled to change on July 1st.

Now, regarding seeing the park. The key is to get there early before the gates open. As you enter the park, go on Hulk, Spiderman, Doom Drop, Ripsaw Falls, Jurassic Park, Dueling Dragons. It's a clockwise direction around the park. After that, all the rides fill up and the wait times are 1 hour. You come back around and do Popeye (you'll get soaked) the Sinbad show, Posiden's Fury, and more DD rides. You'll have to wait until the park is about to close to get any more rides on Hulk, Spiderman, or Doom Drop. Use the Single Rider line to reduce your wait.

If you can stay onsite at their hotels, then do it so you can get the unlimited express passes. Otherwise, you'll be waiting in long lines. Only getting 1 express pass with a multi-day ticket at a time doesn't help much, you'll be waiting in long lines if you're not staying onsite. IOA needs more coasters, instead of a complicated Express Pass system.

Sea World is great. After the hectic lines of IOA, you'll enjoy this park. Get there early and ride Kraken and JTA first thing, then go see the shows. In the afternoon, the rides have an hour wait, so do them first. 2pm is the best time to see the dolphins at the Key West area where you can feed them. A trainer comes out at 3pm and feeds them a bucket of fish, this gives you more chances to pet them.

Here is a message board for IOA and SWF. You'll find lot's of tips over hear. The IOA Techs even read this board and post messages about what's going on. I wish other parks would interact with users like they do here.

http://64.225.125.24/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8
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Robin Fox - "I see Stars, Can You See Them Too?"

Does anybody think IOA will be crowded on july 4??
Im goin that week and have to pick a date. What time does the park open, and what should i hit first??
As for SWF, I've heard stories of Kraken never having an extreme line, but only like 5-10 minutes. Is this true? One more thing, where in the park is Kraken? Front? Back?

Ok, I'll answer them.
Yes, IOA will be crowded on July 4th. Go on their web site for times. Try this link, it's long, if it doesn't come up then start at the main page and go from there. The hours for both parks are 9am to 10pm.
http://www.universalstudios.com/globalnav/gnf.pl?url=http%3A//www.universalstudios.com/themeparks/html/orlando/parkinfo/general/&referrer=http%3A//www.universalstudios.com/themeparks/html/orlando/islands/main.html

I would recommend July 5th because most people will be hung over from partying the previous day.

Kraken used to only have 5-10 minute waits, but that has changed. SWF has become more popular. In the afternoon, both JTA and Kraken each have 1 hour waits. Get there first thing in the morning and get your rides. Kraken is located in the back of the park, JTA is next to it.
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Robin Fox - "I see Stars, Can You See Them Too?"

thanks