Tip if you have Early Entry to Diagon Alley to maximize Gringotts!

[acrbag]

Just got back from a wonderful trip to US and IOA!

The new Diagon Alley area is awesome!!

Just wanted to give a tip out for anyone looking to maximize their early entry and riding the new Gringotts ride ... go straight to SINGLE RIDER .

We arrived at 7:30am for an 8:00am opening. Let into the park around 7:35am, and let into Diagon Alley at 7:45am. Headed immediately to the "single rider" entrance ( Note we didn't have anything for the lockers), which skips both the pre-show and the elevator journey and takes you immediately to the ride platform.

The result? Despite being 100-150 people back from the front upon entry, we were the first riders of the day, had pretty much the train to ourselves and still got to ride together. Got off, repeat, still no wait in single riders, rode again. (This time getting split up). Got off, repeat again, this time a short 5-10 minute wait in single riders. By around 8:15 we had already ridden three times!

So if you've already ridden the ride before and are not bothered about the pre-show or seeing the line (which is pretty cool and everyone should do once!), this is definitely the way to go!

We had tried the day before riding in the early afternoon and had waited an hour and a half in line before a massive extended breakdown.

Good luck!

 

[cvjw]

In July, my boys waited 90 minutes in the single rider line about 45 minutes after park early opening. The single rider line took exactly the same amount of time as the regular line.

That is a great tip, but unfortunately, does not always work out so well

 

[Nicole786]

Thanks for the tip! Sounds like a great idea if we can get our butts up for early entry!

 

[DOOM1001]

Unfortunately even if I'm staying onsite it would be out of my nature to be at the parks early enough to take good advantage of early entry,I'm just not the getting up very early kind if I don't have to.I was at Universal on Wednesday and rode Gringotts once in standby and once in singles,standby took 1 hour 45 minutes,it was supposed to be 2 hours and the ride even broke down for 20 minutes so it would have been closer to 1 hour 30 minutes.Singles took 1 hour 10 minutes and was way more annoying than standby,in standby the line moved consistently except when it broke down,singles barely moved and it was in this long hallway that went on forever with a curve towards the end of the hallway leaving you not knowing how much was left.I love using singles and I'm hoping the lines for it go down significantly because I think right now I rather do the longer wait for it in standby as the line was more pleasant.Over at IOA I ride Forbidden Journey singles all the time with little to no wait and even when it was new I don't remember singles being as annoying as this wait for Gringott's this week.

 

[nkereina]

Thanks for the tip! Was there a back-up at the lockers? We're preparing for our first Universal trip in November, and have no experience with the lockers.

 

[acrbag]

In July, my boys waited 90 minutes in the single rider line about 45 minutes after park early opening. The single rider line took exactly the same amount of time as the regular line.

That is a great tip, but unfortunately, does not always work out so well

My meaning with this tip is if you are within the first 150-200 people or so in line for the park. We arrived at 730 and were around 150 or so. They started running the ride at 7:45am, so they do open early, at least some days! By the time we left after the third ride, the single rider line was already building up! The advantage is that the line and two pre-shows take time to get through with the regular line, so you can literally be the first riders of the day in single riders as it gets your straight to the track, and then get 1 or 2 extra rides in.

Thanks for the tip! Was there a back-up at the lockers? We're preparing for our first Universal trip in November, and have no experience with the lockers.

Not sure about at the beginning of the day. When we went in mid-day, they let someone from the party leave the line to put stuff in the locker and allowed them to rejoin there party in the goblin hall...



Also as someone else has mentioned during the day the regular line and single rider line can pretty much be the same amount of time! And as also mentioned, the single rider line is much much more boring than the regular line (dark corridor) and skips both pre-shows. I would advise if it is your first time on the rider to definitely do the regular line.


As a rule of thumb single riders takes about 45 minutes - 1 hours (if no breakdowns!) from where you pick up the 3-d glasses, and 30 minutes from the bottom of the stairs.