Hagrids Strategy

[Brandonius]

I've seen conflicting advice on this in the other posts so I wanted to ask here.

We will be at Universal Friday/Saturday January 19 and 20. Jan 19 it will be just the 3 kids, Jan 20 it will be the 3 kids + 2 parents with express unlimited. Everyone wants to do Hagrids on both days. We don't have early entry.

I've seen the "get in line at the end of the night" advice, but I have 2 concerns there. First, I've seen stuff about the line closing early - do they still do that? Second, that means missing 1-2 night rides on Velocicoaster, which I don't think I'm willing to sacrifice. (I'm a huge coaster fan - my favorite coaster right now is Taron in Germany, and it's the "spiritual predecessor" to Velocicoaster, so I want as many night rides on it as possible )

The virtual line is gone, and it doesn't take Express. My siblings and I are very very good at rope dropping - we are fast walkers (We consistently are the first or second people in line for Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland, beating early entry guests to the ride even) and have morning energy. But we don't have early entry, so I'm not sure if it's worth it to rush the ride everyone else will want to get on.

If we show up early and rush Hagrids in the morning as non-EE guests, how long should we expect to wait? (assume we are nearly the first ones there from general admission) Is there a time during the afternoon the line is "shorter", and when?

Thanks!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Velocicoaster is pretty much right next to Hagrids. Velocicoaster does take EP. You should be able to get a few rides in on Velocicoaster with EP at night, then still hop in the Hagrids line a few minutes before close.

For morning, you can enter the park at early entry opening time (even without having early entry) and go as far as Seuss Landing, then hang out near the barrier to head to Hagrids as soon as you are allowed. You should be able to see on the App the current wait time, or if Hagrids is broken down, before they turn you loose - so you can make an educated decision at that time. If it's busy, that'll be about the busiest time to get on Hagrids. If it's not busy, much of the early entry crowd will have already ridden and the line will be semi-reasonable. Lunchtime/mid afternoon can be shorter waits on Hagrids also. You slid in between MLK weekend & Rock the Universe weekend, so hopefully you'll hit low crowds.

If you have any bags, they can go with you in line for Velocicoaster (lockers are in the middle of the line), but you'll need to put them in lockers at the ride entrances for the rest of the coasters. I would suggest having your stuff all ready to cram in, with your ticket out and ready so that you can be super speedy at the lockers. Since you will have many many people at the Seuss Landing barriers, released and heading to Hagrids at exactly the same thing as you, and you can lose time/position at the lockers if you're unprepared.

 

[Brandonius]

Velocicoaster is pretty much right next to Hagrids. Velocicoaster does take EP. You should be able to get a few rides in on Velocicoaster with EP at night, then still hop in the Hagrids line a few minutes before close.

True. If the morning strategy doesn't work out then I'll have to pull myself away in the evening lol.

You should be able to see on the App the current wait time, or if Hagrids is broken down, before they turn you loose - so you can make an educated decision at that time.

Also smart, since Velocicoaster is next door we could switch over to that pretty easily.

You slid in between MLK weekend & Rock the Universe weekend, so hopefully you'll hit low crowds.

That was intentional . Hoping that "there is no such thing as an off-season" is a pessimistic myth and we get low crowds.

If you have any bags, they can go with you in line for Velocicoaster (lockers are in the middle of the line), but you'll need to put them in lockers at the ride entrances for the rest of the coasters. I would suggest having your stuff all ready to cram in, with your ticket out and ready so that you can be super speedy at the lockers

I know the drill, I was a TM at Universal in Hollywood for a summer and became an expert at the Universal locker system .

Thanks for the tips. I think based on the low crowds dates, we'll show up early and if Hagrid is open, do it first. If it's not, then we'll pivot.

 

[Smugpugmug]

From my experience, the best time to ride Hagrid's if you are not staying at a Universal hotel is around typical meal times (lunch time around 12-2:00 and dinner 4-6:00). One time I got in line around 4:30 and waited around 65 minutes. I wouldn't bother rushing to Hagrid's if you aren't staying on site; all of the hotel guests beat you there. I recommend going to Velocicoaster instead or do the Ollivander's wand experience if you are interested in that.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Here now. I would not go to Hagrid’s first thing if you don’t have EE. A half hour into EE to about 10-11 are some of the longest waits of the day. I agree that lunch time and end of night are better times . As far as I know they haven’t closed it early this week. If it were me, I’d do VC with Express an hour before park close. Maybe an hour and a half. Then I’d go get in line for Hagrid’s. An hour and a half before close it was showing 100 min then went down to 75. We got in line then and then actual wait was 45.

 

[nighttowll]

I know when we were there in November (moderate to low crowds, few real waits outside of Hagrids) within about 3 minutes of early opening, the line was already over an hour, and about 15 minutes later over 1.5 hrs. By regular opening, it wouldn't have mattered how far in front of the line you were or how fast you walked. It was so backed up by that point, and as others said, stayed that way until around lunch.

Lunch or early afternoon might actually be your next best option if you want to save night for VC. The line seems to fill up in the morning. Then mid morning, people see the insane posted waits and don't get in line, so then it starts to come back down a little right around the time people are eating, and because everyone is busy with lunch it stays shorter for a little while.

I recommend checking the app at different times on days foretasted to have similar crowd levels before you go. This will give you a better idea of what to expect, especially check right at regular park opening to see how quickly it shoots up or if it is already high before official opening.

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

Also don't forget to set a wait alert time on the app for the ride so you'll get notifications if the wait time starts to drop.

 

[nighttowll]

Also don't forget to set a wait alert time on the app for the ride so you'll get notifications if the wait time starts to drop.

Didn't know about this feature. How does this work?

 

[AJA]

Didn't know about this feature. How does this work?

Go to the app. Click on the ride, under the details you will see an option to set an alert.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I was there the week before Christmas, and saw posted waits of 85 minutes at Hagrid's starting at 5:30PM or so each day. Don't bother rope dropping it if you don't have EE, as others have said. Ride VC with your express pass in the morning instead. I'm a big coaster enthusiast and loved VC when it first opened, but i find that the ride is a bit more rattly in some parts now, depending on where you are in the coaster. First row was smoothest. I could only ride it so many times in a day, whereas Hagrid's is still super smooth, like the Guardians of the Galaxy rewind ride at Epcot. I could ride it over and over without feeling neck pain or headaches, not so with VC. VC's still nowhere near as bad as Hulk or RRR, but not so smooth I would want to ride it repeatedly in one go.

Also, if you're riding it at night in January, have a good windbreaker on with a hoodie underneath. It's cold and windy on some of those peaks!