Here is my plan for the first morning of our trip:
Water taxi from HRH to CW and walk to IOA (water taxi rather than walk because it’s fun and drops us nearer to IOA, but see comments later about Voodoo)
Walk to VC and ride
Walk to FJ and ride, but taking the line slowly to enjoy the theming, allowing other guests to overtake us, if necessary
Walk to 3B for breakfast
Walk to Hagrid and get in line
We have EPA at 8am. It’s not clear to me when we should aim to arrive at IOA. My belief is that everyone will be headed to Hagrid, so I’m not sure we need to get there crazy early and wait in line for IOA to open. I’m not clear on timings in general. I assume we want to get VC and FJ done before the day guests arrive and, presumably, get to 3B before them, too.
Does this make sense as a plan?
Also, presumably we will want to have eaten something before we get to IOA. CW doesn’t open till 8am. Is that too late to get a coffee and donut at Voodoo and eat / drink on the walk to IOA? Or should we buy the donuts the night before and keep them in the fridge?
There is some kind of Starbucks at HRH, and the one at CW opens at 7am.
On our second morning we have EPA but I’m not planning on using it. Unless, I guess, we fail to ride Hagrid on the first day and we have to join the EPA scrum to do it at rope drop.
Hagrid’s will have a big line when you get to it then. Is that the plan, to wait regardless of the time??
I would personally put Hagrid first and then onto FJ.
That IS a manic start to the day though. Are you trying to avoid that?
Timing wise, with your plan of heading straight to VC, then you don’t need to be front of pack. You probably still want to be there for RD though. I would suggest getting Voodoo the night before. I think RDing VD and then heading into the park would give you an unnecessary VC line when you’re already there early.
This is our first proper day. I don’t want to kick it off with a high pressure dash to join the Hagrid line and then a long wait in line. I feel that hitting VC and FJ during EPA will be a much more satisfying start to the vacation. With full bellies they then may be more understanding of the need to wait in line for Hagrid. I’m thinking they would put up with up to a 90 min wait.
I’m sure there are charts to tell for sure, but the first couple of hours after park opens to Gen Pop isn’t when you’ll get low waits for Hagrid.
Might be better to wait until lunch or night?
I like your plan, especially with it being a CL 4 day on the 12th. I would recommend to take your time with everything and enjoy the scenery, etc. No need to arrive before 8am.
The VC wait will be less than 30 minutes all the way up to 9am. FJ will be a 10 minute wait before 10am. I wouldn’t be too concerned about that many people going to 3B for breakfast that you would have to wait to get a table.
After the morning madness at Hagrids, waits will drop mid-late morning with wait times bottoming out around 11:30am (55 minute predicted wait). This is the smart move as you would also remove the risk of Hagrid’s starting late/early downtime.
So based on that, I think you want to do your plan up to three broomsticks, then maybe explore Hogsmeade (any shows at that time?) and then hit Hagrid when the RD rush dies down a bit.
I can be monitoring wait times. Though we are doing the Holiday Tour that night, which includes time in Hogsmeade before the private castle show viewing, so I don’t want to give them too much Hogsmeade (only two of us are big HP fans). But then I don’t know if the shops will be open during that time.
We could divert to Kong to kill some time after breakfast and then go back to Hogsmeade.
Not clear. Starbucks says it opens at 7am, despite CW not opening till 8am.
But buying donuts the night before and picking up a Starbucks in the hotel and then walking with same to IOA might be a better plan. Maybe take the water taxi on day 2.
Ask @darkmite2 if he can check what time Voodoo Donuts opens in the morning. He’s there now.
I think if you’re aiming for VC first, even being back of the RD pack would be good enough. I wouldn’t dally though. If VD does actually open before RD then you’re golden
Voodoo opens at 8am each day. You can mobile order at that time and they’ll be ready for pick up in 20 minutes.
If you get them the night before to take back, I really recommend Mobile Order. The line to go in the shop can either be nonexistent or wrap down the block
