Early Entry change...

[clsteve]

Folks, this may already be in a thread but have really bad connectivity. Early entry is at IOA now. It's a little different and is going to run at least through the week.

HE doesn't run to DA until 8:30am. But here's the kicker:

We caught the 2nd train at 8:36am but, as we exited Kings Cross St., we ran right into the stream of guests coming from the US entrance. Seems they opened about 8:30am.

Really no problem at all. We were still were able to Ride EFG with only about a 15 min wait.

So a couple of things: absolutely no reason to get up for early entry if you only want to hit DA. We entered IOA at 7:50am but ended up entering DA behind the guests who just lined up for regular US entry at 8:30 ,or so.

Also, every UOR employee manning the gates was as confused as we were. We walked right past the guests at the IOA gates at 7:15am on the way to US, asking an employee why some were lining up there - they said it must be a private event. They pointed us to the US gates, for EE.

So, moral of the story, grab another hour of sleep if you only want to hit DA first thing in the morning and line up As normal around 8:30amat the US gates.....

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

Anyone have experience on 1/22 or after? I'm hoping the kinks get worked out, else EE is no longer really a perk... Surely they don't want to devalue the EE perk, right?

 

[RMulieri]

I Just got home this morning..EE is indeed only at IOA and it is THROUGH 1/29 ..On 1/30 -2/1 it is at both and after that there is no word as of yet..The ONLY reason we knew was the boat captain at Portofino told us. We checked with Guest relations at both parks and the resort later in the day and the above info was what we were given..We were there starting the 18th

 

[clsteve]

Kind of a mess this morning" HE was down and didnt come up until 850am. Took one look at the line and left. A good 50 min wait.

Also, yesterday and today they opened US at 830am.

So, no benefit whatsoever of hitting WWoHP Early Entry if getting to Da first thing is your goal.......

 

[RMulieri]

Kind of a mess this morning" HE was down and didnt come up until 850am. Took one look at the line and left. A good 50 min wait.

Also, yesterday and today they opened US at 830am.

So, no benefit whatsoever of hitting WWoHP Early Entry if getting to Da first thing is your goal.......

Same thing happened to us Yesterday..We did EE at IOA and tried to hop the HE over to the srudios and DA, it was down and by the time we got to the studios , the park was open and Gringotts had a long wait .

 

[cyndyminnie]

Ugh. We made our initial plans for next Thurs and Fri based on only US having early entry, doing mostly US on Thursday and IoA on Friday. Thought we would go to IoA on Thurs and get the first train to US and keep our plan for US for the day, only later. But if they open US at 8:30 Gringotts etc will have a huge line when we get there. Guess we'll have to wing it and hope Thursday crowds really are low.

 

[clsteve]

Ugh. We made our initial plans for next Thurs and Fri based on only US having early entry, doing mostly US on Thursday and IoA on Friday. Thought we would go to IoA on Thurs and get the first train to US and keep our plan for US for the day, only later. But if they open US at 8:30 Gringotts etc will have a huge line when we get there. Guess we'll have to wing it and hope Thursday crowds really are low.

Just have a couple of secs before dinner.

2 things:

1) they could go back to the regulate sched next week as RM said.

2) if not just get to US like it is early entry. They've opened at 830am each day we've been here anyway. With the new entry they're testing, absolutely nobody's been inline for HE going to IOA from DA. They've been begging for guests to enter Kings cross.

So, on the DA day, get in line at US around 8:05 (even if they're pushing you to IOA for EE) since they've been consistently opening the gate at 8:30am. it will also get you in front of the BTGs.

For your IOA day, just do the early entry. If HE hasn't any probs, it's about a 5 minute wait going against the crowd......

 

[martymcflyy85]

I will keep an eye on this thread. I want to see if they continue having 2 parks open for early entry or just the one.

 

[clsteve]

Yesterday morning (Sat.), we arrived at the US Gate around 8:10am, expecting the 8:30 - 8:35 opening like we had the past couple of days and head straight over to DA and Gringotts.

Well, they opened the gates at 8:42am (no biggie) BUT they held everybody up at the top of the street just past DM and Shrek until 9am...

So basically they did a staggered opening with DM and Shrek being the only rides open for that first 15 minutes. Oh, and what made it even more fun was the fact that it was also raining pretty good at the time.

So not really sure what to tell you all right now but we're just going to have to keep rolling with it. The TMs there with the mgr types at the top of the street seemed as confused as we were.....

 

[cyndyminnie]

I'll be watching this thread all week to see what we wil do on Thursday. Right now we plan to hit US regardless and hope they open a bit early. If it's like yesterday then at least maybe we can ride DM and then hit Diagonal Alley. This is our first trip to Universal.

