Single Rider Line and What can you carry on ride questions

[kitkatsmom]

We will be going to Universal in a couple of weeks and I just looked at universals website and it would cost me $99.00 per day per person to add on the express pass.

This is too costly. 3 people for 4 days.

Would the single rider line be somewhat faster if we used that or does it seem to take as long as riding in a group.

In the past I had always purchased the express pass but cannot justify the additional cost. I'd rather save the money and split our small group up.

Also, I remember Universal being different than Disney in regards to what they will let you carry onto rides. (no backpacks or bags etc)
But if you have one of those lanyard type small pouches that holds not only your ID but your phone and cash as well will they let you wear that on rides or are they really strict? What about sunglasses or hats etc are you allowed to hold them or are they very strict with using lockers for everything.

We haven't been there in a few years and friends mentioned they are much stricter now and i'd like to be prepared as I hate using lockers.

thanks

 

[ruthies12]

I can help with this- my sister and I used the heck out of the single ride lines on our trip in January when it ended up being more crowded than we were expecting. It was great and most of the time saved us a TON of time. For example one night at Gringott's we decided to ride at 7:15 when the park closed at 8, but the line was 45 minutes. We did single rider and ended up riding it 4 times in a row and were back out before 8 pm.

couple things to know- the single rider line in gringotts skips the elevator and bill's office portion so make sure you go through regular line at least once first before doing single rider. The single rider line at journey also skips some stuff so make sure you do the regular line there as well at least once.

Sometimes they don't open the single rider line- we never got to use it at Spider-Man, they never opened it in the 4 days we were there.

Sometimes they close it if a line is really bad- one night my sister got in line for rip ride rocket single rider and I waited for her out front, they closed that line down right after she walked in cause it was getting too backed up, I ended up waiting for her about half an hour, the regular line was over an hour though.

by getting to park before opening and immediately riding stuff that we wanted to do together like men in black so we could compete against each other, and then using single rider the rest of the time, we did really well on short waits.

As far as carrying stuff on rides they are pretty strict. I like to use a runner's belt for my phone/cash/credit card and I stick my sunglasses in a pocket (they will make you take them off your head). If you use a poncho in rain and you take the poncho off, they make you sit on it. I think I usually hear them telling guys to take hats off and hold them on some rides like men in black.

If you do something like a runner's belt then the only times you'll have to use a locker is for rip Ride rockit and hulk, those are the only two rides that they absolutely will not allow even a runner's belt on and they make everyone walk through a metal detector to get in line. They do still allow the lanyards though, even on those rides, but only the really small lanyards that just have your park ticket/express pass in it, not one carrying a phone.

 

[StrawberryChan]

single rider lines tend to vary a lot. sometimes it's quicker than even express, other times it's a lot longer. it usually depends on how efficient the person up from is. rip ride rockit's queue in general has been bottlenecked a lot since they moved the merge point earlier, but in that case i think express is very much worth it lmao

iirc the rides that usually offer single rider are rip ride rockit, mummy, transformers, MiB, gringotts, hulk, dr. doom, forbidden journey, and sometimes spider-man, jurassic park, and ripsaw falls. for the other ones that don't, you'll want to make them your priority (in particular if you want to do minions, because that fills up FAST)

as the above poster said only hulk and rip ride rockit specifically make you stow all your personal belongings in a locker, with metal detectors and all. you can't bring your phone in since it sets the detector off, but if you have your ticket in a lanyard you should be okay. in some cases they won't even let you take ponchos on if there's high winds. all you can really take with you are accessories you can remove safely (hats, glasses, etc) and your wallet/park ticket. for the other rides that have lockers (MIB, mummy, the harry potter rides, the water rides, etc), you can usually bring on most things that aren't larger than a water bottle as long as you keep them on your person (pockets, runner's belt, etc)

 

[georgina]

Universal seems to be entering a slow period. The TM at the CBBR front desk today told me they are only 50% booked next week. I went to US at 4 PM today, and rode Rip Ride Rocket, Mummy, and Men in Black single rider by 5. However, the standby line for RRR said 15 min, and Mummy only said 10. Gringotts said 40 min, and single rider was rather a long wait. I took the train to IOA (20 min wait) and Forbidden Journey only had a 10 min standby line. Yesterday evening I had good luck with single rider for Jurassic Falls and Forbidden Journey.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I had moderate luck w/ the single rider line - when open, it was faster than regular standby line all the time and very fast most of the time. A few times there was literally no wait w/ single rider. Early morning and late night is still best for hopping on other rides or doing things together. They had Spiderman's single rider closed all but one day we were there, and the attendant at Kong told us there was a single rider line at one point but it was a lie. Also sometimes the line to get to the lockers at FJ is long, and the split to single rider is after that... if you go through the gift store at the end (near Hippogrif), you can cut straight through there into the lockers / single rider line.

You can ride with anything you can cram into a pocket, including phones and a camera, anywhere except RRR and Hulk. Bring a plastic bag to put your phone in on the water rides (except Jurassic Park, that isn't too wet, but my gosh will the other two drench you).