Early Park Admission Plan

[lizzilou]

We are going to be at Universal next week for three days. We aren't staying onsite but at a partner hotel so we have Early Park Admission. When will we know which park is early admission? Is it usually the same every day? I want to sort of have a loose plan but I can't do that when I don;t know where we will be starting.

 

[damo]

Pretty sure it is still just IOA right now.

 

[lizzilou]

Thanks!

 

[lizzilou]

So is redundant to be there for early admission all three days? I might like that extra hour to sleep.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

So is redundant to be there for early admission all three days? I might like that extra hour to sleep.

We got up early each of our three mornings to hit IOA and it did not seem redundant at all. The first morning we rode Flight of the Hippogriff twice with no wait then did the castle only tour. Got some Butterbeer, walked around Hogsmeade, then rode the Hogwarts Express with no wait. Immediately rode Gringotts with no wait (around 8:55 am) and walked around Diagon Alley. The next morning, we got in line for FJ, rode Flight of the Hippogriff, then headed to Seuss Landing. The next morning, we rode Flight of the Hippogriff several times, enjoyed some pumpkin juice in Three Broomsticks, then headed to Jurassic Park. For us, the first two hours and the last two hours in the parks were by far the best. Less crowded and more pleasant weather. I would never skip the morning hours, and it puts you deeper into the parks ahead of other guests. Even if you just relax and have some breakfast, it is worth doing early park admission every day.

If you are interested in Ollivander's and Dragon Challenge, then you have something different each morning to do early (we have two little girls, and they either could not or were not interested in these things).

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

So is redundant to be there for early admission all three days? I might like that extra hour to sleep.

I give you permission to sleep in one day. We did! If you are able to get your fill of Hogsmeade the first day, you could even show up a half hour after rope drop to get in line for the first train to the other park to get to Gringotts quickly.

 

[lizzilou]

Thanks. I didn't think about the fact we could ride the Hogsworth Express and get over to Diagon Alley just as the park opens. I will have 17, 14, 5 & 3 year old boys with me so we have a wide range of interests.

This time of year how crowded are the early hours? Is 30 minutes at the gate before early admission OK?

 

[damo]

Thanks. I didn't think about the fact we could ride the Hogsworth Express and get over to Diagon Alley just as the park opens. I will have 17, 14, 5 & 3 year old boys with me so we have a wide range of interests.

This time of year how crowded are the early hours? Is 30 minutes at the gate before early admission OK?

Remember that they let you in about 15 minutes early, so I'd say 45 minutes before advertised opening time.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Thanks. I didn't think about the fact we could ride the Hogsworth Express and get over to Diagon Alley just as the park opens. I will have 17, 14, 5 & 3 year old boys with me so we have a wide range of interests.

This time of year how crowded are the early hours? Is 30 minutes at the gate before early admission OK?

We arrived at the gate of IOA at 7:50 on our first day, 7:57 on our second, and 8:10 on our third. Still gave us plenty of time to enjoy Hogsmeade, ride the HE with no wait, and get to Gringotts with no wait. We did FJ on the second day and had a 20 minute wait. I would have preferred to get there earlier, but even getting to the park at 7:57 am allowed us to do everything we wanted.

 

[lizzilou]

We arrived at the gate of IOA at 7:50 on our first day, 7:57 on our second, and 8:10 on our third. Still gave us plenty of time to enjoy Hogsmeade, ride the HE with no wait, and get to Gringotts with no wait. We did FJ on the second day and had a 20 minute wait. I would have preferred to get there earlier, but even getting to the park at 7:57 am allowed us to do everything we wanted.

This makes me feel better. With four kids and a dilly-dally DH, I don't want to be too stressed out getting there early.

 

[alvernon90]

I want to sort of have a loose plan

I have no advice to contribute, but I wanted to congratulate you for being one of the extremely rare people to type "loose" and mean it rather than meaning "lose."

 

[lizzilou]

I have no advice to contribute, but I wanted to congratulate you for being one of the extremely rare people to type "loose" and mean it rather than meaning "lose."

I'm an English major.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I have no advice to contribute, but I wanted to congratulate you for being one of the extremely rare people to type "loose" and mean it rather than meaning "lose."

I'm an English major.

A toast to my fellow language lovers!

 

[escriven75]

A toast to my fellow language lovers!

I also cringe occasionally feeling like the grammar patrol!!

 

[maclondon]

We were there monday and tuesday, did all of hogsmead on monday, did early entry on tuesday rode hippogriff a couple of times as forbidden journey was already at 60 mins at 8:15. Got hogwarts express over to diagon alley but gringotts didn't open until about 8:55 so queued in diagon alley for 5 mins and then basically walked on to gringotts, a short queue. It said 20 mins which was probably accurate as it takes that long to go through the awesome queue, we weren't standing around at any time.

The rest of the day forbidden journey was at 15-30 mins so not worth it in the morning, plus by the time hogworts express got us to studios people from the front gate were arriving anyway. And if you have express hippogriff is always a walk on.

It was mobbed on monday, quiet on tuesday.

 

[sbrost13]

I'm a Universal rookie and am wondering if there's any chance that both parks will have Early Entry. We're going July 15-16. Anyone have a guess?

 

[macraven]

Thanks. I didn't think about the fact we could ride the Hogsworth Express and get over to Diagon Alley just as the park opens. I will have 17, 14, 5 & 3 year old boys with me so we have a wide range of interests.

This time of year how crowded are the early hours? Is 30 minutes at the gate before early admission OK?

i marvel at people that also have 4 sons.
it's never a dull moment....

staying on track with your question, try to be at the line up for entrance to the park a good 45 minutes prior to opening.
if large crowds are expected, there can be times the peeps will be let in before the 9:00 opening time.
use the child swap system for some of the rides.
that way you can also get a turn on the rides where someone has to sit out to watch the 2 littles.

 

[hydrotony]

I'm a Universal rookie and am wondering if there's any chance that both parks will have Early Entry. We're going July 15-16. Anyone have a guess?

I would say no. They do sometimes do earlier regular opening times but early entry seems to only be one park at a time. Diagon Alley is still the big draw this year and EE is to shift crowds to the other park.

 

[johde]

I'm a Universal rookie and am wondering if there's any chance that both parks will have Early Entry. We're going July 15-16. Anyone have a guess?

At this point, it's anybodies guess. At this point, EE tends to be at IOA except during extremely busy times. We've seen both parks during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter/Spring Break. Last summer they had both parks as well starting in late June/early July through mid August. I'd have an EE plan for both parks just in case. We should know by 4th of July weekend if both parks are going to be open for EE.