Once you get into the corridor heading toward the lifts, there are photo bays. The regular line passes two of them. The EP line passes by one. It is a room off to the right that is curtained-off if they are not using it. The ones in the regular line are always open, to the best of my knowledge, and the one time the EP one was not open for me, I simply asked to have a picture taken and they took us out of line to the photo room and then put us back in the EP line.
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Hmmmmā¦Iām not sure. it is also possible that the line is run differently depending on how busy the park or the ride itself is. On my last trip I literally rode Forbidden Journey 10 times, so I am positive that the EP line skipped much of the castle tour. At least when I was there. I purposely took the standby line a couple times to be sure to see everything.
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Thanks! It must have been closed when we rode it via EP line because I didnāt even know it existed.
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The Gringotts queue photo was available in the EP line in September 2018 both times I went through it. This, I am sure of; one of my sisterās friends didnāt want to be in the photo so it must have been available during the EP trip.
Combining the queues makes sense. They were sending everybody through the JP EP queue in June 2017 after 5 pm when the Standby line was 5 minutes posted.
We were there during the first weekend of HHN so USF closed at 5 pm each evening. This seemed to lead to very low crowds in IOA prior to 4 pm. FJās standby wait was posted at 15 minutes. Hulk was 20 minutes. On Sunday, I took the HE from Kingās Cross to Hogsmeade around noon. The family in front of me entered the Standby queue and I entered the EP queue. They arrived at the train platform right before me.
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Ok. We were there Pres Day 2018. Maybe they had it closed to keep line moving as it was crazy busy?
Thatās bad luck about the grad bash nights. Our last night is your first night there. As you the parks are only open your first night I would try and see the mardi gras parade and Hogwarts at night. I wouldnāt do the waterpark on your first day as youāll want to conserve energy for the evening. With EP I think youāll be able to see everything you want. Coming from the UK you are going to be up early the first few days so the 7am opening is perfect, on one of those days I would then hop to the waterpark for 9am, spend a few hours there and then come back to the park. Remember that you can use any resort swimming pool, that might be an idea for one evening, and then thereās always citywalk
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I just got back from a Universal trip with four adults with varying levels of interest in Harry Potter. We were easily able to do everything we wanted to in both parks in two days, leaving the parks by 7pm on the first day and by 5pm on the second, including a second spin around two of our favourite rides. Escape from Gringotts is amazing.
My only issue is the crowd levels in the Harry Potter areas - compared to Disney, overall Universal doesnāt feel as crowded, but the Harry Potter stuff is very, very cramped. I would have liked a wand, but Ollivanderās was so crowded I couldnāt even bear to go in for more than a couple of minutes.
I donāt usually get motion sick, but the Simpsonās ride was rough - I took a ginger gravol after that and was good for the rest of the day!
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Thanks for the info, just out of interest why do you think weāll use more energy at VB than walking round the theme parks?
I am still a bit torn as I think that the first day weāll be excited and given the likely early start weāll want to be getting going as soon as we can - we should be able to get to the gates by 7.30 and be in DA as soon as park opens, weāll be an hour later to VB. But I think weāll be fine to go on water type rides even in a sleep-deprived and journey-weary state and Iām concerned that a lot of the USF and IOA rides will be a bit much for us!
The pools all look great fun and Iād like to try a few restaurants in Citiwalk, but I think Iāll have to be fairly flexible as tired boys turn into grumpy boys fairly quickly and thatās no fun for anyone!
Thank you. Did you have early park admission for the HP areas?
Our plan is either to get wands on our first evening if weāve managed to last that long or to get them first thing with EPA at 7am. Hopefully then we can enjoy DA for an hour and then go over to Hogsmeade on the HE for opening over there. We will have EPA for two days at 7am so should have some slightly quieter time in DAā¦
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No, we didnāt have early admission.
By the way, in case youāre interested, the number one thing I learned about Universal is that bags are a PAIN. At Disney you can take them on most of the rides, but most of the Universal ones donāt let you carry anything bigger than a cellphone, and some of them not even that, so you have to put everything in a locker. Sometimes the lockers are free but often theyāre not, the lockers are too tiny to fit a full standard-sized backpack, and the locker rooms (at least in Harry Potter land) are tiny, overcrowded zoos. If I go again, I wonāt carry anything bigger than whatever bag I need for my water bottle and camera!
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Thanks for the tips, we usually end up carting a slightly larger bag around with water bottles, suncream etc Maybe weāll be better off with the kids all taking smaller bags too and carrying their own bits and pieces - which isnāt necessarily a bad thing but am already anticipating the complaints 
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If you can swing it, wear fanny packs. I wear one every time and am able to wear it on every ride except Rip Ride Rockit and Hulk. No lockers, no chaos!
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Apparently they are back in fashion!
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Fashion or not, they certainly make my trips easier! 
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My 14yo in particular may take some persuading on this one
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Tryā¦a belt bagš
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Make him wait for a Forbidden Journey locker one time and he may change his tune quickly! 
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I didnāt know they were allowed! Iāll have to do that on my next trip, especially since all of the lockers are half the size they were last spring. The only ones that are the bigger size are the ones you have to pay for.
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