Skull Island Touring Advice

[khgreen]

We will be at Universal for 2.5 days in September. We will have a few hours on Saturday afternoon, then all day Sunday and Monday. We will have EE (but no info at this time from Universal as to which park) and we will have express (I know express isn't good for the big HP rides and Skull Island). How do I minimize my wait for Skull Island? Any touring tips?

 

[wookiebeck]

If EE is in IOA, go the HP area, ride Forbidden Journey, then queue at the entrance to Jurassic area to be among the first in the Kong line.
If EE is in US, you have two choices. 1) Go to US early and be the first on the Hogwats Express, ride over to WWoHP, then proceed to Jurassic area. 2) You can forego EE at US and be the first in line when IOA opens. I assume everyone going to the left is trying to get to Kong.

 

[PinkMagnolia]

What time would you suggest leaving HP area on an IoA EE (and no EE at UO) day to get in line at Jurassic Park area? EE is at 8:00 AM; Regular park hours are 9:00 AM. This is our first trip - can you give me an idea where the "Jurassic Area" to wait is as well.

 

[soniam]

We did Kong on Thursday, 7/21. EE was at both parks starting at 7am. We went straight to Forbidden Journey. Once we were done, we immediately queued on the bridge between Hogsmeade and Jurassic Park area. I think we got in line before 7:30am, probably about 7:15am. The line was not quite the length of the bridge. As more people joined the line, they moved us closer and closer to Kong, stopping at a few spots along the way like near the Discovery Center and near the river ride until we queued up in front of Kong. The Kong queue is really long. Once we were let in, people walked very quickly, and it still took 8 minutes to walk from the entrance to the loading area. We got on one of the first few busses. I would do this if EE is at IOA. Just ride FJ and immediately queue up for Kong. You can always come back and look around Hogsmeade later. Plus, all of the other rides in Hogsmeade take Express Pass. I don't know about taking Hogswart's Express from USF to IOA. I have heard mixed reports in previous years. I have not read up on it lately though.

 

[nighttowll]

Not sure if it is still open or not, but we did single rider line when it was in soft opening. Waited 15minutes. Regular line was 90 minutes I think.

 

[wookiebeck]

The Kong queue is really long. Once we were let in, people walked very quickly, and it still took 8 minutes to walk from the entrance to the loading area.

Woah, and I though WDW was the king of cattle chutes and cutbacks. That is nearly a half mile if walking normal pace.

 

[soniam]

Woah, and I though WDW was the king of cattle chutes and cutbacks. That is nearly a half mile if walking normal pace.

DH might still have the distance from his Garmin watch. I will see if he can determine the distance this weekend. He's out of town on business right now. It seemed long.

 

[PlutosUnDr8d]

Not sure if it is still open or not, but we did single rider line when it was in soft opening. Waited 15minutes. Regular line was 90 minutes I think.

We did the same on 7/19. The regular line was 90 minutes. We waited 15 minutes in the single rider. There were 3 of us, and two of us ended up switching rows at the last minute with a friendly couple (their idea--thanks!) so we all rode together. Bonus! The ride was awesome.

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Apologies, I've been doing multiple searches but haven't found specific confirmation (although it's definitely implied in this thread) - so EE is really only for the HP areas, not the whole park? We're going in October and I'm trying to pull together a game plan. Thanks.

 

[macraven]

EE is mainly for the potter sections plus one additional ride near by

DM is open early during the EE period at the studios

Over at ioa, some years back Spider-Man was also opened early during EE
Was sorry to see that stopped...

Since I only do EE limited times during my long 16 day stays, not sure which ride outside of potter it is
Dueling dragons ( my old favorite which was renamed) is open for EE

The entire park is not opened for EE

They would have to have the park fully staffed to pull that off
UO only allows select section and ride at this point

So you are going in October !
Me too

It's a great time to be in the parks

Not scorching hot in the daytime and cooler temps in the evenings