Hogwarts Express after Early Entry

[Mark Hammond]

How much of a disadvantage would it put you at for riding Forbidden Journey via the Standby line if you were to take the first Hogwarts Express after an 8:00am Early Entry in USF instead of coming into IOA at the 9:00 normal opening? I’m purposely wanting to use Standby as it’s our first visit! (It will be on Wednesday 22nd May)
We’ll be spending the full day in IOA, but if we could squeeze in a ride on Gringotts without then hitting mega-queues for Forbidden Journey, it would be a nice bonus, as we’ll probably be up and out early anyway due to positive jet-lag.

Also, what time would we need to be at Kings Cross to be sure of getting on the first train at 9:00?

Any help would be much appreciated.

TIA.

 

[chicagoshannon]

I think we entered the line for Hogwarts express at 8:45 and they held us all at the bottom of the stairs until they opened. I think we were at IOA by 9:05. We walked right on but this was first week of Feb so could be different in May.

 

[Disxuni]

Going by what @chicagoshannon said, I think HE would be a good option, but that's if there is no delays and they have the HE take off at the exact time in order to arrive within the park at 9:05.

I personally would take the risk, because on the other end of the spectrum IoA you have to wait for everyone in front of you that has been waiting to burst through the door, then you have the distance to walk over to the park and deal with the crowds on your journey over there. So, while potentially there might be a few people at Hogsmeade when you get off the HE, those people were literally the first in line and more than likely booked it in order to get there.

Even if there was a few minute delay, it shouldn't be too bad first thing in the morning, even if it is May. I do not believe FJ is going to be up to an hour wait, or something like that in that little time it would take to get over there after EE is over. Besides, you could always do SR line, that line is definitely low first thing in the morning too.

 

[Mark Hammond]

Thanks for the replies!

I think we entered the line for Hogwarts express at 8:45 and they held us all at the bottom of the stairs until they opened. I think we were at IOA by 9:05. We walked right on but this was first week of Feb so could be different in May.

9:05 sounds good! Any idea what time they would generally let people through the main entrance for a 9:00 opening? I guess it would take around five minutes to walk from the main gate as well?

Going by what @chicagoshannon said, I think HE would be a good option, but that's if there is no delays and they have the HE take off at the exact time in order to arrive within the park at 9:05.

I personally would take the risk, because on the other end of the spectrum IoA you have to wait for everyone in front of you that has been waiting to burst through the door, then you have the distance to walk over to the park and deal with the crowds on your journey over there. So, while potentially there might be a few people at Hogsmeade when you get off the HE, those people were literally the first in line and more than likely booked it in order to get there.

Even if there was a few minute delay, it shouldn't be too bad first thing in the morning, even if it is May. I do not believe FJ is going to be up to an hour wait, or something like that in that little time it would take to get over there after EE is over. Besides, you could always do SR line, that line is definitely low first thing in the morning too.

I don’t mind a bit of a queue, as it would give us time to take it all in instead of rushing through. On the other hand though, I wouldn’t want to be waiting over around 20 minutes either! We’ve actually got Express Unlimited, but I purposely wanted to go through the regular line the first time we ride it, as the Express misses part of the scenic line if I’ve read thing right? The greenhouse? Single rider wouldn’t be an option either though, as we’ve got 6 & 8 year old girls, which is why I thought it would be a great experience for them to take the train.

 

[Disxuni]

I guess it would take around five minutes to walk from the main gate as well?

On the other hand though, I wouldn’t want to be waiting over around 20 minutes either!

I believe it will take about 10 minutes to walk from the main gate to WWoHP if you walk with a purpose, perhaps minute, or two less, but not five minutes. That doesn't include the waiting period of getting into the park. As unless you're literally the first person in line to have your ticket scanned, you're going to have people in front of you getting into the park before you, which will delay the time getting into the park.

At least with the train, that while there might be people in front of you in the queue to get on the train, but once you're on and you get out of the train, there are multiple doors letting people out of the train at the same time. You scan your ticket prior to getting onto the train, so that portion is out of the way.

I do not believe you'll be waiting around 20 minutes, or more, especially if you take the train. However, it will take a little bit of time to go through the queue, especially if you want to take it all in. Just walking through the queue will take five minutes if you don't stop to look. Also, since it's first thing in the morning, I wonder if you'll see everything. As when rides open the queue is set up a certain way and as the queue gets longer, they open up certain lines in order to make the queue go longer. I believe the whole / most of the queue might be open, but not absolutely certain. If you miss the greenhouse, that will definitely be a red flag that you missed something.