Does the Universal Express Pass still NOT include Hagrid's Motorcycle ride?

[saskdw]

If 60mins is your wait I'd say you need to wait several years before attempting the high profile attractions at either Disney or Universal. TBH and I don't mean this rudely but that's an unrealistic expectation. Any attraction that opens up new that is very high profile, very high demand is going to pull high waits for quite a while. Most of the time I generally say "you know let's wait a bit before going" like I really want to go to Epic Universe if it does indeed open in 2025 but I also may want to wait too because I know it will be a long wait. Yes Hagrid's has been opened since June 2019 but the waits are down from what they were in the beginning and we've had blips in time with the pandemic where the crowds weren't there for a while. FOP routinely has 1 hour waits very often and that is also down from the 4-5hour waits it got and that attraction has been opened since May 2017.

I do think they likely should have built a longer queue but probably had issues with space, there really isn't much space there. I mean we were in Sinbad's theater lol. But when you go through FJ and see just how long the queue can be you know they built it knowing it would command a very long wait. Over at Hogwarts Express that's the same way, they have a long winding back and forth queue and the inclusion of food/drink options to purchase also says something.

We usually do wait. We aren't an opening day need to ride it first family.

Our first visit to UO was December 2010. Diagon Alley had just opened earlier that year.

Diagon Alley was a madhouse. You had to get a virtual time to come back just to wait in line to get into the area....LOL. And than you would have to wait in line for the rides. It was elbow to elbow in there. We are marginal HP fans at best so we completely avoided the area and enjoyed everything else. We had a great time and didn't really care that we didn't see DA.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We usually do wait. I'm not we aren't an opening day need to ride it first family.

Our first visit to UO was December 2010. Diagon Alley had just opened earlier that year.

Diagon Alley was a madhouse. You had to get a virtual time to come back just to wait in line to get into the area....LOL. And you you would have to wait in line for the rides. It was elbow to elbow in there. We are marginal HP fans at best so we completely avoided the area and enjoyed everything else. We had a great time and didn't really care that we didn't see DA.

That hopefully meant you could see the rest of the park without it being too awful crazy! I think you meant Hogsmeade not Diagon Alley. We went in September 2011 and like I mentioned (either on this thread or a different one) it was still hours long wait for FJ, we got stuck in the greenhouse for a while. But us naïve selves thought when we were going through the queue "oh this may not be as bad"....no no it was still a long wait lol.

We made it to USO again in September 2017 and a silver lining to that trip was the hurricane allowed for less crowds and we got to explore Diagon Alley and all the nooks and crannies because it was still commanding a lot of traffic even having been open for more than 3 years. When we went back in May 2022 Hogsmeade was only bottlenecked at certain parts mostly where the cart vendors were you'd be trying to get to the bathrooms or Three Broomsticks but Diagon Alley was much more busy. We sat on the ground sipping butterbeer (well I did my husband had lemonade) because all the seating was used up including the stairs but there were a few times it died down a bit. Wait times however were fairly low just people milling about. Back in 2011 I remember seeing the lines to get into the wand shops and even in 2017 they had lines to get into the wands shops.

 

[saskdw]

That hopefully meant you could see the rest of the park without it being too awful crazy! I think you meant Hogsmeade not Diagon Alley. We went in September 2011 and like I mentioned (either on this thread or a different one) it was still hours long wait for FJ, we got stuck in the greenhouse for a while. But us naïve selves thought when we were going through the queue "oh this may not be as bad"....no no it was still a long wait lol.

We made it to USO again in September 2017 and a silver lining to that trip was the hurricane allowed for less crowds and we got to explore Diagon Alley and all the nooks and crannies because it was still commanding a lot of traffic even having been open for more than 3 years. When we went back in May 2022 Hogsmeade was only bottlenecked at certain parts mostly where the cart vendors were you'd be trying to get to the bathrooms or Three Broomsticks but Diagon Alley was much more busy. We sat on the ground sipping butterbeer (well I did my husband had lemonade) because all the seating was used up including the stairs but there were a few times it died down a bit. Wait times however were fairly low just people milling about. Back in 2011 I remember seeing the lines to get into the wand shops and even in 2017 they had lines to get into the wands shops.

Yes I meant Hogsmeade. I was multi tasking at work when I wrote that post.

The rest of the parks were great with the EP that trip. We had a blast even though they had a record cold snap that year.

We did Disney in 2011 and then returned to UO in December 2012 for 2 weeks. FJ had EP by then. The area was still too crowded to spend much time in there, but we did get to ride FJ a few times. FJ is one of my wife's favorite rides, this past December we rode it about 10 times. The EP line was basically walk-on.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The rest of the parks were great with the EP that trip. We had a blast even though they had a record cold snap that year.

That's great! Although cold snaps suck. My DISer friends that moved down there they were just saying anything below 80 is now "break out the sweatshirt" we joke with them about that all in good fun of course.

FJ had EP by then. The area was still too crowded to spend much time in there, but we did get to ride FJ a few times. FJ is one of my wife's favorite rides, this past December we rode it about 10 times. The EP line was basically walk-on.

Forbidden Journey didn't have EP until summer 2017. USO out of nowhere added EP to all 3 HP rides at once. I can't ride FJ anymore with my motion sickness but it was a wild ride that's for sure but really good that kuka arm is something else. I liked it more than Gringotts though which I enjoyed parts to it. My husband still goes on those rides though. He utilizes single rider if he can but at least the ambiance is so good I don't mind waiting. I know I can go in with him but don't always go in the line with him.