Hagrid's Coaster Queue Updates / Questions / Reviews

[SweetJulia23]

Did IOA ever have early entry before Hagrid's opened?

 

[Disxuni]

Did IOA ever have early entry before Hagrid's opened?

Years ago occasionally IoA would have EE.

 

[Leahdb73]

Perhaps they are delaying the first HE trip from USF to IOA on purpose to prevent a double rush to Hagrid's.

What he said. Also, if you want to have any luck with the rope drop you're going to have to be there waiting at the IoA gate even prior to the official EE. So, you're going to have to make a choice of sacrificing EE to wait for it first thing, or enjoy EE, take a risk, and do it later in the late morning / afternoon and hope there's no delays / weather.

Thanks for the tip. We planned on spending most of the 1st day at US, so we'll see how the wait times look and take HE over in the afternoon. Since we're staying at Royal Pacific, we'll try for rope drop the 2nd day for Hagrid's. If we're lucky we'll get to go twice. I was just kind of curious how they managed the crowds coming from HE into the queue, since it looks like the queue starts so far back.

 

[Cuchman]

Summary of our Hagrid experience today(not NEARLY as good as Saturday):

• Got to IoA gate at 7:40...maybe 100 people waiting
• TONS of people waiting by 8:30 when they let is in to be herded just before Suess
• Rope dropped from Suess at 8:50 and mad dash to start prequeue by Mystic Fountain. Team members there telling guests we could queue up but the ride was experiencing a delay
• Continued with crowd into the queue. A couple stops but eventually ending up in caves at about 9:30. Ride not operating this whole time.
• We waited a long time in the regular queue. At about 10:10 there was an announcement the ride was back on schedule but there seemed to be some stopping and starting of line movement.
• Eventually rode at about 11:30....exiting queue at 11:40.

Ride was still awesome in spite of the wait.

Side note: there was a LOT of people doing what I would call line cutting....pushing past saying "oh, my husband/son/mother is up ahead" and just pressing on. And we're not talking past a few people....like out of sight in both directions.
We have some pretty solid shaming and protesting, but it happened anyway. Cast members seemed to ignore it also.

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

FYI for those there, the app says 150 min wait, expected wait on Touring Plans is 128 minutes.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Side note: there was a LOT of people doing what I would call line cutting....pushing past saying "oh, my husband/son/mother is up ahead" and just pressing on. And we're not talking past a few people....like out of sight in both directions.
We have some pretty solid shaming and protesting, but it happened anyway. Cast members seemed to ignore it also.

 

[gwoodsy]

Since rope dropping hasn’t been working this week we got in line at 6:45pm with a posted 150 min wait but it took 120mins. They shut line down at 7pm. My wife, two daughters 10 &13, and I thought it was worth the wait! We did each take a turn getting out of line to use restroom and were given a yellow ticket to get back in line.

 

[CDMama3]

Just got back from a 5 day trip, here was our experience with the ride:

Saturday we didn’t make it early enough to get in line before the wait was crazy (300 minutes) and from watching the day before I saw that it usually dropped a little after the early rush. Got in line a little after 12 when it was down to 180 minutes with my 7 year old son. After about 30 minutes or so in line it started to rain. Luckily as the downpour started we got inside and out of the rain. The ride obviously got stopped for weather, but we had no plans until 5 so we decided to stick it out. Especially since more and more people in front of us were getting out of line with the ride down, we moved all the way forward to the room with Fang. Rain stopped, we moved forward slowly. Got to the room with the eggs and an announcement came on that the ride was down for technical reasons. Over an hour in that room and we were moving again. Got to another room and thankfully we were able to hop out for my son to use the bathroom and got a ticket to come back to our spot. Made it onto the ride! Pulled forward onto the track about 20 feet, and the ride stopped. After about 15 minutes cast members came over and we had to be evacuated off the ride, the front of the car actually had to have the safety team come out to get them as they were past the barrier. The cast members were all wonderful, so kind, and they gave us the express passes that work on this ride as well, just one use, as we got pulled off the ride. The car in front of us actually got stuck out on the track and we saw medics come out to help get them off. We kept waiting, with cast members again being great to my son, chatting and trying to make the wait better. After 5 hours in line he needed to go eat, but was so disappointed.

