Planning Advice

[Eeyore's the Best]

Hi! We are planning a Universal Day in the middle of a two week Disney Vacation. We are going on a Tuesday in November. I have booked a Portofino Bay Club Room for us to use for a break in the day and to stay later in the parks that night and we will return to Disney the following day.

We plan to arrive early to the hotel to "check in" on the Tuesday I understand we can do this anytime after 6:30 am to get out Express passes although we are very aware we will not get a room until the afternoon.

We want to ride both Hagrids and the Velocicoaster and are trying to figure out what is the best plan of attack. We plan to do both parks in the one day but I know these two rides don't have the express pass.

What would you recommend we do? One first over the other? Wait until later in the day?

Thanks!

 

[wdwrule]

Just my own opinion, but I would take advantage of the lovely club lounge breakfast which I believe starts at 7am then go straight to Velocicoaster. Then use your EP for whichever rides you’d like. I would do Hagrid’s early afternoon then take your break at PBH like you mentioned if you’re thinking of a pool break. If you were thinking of a break more around dinner time, the lounge has an excellent ‘dinner’ as well (enough to make it a dinner easily).

However, if this is the Tuesday near Thanksgiving, it will definitely be busier and therefore you may want to rope drop Hagrid’s. Otherwise, we find Hagrid’s has less of a wait during early afternoon hours and at nighttime. (We’ve rarely rope dropped and when we do, we often go to Velocicoaster because we’re not at the front of the turnstiles line… haha can’t get up that early… although since you’ll already be up early then maybe). Everything also depends on your goals of the lounge benefits. Some book it for the food/evening beverages, some for the quiet space and some a combo of both.

 

[Cottoncandylove]

We were there last November for HHN and it wasn't overly crowded. The wait times was longer for Hagrids than velocicoaster. We rode Hargrids twice and Velocicoaster about 8 times the entire week we were there. Hope that helps and enjoy yourself!!!!

 

[Deb1993]

Line for Hagrid's is definitely longer than Velocicoaster. Would head there first.

 

[state08]

Just did a 1 day both park Universal day at the start of our Disney trip. Stayed at RP so had Express as well. I would 100% recommend getting to the IOA gates as early as possible. We arrived at 7:15 for an 8am EE opening and were at the front of one of the turnstile lines. The dash to Hagrids is more intense than any of the big Disney rope drops in my opinion. We were probably in the first 5 Hagrid rides of the day and went straight to Velocicoaster after and waited about 20 min. By the time we got off both, Hagrids had a posted 180 min wait and VC had about a 60 min wait. Since you have Express if you can just bite the bullet on getting there early for those, the rest of your day is a piece of cake.

 

[djmeredith]

As PP said, it is an intense mad dash to Hagrid's at rope drop, and if you are not near the front of a turnstile line you should just forget it. Because the "not early enough" people will all get in line anyway and that is often the longest waits of the day. So you have two options: prioritize Hagrids or VC. If you prioritize Hagrids, check in at 6:30 and head straight for the park (walk swiftly, don't waste time waiting for the boat) and hope you are near the front of a turnstile. Second option is prioritize VC at open and do Hagrid's last by jumping in line right before close. With this option, you can check in, have breakfast in the lounge and then head over for early entry for VC (maybe even twice if you get there early enough). Then you can do Forbidden Journey, and by then it will probably be park opening time and you can make your way to other rides with your EP. Then jump in line for Hagrid's right before close, or any other time of the day if the wait time is tolerable to you.