Hello everyone…first post on here so happy with any and all feedback if you feel my question has already been answered elsewhere…
We are staying onsite at a premium Universal Hotel in April 2026. We are there for two nights so get 3 days worth of early entry and 3 days worth of Unlimited Express Pass at IOA and USF. What I am trying to understand if how we utilise the early entry. On previous trips we have used it to ride Hagrids with no wait time….now I am wondering if we should do two days early entry at Epic and try to do a few attractions each day and head back over to IOA or USF after a couple of hours…then do a full day at EPIC after early entry.
Does anyone have a good strategy for making the most out of our 3 days without putting too much stress on ourselves with paying for EPIC parking 3 days when we are only staying for a couple of hours on two of those days. Open to any and all scenarios you think might work!
Welcome! Agreed that I wouldn’t try and drive. Just take one of the shuttles.
Will you be getting express passes for epic? I think you’re plan will be dictated by this
I assume we won’t know which parks have early entry for a while unless I’m missing a perk or something?
its probably too early to know what the best strategy will be for 2026. I just posted a similar question as I’ll be there in January. Lots more data will be coming out then and I’ll be sure to report.
My presumption would be because of the distance it’s either drive or take a shuttle, not sure if the shuttles are regular enough for it to be a benefit…I think they will bel.
Thanks Koi. Just trying to find my way around these boards, where is the best place to see up to date feedback (such as yours come January)?
Also…..do you feel like you need to Early Park Entry for IOA to rides Hagrids if you have the UEP? Plans I am drawing up shows a 10 mins wait for Hagrids with Express Pass, can this be believed? If so I prefer the extra chill time in the morning.
You’ll sometimes see flairs for trip reports here. Others post in the app. I find the Disney forums here are more active. I will also check a few other forums and Reddit (though there’s often too much snark there). But the boards here are super friendly. I’ll likely post after my visit in Jan tips etc.
The general “rule” for EPs are 1/2 posted standby but usually way faster unless the ride goes down. This will be my first time using EP at universal so it will be new to me. 10 min for Hagrids seems fast for what I’m seeing online. Usually it seems 20-30 min for Hagrids is usual with EP. I’m also contemplating whether I want to sleep in vs early park entry and get to ride things twice. But we tend to overdue it and exhausts ourselves so I’m trying to keep that in mind.
I would plan for shuttles to Epic to be very active and regular. @melcort10 might be able to speak that experience if I’m remembering right. We never use a car at Universal. Compared to shuttles at Disney, we’ve found them to be much faster (shorter distances) and come more often. But, we haven’t been since Epic opened. Also, by the time you drive from your hotel and park, it may be the same amount of time or longer. Maybe your question is more about shuttles to Citywalk from Epic. I still assume those are pretty frequent.
We took the shuttle twice from Cabana Bay to Epic and it came very regularly. It’s not exactly a short ride but driving your own car would be equally as long. I could not bring myself to pay for parking at both the hotel and the park! I would definitely take the bus.
Also, I would like to chime in that Epic early entry seems like a cluster with not everything open. It might be more beneficial to do EE elsewhere and do Epic late at night.
I’ve never used EP for Hagrid’s but I have used EP for many other rides at USO, IOA and Epic. Based on my experience with EP for other UOR rides, if I were planning a trip to IOA now, my expectations would be in line with your estimate of a 20-30 min wait with EP for Hagrid’s.
If I could ride Hagrid’s twice with a reasonable amount of additional effort, I would do it. The ride is awesome.
What people sometimes do is start a tread before they leave with the plans, and that turns into a trip report. Like I have one where I’ve named our trip “Epic Epic” trip in early Jan, since we’ll be there for two weeks and first time at Epic. You can subscribe to those, and then you’ll get updates as stuff is added. I don’t know how helpful mine will be since we won’t have EA. But, we will have 5 days of one-use EP’s to all three parks during our last week there. Our last trip was before Hagrid’s had EP.