The next day the ride didn’t open until almost 4 I believe, we watched all day. As soon as I saw it was open we hurried over. The passes got us to the second to last room through a separate path they sent us down and thankfully the wait was only about 40 minutes. The ride was everything we had hoped for, amazing! Worth the craziness of the day before. And we have a story to tell about getting stuck on the ride.

I’m not sure what the technical issues are, but having seen first hand that the ride literally can stop with riders out on the track, they’ve got something going on that they haven’t figured out yet. The people in line around us who we chatted with and had waited before all had different wait times, some pretty spot on with posted times, some much longer because of delays, a few shorter. The crew said this was a rough week for delays, and not just cause of weather. Give yourself a lot of time, try and make friends around you is my best advice. It’s worth it!

 

[osufeth24]

anyone there today? Curious if it was delayed opening again. I see it's at 120 minutes now

 

[butterscotchcollins]

I've been looking at the app every single day out of curiosity, today it seemed to open on time and then the wait dropped to ~140 minutes around 11am - it seems like once that crazy AM rush is over the wait times consistently die down a bit until the afternoon, I could be wrong but it's giving me a lot of thoughts for our plan when we're there next Friday (which never involved rope drop - save it with the running and the madness.)

 

[TommyJK]

I’m not sure what the technical issues are, but having seen first hand that the ride literally can stop with riders out on the track, they’ve got something going on that they haven’t figured out yet.

I have seen it mentioned before elsewhere that a problem they have had (and may still be occurring) is that the LSMs (the metal plates that do the launches) can overheat at times. When they're overheated they won't launch trains. So if you get even one that overheats, that means no trains can launch until it cools down sufficiently or some kind of reset on them can occur.

So then that means your stuck, and if it's for too long, they have to evac the people off the ride.

But take the above with a grain of salt. I remember reading that a good month ago and maybe the recent issues are something new.

 

[Lynne G]

Today. We went in around 1:20 and off ride at 2:20pm. And that was with two delays announced.

It is a great ride.

 

[MumziMom]

MUCH more active crowd management is needed during park opening because of this great ride...

We just arrived home from our Wizarding World trip (Orlando) and overall had a wonderful time. We were celebrating our anniversary, and had also invited a friend who loves the HP books as much as we do (and will do the rides that my husband won't!) None of the three of us had ever been, but our kids grew up together (we would host Harry Potter parties for book releases, and wait in line at midnight for those amazing books)

We were glad that we had the opportunity to ride Hagrid's - and I know that there are those out there who were disappointed because the ride was down when they were there. This is only addressing the crowd control, which should be improved. My friend and I agree that IoA is opening itself up to a lot of liability during the morning opening - I have no idea what it is like for Hagrid's line during delayed openings, etc. - this is only about the experience at park opening.

This past Saturday (was it the 17th?):

1) We arrived by 7:20 to wait in line for the 9 a.m. opening.

2) We were the very first in one of the lines. We chatted with some lovely people from England - it wasn't terribly hot - it was fine being there that early. Probably better than getting there later, as we had shade.

3) They pre-scanned at least 10 people in our line as the opening family was introduced - there were maybe 18 scanners? I believe 7 turnstiles on one side, 7 on the other, and between 6-8 portable scanners in front of the gate. Not really sure. So then most likely between 150 - 200 people, were pre-scanned.

4) They had the opening family introduced at around 8:20 or so. They warned verbally "Don't Run!" as they let us in - there was no one at the front of the line to walk us up to Seuss Land;

5) At 8:30 they let us go. Almost every person sprinted who had been pre-scanned, and those who were scanned after ran past as well. My friend and I walked, albeit at a quick walking pace - we saw a woman who had tripped and fallen and not be able to get up - the ground was wet in that area - she was under the first bridge of some sort, with her family, had obviously hurt her knee, and she was sprawled on the ground, yelling at them to go ahead and save her a spot in line. I was going to ask if they needed help, but when she yelled for them to go ahead and save her a spot, we looked at each other and just kept walking. People kept sprinting by. It felt surreal.

