1st Time Visitor - How to start the morning?

[Mark Hammond]

We’re first-time visitors to UOR (me, missus & two daughters 6 & 8) and are staying for five nights at the HRH, so have the benefit of Express Unlimited passes.
Arrival day will be a wipe-out as we’re travelling from the UK and won’t be getting to the hotel until around 5:00pm, but we’ll have jet-lag on our side for the next few days in regards to being up and out early.
I’d planned for us to go to USF for early opening on our first full day, making our way to Diagon Alley, with the intention of just riding Gringotts to take in the standby queue, and then possibly watching the 9:00am Beedle Bard show. (We’ll explore both HP lands together in full on another day)
If we were then to work back around the park going anti-clockwise, bearing in mind the Express Passes, how much of a disadvantage would it put us at for the rides around the New York and Production Central areas, rather than getting back over to and being off Despicable Me before the 09:00 regular opening, and then working around from Production Central?
I’m trying to avoid dragging the kids from one side of the park to the other, and then back again, but if it’s going to make the rest of the day run better, then it’ll be worth in the long run. However, another thing is that eldest would probably be up for riding RRR after “building-up” on a few other rides first, but at 9:00am after a days travelling, I’m not so sure!
Any help would be much appreciated.
TIA.

 

[TommyJK]

With Express Pass, you don't really need to plan meticulously like that. You can literally just go with the flow as you won't need to plan for specific rides and specific times of the day or in any particular order.

To your main point, indeed if you go for early entry I would go and do the standby line for Gringott's, but everything after that you can just do as you tour around because with Express Pass it won't matter.

When are you going though? Typically one one park is open for early entry each month (with the exception of Summer - July and August, and around Christmas time). So when you go it might just be IOA that has early entry and not necessarily USF.

 

[nkereina]

One benefit of Express Pass is that you can tour the parks in any order you wish. No need to criss-cross the park or run to the back for the Potter rides first. Just do them in any order you want, starting wherever you want. With unlimited EP, we don't even take advantage of early entry. We sleep in and get to the parks whenever we get there. We've been all different times of year, and never had a poor or exceedingly long express pass experience. Enjoy the benefit and don't over-strategize or overthink it!

 

[schumigirl]

Yep, have a rough idea of what you want to do and go with the flow.....with EP you have no worries.....

Familiarise yourself with the park layout and that`s usually enough...…

I hear you with the jetlag...we`re always awake early hours first few days.....

 

[Mark Hammond]

With Express Pass, you don't really need to plan meticulously like that. You can literally just go with the flow as you won't need to plan for specific rides and specific times of the day or in any particular order.

To your main point, indeed if you go for early entry I would go and do the standby line for Gringott's, but everything after that you can just do as you tour around because with Express Pass it won't matter.

When are you going though? Typically one one park is open for early entry each month (with the exception of Summer - July and August, and around Christmas time). So when you go it might just be IOA that has early entry and not necessarily USF.

We’re going on Monday 20th May, so our first day in the park will be Tuesday 21st. It’s USF that’s got the early entry each morning, but each park also closes early on one of the nights, so we’ll plan around that.

One benefit of Express Pass is that you can tour the parks in any order you wish. No need to criss-cross the park or run to the back for the Potter rides first. Just do them in any order you want, starting wherever you want. With unlimited EP, we don't even take advantage of early entry. We sleep in and get to the parks whenever we get there. We've been all different times of year, and never had a poor or exceedingly long express pass experience. Enjoy the benefit and don't over-strategize or overthink it!

That’s what I first thought about the Express Pass, but I’ve since read a few times that there can also be significant waits even with it.
I get what you’re saying about not rushing to get up in a morning, but our body-clocks will be five hours ahead for the first few days - 7:00am will be like mid-day to us!

Anyway, thanks for the replies!

 

[schumigirl]

We’re going on Monday 20th May, so our first day in the park will be Tuesday 21st. It’s USF that’s got the early entry each morning, but each park also closes early on one of the nights, so we’ll plan around that.



That’s what I first thought about the Express Pass, but I’ve since read a few times that there can also be significant waits even with it.
I get what you’re saying about not rushing to get up in a morning, but our body-clocks will be five hours ahead for the first few days - 7:00am will be like mid-day to us!

Anyway, thanks for the replies!

We`ve never had significant waits with EP.....longest was just over 20 minutes.....the regular line for that ride was over 100 minutes...…it`s never guaranteed to be a walk on, but for a lot of them it can be.

Unless of course there`s an issue with the ride......

 

[Mark Hammond]

We`ve never had significant waits with EP.....longest was just over 20 minutes.....the regular line for that ride was over 100 minutes...…it`s never guaranteed to be a walk on, but for a lot of them it can be.

Unless of course there`s an issue with the ride......

That’s good to know thanks - Makes things a lot easier on the kids if we’re not walking back and forth. I was originally thinking we’d be better off avoiding the peak times even with the Express Passes (As in ~11:00 on RRR as per the screenshot)

 

[nkereina]

I’ve since read a few times that there can also be significant waits even with it.

I'd be willing to bet that a 47 minute express pass wait time is the result of the ride going down or some kind of delay. That is not typical. The only time we have ever waited over 20 minutes with EP was on King Kong when it first opened and the EP line was being poorly managed. Its the staff's priority to get the express pass guests through and queued up for a row, and they will generally allow multiple EP people through before taking one standby. We find it more efficient than fast passes at WDW.

 

[Mark Hammond]

I'd be willing to bet that a 47 minute express pass wait time is the result of the ride going down or some kind of delay. That is not typical. The only time we have ever waited over 20 minutes with EP was on King Kong when it first opened and the EP line was being poorly managed. Its the staff's priority to get the express pass guests through and queued up for a row, and they will generally allow multiple EP people through before taking one standby. We find it more efficient than fast passes at WDW.

The wait times are for actually for the standby line - I posted the graph to highlight the spike, as going back to my question in the first post was to ask whether the waits for EP line fluctuated roughly the same as the standby? And if so, would I be better off avoiding those peak times, even with the EP? From what you’re all saying though, it’s not necessary to try planning the day as much as I first thought, which is a great relief! Thanks again everybody for your thoughts and suggestions.