delayed rides / early park entry, what's the point

[Kristin0713]

I've been randomly checking wait times to get an idea of what we might expect for our trip mid-December. There have been so many rides that say delayed or opening at 9am. For example, right now all the HP rides say delayed and several coasters say opening at 9. Is it even worth it to go an hour early? Are they completely understaffed? All the hotels with EP were booked so we are staying at Dockside and plan to get EP if needed. I guess we will have to get it if we want to avoid the lines?

 

[lazer]

Not staff related, but ride issue related. It's just luck on what'll be operating. We just spent four days there and two days Hagrid wasn't open at EE, but Velocicoaster was so most people headed there and that line still went super quick. They have loading and unloading that ride down to a science! Since we left it's been Hagrids and the castle. Still worth it to explore the area with a lower crowd and be close when they do open. I'm sure it'll be even more beneficial when it's busy mid-December. We had EPs, but our family wouldn't go without them, even during a slow time. But, that's because we go at full speed the entire trip and doing things multiple times with no lines is the best for our family.

 

[Skywalker3]

On Nov 11, saw several news reports that the entire area of Hogsmeade, and all HP rides were closed for hours due to a power outage. something that extreme is rare, but sure made for disappointing morning for lots of folks. My husband experienced something similar last March in Hollywood studios, power outage caused most rides to be offline/very delayed in opening.
We had 2 days in Oct when VC was not running at regular park opening. (reminds me of test track--it is rarely ready when Epcot opens.) That month, EE was not for IoA though, it was for US.
Hopefully no big issues when y'all are there in Dec, and things are up and going for EE. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[Gatrcruzer]

Typically, only a few rides are open during early entry, and everyone flocks to them so lines are long. Also, if you have EP, those lines are much shorter, and during EE you can't use EP. We don't bother doing early entry anymore as a result because there seems to be no advantage for us.

 

[Gatrcruzer]

Typically, only a few rides are open during early entry, and everyone flocks to them so lines are long. Also, if you have EP, those lines are much shorter, and during EE you can't use EP. We don't bother doing early entry anymore as a result because there seems to be no advantage for us.

Actually, that's not entirely true. On a few occasions, our strategy was to get there toward the end of EE so that the line to get in is shorter, but we are not anticipating going on any rides until after opening when EP is available. That seemed to work pretty well. Sometimes we just skip it altogether so we can sleep in and relax.

 

[AJA]

Only a few rides are open for early entry.

 

[DuskKodesh]

Honestly during EE I had a butterbeer and walked around doing spells, but we really couldn't do the Harry Potter rides. It was nice to be able to actually move in the land.

 

[Kristin0713]

These responses are helpful. Thanks!!

 

[bchbetha]

Enjoying the parks with fewer people is a nice perk. Like said above, great time to get some Butterbeer and do wand stuff. Or just take pics without hordes of people. Beating people to the back of the park is always good too. Worth doing.