6) When we got up to Seuss Landing, there was thankfully a rope and two people on the other side. There was a large crowd of the runners ahead of us now, next to the rope. I was feeling a little anxious, as there was also a large growing crowd behind us, and I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if everyone started running again.

7) At a few minutes to 9 we were "walked very quickly" up to the ride, with team members along the side yelling to runners to not run (from behind us) - there were plenty who pushed by, either because they wanted to get there faster, or "to catch up with someone" - it didn't feel as if there was really much thought into crowd control. We were packed. I couldn't see the two Team Members. I think that they were walking very fast at the front and I'm not a slow walker by any means; there were many times that team members yelled from the side at people to walk as people ran/wove through the crowd/shoved by. Quite a few more jostled us as they pushed past than were yelled at. The pathway narrows, opens up and narrows again - not great for a crowd moving quickly. I could not have stopped if I wanted to.

My suggestion: it would have been much better to have a rope strung between at least 5 team members, walking us up at a slower rate - I would even suggest these types of ropes/team member teams spread every 10 to 15 people deep or so; with about 20 people across who want to ride this would give you pods of about 200 - 300 people. Just until the first groups were up front and a longer line began to form. Team members with the ropes could move in and out sideways to account for the path-width changing. It would keep down the ability to shove past others. Either that, or start a "rope pathway" MUCH sooner - or even hand out color coded cards, like they do with the Jimmy Fallon ride. Only "Green Cards" would be allowed in the ride line.....etc. They could be dispensed as people left the scanners. They could call it "Floo Powder Cards" for some theming fun - There would then be no incentive to run, because only certain colors of Floo Powder Cards could enter first. They need some disincentive to run besides just having team members yelling at people to stop running.

The ride was great. We were on and off within 20 minutes of getting to the actual ride line. (At the front gate at 7:15, off the ride at about 9:30.) It was smooth; intense; fast and well themed. A lot faster than I thought it would be.

I was, however, feeling stressed out from the crowd running/shoving earlier. With that woman falling and others running past/shoving in the line, the lack of crowd management brought out the worst in people. I don't like to see that, and I'm sure that J.K. Rowling would not like that either. I wanted to use "Immobulus!" on some of those Slytherins. ("Those cunning folk use any means/To achieve their ends.")

Universal IoA: you need to get some Ravenclaw's doing some creative problem solving on crowd control for morning opening of Hagrid's!

Photos:

• 2716.jpg: 7:20, the very short lines when we arrived early, and we were first in one of the lines;
• 2721.jpg: 8:32, after the "Big Run" up to Seuss Landing, and you can see that after beginning first at being scanned, we were 6th deep, from all the others running ahead, and once again, we are not slow walkers - if everyone had walked we would have been in the front (I want to be very clear that I don't really care about being first - I just don't want to get hurt or to feel anxious about my safety/the safety of others);
• also at 8:32 a photo of the crowd behind us- MANY of those people shoved by as we walked quickly.

We ended up finally stopped in the line "in the room with the slatted ceiling" (there were spiders or blast ended skrewts up there) - also, on the way inside, there were kids who were alone, not with each other, making their way through the line to catch up with their respective parents who had run ahead. Sigh.

I hope that Universal takes notice. Someone WILL get shoved down at some point - it felt like a wave of people, and with areas near where the path became narrower becoming challenging, because you couldn't see where the ground rises up (near trees?) - some guy pushing by on my left almost fell because of this.

It felt better once we were threading through ropes back and forth somewhere up past the Fountain in The Lost Continent - I wish that they had started this "rope pathway" much earlier.

