Question I have relates to the beginning of the plan (which is during early entry) – it has us starting off with the Hogwart’s Express, back and forth, and then we basically mill around for an hour in DA, doing Ollivander’s, and then hitting Gringott’s at 10 a.m. with a 28 minute wait.
Mostly wondering why, since we’re there for early entry, we wouldn’t just head straight to Gringott’s and check that box. Seems like it would necessarily have it’s lowest waits of the day right off the bat. Is that wrong? I trust there’s a reason for this, just curious what it is.
I think the problem is Universal has not released their January hours yet, so the optimizer thinks both parks will be open for EE. They only have both parks open for EE during busy times, so that is likely to change on TP’s crowd calendar once Uni releases hours. If both parks were open, the plan the optimizer gave you would be the way to see everything on your list with the shortest possible wait time. It only looks at the wait times, so I am guessing if you did it in another order it would add a few minutes here and there. I much prefer to make plans and then evaluate, moving things around until I get the order the way I like it (while taking into consideration that wait times TP gives me). Works great for us. I bet once Universal releases their hours and TP updates their calendar, your optimized plan will not have you riding the train so early, especially if IOA isn’t open during EE.
Maybe this has changed since I was there last Summer but Gringots was the only real bottle kneck then. Rope Dropped it and expressed passed what I could…
No matter what I do, it always has me hitting Gringott’s around 10. Perhaps there’s like a morning crush that if you aren’t in the first X number of people, you have an enormous wait if you go there first thing, and this is designed to let that play out? Weird…
If you are w the rope at opening, Gringots should be your first stop. Makes me think of the 7DMT in MK as an example. TP said the wait would be 30min at opening which is probably correct if you aren’t at the rope. I was with the rope and was on the first ride (no wait). When I got off and excited just a few minutes later, the wait was around 30min. So, again, if you are aggressive and stay with the rope (as I did at Gringots and other headliners in WDW), you’ll be set. Of course this requires being at the gate maybe 45min prior to opening. This will save you time in the park but still cost you time overall. Fare trade IMHO
I think the issue with your plan is that you checked the early entry box, but set your start time for 9am. Change that to 8am and try re optimizing. If you still have trouble email the plan url to webmaster@touringplans.com
That was the case initially, but I noticed that along the way and changed it, and it still did it. Just went back in and confirmed all of the settings again, reoptimized, and this time, it has me arriving at gringott’s at 11-something. I’ll send the link along, thanks for the assistance.
Ok, I think the problem is that you have scheduled lunch at Leaky. Since you have express, the optimizer is trying to group all Diagon attractions (including Gringotts) around that lunch. I’m looking to see if there is a workaround…
if I just delete lunch, will everything work? Since we have the express pass, the stuff in Diagon Alley is all we have to worry about – we ought to be able to walk onto everything else.