Here's how to **avoid** the long line for Forbidden Journey!

[kay1864]

Saw this hint in one of the guides, and it totally works.

1. Instead of getting in the line, go up to the Hogwarts/Universal employee at the Hogwarts "gate", and ask if you can take the tour. They will let you into a separate line (which will be all but empty).

2. You then experience Hogwarts just like the people in the regular line (paintings, Dumbledore's office, etc.).

3. At the end of the "tour line", you can ask to go in the single rider line (you can't join the regular line). The single rider line is *much* shorter than the regular line.

Note that as a single rider, you will likely be separated from your group. However, for this ride, a couple or family (in the regular line) doesn't really experience the ride "together", since each person in the row is separated from the next by a barrier. In other words, it's not like riding the Hulk or Splash Mountain "together".

Then after the ride, the first person in your group waits at the exit for the rest of the group. The only issue is if you have children under 10 or so who can't wait in the single rider line after the first person boards the ride.

This past Monday, we rode FJ twice in half an hour using this method. Works like a charm!

 

[Laketravis]

We saw that happen several times last week - people would enter the "Tour Only" line and when they got to the distribution point they would ask for the Single Rider line. The staff would tell them to enter the line on the right (which was the single rider line) but they would enter the middle line (the standby line) once they were behind the staffer and ride together just like everyone else.

Several people would notice this happening. It did not contribute to any good will among guests at all.

If your intent is to ride single rider, then just get in the single rider line.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

We saw that happen several times last week - people would enter the "Tour Only" line and when they got to the distribution point they would ask for the Single Rider line. The staff would tell them to enter the line on the right (which was the single rider line) but they would enter the middle line (the standby line) once they were behind the staffer and ride together just like everyone else.

Several people would notice this happening. It did not contribute to any good will among guests at all.

If your intent is to ride single rider, then just get in the single rider line.

Agreed. I realize it really isn't cutting but it kind of rubs me the wrong way to have people split up and have one person stand in line and then have others say "excuse me" and walk past you to catch up to the person waiting in line. Solo travelers don't have that luxury.

 

[elaine amj]

Curious - I've been reading that you don't really experience Forbidden Journey "together". But can I still hold my DD's hand even if we can't see each other really? What about talking to her? Would she be able to hear me?

 

[kay1864]

If your intent is to ride single rider, then just get in the single rider line.

You can start in the single rider line if you really want to, but you miss the Hogwarts "experience" before the ride (since the first half of the single rider line bypasses the regular line, and is a separate path).

This way you do both--legitimately, and without cutting in line.

You basically "parallel" the regular line (the tour part), then go in the second half of the single rider line.

 

[kay1864]

Curious - I've been reading that you don't really experience Forbidden Journey "together". But can I still hold my DD's hand even if we can't see each other really?

The barrier extends to the edge of the seat but I believe you could hold hands

What about talking to her? Would she be able to hear me?

Not likely. The voices and effects are pretty loud, and you're kind of isolated. All your attention is on what's going on, and the swoops and turns.

 

[hpriamson]

Curious - I've been reading that you don't really experience Forbidden Journey "together". But can I still hold my DD's hand even if we can't see each other really? What about talking to her? Would she be able to hear me?

You can definitely hold hands - I did that with my daughter the first time we rode it. And you can lean forward and talk before the ride really gets going. But once it starts, it's loud and moving.

 

[Laketravis]

You can start in the single rider line if you really want to, but you miss the Hogwarts "experience" before the ride (since the first half of the single rider line bypasses the regular line, and is a separate path).

This way you do both--legitimately, and without cutting in line.

You basically "parallel" the regular line (the tour part), then go in the second half of the single rider line.

I got that. But the title of the thread was how to avoid the long line and the single rider line will accomplish that.

 

[Laketravis]

Agreed. I realize it really isn't cutting but it kind of rubs me the wrong way to have people split up and have one person stand in line and then have others say "excuse me" and walk past you to catch up to the person waiting in line. Solo travelers don't have that luxury.

We saw WAY too much of that last week. One person would be in the line and here come half a dozen more pushing thru the line or climbing over the rails to join them.

The worse was at Escape from Gringotts where the line queue empties into the room for the elevator - a large group held hands forming a literal human chain and forced themselves to the front while chanting "this is the line, this is the line". All the while the staffer was telling everyone there is no line.

I thought they were going to get mobbed at one point.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

We saw WAY too much of that last week. One person would be in the line and here come half a dozen more pushing thru the line or climbing over the rails to join them.

The worse was at Escape from Gringotts where the line queue empties into the room for the elevator - a large group held hands forming a literal human chain and forced themselves to the front while chanting "this is the line, this is the line". All the while the staffer was telling everyone there is no line.

I thought they were going to get mobbed at one point.

