What to ride first thing?

[Dakota731]

I have my Disney itineraries memorized however it’s been a long time since we’ve been to Universal! We are staying at a premier hotel so what rides should we do at rope drop that aren’t included? Are there any sample itineraries out there that I can copy from? Thanks in advance!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Hagrids, IF you are "near" the front of the early entry crowd (say, halfway from the squeeze point / archway before the gates to the bridge, maybe anywhere before the bridge in really busy times? If you're in front of that squeeze point / archway, waiting in view of the gates, you're golden.). If you're too far back, "late" early entry will be the longest line of the day.

Everything else is included on EP, except for Pterodon Fliers which requires a kid under a certain height to ride and isn't open for early entry anyways. Although if you do have such a kid to ride with, that would be an excellent choice to be ready to pounce on as soon as the park officially opens.

Other than Hagrids, doing spells or exploring the Harry Potter areas is an excellent use of EE time. It's the best time to do spells without waiting behind others, and thereby seeing the magic of each one ahead of time.

If you are getting to Studios early, ice cream at Florean Fortesque's is open and will save you a longer line later - although that presupposes you are okay with ice cream in the morning. If you're not, it is worth the line later - ideally time it so you can bring your glorious ice cream over to watch Tales of Beedle the Bard.

 

[AaronRif]

Echoing @CAPSLOCK, my advice is to do early entry in Harry Potter and do Olivanders and Forbidden Journey (if the early entry park is Islands) but skip Hagrids and do it either between 12:00 to 2:00 pm when the line has died down from the morning or within the last hour of the park operating. Since you are staying at a Premier hotel, I'd enjoy the benefits and ride whatever you want, or have a lazy morning and enter the park later. No need to rope drop if you don't want to since you'll have very minimal waits with Express.

 

[TheRichFam]

IMO, Hagrid's is the only "right" answer. It almost always has a 60+ min wait within minutes of park opening, whereas most the other attractions at both UOR and IOA fluctuate throughout the day. The only caveat I'd give is that I actually think the experience of riding Hagrid's is better at night, so if you plan to only ride it once and want to do so right at park closing, you can rope drop another attraction instead.

 

[AaronRif]

IMO, Hagrid's is the only "right" answer. It almost always has a 60+ min wait within minutes of park opening, whereas most the other attractions at both UOR and IOA fluctuate throughout the day. The only caveat I'd give is that I actually think the experience of riding Hagrid's is better at night, so if you plan to only ride it once and want to do so right at park closing, you can rope drop another attraction instead.

The caveat to this is that to ride Hagrid's with no wait during Early Entry, you need to line up at the gate 45-60 minutes BEFORE early entry starts. You effectively wait the same amount of time than you would later in the day, and the rope-drop Hagrid's process will eat a lot of the early entry time since they have to form the line and get folks through. By the time you're off the ride, early entry will be at least halfway done.

 

[Dakota731]

The caveat to this is that to ride Hagrid's with no wait during Early Entry, you need to line up at the gate 45-60 minutes BEFORE early entry starts. You effectively wait the same amount of time than you would later in the day, and the rope-drop Hagrid's process will eat a lot of the early entry time since they have to form the line and get folks through. By the time you're off the ride, early entry will be at least halfway done.

How long is the wait later on the day? What time are you talking when you say 45-60 min before early entry?

 

[AaronRif]

How long is the wait later on the day? What time are you talking when you say 45-60 min before early entry?

So if early entry starts at 9:00 am, for example, you want to be at the park entrance around 8:00 to 8:15 am if you want to ride Hagrid’s with no wait. If you get to the park entrance around 9:00 am when early entry starts, Hagrid’s will already have a 60-90 minute wait, and you’ll waste all your early entry time in line. Normally Hagrid’s has lower waits around lunchtime and within the last hour of park operation.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

In slower season, arriving 30min before opening will give you a 10-15min wait on Hagrids. It's very dependent on the crowds for the day. When Early Entry is earlier, it helps too - more people are willing to get up to be at the gates for 8am than for 7am.

During the day, you could be a 60min wait, a 2hr wait, a 4hr wait - too open of a question. Time of day, time of year, weather, day of week. Sat in busy season at 11am could easily be a 4hr wait.

Aside from being near the front of EE, lowest waits are around late lunch through early afternoon, or evening/right before close.

 

[sandam1]

Re. Hagrid's strategy - I never count/plan on it being open during Early Entry. On most of our trips (and we do a good number of them), its opening is "delayed" when we try to do EE. At this point, we rarely do EE at IOA because it has happened so many times. Other than Hagrid's, there isn't much else open and the rides that are (Velocicoaster and Forbidden Journey) can be done with single rider later in the day so unless we want to do some wand work, we take the extra hour of sleep and rope drop Studios. As others have mentioned, Hagrid's can usually be done with less of a wait later in the day.

