We’re going to USO on Memorial Day Weekend, but not hitting the parks every day. The plan was to be there on Thursday after 1 pm and Saturday for Early Access (we’re staying onsite). Realistically, when is the best day and time to ride Hagrid? tks
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Can you aim to hit it Thursday night prior to closing-
We usually hit the castle show than Hagrid’s
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If the Thursday at closing doesn’t work keep an eye on the wait time between 9:45 and 11:30. Over spring break we managed a 45 min wait in that time frame.
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On a normal day you should get into the queue at 11:15am - 11:30am… a few of us have been tracking the waits the last couple years. There is a ‘dip’ in the actual wait versus posted. It might say 90+ minutes, but you will only wait 45 - 60 minutes.
However, you are going on one of the biggest peak times of the year. There may not be a “shorter” wait this weekend.
I would just get into the queue a few minutes before closing. You’ll still have a wait, but everything else is closed anyway.
Plus, the Universal Creative team designed the ride to be ridden at night. The are no lights out there, except for your vehicle. It the best way to ride!
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I was really pleased that the Thursday before Easter we were able to find one of those dips! We should take a look to see if that midday dip varies by opening time.
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I’m going to go against everyone else’s suggestion and say that if you don’t mind rope dropping Early Entry and plan to be near the front of the crowd, do Hagrid’s then. You can hit it, Velocicoaster and Forbidden Journey all pretty quickly at that time. The only problem is if the ride doesn’t open on time.
Since I think you said you’d have Express Passes, you could also do Hagrid’s then have a nice breakfast at Three Broomsticks ( @darkmite2 doesn’t like it much but we’ve really enjoyed it a couple of times) and then use your Express Passes for the other rides.
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I think the key is really being at the front of that line. I had friends get stuck for 2 hours during spring break because they were too far back.
My family was burnt from a full week at Disney, so couldn’t quite make it to the very front.
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I second your advice.
Especially since the poster is only visiting for a short time.
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I say do both! Rope drop and again right before close. That way if something goes wrong you will at least have one ride. And it’s worth two rides. On multiple occasions, I have gone to UOR exclusively to ride Hagrid’s and Velocicoaster. 
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This might not be the case. Predicted CLs for Memorial Day are on par with general summer crowds. And historically, often times Amusement Parks would see a dip in attendance on Memorial Day itself. (That might not be as much of the case as it used to be because I think the Memorial Day activities have waned in more recent years…but I think there is still this idea that crowds SHOULD be higher Memorial Day, so people think they are, when in actuality crowds are just normalish.
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This has been my experience at Disneyland on multiple Memorial Days in the past ~7 years. I have no idea why, but it’s never much busier than the days around it, even by a week or so.
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That makes me a feel a little better - I’ve been worrying about these CLs for the 2 days we are there.
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I’m hoping you are right as we will be there Memorial Day weekend as well!
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I went during a very busy time just before Christmas. Here’s what I did, I highly recommend it.
Using EE, I took an Uber rather than the first bus from the resort (Cabana Bay), I got the Uber a 645am and then fast walked from the Uber Drop off to IOA and was there a few mins before or after 7am, I can’t quite remember. What I do remember is that I was at the front for one of the last turnstiles. Over the next few minutes people slowly came and added to the lines then at around 715am the lines got very busy, which I’m assuming is the resort busses dropping off.
They opened the turnstiles at around 745am, I quick walked to Hagrid’s, put my bag in a locker and walked through the line and was on the second or third train of the day, literally not stopping my walk at any point through the queue. I was off the ride by 805am and then by 840am had done VelociCoaster and Forbidden Journey.
When I got off Hagrid’s the line was showing as 120 mins, by the time I got off HPFJ it was showing 180 minutes. I would happily wait in the line to get in the park where I drank a coffee and listened to The Disney Disney for an hour rather than wait over 2 in the Hagrids line.
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Well played!! That’s a great way to do it!
Is the Uber Drop off that circle near the mini golf entry to the hub? I can’t remember where it is exactly…
It’s in the parking lot, right by the end of the moving walkways before the mini golf. So about a 5 to 10 min walk from there to IOA entry including bag check
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Cool! That’s where I thought it was. Thanks! I’ll keep that RD idea in mind if I need it!!