Yup that drives me crazy. If you want to ride a line then wait in line like everyone else.

 

[ladybugx]

I take it going on the tour, then getting in the single-rider line won't work if you have bags with you. If the lines are too long, my sister and I plan to ride single-rider, then do a tour so I can snap some pictures of the inside of the castle. I guess it doesn't really matter what order we do it in.

 

[snoopboop]

The castle tour line is for people who are NOT going on the ride.

If you intend to ride, please wait in line like everyone else. People who purposely cheat the system are people who end up ruining things for everyone else.

 

[kay1864]

The castle tour line is for people who are NOT going on the ride.

If you intend to ride, please wait in line like everyone else. People who purposely cheat the system are people who end up ruining things for everyone else.

It is not cheating the system at all. At the end of the tour you have the choice of exiting, or continuing in the single-rider line. This an option OFFERED BY UNIVERSAL.

Plus I'm not "ruining things" by taking that route--I'm actually making the regular line shorter by going single-rider.

Sheesh.

 

[kay1864]

I take it going on the tour, then getting in the single-rider line won't work if you have bags with you.

Bags are an issue in either line, single-rider or regular. US asks you to leave bags in lockers nearby.

 

[snoopboop]

It is not cheating the system at all. At the end of the tour you have the choice of exiting, or continuing in the single-rider line. This an option OFFERED BY UNIVERSAL.

Team members are being NICE by letting people get in the single-rider line after they've taken the castle tour. The single-rider line, at every attraction, gives you the BENEFIT of riding more quickly, with the potential COST of missing the themed elements of the queue, along with not being able to ride with the members of your group, if you have one.

The castle tour is an option offered for those who want to see the castle but NOT ride.

You are proposing that people use the castle tour line to recoup the cost of the single-rider line and/or to skip waiting with the others who have already gotten into the single-rider line. Why not just use the single-rider line in order to be a single rider, or wait in the regular line if you want to see the castle before you ride?

 

[ladybugx]

I don't see what the difference is between getting in the single-rider line, then coming around and doing a separate tour versus doing the tour, then getting in the single-rider line. Going through the single-rider line doesn't prohibit you from going on a castle tour later. It's just doing the two options in reverse.

 

[snoopboop]

I don't see what the difference is between getting in the single-rider line, then coming around and doing a separate tour versus doing the tour, then getting in the single-rider line. Going through the single-rider line doesn't prohibit you from going on a castle tour later. It's just doing the two options in reverse.

Apparently the aim is to skip having to wait in line altogether (single rider or the regular line), and/or to get the best of both worlds - see the castle AND wait in the shorter line.

If people are consistently taking advantage of the system this way, hopefully Uni will stop letting people jump in line from the castle tour. The whole point of the castle tour is to allow those who can't (or don't want to) ride the ability to see the fabulously-themed queue.

 

[ladybugx]

Apparently the aim is to skip having to wait in line altogether (single rider or the regular line), and/or to get the best of both worlds - see the castle AND wait in the shorter line.

If people are consistently taking advantage of the system this way, hopefully Uni will stop letting people jump in line from the castle tour. The whole point of the castle tour is to allow those who can't (or don't want to) ride the ability to see the fabulously-themed queue.

But that option doesn't prohibit people from changing their minds and riding later if they so choose. I can go on a castle tour, then later decide to come back and get in the single-rider line. In my case, I want to do that anyway so I can take my time getting a few pictures of the inside of the castle. It's not the exact same deal as waiting in the normal line because it keeps you from riding with your party.

 

[snoopboop]

But that option doesn't prohibit people from changing their minds and riding later if they so choose. I can go on a castle tour, then later decide to come back and get in the single-rider line. In my case, I want to do that anyway so I can take my time getting a few pictures of the inside of the castle. It's not the exact same deal as waiting in the normal line because it keeps you from riding with your party.

The OP started this thread in order to share a sneaky way to SKIP THE LINE. The single rider queue already allows you to skip the line. The trade-off (in addition to not riding with your party) is that you don't get to see the castle. If Uni intended for the castle tour and the single-rider line to be one and the same, they would have designed them that way.

They didn't.

This method is being shared as a way to "get the best of both worlds" - to see (nearly) everything that the regular line sees, and ride the ride, without having to wait in line like everyone else who wants both of those things.

It just seems icky to me on principle. If people feel good about doing it, then I guess they'll do it.

 

[ladybugx]

I don't think Universal's intention was to keep people from seeing the interior of the castle. As far as I'm concerned, if I paid to be in the park, the castle is there for me to see just as much as it is there for everyone else to see. Universal designs things less than ideally all of the time, hence why the seats on this particular attraction had to be modified. I just see it as using two separate options, both of which Universal offers. If you see things differently, that is fine.