Hagrid's Coaster Queue Updates / Questions / Reviews

[MyTwoPrincesses]

We will be there in 2 weeks. Current plan is to leave Hollywood Studios and get our luggage from our Disney resort by 5. Check in at our universal hotel and head into IOA for dinner with the plan to get in line for Hagrid after dinner on our first day. If this works, we get the ride out of the way and don’t have to worry about it over the next 2.5 days.

 

[TommyJK]

We will be there in 2 weeks. Current plan is to leave Hollywood Studios and get our luggage from our Disney resort by 5. Check in at our universal hotel and head into IOA for dinner with the plan to get in line for Hagrid after dinner on our first day. If this works, we get the ride out of the way and don’t have to worry about it over the next 2.5 days.

I think you might find that you won't have success with this approach.

Unless something has changed recently, Universal for the last long while has stopped letting new people into the line around 5-6 pm, so they can have everyone that is still in line finish by around 7-8pm to then close the ride down for the day to start their nightly maintenance.

So unless you're there to get into line by 5-6 pm, you're probably aren't going to get to ride that day.

Things could change by the time you are there in 2 weeks (or they may have already changed their daily operations to have it open later/longer), but just wanted to give you fair warning.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

I think you might find that you won't have success with this approach.

Unless something has changed recently, Universal for the last long while has stopped letting new people into the line around 5-6 pm, so they can have everyone that is still in line finish by around 7-8pm to then close the ride down for the day to start their nightly maintenance.

So unless you're there to get into line by 5-6 pm, you're probably aren't going to get to ride that day.

Things could change by the time you are there in 2 weeks (or they may have already changed their daily operations to have it open later/longer), but just wanted to give you fair warning.

Thank you. I did not realize they were doing this. My 9 year old has her heart set on riding so I am trying to figure out a strategy.

 

[TommyJK]

Thank you. I did not realize they were doing this. My 9 year old has her heart set on riding so I am trying to figure out a strategy.

As many have reported here and in other boards I read there seem to be 2 prevailing "best" approaches currently:

1. Rope Drop Strategy:
   • Get in line outside of IOA for around 7:45 - 8:00 am
   • They let you into the park a bit after 8:00 where they'll have you queue up in the old Sinbads Show area.
   • Just before official park open they'll bring you to the Ride and have you enter the actual ride queue
   • If the ride opens on time, and it doesn't have any malfunctions, you'll be done by 10:00am
   • Downside is that you'll have waited a couple of hours, but the upside is that most of that wait is while the park hasn't opened yet so you haven't sacrificed as much "park time" waiting so you'll have more time to do other things in the park after you've finished.
   • Risk: If the ride doesn't open right at 9:00, you'll be waiting longer, and in past posts over the last couple of weeks this has happened once or twice that I've seen where the opening has been delayed
2. Mid-Day Strategy (like just after lunch some time):
   • As many have reported, the wait times they post are typically double (or more) of the actual wait time, provided the ride doesn't go down, or it doesn't Rain/Thunderstorm.
   • I've seen many posts that say things like the wait time posted was 3 hours, but the respondent says they only actually waited an hour. The line just kept moving (i.e. the ride didn't go down and/or it didn't rain).
   • So Universal is purposely inflating their wait times estimate to take into account the chance that the ride might go down for a bit to temper expectations. For instance you enter the line and it says 3 hours, but while in line it goes down for 90 minutes before it comes back up and you proceed, your overall wait could still have been under the stated 3 hours.
   • Risk here though is if there is rain (and it is the start of rainy season with most showers coming in the afternoon) then you could be waiting 2+ hours.

If it were me, I'd likely go with Option 1 as from what I've ready over the last couple of weeks it's been the most reliable.

But again, over the next 2 weeks before you arrive they may have smoothed operations out more and a better strategy will make itself apparent. Check back in this thread for more reports over that period of time.

 

[Spike101]

If it were me, I'd likely go with Option 1 as from what I've ready over the last couple of weeks it's been the most reliable.

I've been following this thread very keenly ever since the ride opened, its just under 2 months until I'll be there (wahoo!) for my birthday (wahoo again!) but I'll definitely be doing option 1 on my first day, weather permitting.

If that works I'll be doing it again, just to make sure I've ridden both the motorcycle and sidecar, but I would really like to ride it at night as well, so we'll see how that goes!

 

[Cuchman]

As many have reported here and in other boards I read there seem to be 2 prevailing "best" approaches currently:

1. Rope Drop Strategy:
   • Get in line outside of IOA for around 7:45 - 8:00 am
   • They let you into the park a bit after 8:00 where they'll have you queue up in the old Sinbads Show area.
   • Just before official park open they'll bring you to the Ride and have you enter the actual ride queue
   • If the ride opens on time, and it doesn't have any malfunctions, you'll be done by 10:00am
   • Downside is that you'll have waited a couple of hours, but the upside is that most of that wait is while the park hasn't opened yet so you haven't sacrificed as much "park time" waiting so you'll have more time to do other things in the park after you've finished.
   • Risk: If the ride doesn't open right at 9:00, you'll be waiting longer, and in past posts over the last couple of weeks this has happened once or twice that I've seen where the opening has been delayed
2. Mid-Day Strategy (like just after lunch some time):
   • As many have reported, the wait times they post are typically double (or more) of the actual wait time, provided the ride doesn't go down, or it doesn't Rain/Thunderstorm.
   • I've seen many posts that say things like the wait time posted was 3 hours, but the respondent says they only actually waited an hour. The line just kept moving (i.e. the ride didn't go down and/or it didn't rain).
   • So Universal is purposely inflating their wait times estimate to take into account the chance that the ride might go down for a bit to temper expectations. For instance you enter the line and it says 3 hours, but while in line it goes down for 90 minutes before it comes back up and you proceed, your overall wait could still have been under the stated 3 hours.
   • Risk here though is if there is rain (and it is the start of rainy season with most showers coming in the afternoon) then you could be waiting 2+ hours.

