Rope Drop...Early Entry...Hagrids or Velocicoaster?

[wdwrule]

Somewhat related...

Has anyone heard any rumors on either of these rides getting added to Express Pass? I think it took about 3 years for Gringott's and we're all over that timing with Hagrid's at this point. Obviously nowhere near that timing with VC.

No rumors that I’ve heard of yet.

Just joining in on the discussion about rope drop… we personally don’t rope drop but do attend about halfway in to early park admission. In our opinion only, we head straight to Velocicoaster and have minimal waits. We loovvee Velocicoaster!! Then we wait until early afternoon when Hagrid’s is usually a shorter wait. So many times Hagrid’s is delayed at rope drop. Not always but sometimes. But at any rate, again just my opinion, my family would rather wait one hour in the Hagrid’s queue moving about and checking out things in the queue than waiting close to an hour standing in one spot at the turnstiles at the crack of dawn waiting for the park to open and then getting on the ride. But every situation is different. If someone doesn’t visit frequently and Hagrid’s is a must-do, then I could totally see waiting at the turnstiles. Otherwise, we have found that Hagrid’s is usually a lower wait time later in the day compared to the 2+ hour wait at park opening.

 

[ghtx]

No rumors that I’ve heard of yet.

Just joining in on the discussion about rope drop… we personally don’t rope drop but do attend about halfway in to early park admission. In our opinion only, we head straight to Velocicoaster and have minimal waits. We loovvee Velocicoaster!! Then we wait until early afternoon when Hagrid’s is usually a shorter wait. So many times Hagrid’s is delayed at rope drop. Not always but sometimes. But at any rate, again just my opinion, my family would rather wait one hour in the Hagrid’s queue moving about and checking out things in the queue than waiting close to an hour standing in one spot at the turnstiles at the crack of dawn waiting for the park to open and then getting on the ride. But every situation is different. If someone doesn’t visit frequently and Hagrid’s is a must-do, then I could totally see waiting at the turnstiles. Otherwise, we have found that Hagrid’s is usually a lower wait time later in the day compared to the 2+ hour wait at park opening.

I think this will be our plan too. Hopefully the wait for Hagrid’s right after lunch won’t be much more than an hour - and we can think of the wait as a nice mid-day break. Plus since we have EP, it should be the only long queue we have to wait in for the whole trip.

 

[Amyshubby]

This thread is stressing me out a little!

I'm used to Disney where a large number of rides are available at early entry. Here it seems like only 2 real choices and one of them is as much as a 3 hour wait despite early entry?

I'm going next week (Tues-Thursday) and I'm hoping mid-week post-Halloween won't be so bad, but those are some long waits!

Not sure of the best strategy here. My thought process was Hagrid day 1, Velocicoaster day 2 and leave day 3 for whichever we want. However, I can't see going an extra hour early to wait on a line for multiple hours, especially if the line dies down during the day.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Post-Halloween midweek should be good/great for crowds.

A few other rides are open during early entry - Forbidden Journey, sometimes Flight of the Hippogriff - but because Hagrids & Velocicoaster don't take EP, most EE guests flock to them.

Velocicoaster does not get large waits during EE unless Hagrids is down. During the day, it also does not generally hold long waits (I feel like an hour or more is uncommon except in peak crowds).

Hagrids is a long wait if you get to the gates after EE has started - when everyone in front of you has already clogged into the line. If you're at the start of the EE crowd, it's a very quick wait. If you wait until mid-afternoon, you can generally get on in under an hour during non-peak crowds. And an evening ride is superb in the dark! Plus also generally reasonable waits.

EE is great for getting to explore the Wizarding World without elbow to elbow crowds. Even on quieter days, the Wizarding World areas are masses of humanity for the middle of the day. For that, you can really arrive any time during EE and enjoy that benefit. Also EE is good for Forbidden Journey if you don't have EP.