Changes to Park Hours

Did anyone else get a Touring Plans notification that hours at IOA had been reduced August 20-23? From a 10 pm close to 9 pm. I know Disney often increases park hours as the date approaches, does Universal often reduce them? It’s kind of annoying to find out we will actually have less time than we originally planned.

I got that one too! You have EP right? That hour won’t really make a difference I don’t think

Yes, we do have the Express pass (staying at Hard Rock). I don’t think losing the hour will be a big deal for us, but I did think it was poor customer service on Universal’s part. It is not nice to sell people something and then reduce what you offered them.

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That’s right we overlap at the HR!

They must be think it’s not going to be busy those days.

I guess that’s a good thing! :grinning:

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I got the same email and was also extremely upset. We are very much a “close out the park” type family and get a lot done in that last hour. I’m sure they did it because they expect attendance to be lower, but it does mess up my plans.

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We’re not typically doing a lot in the last hour, but we were planning to explore Hogsmead at night. Very annoying to have that time cut down.

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Does this mean they won’t do the Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle?

I don’t know. When do they usually do it?

I was wondering this is well. Before the change, I had the nighttime lights in my TP. Now, when I go in, I have an option for the Christmas lights, but not the regular nighttime lights. And it let me add the Christmas lights in August!

I’m going to keep an eye on this page, which looks like is currently only updated through August 18: Universal Orlando

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Thank you for sharing this! We arrive on the 16th, so this helps me a lot.

Excellent information. We also wanted to see the lights. It will be disappointing if we can’t

I just got another dreaded email telling me that on two of my days, the crowd levels have increased, in addition to the hours being decreased. :frowning:

What days were the crowd levels increased? We just got an email decreasing the crowd levels at Universal for August 21 and 22 plus a whole bunch of decreases the following week at WDW.

BTW, did anyone else notice that the early entry seems to have shifted from IOA to USF? I can’t figure out how to check for early entry hours on the Universal website but Touring Plans now seems to indicate that is what is happening.

I am there August 16 through 20, and two of those dates had increases at IOA. Looks like I am hitting the tail end of it. And early entry IS at USF. Here is the link to the UOR web page: Universal Orlando

Thanks for the link. I could swear that Touring Plans was showing that all early entry for our dates in August were for IOA but now everything says USF. Weird that there was no email notification when that changed!

They don’t send an email because until UOR officially declares which park has EE, it is just an educated guess on TP’s part based on how things were previously. I believe in the past, IOA has had early entry during this time. UOR just made EE official near the begining of July.

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The Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts™ Castle
Aug 5 – Aug 11: Ongoing from Dusk to Park Close
Aug 12 – Aug 19: Ongoing from Dusk to Park Close
Aug 19 – Aug 25: Ongoing from Dusk to Park Close