Maybe it’s to dissuade people from going to Hagrid’s first to try to spread people out more? I do know that yesterday’s wait time data showed that Hagrid’s opened at 8:00. Plus it is still on the official list of EPA attractions.
The average wait at IOA yesterday was 14 minutes, while Hagrid’s was way up there at 45 minutes and continues to be the fan favorite by a long shot. (even VelociCoaster’s average wait was only 19 minutes!)
Ok, thanks!
Curious…is that posted wait time, or actual wait time, with that 45 minutes? (Hagrid’s actual wait time seems to be consistently on the order of about 2/3s posted wait time from what I’ve seen.)
Not sure how to read that. Are “Posted waits” there meaning wait times people have added? (So, really ACTUAL waits?)
And what does “typical wait” mean? Typical POSTED wait times, or typical ACTUAL wait times?
If those really are POSTED wait times, then I would expect actual wait times to be less.
No, posted waits always mean posted signage waits. So, yeah figure a little less for actual waits.
A “typical” wait time means an average of a set number of previous days of a similar day of the week.
Thanks for the clarification!
My heart to you meant ‘you’re welcome’ just in case you weren’t sure. 
Truthfully? If you hadn’t said, I would have taken it to mean, “I like the fact that you said thanks.” Which, come to think of it, could be somewhat passive aggressive!
So does anyone have a recent strategy for an early morning hours at IOA for hitting Velocicoaster and Hagrids specifically? We’ll have Express, going in early December… (CL 3/4ish).
I actually prefer early entry at Studios- only way to get Diagon alley so empty…
I don’t know about VC but I would watch Hagrid’s in the cooler morning temps. It has had issues in the past.
In my experience, more guests will ride Hagrid’s so that would be my priority. VC lines were always shorter for me (some people won’t ride those big coasters).
If you are staying on-site you’ll have access to early entry to IOA. (I checked the Universal calendar to verify)
It’s a full hour of time and you can easily complete one if not both before park open.
If you are off-site though, typically Hagrid’s will be the longer queue. I have a TP for the first week of December already done. TP recommends VC first - with a wait of 35 - 40 minutes. The Hagrid’s queue is about an hour all day.
If it is a busy day Hagrid’s is usually converting to a virtual queue quickly.
We will be there in a couple weeks on a high crowd day. Our first day at Universal we will be checking out of our Disney hotel and into Royal Pacific and will probably miss early entry. I have read that we have to be on Universal property or at one of their hotels to get a VQ so I’m not sure we will be able to get a VQ for Hagrids our first day. I am assuming then VQ will be in affect but we will have early entry the second day. So, on our second day I was going to try and do Hagrids during the early entry and then maybe try to get a VQ for later in the day. My question is: even on busy days does Hagrids always starts with standby and then move to VQ or on some days is it VQ from the get-go?
According to the Universal chat- yes, it generally starts with standby . During my last trip it was only virtual on the weekends. It had a delayed opening so it did not have a standby by queue at that time.
I can confirm. It starts as standby and then goes to VQ (when needed)
Does the Universal app let you know/ping when the VQ is operational or do you have to keep checking?
Adding our data points…
We went to IOA for EPA (0800) on 21 Nov (Sun). We were in security line at ~0655 after early check-in at HRH (for 2 day UEP) and walking the path. About 20-30 people in front of us there. At ~0700 they opened that security line and we walked over to IOA with us ending up behind about 3-4 groups in the far right line. My son and I walked directly to Hagrid’s after they opened the gates at about ~0742. Hagrid’s was a walk-on with us only pausing briefly 2 groups back at the moving platform. After Hagrid’s (I think we got to lockers at 0802) we had a small issue accessing the locker (so a small delay), but we made it over to VC which was running and probably waited about 15 minutes to ride this. We had previously tried this approach in late May/early June 2021 with decent success (VC didn’t open quite as early then) and it worked even better this time. My two cents: Do Hagrid’s first thing and then VC to minimize time waiting in line.
The following day (22 Nov Mon with 0800 EPA for IOA), we repeated the process showing up a few minutes after 0700 (walking path security line was empty as they opened once again at 0700). This time we were in pretty much the same spot (maybe a couple people deeper). This time my daughter and wife went as well, and we ended up waiting ~5 minutes for Hagrid’s (after walking the queue). Then we walked on to FJ before perusing Hogsmeade and bouncing on the first 0900 Hogwart’s Express to USF. I believe VC was open again, so the same Hagrids 1st, VC 2nd approach would’ve worked similarly.
You just have to keep checking.
