Please list your must-do stand-by lines!

[iloveeeyore]

Greetings! We will be visiting UO for the first time in 10 days.

We are a party of 4 adventurous adults staying at HRH. We will have 3 day park-to-park passes with unlimited express. I know there are certain attractions where the stand-by lines are not-to-be-missed and we should consider forgoing the EP line at least once to get the full experience. What do you think? Can you list your favorite stand-by lines that you consider worth longer waits?

Thanks so much for your input!

 

[tri-ingTheBigSky]

I don't know that any are worth a wait of more than 30 or 45 minutes once you're good and spoiled on EP, but here's a quick list of our faves that we're willing to join the regular queue occasionally if waits aren't crazy:

1. Kong. It's almost as good as an HHN house for our kids. Pretty creepy and well in theme with the attraction.
2. Forbidden Journey. Everyone should walk through Hogwarts at least once.
3. Escape from Gringott's. It's just so cool. Not hours long line cool, but worth a gander during early park admission or if the line dips to that 30 minute mark or so.
5. MIB is pretty neat if it's a low wait. Could use an update/modernization of some of the displayed tech. I wouldn't go past 20 minutes or so on this one, though.
6. Spiderman. See above. It's a fun queue that gets you immersed into the comic book feel and theming, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.
7. Jimmy Fallon has a lot to see, but you can slow roll through even with EP and check it out if the waits are near walk-on.
8. F&F has a better queue than attraction, especially if any in your party are gear heads or enjoy the movies. You still see most of it with EP, though, so don't go out of your way to standby this gem.
9. Shrek . Just kidding.

With 3 day passes, you should be able to find a time for each of these to sneak on to the ride via standby. If you take advantage of early admission on any of those days, you might be able to knock all of them in Studios in one morning!

 

[Lashed34]

Gringotts is the same which ever entrance you use as Express runs parallel with standby queue.

Forbidden Journey is a must. Never used standby for Kong but told it's very good....but boy the Express line is dark so I'd expect the standby one is too.

 

[jsmla]

1. Kong. It's almost as good as an HHN house for our kids. Pretty creepy and well in theme with the attraction.

Is the Kong queue still, uhm, interactive?

 

[georgina]

Forbidden Journey is my top absolutely must do standby line every trip. I can skip all the rest, but I have seen them all before.

Is the Kong queue still, uhm, interactive?

Good question! I'm really hoping covid killed that.

 

[cschaaf]

Forbidden Journey is my top absolutely must do standby line every trip. I can skip all the rest, but I have seen them all before.


Good question! I'm really hoping covid killed that.

I thought that was done long before covid

I often hear the ET queue is worth it, but we've always used EP. Same with Mummy.

 

[tri-ingTheBigSky]

Forbidden Journey is my top absolutely must do standby line every trip. I can skip all the rest, but I have seen them all before.


Good question! I'm really hoping covid killed that.

It wasn’t last August (our most recent trip). But, apparently, the full experience is back according to some reports as recently as April. Not sure!

 

[ChanaC]

Agree with Forbidden Journey, although as far as I remember the express pass line is parallel with the main line so you go through pretty much everything. The only difference is that you might be rushed though it an unable to really see all the details. There is also parts of the queue where Harry, Ron, and Hermione speak to the people in line and if do the express line you might not get to see the whole "show"

Spider-Man is pretty cool too, and I think you miss some of the backstory if you go through the express pass.

 

[jsmla]

I thought that was done long before covid

I often hear the ET queue is worth it, but we've always used EP. Same with Mummy.

The extra special enhancement at Kong was working in 2019. I made quite the spectacle of myself. The TMs were still talking about me in the load area.

 

[maverik85]

As others said Gringotts and Hogwarts are the main must do queues, but I think the lines run parallel. Although as ChanaC said you might walk through it too quick to really appreciate it in the Express Lane. It is a fast moving standby line as it's an omnimover type system. Maybe do these rides as Express first and decide if you need to go back through standby on a reride.

Others that are nice to walk through if the wait isn't too long, but not absolute must dos. (Probably wouldn't do more than a 30 minute wait or so.)
Kong, Mummy, Spider-Man, and Transformers. These all have some cool stuff to see that get missed with the Express line, and some have interactive elements too (if reopened due to Covid). Kong has an impressive animatronic as well that gets missed in the other lines.

Men in Black has a couple nice spots in the queue as well but overall not worth it unless it's a short line.

 

[cschaaf]

Kong has an impressive animatronic as well that gets missed in the other lines.

We went through the Kong standby once a few years ago and didn't see that animatronic. I remember posting on here about it and people saying there is no way I could have missed it. I thought maybe I just zoned out or something.

The other day, I was watching someone vlogging from the parks. They were in the standby queue and showed that they weren't going past that animatronic. They zoomed into another room that was currently being bypassed and there it was... and yeah, if you walked by that thing, zoned out or not, I don't think you'd miss it.

 

[maverik85]

We went through the Kong standby once a few years ago and didn't see that animatronic. I remember posting on here about it and people saying there is no way I could have missed it. I thought maybe I just zoned out or something.

The other day, I was watching someone vlogging from the parks. They were in the standby queue and showed that they weren't going past that animatronic. They zoomed into another room that was currently being bypassed and there it was... and yeah, if you walked by that thing, zoned out or not, I don't think you'd miss it.

I can't believe they would choose to bypass that room for the queue. It is the best part of the queue, and if you are in there for the full loop of the animatronic it is really cool. The lighting changes, and music builds up throughout and is a really awesome experience.

 

[cschaaf]

I can't believe they would choose to bypass that room for the queue. It is the best part of the queue, and if you are in there for the full loop of the animatronic it is really cool. The lighting changes, and music builds up throughout and is a really awesome experience.

Oh, not that animatronic... the other one near the end.

For the one you are talking about, we basically walked right through the room. We could have stopped and let people pass, but chose not to. You can kind of see it from the EP queue and get the idea.

 

[skramer100]

Forbidden Journey for sure. Other than that none really. Would say even though no express pass option, just ride Velocicoaster as much as possible. What a ride.

 

[maverik85]

Oh, not that animatronic... the other one near the end.

For the one you are talking about, we basically walked right through the room. We could have stopped and let people pass, but chose not to. You can kind of see it from the EP queue and get the idea.

Oh that makes sense then. I actually kind o forgot about that one for a moment. It's pretty cool but not nearly as impressive as the shaman or whatever they are supposed to be.

 

[GatorChris]

Harry Potter, of course. Pretty amazing for Forbidden Journey and Gringotts.

But one of the best is ET. Sometimes it has a forever long line. But when you get to enter the indoor queue, it's just amazing. Like walking into the movie.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Thanks, everyone! I have my list and really appreciate your input. Will be happy to report back my thoughts when we return. We are leaving in 3 days!