The SATURDAY SIX Experiences an OI Meetup (No Wait for Rides, Unlimited Food, and More!)

This week’s SATURDAY SIX gets to check another item off our Universal Orlando bucket list as we head to the theme parks to experience an Orlando Informer Meetup, an after-hours ticketed event held several times per year. For the OI Meetups, Orlando Informer buys out both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida, giving meetup guests access to over 25 attractions across both parks with little-to-no wait AND unlimited snacks and drinks. Sounds too good to be true, right? Spoiler Alert: it’s even better than it sounds. Seriously. Let’s check out why, starting with…

# 6 – Check-in and Arrival Bites

OI Meetups are held on various weekends throughout the year. Each event is held over the course of two nights (Friday and Saturday) after the parks close. You can purchase tickets separately for either night, or you can get a discounted ticket that includes both nights. Tickets for the March meetup that I went to were approximately $250 per night if you were going for just Friday or Saturday. It was about $400 if you bought the two night ticket. If that seems like a lot, keep reading, because by the end you’ll see why it may just be one of the best bargains at Universal…

One thing that I was a big fan of from the jump is that when it comes to OI Meetups: there is over communication. After ordering tickets you will get emails with a ton of information telling you exactly what you are going to experience. Where to go, the times, the attractions included, the menus that will be served…everything. Also, when you arrive to the park, there are Team Members all throughout CityWalk holding OI Meetup signage directing you where to go to check-in for the event.

We stayed at my beloved Cabana Bay Beach Resort over the course of the weekend, and took a bus from Cabana Bay to CityWalk at 4PM. We immediately got into a queue outside the Hard Rock Café and followed a line that led to the check-in desks which were located behind the restaurant (and directly next to the old Blue Man Group Theater.) This line seemed daunting at first, but it was constantly moving.

Overall, the check-in experience went pretty fast all things considered, and I was amazed at how efficient the entire process was.  After being checked in, each ticket holder received a wrist band, the exact same process that was used by Universal itself when I went to the Rock the Universe Christian music festival back in January.

On Saturday, things were a bit different. We arrived from Cabana Bay at the exact same time (4PM) and there was no line to check-in. After talking to my friends who have done OI Meetups in the past, this was more the norm compared to the longer queue we saw Friday.  Tickets to the OI Meetup allow you to enter both IOA and USF on either night at 5PM, so we decided to take advantage of that extra time in the parks.

There were “Happy Birthday” and “I’m Celebrating” buttons available when checking-in. We were celebrating a pretty big birthday that weekend, and would be the first time that the birthday boy would be tall enough to ride all of the coasters except for The Incredible Hulk. This is why we decided to finally buy tickets for the OI Meetup, even though for years my friends have been raving about them and telling me I had to go.

What almost brought tears of joy to my eyes was also at the check-in desk, when I saw that PAPER MAPS were available. What I didn’t realize at the time is that the maps are date specific, and there was a separate map available for Saturday night’s event as well. Just incredible.

The map had EVERYTHING that was included at the OI Meetup, including the restaurants that would be open, attractions, showtimes and more. This was straight up E-Ticket and I’ll show some snippets of the map throughout the article.

We were completely checked in by 4:30PM, so we had a little time to kill before we could enter the parks at 5PM. Directly next to the check-in area was the Arrival Bites room. This was a large area held in a soundstage that had a whole bunch of food and drink stations. Every item was included with your OI Meetup ticket.

Because our OI Meetup was taking place during Mardi Gras season, several of the food items were themed to Mardi Gras, including the “purple cookie.”

No joke, this was one of the best sugar cookies I have ever had. In fact, after tasting Friday’s cookie I made a mental note to hit this table first on Saturday to grab a half dozen to munch on as I made my way around the Arrival Bites room.

There was a solid amount of options for both vegans and normal people.

There was a hot dog station with all the fixings.

There were also Team Members walking around with various food items to hand out, such as pretzels.

I thought the Arrival Bites area was more than acceptable as a “pre-game” situation. The items were good (really enjoyed the vegan Jambalaya) and got us prepared for the parks.