 

[Skywalker3]

I would liken the Hagrid's EE, morning experience to rope dropping Flight of Passage at AK. I'd guess (just a guess) about 90% of the people in early entry, or lined up at opening in IoA are going to Hagrids, similar to FoP, everyone heads to Pandora. and if you're not towards the front of FoP, you'll end up in line in Africa near the FotLK show. but the line is moving in the morning, no ILLs, etc.
However, hagrids is a bit less reliable to be running at opening, think Rise/Resistance or Test Track at opening....We've done Hagrids a few times, it's a totally fun ride, a must-do, but it's not something we seek out often. So, if we do EE, express or not, we head to Velocicoaster. Then it's Hulk, Dr Doom, Spiderman, and anything we want to see if Marvel, then we head to Jurassic, then Hogsmeade...but we've been going a lot. Or, if you skip Hagrids, could do VC quickly, then head to Hogsmeade for FJ and browsing Hogsmeade with somewhat lower crowds. they build fast. But good time for spells, Olivander's, etc. Then you'd be fitting in Hagrid's later in the day at some point. I personally like that it doesn't take Express, so at least the line is the line, and it's moving if the ride is running. VC has become horrible in the standby line since they started express.
Pteranadon flyers has been closed for a while, no info on reopening, so check for that if you're planning on riding it. One trip, we were in the Jurassic area when it first opened, and we got like 5 rides on Pteranodon before it got busy, need a kid with you though.
Happy planning!!!

 

[Dakota731]

Thanks for all the help! What to ride first at Studios (we are staying at premier hotel)?
Also, our 6 year old is tall enough to ride Hagrids but may not want to. If rest of family is lining up first to ride that, what’s a good line for me to take her that will save line time later?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Flight of the Hippogriff is a little kiddie size coaster, conveniently located next to Hagrids. It's certainly skippable for adults (although I do ride it, but would not be my top choice if limited in time).

 

[AaronRif]

Thanks for all the help! What to ride first at Studios (we are staying at premier hotel)?
Also, our 6 year old is tall enough to ride Hagrids but may not want to. If rest of family is lining up first to ride that, what’s a good line for me to take her that will save line time later?

Since you have Express, you will have minimal waits for any attractions other than Hagrids. My suggestion would be to do Flight of The Hippogriff or anything in Seuss Landing so you are nearby when the family finishes Hagrids. She will also probably like the Olivanders Wand Shop experience, so I'd do that since you can't skip that line, and the waits are minimal during Early Entry.

For Studios, I'd do Despicable Me Minion Mayhem (with Express) since there's only one theater, and the wait can be 20-30 minutes even with Express. Or you can do Gringotts, which also can have a lengthier Express line later in the day. But really, we're talking about a 10-20 minute wait max. So you could really do whatever you'd like--take advantage of having Express by being spontaneous and enjoy going around the park doing whatever you'd like!

 

[Skywalker3]

ooh, I forgot out Flight/Hippogriff. Kids loved that when they were younger, and couldn't ride the bigger stuff. That's a good one to do very early. Even with express, that line can back up a lot. One trip, when DS was too short to ride the same things as older DD, we rode that one several times in a row w express, first thing.
The Trolley ride in Dr Seussland, also tends to back up a lot, I think just takes a while to load/unload, and they might not be running both sides.
Universal with little ones, if not going to Diagon Alley first, doing Gringotts, Despicable Me would be great. That one backs up for sure. But also, a lot of people do go there first, kinda like Spaceship Earth, it's one of the first things you see when coming in, but Desp me will get very long lines later. Also get the Minion blast done early, maybe even a few repeat rides if no lines.

 

[Dakota731]

Echoing @CAPSLOCK, my advice is to do early entry in Harry Potter and do Olivanders and Forbidden Journey (if the early entry park is Islands) but skip Hagrids and do it either between 12:00 to 2:00 pm when the line has died down from the morning or within the last hour of the park operating. Since you are staying at a Premier hotel, I'd enjoy the benefits and ride whatever you want, or have a lazy morning and enter the park later. No need to rope drop if you don't want to since you'll have very minimal waits with Express.

Are there different early entry parks each day?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

They usually have one park at a time, usually it'll be several months at one park then maybe switch. They tend to go heavy on Islands of Adventure. During really busy times, they may have EE at both parks. Right now they have it posted as Islands through 10/31 (which is odd, usually during HHN they switch to Studios since the evening hours are so shortened).
https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/early-park-admission

 

[AaronRif]

They usually have one park at a time, usually it'll be several months at one park then maybe switch. They tend to go heavy on Islands of Adventure. During really busy times, they may have EE at both parks. Right now they have it posted as Islands through 10/31 (which is odd, usually during HHN they switch to Studios since the evening hours are so shortened).
https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/early-park-admission

Maybe they figure folks not doing HHN would rather spend more time at Islands, including Early Entry?

 

[sandam1]

Right now they have it posted as Islands through 10/31 (which is odd, usually during HHN they switch to Studios since the evening hours are so shortened).

It appears that on the days with HHN, Studios opens for everyone at 8 a.m. while IOA opens for early entry at 8 a.m. That kind of makes sense.

 

[theresemiller2000]

Hagrids was down two of the three mornings we were there. I’d just watch the app. It’s pretty accurate. The wait was lower around noon. But riding at night is amazing!