EPA Universal for September

We are headed to Universal Orlando September 22-25 and haven’t been since WWOHP opened! We have 3 days in the parks and want to do ALL the things. Right now, only USF has early admission and it’s at 7 am, which is SOO early! Is it worth it to get up that early? Does it really benefit in September? Anyone been during that week? We are not doing HHN.

Welcome and happy vacation planning! Whichever nights that you are there that have HHN, USF will be closing at 5, so your hours in that park will be limited. I find EE to be a great time to do spells in Diagon Alley, if that’s something you’re interested in. if you are not interested in that, the park is still much quieter during that time, but I find that hour to be a little less critical, because only two rides are open, Gringotts and either the Mummy or Despicable Me. I feel the biggest benefit to that early entry hour is the ability to wander through Diagon Alley without being elbow to elbow with other guests.

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Do you have express passes? If you do, then the early entry is not as critical though it is nice to have a less crowded park. Without express pass I would definitely take advantage of the lower wait times.

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Yes, we do haves express passes!

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Totally worth it if you are excited to see WWoHP. My 7 am EE on Fri, 9/14/18 (first day of HHN that year) was totally worth it. Diagon Alley was practically empty until 8 am.

7:25 am

7:47 am

The Leaky Cauldron at 8:01 am

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I believe we should mark your post as the selling point for early entry! :heart:

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I agree with @rebeecky , those photos are selling me on early entry more than I already was. The light in that first one is almost as good as all that empty pavement.

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Wow! That’s cool! We will definitely brave 7 am for at least one day!

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The morning light was fantastic! I regretted only having my phone along to take photos. Some of the other decent shots:

7:08 am, approaching CityWalk via boat

7:12 am Universal Globe (normally this area has people all around taking photos)

7:16 am, walking through Production Central

7:20 am heading past the lagoon towards San Fransico


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This was an excellent early entry experience. I expected a lot more people even at 7 am.

I used 8 am USF EE back in June 2017 and it was not nearly as empty as this. Crowds were quite reasonable, but it felt more like the ‘real’ Diagon Alley than your own private park.

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It makes sense that the earlier EE attracts fewer early birds. Our EE is 8am in August so I’m not expecting the private park feel but will hope for good light. When we decided on this trip I had no idea I’d be consulting sunrise/sunset charts several times.

We used EE at 8 am at Diagon Alley back in mid June 2017. I can’t find any photos, but I know it was still very pleasant at 8 am. My group of 5 adults (3 of who are morning people) completely missed the entrance to DA.

I actually do this regularly for family trips. We love riding Thunder Mountain around sunset.

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