# 5 – Atmosphere

So, now it was 5PM and both USF and IOA had dedicated entrances for OI Meetup guests.

Once nighttime came, Orlando Informer projections could be seen at both parks.

This was the type of stuff that I was mystified that Universal themselves didn’t have much of during Rock the Universe.

Pretty much everywhere you looked during the meetup there was OI Meetup signage, even on screens of venues that weren’t open.

Until the day guests were swept out of the parks, it was pretty much a normal day for both IOA and USF. Saturday was a bit busier at USF because of the Foster the People concert (I did get to hear “Pumped Up Kicks,” so that was a bonus.) You’d be able to catch the Mardi Gras Parade at USF both nights if you entered the park at 5PM.

Once the parks closed to day guests, it became a “so much space for activities” situation for OI Meetup attendees.

I’ve never experienced anything like this. Even Rock the Universe had more people in the park. Much more.

# 4 – The UNLIMITED Food and Drink

For the first hour of each OI Meetup (while the parks are still being cleared of day guests) there are four restaurants open for meetup attendees. For our meetup, the restaurants available were Café 4 and Burger Digs in IOA, along with Café La Bamba and Richter’s Burger Co. in USF.

On Friday we started our park day in IOA, so we stopped by Café 4 to get some slices of pizza and strawberry cheesecake bites.  You could grab as much as you wanted of anything, and go back as many times as you liked.

Drinks were constantly being made by Team Members and put out to grab as you walked by.

One hour after the OI Meetup officially starts, ALL the food and drink stations are open. This includes quick service restaurants and the various kiosks you see in every land. The popcorn cart outside The Incredible Hulk Coaster offered this seasoned green popcorn that I tried out (one and done for me, as both regular buttered popcorn at both Universal and Disney is the way to go. It just hits harder.)

One of my personal favorite treats at IOA is a Lemon Slush from Chillin’ Charlies, located right outside Port of Entry. It’s important to note that at many of the venues you get FULL SIZE servings of the items. The very same as if you went earlier as a day guest. There are some locations that serve smaller servings to prevent food waste, but because everything at the OI Meetup is unlimited, you can just go back and get as many as you want.

My absolute favorite drink in all of Universal Orlando is the Tongue Tying Lemon Squash in Diagon Alley. Could drink this by the gallon, but when I’m normally at the parks I just get one because they add up fast when paying $6.49 each.

They were ALL YOU COULD DRINK during the OI Meetup, so you better believe I was pounding these down like Tom Hanks in Cast Away when he was able to get coconut water after being stranded on a deserted island.

All the specialty drinks in the Wizarding World were ready to grab and go…

…including Butterbeer! Regular, Frozen, and Hot (the best version of Butterbeer) where available.

Busiest TM during the entire party may have been this guy in the Leaky Cauldron pouring one after and another like he was playing the video game Tapper in real life.

Unlike most venues, the menu available for the Leaky Cauldron wasn’t their normal one. Instead it was more like a buffet with several options available, including a couple salads and Sheppard’s pie.

Apparently one of the signature items for the Wizarding World during these OI Events is “English Pea Salad” which is definitely a NAY NAY in my book. More power to the people that enjoy this, but I need to save room for unlimited slices at Louie’s pizza.

However, one thing I noticed in quick service dining areas like Leaky Cauldron is that we really enjoyed chatting with people while we sat down to enjoy our food and drinks. This was an aspect that we loved compared to a regular park visit and don’t generally experience as much either on our trips to Universal or Disney. It isn’t just that people were friendly, that’s normal, it’s more a feeling like starting conversations with your tablemates is part of the vibe.

Okay, back to the food. The park map lists every venue that has food available during the meetup and what the menu includes. The variety of items across both parks was just staggering. I had such grandiose plans going into the OI Meetup of all the items I would try… however I couldn’t even get to half of them because I was too full.