If it were me, I'd likely go with Option 1 as from what I've ready over the last couple of weeks it's been the most reliable.

But again, over the next 2 weeks before you arrive they may have smoothed operations out more and a better strategy will make itself apparent. Check back in this thread for more reports over that period of time.....

This is a SUPER helpful summary. I'm going in a week so this is great info - thank you!

 

[Disxuni]

There definitely are pros and cons to both strategies and @TommyJK's summary is a good over all in what people have been experiencing in the past month.

However, things have been slowly changing from week to week and sometimes Hagrid has a good groove with getting off of the ride by 9:30am, or suddenly there will be a delay in opening, as it was reported a couple of times recently. I've also seen people report in getting there not early enough, ditching the early plan as it seems too crowded for them personally, and them winging it in the afternoon and it working out too. You never know how things will turn out.

It's just best to keep in mind those two methods in mind and keep checking to see what people report day to day and as each week progresses as things will change and see if one method starts looking better over the other.

 

[bookgirl2632]

Thanks for all of the tips. We will be there the first week of October, so I’m going to be watching crowd levels and wait times in September to see if wait times go down due to summer being over. I’ll figure out our strategy then. We have three days to attempt it, so I’m sure we’ll get it on at least once.

 

[bellarinah]

I got to the ride at 3.15pm today. There is no chance of shower and thunderstorm all day. The posted wait time was 120 minutes. I asked the team member in front of the ride about the single rider line and he said he didn’t know if it was open and for now I needed to get in the standby line. And these were his exact worlds. I was quite perplexed but obediently got in line because I didn’t want to ask too many questions. The line moved quickly. Once I got to to the ruins part with the merpeople and grindylows statue and right in front of the preshow, a cast member came by to ask if anyone was a single rider. Then she told me to move to a different path and that led directly to the room right before boarding. The total amount of time I waited was about 35 minutes, 15 in the standby and 20 in the single rider line.

 

[Spike101]

Then she told me to move to a different path and that led directly to the room right before boarding. The total amount of time I waited was about 35 minutes, 15 in the standby and 20 in the single rider line.

Ooooo thats good to know, as being a Billy-No-Mates (as we say in the U.K) that would be great for me!

 

[FFedge]

Is it still opening in the afternoons/?

 

[disneywithfive]

Road today. Wait time posted was 210 minutes. Off in 2 hours.

 

[LaurenT]

We are at the gate to IOA right now - been here since 7:45 am, it’s now 8:20 and rhe gate is not yet open.
I estimate that we are about 30 people back in line. I’ll post our results when we get them.

 

[CJK]

Good luck! Hope it's a successful morning!!

 

[osufeth24]

Think i'm going to finally try to get on the ride Thurs. I'm thinking of just trying in the afternoon rather than going right at opening

 

[22Tink]

Think i'm going to finally try to get on the ride Thurs. I'm thinking of just trying in the afternoon rather than going right at opening

We’re going Wednesday and I’m thinking the same thing. It seems people are having luck going in the afternoon.

 

[22Tink]

We are at the gate to IOA right now - been here since 7:45 am, it’s now 8:20 and rhe gate is not yet open.
I estimate that we are about 30 people back in line. I’ll post our results when we get them.

Good luck!

 

[osufeth24]

We’re going Wednesday and I’m thinking the same thing. It seems people are having luck going in the afternoon.

Just don't feel like waiting around almost 2 hrs before gates open, then on top of that another hour or two

 

[Disxuni]

Just don't feel like waiting around almost 2 hrs before gates open, then on top of that another hour or two

Well, if you get there well before opening the concept is once it's officially open and there is no delay in opening, you can be done within 9:30-10AM since you're one of the first groups there. That way you spent all your time waiting prior to the park being open and once you're done you can do the rest of what you want to do.

However, at the same time, people have been having good luck in the afternoon and due to them having an over estimation of wait times (to compensate if there is a delay), guests have been having a less wait time if there is no delays, or weather interruption.

At this point, it's the question of how much you wait to wait, when you want to wait, and what kind of risk you want to take, because both methods are still not 100% yet.

 

[osufeth24]

Well, if you get there well before opening the concept is once it's officially open and there is no delay in opening, you can be done within 9:30-10AM since you're one of the first groups there. That way you spent all your time waiting prior to the park being open and once you're done you can do the rest of what you want to do.

However, at the same time, people have been having good luck in the afternoon and due to them having an over estimation of wait times (to compensate if there is a delay), guests have been having a less wait time if there is no delays, or weather interruption.

At this point, it's the question of how much you wait to wait, when you want to wait, and what kind of risk you want to take, because both methods are still not 100% yet.

agreed, since I live 25 minutes away, I also just didn't want to wake up that early on a day off from work lol