Help with Touring Plans

[teacherme]

My family and I are all thrill seekers. We will be at IOA on Tuesday however we will not be staying on grounds and only visiting one day. Can anyone tell me what order of the rides to hit first to maximum our time at IOA? Thanks for all your help.

 

[Metro West]

My family and I are all thrill seekers. We will be at IOA on Tuesday however we will not be staying on grounds and only visiting one day. Can anyone tell me what order of the rides to hit first to maximum our time at IOA? Thanks for all your help.

Since you aren't staying onsite and will not have early entry, make sure you're there when the gates open...tickets in hand...and I would recommend heading for Marvel Super Hero Island first. Leave HP until later in the day when the crowds have thinned out. It seems most people will try to do HP first thing which will keep lines in the other parts of the park relatively low for a while. IOA is basically a circle with a lake in the middle. Start at Marvel and work your way around. Or you could start at Seuss Landing and go around that way. Either way you can check in at HP to see what the lines are like.

 

[teacherme]

Thank you. This really makes sense.

 

[hydrotony]

Yes, turn left and go around the lake clockwise. When you get to WWoHP, you can expect not very big lines for the Dragon Challenge twin coasters. The walking queue is VERY long. When you finish one coaster and are walking out, there is a short cut to the "in" line nearby to the right. It is a narrow concrete uphill stair path that gets you in line just before the castle. Don't feel like you have to walk all the way back to Hogsmead and start again.

 

[boomerthom]

Check the posted wait for Harry Potter. If it's 40 minutes or less, I'd say go for it. If not, start with Spider Man then work clockwise. The water rides such as Ripsaw Falls and Jurassic Park, from my experience, are pretty dead in the morning but will have ridiculous waits from about 12-1PM almost until closing, so hit those early. They close single rider on Ripsaw Falls once the wait gets long (closed at 65 minute wait in my experience). Hulk should be <20 minutes until early afternoon and the wait should be fine even after all that other stuff.

Assuming the Wizarding World isn't at capacity, the Dragons should be short waits for most of the day. Great rides, but no one likes them I guess. I've never seen a wait over 30 minutes for them, and it's usually 15-20 or less. Probably even shorter with single rider.

So my suggested plan would be something like

1. Forbidden Journey (single rider or if wait is short)
2. Spider-Man
3. Ripsaw Falls (back to back re-rides may be a good idea)
4. JP River Adventure
5. Hulk
6. Dragon Challenge
7. Single rider re-rides/take a break/mingle until Forbidden Journey thins out
8. Forbidden Journey

 

[Planogirl]

I agree with checking the posted waiting time for Forbidden Journey. We did run into a few days where FJ seemed to be backed up all day and not really got much quieter. I wonder if those tend to happen when the ride breaks down?

WWoHP is beautiful at night either way so make sure to get over whether you visit early or not.

 

[teacherme]

Thank you everyone. You all gave me a lot of food for thought.