Longtime readers of this fine blog series know how much I love Fast Food Boulevard in Springfield. Imagine my glee in being able to get items from every venue there, including Krusty Burger, Cletus’ Chicken Shack, the Frying Dutchman, Lisa’s Teahouse of Horror, and Luigi’s pizza. Across the street, Duff Brewery was offering corn dogs, while Lard Lad donut’s had the small pink donut (which was a HUGE hit.)

Dining in Seuss Landing has had a major upgrade over the last few years, and the fantastic tots from Green Eggs and Ham were available.

Over at Circus McGurkus, there was more a buffet style setup, with Pizza Pasta, Chicken & Waffles, Mini Roast Beast Sandwich Sliders, and Tamed Dragon Salad on the menu.

Along with the Caramel Popcorn Cupcake.

For venues like Circus McGurkus that had Coke Freestyle machines instead of soda fountains, cups were stacked next to Freestyle machines and you could get whatever flavor you wanted.

Can you imagine? UNLIMITED Cinnabons and CinnaSweeties?!

After I finished one Cinnabon, I just went back to the counter and asked for two more Cinnabons along with an order of CinnaSweeties because that’s how we (Cinnamon) roll in this household.

The picture below doesn’t do it justice, but maybe the best snack of the night was a gyro from Fire Eater’s Grill in Lost Continent.

Maybe the only disappointment of the weekend was that Minion Tots weren’t available, but a lot of good options were on the menu at Minion Café, including Steak and “Cheese Ray” Sandwiches.

There were multiple food stations inside Minion Cafe.

This picture is awful, but it contains a look at Banana Popcorn in Minion Land. Much better than it has any right to be.

One of the bigger hits of the night was actually at Finnegan’s. Along with Pub Salad, Hot Wings, Vegan Hand Pies and Irish Mac & Cheese there was this incredible Bread Pudding topped with Whiskey Sauce.

I’m not exactly sure what Whiskey Sauce is, but it tastes great!

There were also items available at 7 of the Mardi Gras food booths, including BEIGNETS!

My overall review of the Food and Drink experience at an OI Meetup can best be described from this page in the book Frog & Toad.

While all non-alcoholic drinks were included during the meetup, you could purchase alcoholic drinks at various bars throughout both parks including The Watering Hole in Jurassic Park, Duff Brewery in Springfield, and the Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade Village. There were also pop up bars in both parks you could purchase alcoholic drinks as well.

# 3 – The Rides

I think for many people, the biggest selling point to an OI Meetup is the ability to do so many rides with almost zero wait. I’ve had Universal trips with Unlimited Express many times, along with taking VIP tours at Universal and nothing compared to the immediate access to rides that we got during the OI Meetup. It was amazing.

Pretty much every attraction at both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida became a “Ride Now” with no wait shortly after the event started. That includes all the coasters with the one exception being Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. That single ride had a wait time of about 60 minutes throughout the two nights. Everything else? Head right in.

This is stuff straight out of a theme park fan’s dreams…

Have never seen anything like this before in my life.

There were wait time boards across both parks, but you could also check the Universal Orlando app.

For theme park bloggers like me, who have already ridden everything a million times, I was able to take advantage of all these empty queues by accomplishing tasks that aren’t as easy during the day, such as photographing the Child Swap rooms without drawing awkward looks by other parents.

I even got to walk around and enjoy the details in several queues that I’m usually rushed through to “fill in all the available space.”  For example, one of my favorite details in the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem queue is this amazing bust featuring a Lion eating a Dog eating a Cat eating a Mouse.

The mouse is even eating cheese. This thing is BONKERS in the best way possible.

# 2 – The Little Things That Go A Long Way

I mentioned earlier that one great thing about the OI Meetup was the over communication before you even got to the event. That concierge level of service continued throughout the weekend as both parks had information tables staffed with people to answer any question you had, and you could also text Orlando Informer to get answers as well. TouringPlans’ own Jennifer Heymont used the chat feature during a recent OI Meeting and here’s her thoughts, “The support was great. We were looking for a particular piece of merch and used the chat – they got back to us quickly and were on the money about where it would be.”

There are several shows you can catch during an OI Meetup, including the Blues Brothers, Celestina Warbeck & the Banshees, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

The park map lists the entertainment available in both parks along with what times to catch the performances.