 

[jeffbear]

According to several blogs, early entry will be going back to just IOA after the Potter Weekend stuff the first week of February.

Thanks for the notice Universal. Ugh.

 

[clsteve]

Ok. This is how it worked yesterday, the 25th:

We did EE at IOA, they opened the gates at 7:50am. After hitting FJ and Dragons Challenge a couple of times, we went over to the HE at 8:25.

The attendants said we could get in line but the 1st Train wouldn't leave until 9am over to DA......

So left the line, grabbed a butter beer, and decided to go ahead and get back in line to see what happened.

We were on the first train which left the station at 8:42am.

Exited Kings Cross at 8:50am only to end up behind the guests entering from the US gates which opened around 8:40am (I asked the folks in front of us in the EFG queue).

So each day since Tuesday has had a different opening between the 2 Parks.

If getting to DA as early as possible is your goal, it's kind of a crap shoot whether to EE at IOA and take your chances with HE. Or, just get to the US gates around 8:10am and hope they still open between 8:30 and 8:40 and they don't hold you up until 9am just past Shrek......

I would definitely get to the US gate early if that's your goal. One morning, the BTG's wrer lined up well past the ticket purchase counters by 8:15am......

 

[cyndyminnie]

Thanks for the update. Looks like we'll head to US on Thursday (after driving all night from VA) and take our chances, and then to early entry at IoA on Friday (or possibly US quickly to do DM if the line for that is long on Thursday and then IoA since touringplans says both parks open early that day). Was hoping to do EE both days since that's part of what we are paying for staying onsite but oh well. HP is our focus for the trip and it seems like Diagon Alley will be less crowded on Thursday than Friday because of the HP celebration. I just wish park opening times were sort of consistent.

 

[clsteve]

Thanks for the update. Looks like we'll head to US on Thursday (after driving all night from VA) and take our chances, and then to early entry at IoA on Friday (or possibly US quickly to do DM if the line for that is long on Thursday and then IoA since touringplans says both parks open early that day). Was hoping to do EE both days since that's part of what we are paying for staying onsite but oh well. HP is our focus for the trip and it seems like Diagon Alley will be less crowded on Thursday than Friday because of the HP celebration. I just wish park opening times were sort of consistent.

Just back from the trip. We did 6 days of EE, 3 of which we just went to US around 8 to 8:10am so we were just a couple of guests back from being 1st in line. The only day guests from IOA really beat us to Gringott's was when they opened the Gates at 8:42am and then held us just past Shrek and DM until 9am.

We rode DM with EP's while waiting and entered DA at 9:07am. The Gringott's line wasn't that bad yet with a 25 minute wait. 40 minutes once we rode and exited.

 

[cyndyminnie]

Just back from the trip. We did 6 days of EE, 3 of which we just went to US around 8 to 8:10am so we were just a couple of guests back from being 1st in line. The only day guests from IOA really beat us to Gringott's was when they opened the Gates at 8:42am and then held us just past Shrek and DM until 9am.

We rode DM with EP's while waiting and entered DA at 9:07am. The Gringott's line wasn't that bad yet with a 25 minute wait. 40 minutes once we rode and exited.

Thanks! I don't know why I had it in my head that DM does not take EP (I know the EP line can be long) but now I'm not as worried about getting it in at least once during our 2 days there. And I'll hope they don't hold us back from Diagon Alley in US.

 

[johde]

Thanks! I don't know why I had it in my head that DM does not take EP (I know the EP line can be long) but now I'm not as worried about getting it in at least once during our 2 days there. And I'll hope they don't hold us back from Diagon Alley in US.

From what I heard, DM has one of the slowest EP lines in the park. It tends to be about 1/2 the standby line. I was staying at Cabana Bay so I didn't have EP so the only times I rode was when I did it during Early Park Access. The posted wait times were frequently longer than Gringotts.

 

[sazzlynn]

Does anyone know what the current status is with the early park entry? One park or both?

 

[hayles77]

If I head to IOW for EE and do all HP attractions and then stick there and do the other attractions until lunch - I was then thinking it doing US in the afternoon- I know I will gave to queue for gringotts and DA will be busy - but otherwise - is this a bad plan? Also what time in the am will I be able to ride HE? I want to do the round rptrip starting from and returning from IOA in the morning in order to complete our morning there? Advice welcomed thx

 

[damo]

Does anyone know what the current status is with the early park entry? One park or both?

Looks like people were at Islands of Adventure this morning (according to twitter).

 

[Planogirl]

I guess that they experimenting with the times right now?

This makes it really confusing for offsite visitors too.