Visiting Between Christmas and New Years

[Ben E N]

I am a veteran Disney World visitor, but have not been to Universal Studios in 10 years, and even that was just for a day trip. For our children's (7 and 4) Christmas gift, we are taking them to Universal this weekend. My daughter just finished the Harry Potter books this fall so the timing is just right.
I booked the Royal Pacific for one night. We plan to show up there at 6 am on the 29th, our first day, and get our room Key and then head to the Studios by 7. We would ride Minion Mayhem and then go to the Harry Potter area. Once done there, we would train over to Hogsmeade and go on Forbidden Journey and Hippogriff. From there, we are fine with wherever the day takes us, as long as we get on Spiderman at least once.
For the second day, we would line up at IOA by 6:30 at the latest in order to get in line for Hagrid's. After that, we would train over to studios and do what we can over there.
I know crowds will be insane, and that the express pass will only cut lines down to one hour as opposed to three on days like these, but does this plan sound doable overall? Would it be better to swap out doing rides during the 7-8 am times in order to experience the Potter areas when the crowds are lower? Any other suggestions or help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[marymouse]

I think your plan looks great. We were there last year at about the same time and will be down this coming Monday! I don't think any of the Express lines were all that bad maybe 20-30?? Grigotts was the exception to that so early morning is a good idea. Food lines were horrible and it is definitely high crowd season. Have a blast!

 

[Ben E N]

I think your plan looks great. We were there last year at about the same time and will be down this coming Monday! I don't think any of the Express lines were all that bad maybe 20-30?? Grigotts was the exception to that so early morning is a good idea. Food lines were horrible and it is definitely high crowd season. Have a blast!

Thanks for the feedback! Food is the one area I'm not 100% sure of myself, but didn't want to be a dictator and tell everyone where they have to eat, so I will just suck it up and deal with those crowds.

One more question if anybody else has any feedback. Are the interactive wands worth the $55 that they are asking? I'm thinking this time of year, probably not due to crowds, but wasn't sure.

 

[Wreckem]

I suggest not wasting time waiting in line for Hagrids to open at park opening. You’ll be queuing for 2+hrs between waiting in line before the ride opens and the actual line for Hagrids. The wait is always inflated. I only waited an hour yesterday, from around 11:45 to 12:45. . It’s a fools errand to queue up for Hagrids before it open because you never know when it will open. It’s almost 8:30 and it’s still not open for today, yesterday was similar.

The longest express lines we waited in yesterday was 30 minutes. One for Kong when it was 130 minutes wait and one for Forbidden Journey when it was 150 minutes. Part of the wait Forbidden Journey was the locker queue.

Do the Harry Potterland and Hogwarts express first because they get horribly barely able to move crowded by 9:30ish. If you want to do the Wands use them between 7:00am and 8:00am Diagon Alley was practically empty during early park admission yesterday with all the people queuing up for Hagrids.

 

[Wreckem]

Example of why it’s foolish to lineup for Hagrids early before its open. It’s on a 3 hour delay this morning. Not projected to open until 11.

 

[Ben E N]

I suggest not wasting time waiting in line for Hagrids to open at park opening. You’ll be queuing for 2+hrs between waiting in line before the ride opens and the actual line for Hagrids. The wait is always inflated. I only waited an hour yesterday, from around 11:45 to 12:45. . It’s a fools errand to queue up for Hagrids before it open because you never know when it will open. It’s almost 8:30 and it’s still not open for today, yesterday was similar.

The longest express lines we waited in yesterday was 30 minutes. One for Kong when it was 130 minutes wait and one for Forbidden Journey when it was 150 minutes. Part of the wait Forbidden Journey was the locker queue.

Do the Harry Potterland and Hogwarts express first because they get horribly barely able to move crowded by 9:30ish. If you want to do the Wands use them between 7:00am and 8:00am Diagon Alley was practically empty during early park admission yesterday with all the people queuing up for Hagrids.

Example of why it’s foolish to lineup for Hagrids early before its open. It’s on a 3 hour delay this morning. Not projected to open until 11.

Thank you so much for this useful feedback. I had been trying to convince my wife that Hagarid's was a time suck, but showing her your posts convinced her that this wasn't just me being paranoid.

Update to the plan based on your feedback. Sunday - Go right to Diagon Alley and ride Gringotts and then maybe get the interactive wand and play with it there. Then train to IOA and do what we can there. See if Hagrid's is possible or not. Then Monday do the same thing at Hogsmeade and then either get in line for Hagrid's if it looks good, or just train right over to Studios and use the express pass for Minions during normal operating hours.

If we can't get on Hagrid's this trip, I will upgrade our tickets to seasonal passes and go back either during spring break (I know concerts may block out studios during this time), or summer break. Hopefully they will have the ride figured out by then.

 

[Wreckem]

Just look at the physical queues and ignore the wait times. Follow the advice in the other thread and look at the thrill data’s graphs to better judge the timing.

It opened at 10am today. And we started basically at the preshow and it’s taken longer than the 60 minutes it should take.

Hopefully the ride is running better for your two days. When it’s running well you’ll have no problem. If it’s not or it’s raining, that’s when it’s a problem. I’d definitely watch the ride in the app on both days and try to do it both days.

 

[marymouse]

Thanks for the feedback! Food is the one area I'm not 100% sure of myself, but didn't want to be a dictator and tell everyone where they have to eat, so I will just suck it up and deal with those crowds.

One more question if anybody else has any feedback. Are the interactive wands worth the $55 that they are asking? I'm thinking this time of year, probably not due to crowds, but wasn't sure.

I totally forgot to add this, this year we will plan on eating before we get to the parks ( we aren't early morning people) or leaving and going to City Walk. Hope you're having fun, we'll be there tomorrow!

 

[Ben E N]

Thanks so much for everybody's help in making sure we had the best trip possible. Sunday was a huge hit. Due to advice given here, we spent the first hour of the day casually walking around Diagon Alley, enjoying using our wands and appreciating the subtleties in the shops and storefronts. We then used the express pass to get on all the rides we wanted at IOA. I was even able to get on the Hulk Coaster with only a 10 minute wait.
Because we got so much done on Sunday, half our group went to do Hagrid's yesterday. You guys called it perfectly. My wife didn't ride until almost 10. She knew what she was getting into, though. I took my son around and we were able to walk through the castle, even though he was too short to ride, did the spiderman ride in our own car, and had a great quiet breakfast at the Three Broomsticks.
We went back to Diagon Alley at about noon, and holy moly were the crowds crazy there. It made me appreciate our quiet morning the day before that much more. We did a few more rides at Universal and then that was plenty for us. I have no desire to sit on a motion simulator, staring at a screen, any time again in my near future. Overall a great trip despite the crazy crowds, and I have you guys to thank for helping me through it.