Having shows performing during the meetup was above and beyond in my book, but that was topped by the sheer amount of meet and greet characters that are out and about in IOA. Over in Marvel Superhero Island we saw Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Dr. Doom, along with the Lorax in Seuss Landing, scientists in Jurassic Park and the Raptor Encounter. It was incredible!

Let’s take it up a notch. The Jurassic Park Skill games were on FREE PLAY. You couldn’t win the prizes, but you could play all the games as many times as you wanted.

 

Even better might have been Free Play at both Kingpin’s Arcade in IOA and the arcade in the New York area of USF next to Revenge of the Mummy.

The video games were all on Free Play. Any games where you won prizes or tickets (like the claw machines) were not included.

One of the neatest perks of the OI Meet was the crossover between USF and IOA that guests could take, saving a lot of time from walking out the front entrance of one park and into front entrance of the other. One entrance to the crossover was located directly in front of Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem in USF.

The crossover lets you pass under Rip Ride Rockit…

…and have an exclusive meet and greet with Orlando Informer’s mascot, Churro!

The other entrance to the crossover is located in Seuss Landing, in between One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Circus McGurkus. Along the backstage route there were some photo ops as well. You could also use the Hogwarts Express to go from park-to-park.

# 1 – Is the OI Meetup “Worth It?”

On the way out of the parks each night, both IOA and USF had a fun surprise for guests. In IOA, there were confetti cannons blasting by the park exit.

It was really neat for kids and those “young at heart.”

While over in USF they had a special meet and greet with Woody and Winnie Woodpecker wearing their finest outfits. I mentioned that an OI Meetup over communicates (in the best way possible) before and during the event, but they also over deliver in every way possible, including when you leave.

At first glance $400 seems pricey for an after hours hard ticket. However, let’s compare it to a “similar” ticket you could buy any other day of the year. We’ll use the day this article goes live as an example. For Saturday, March 8th 2025, a park-to-park ticket would cost you $225, while an Unlimited Express add on would tack on another $250. After tax, this comes to $504.80 and no food or drink is included.

A ticket to the Saturday OI Meet Up that I went to would have cost $250.35, with an after tax cost of $266.62, with ALL food and drink included.

After doing the OI Meetup, I would recommend two nights, because you can’t get everything done in one night unless you were doing “only food” or “only rides.” Even doing two nights we couldn’t do everything and that was showing up early each day! A two day park-to-park ticket would be $378.99, and adding Unlimited Express would put another $239.99 onto the bill. After tax, this comes to $659.22, and no food or drink is included.

A ticket that included both days of the OI Event I went to cost $406.25, with an after tax cost of $432.66 with ALL food and drink included.

This is the no-brainer of no-brainers in the theme park world and I think it speaks volumes to the value you get from the experience by how many Universal Annual Passholders (such as me and my friends) buy tickets to the event. There is nothing to compare it to. I’ve been blessed to visit the Disney and Universal parks in multiple ways over the years, including Club 33 tickets to Walt Disney World and various VIP tours and both parks. Nothing touches what we did and received during the OI Meetup.

You can learn more about OI Meetup ticket pricing by CLICKING HERE.

As I stated at the top of the article, we stayed at Cabana Bay the entire weekend, and once again the bus service couldn’t be beat. There was a bus waiting for us at every single step of our weekend, both at the hotel and at CityWalk.

This was notable to me because I’ve closed down Disney World after hours events and the bus transportation can be a NIGHTMARE when leaving. The bus stops are so full with people you have to try and guess how many busses it will take before you can get on one. The picture below was taken after the OI Meetup for Saturday ended and there were three busses waiting to take guests back to Cabana Bay.

So there you have it: The SATURDAY SIX Experiences an Orlando Informer Meetup! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on BlueSky (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

Theme Park Turkeys of the Year Archives

The SATURDAY SIX Celebrates 10 Years of @bioreconstruct

SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Josh easyWDW

SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Ian Barritt

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by SeaWorld Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHyde and you Potterheads will  enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.