how to start my day at IOA

[momtotwins]

so i have come up with 2 possible ways to start our IOA day. please tell me which option you think i will be waiting in line less or any other reason one is better then the other.

1) hit spider man, then over to potter -vill and ride FJ. after FJ we want to look at shops, have a butter beer and ride flight of the hippogrif. then we would end this stretch at seuss landing doing the kids rides there.

2) start at potter -vill and ride FJ. after FJ we want to look at shops, have a butter beer and ride flight of the hippogrif. tour suesss landing doing all the rides there. w e would end this stretch with spiderman(we cannto do single rider line as we have 2 4 year olds that cant ride alone).

part of me says of course do potter first but a part of me thinks that FJ wont go up as much in wait time in the time it takes us to do spider man as spider man would go up before we made it there.

opinions? also please offer any other suggestions you have to make this better. we will not have express passes

 

[damo]

I would probably just check the wait time board and choose from there.

 

[Skitheboat]

I would still hit FJ first. The entire area around it gets extremely crowded as the day goes on.

 

[Metro West]

I would save WWoHP until evening. The rest of the park should be pretty dead if you hit the other areas first thing and then do HP. Otherwise...you're going to spend your time at HP and by the time you're done, the rest of the park will be crowded.

 

[rtfelt]

When we went last summer, I had the same question. So many veterans told me to do Marvel (Spiderman, Hulk...)first then make our way around and get to HP after lunch. Everyone tends to go to HP first, and it gets really crowded right off the bat--especially because onsite people, who have early entry, have been there for at least an hour already. I was nervous whether this would work, but it worked perfect for us. We got on all those Marvel rides multiple times first thing in the morning. We walked right on. Later when we checked, they were all over an hour. In the morning FJ was shown as a 60 minute wait. When we got there in the afternoon, we had a 30 minute wait. To tell you the truth this was about the perfect wait time. We could have even liked longer because the cue is so very cool, we were taking pictures the whole time. I don't know if this plan would be different this year because HP is a year older, but I suspect it would still apply.

 

[wilma-bride]

I would either do WWOHP first or, like Metro says, save it till the evening. If you can't get to WWOHP pretty soon after park opening then you are likely to be facing pretty long lines which will have a knock-on effect with visiting the rest of the park.

We found this out, to our cost, last October. We were late arriving (9.15) and, by the time we got to WWOHP, the wait for FJ was already 60 minutes. We actually waited just over 70 minutes (I would never normally wait this long but it was the first time for two of our party). Not only was it gone 10.30 by the time we got out of WWOHP but the lines had already started to build up massively elsewhere and Spiderman had a 45 minute wait. We skipped it because all of us had ridden it several times before but if it had been important, that would have meant we would only just have managed two rides befor elunch. Normally, at IOA, we have achieved pretty much everything we want to do by lunchtime/early afternoon.

 

[rtfelt]

[QUOTEWe were late arriving (9.15) and, by the time we got to WWOHP, the wait for FJ was already 60 minutes. We actually waited just over 70 minutes (I would never normally wait this long but it was the first time for two of our party). Not only was it gone 10.30 by the time we got out of WWOHP but the lines had already started to build up massively elsewhere and Spiderman had a 45 minute wait.][/QUOTE]

This is why I still recommend doing Marvel first thing and doing HP later. If you're not in HP on early entry, the mornings are crazy for everyone else entering at the regular entry time, but Marvel is still wide open with walk on. That is the only time you'll be able to get on Spiderman without a 60 minute wait, and believe me you'll want to experience Spiderman. It is WAY COOL. HP is better later in the day from my own personal experience and from the recommendation of many Universal AP's.