We’ve been at Universal Studios today for an Annual Passhholder preview exploring all the sounds, sights, and smells of the newly reopened theme parks!
Knight Bus at Universal Studios
Yes, believe it or not, you can still smell the delicious aroma of theme park food, even while wearing a face covering! But while Universal Studios has pushed for more guests to use the mobile food ordering process at many of its restaurants, the app seemed to struggle a bit today.
Even though select Universal Studios restaurants offered mobile order before the temporary closures, even more locations have been added to the app! The feature looks very similar to Disney’s mobile order system. Just pick your location and select what you want (Butterbeer, obvi!!).
Mobile Order Screenshot
Once you’ve got your items entered in, you simply check out (contactless payment, baby!). All of that seems pretty easy, right? Well, not so fast… .
Mobile Order Screenshot
We’ve been having quite a few issues with the app today. First of all, the app seems to be crashing A LOT. Also, mobile order isn’t recognizing which park we’re at! Even though we were standing inside Islands of Adventures when we tried placing this order, we received an error message. We were able to sort it out by refreshing the app in our settings.
Mobile Order Screenshot
Other times when our orders successfully went through, we noticed a lot of confusion when we went to pick up our food.
Mobile Order Screenshot
Since the system is new for a lot of folks (and Universal employees, too) there doesn’t seem to be a lot of guidance or direction. And while we’ve also noticed several of the Harry Potter-themed restaurants had SUPER long mobile order lines, we found out some of these guests were just wanting to order some food! They didn’t realize they were standing in an order pick-up line!
The Hopping Pot
From our experience today, it seems like full, sit-down meal restaurants are having a harder time with mobile order than grab ‘n’ go spots due to the limited capacity of these dining locations. Do remember that this is just the FIRST day of Annual Passholder previews, so issues may work themselves out over the next few days.
If you still have issues, just ask! Universal team members will address these technical issues you’re having with mobile order and can help you navigate it a little better!
Is my mask going to fly off? Learn everything you need to know about wearing masks on Universal Studios’ rides here!
Are you experiencing any problems with Universal Studios’ mobile ordering? Let us know if you’ve encountered any issues in the comments below!