Maybe it was because it was Saturday. Maybe because the day prior there was a delayed opening for the ride. Whatever it was, they need to re-think park opening procedures. They know that people are running, or they wouldn't tell them to not run before the park even opens. I highly recommend that CEO Tom Williams try and navigate park opening/walking up to the ride without telling anyone that he is coming, get in line around 7:35 a.m. on a Saturday, so he could see first hand the issues. While there has been a lot of coverage of the ride, (and the huge crowds waiting in long lines for this ride), and usually that is great publicity, they don't want someone getting trampled at park opening as the breaking news.

 

[macraven]

Today. We went in around 1:20 and off ride at 2:20pm. And that was with two delays announced.

It is a great ride.

Awesome!

 

[CraftyWitch]

We were very lucky to ride today. My husband noticed the ride time dropped from 210 to 120 and we headed straight over. Got in line at 11:45 and were off at 12:45. So much fun!! Even though hubby lost his Raybans out of his pocket....still worth it!

 

[Disneygeek Amanda]

Could someone tell me a little more about the process for needing to leave the line? Mainly for going to the bathroom, but also to put something in the lockers. I'll be at universal in three weeks as a solo traveller and I'm wondering how this works if you don't have someone in line to meet back up with.

 

[glamdring269]

I don't know if things will be different by the time we arrive in early October but it sure seems like just waiting in line for 2 hours later in the day is actually more efficient than doing RD. Will certainly be a lot better for my sleep thanks to late night HHN.

 

[Lynne G]

Could someone tell me a little more about the process for needing to leave the line? Mainly for going to the bathroom, but also to put something in the lockers. I'll be at universal in three weeks as a solo traveller and I'm wondering how this works if you don't have someone in line to meet back up with.

If you leave the line, they give you a card at the start of the line, to use the restroom and for us, to get cups of ice water. If you are by yourself, I would hope those around you would save you a spot. And no, you are not to leave line to go to locker, as those with bags, wands, creatures or other that cannot be secured, were pointed to the lockers that are a bit before the start of the line. The team members continue to remind about the lockers and keep asking that only one family member go, as it looks like a very busy place. Most of the times I saw a team member at the start, stopping anyone that needed a locker, and pointing them to the lockers.

Oh, and I will say, if you are alone, the single rider line is much faster, and the only thing you miss in line is what I consider a cute video, but did not need to be held in line to wait until the group watching it leaves the room.

 

[DC to Disney]

I rode Hagrid’s twice in the last 2 days, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The morning took longer, mostly because they didn’t open up the ride until 10:30 am. I got on at 10:40.

Yesterday I got in line at 4:15 pm. The posted wait time was 150 minutes, but I was off the ride by 5:15. It wasn’t bad at all.

I rode on both the bike and sidecar. The bike feels a little more thrilling because you sit higher up.

 

[MeridaAnn]

If you leave the line, they give you a card at the start of the line, to use the restroom and for us, to get cups of ice water. If you are by yourself, I would hope those around you would save you a spot. And no, you are not to leave line to go to locker, as those with bags, wands, creatures or other that cannot be secured, were pointed to the lockers that are a bit before the start of the line. The team members continue to remind about the lockers and keep asking that only one family member go, as it looks like a very busy place. Most of the times I saw a team member at the start, stopping anyone that needed a locker, and pointing them to the lockers.

Oh, and I will say, if you are alone, the single rider line is much faster, and the only thing you miss in line is what I consider a cute video, but did not need to be held in line to wait until the group watching it leaves the room.

Well, the other thing missed in the single rider line is the option to choose which side you're going to ride, which most likely means being in the sidecar. If that's where you want to sit anyway or you don't care, then go right ahead! But if you want to be sure you can ride the motorcycle, I think you have to stick to the main line.

The first time I rode, I went through the full line, I was actually in line behind another solo rider - when we got to the front, they tried to send us both together, but I had to point out that the reason I'd gone in the full line was to ensure a motorcycle, so they pulled people from the SR line to go with each of us instead. I will probably go back to the main line from now on when I ride, because I definitely liked the motorcycle seat better (the sidecar was still nice, but I had more fun on the bike).