With crowd levels being as high as they are for our upcoming UOR trip, I figured I should become as much an expert at obtaining at VQ for Hagrid’s, if necessary, as I am at obtaining a BG for ROTR.
So, here is what I understand and am not sure of…hoping to get this all squared away.
VQs open up when the standby line reaches a certain point, correct? Which means that the official “opening time” for a VQ can vary…but once it does, you have to jump on it! But is there any advice as to approximately when VQs typically are opening up on these CL 8, 9, and 10 days?
You have to be on property (but not necessary inside the parks…CityWalk is find) to book a VQ. But I noticed that the Universal app mentions push notifications from the app when more VQ times show up. Is this the kind of thing that if you wait for the push notification, it might be too late?
Are there are certain TIMES during the day that more VQs tend to drop…or is it really controlled by crowds?
When the app says that all VQs are gone…does that mean for the rest of the day, or until the time they drop more?
Is it still the case that when you book a VQ you specify at that time how many in your party? I also presume you don’t have to specify WHO is in your party, unlike the BG scenario.
Any other advice/thoughts?
When we were there in August, there was no need for a VQ for any ride, ever. Even Hagrid’s was generally a 15-20 minute way on standby, so VQs never opened up.
We were there for spring break a few weeks ago. They had VQ drops at a few times during the day, but they weren’t as precise as Disney. For instance, there was supposed to be a noon drop. At noon, it had a message that, although I can’t remember the specific wording, implied that it hadn’t opened yet. I kept trying and got one at 12:04. There was also a message that there were drops at 12, 2 and 4, but I had heard there was a drop at 6 pm. One day I tried then and got it around 6:08 or something.
I’m hoping it will be better for you, though, as the spring break waits were still 80-90 minutes even with VQ.
Is there a way to know what the wait in line will be with VQ? I was really taken aback by the increased crowd levels for our day at Universal next week. I desperately want to ride Hagrid’s but will be with little kids (planning to child swap) and don’t think I could swing a super long wait with them
My TP has consistently said 35 min with no VQ but I’m not sure that’s accurate at this point.
EDIT: I just optimized and now it’s saying VQ from 11-11:30 with a 7 minute wait. Really hoping that is the case!
We were there on 11, 12, and 13 April this year. We got a VQ on each day (TP had IOA predicted as CL 9 days, though rain cleared out folks on 11th afternoon and TP indicated the other days were actually a 6 and a 7 with USF being 8s). Sunday we got a VQ ~1735 when someone else called out excitedly in Leaky Cauldron. I had enough time to hop on and get one for around 1845 (USF/IOA Trip Report (11 Apr 2021) Sunday afternoon). The other days we got one in the mornings ~0840 (links to those trip reports are found in the other posted link).
1- My understanding is that, yes, VQs open when the standby line reaches a certain point, which was ~0840 on days the park officially opened at 0900 for offsite folks.
2- Unsure about push notifications. I just checked manually.
3- I think by crowds, as the Sunday late afternoon drop occurred because Hagrid’s came back up after a ton of rain.
4- No actual idea, but I took it to mean for the rest of the day (unless extenuating circumstances - like the storm)
5- Yes, we specified how many in the party, but not who. This would allow two different phones to get seperate VQs.
6- I agree with you that Hagrid’s is the best ride in Orlando/Lake Buena Vista area.
No VQ and now Hagrid’s is 85 min wait on the official UOR app, but the Lines UOR app says posted 45 min, expected 35 min. How can it be posted 45 min when the UOR app says 85? I wonder which wait time is correct in these situations if anyone has insight.
UOR app says it is Delayed right now…which means it is closed temporarily. So hard to judge…but I wouldn’t use the wait times from the TP app…I found them to be significantly wrong at UOR…the Universal App tended to be closer to correct, tending to be SLIGHTLY overestimating.
15 minutes prior to park open
11:00 AM
2:00 PM
4:00 Pm
On our first day, we tried right at 15 minutes prior to park open and had no trouble snagging two VLP’s. The second day, we tried again at that time and nothing. But found out it was because the ride was down.
We really didn’t have any trouble getting VLP’s. We tried at the times TP recommended but also randomly just went in to look and found them then too. The problem was more using the VLP’s because the lines were so long. Out first line was 99 minutes. The second was about an hour. We had three other VLP’s that we didn’t end up using because DD18 didn’t want to wait.
If it says all VLP’s are gone, it means at that moment. I would recommend checking back frequently. You do have to say how many in your party when reserving, but not who that party is.
We were there on Columbus Day last year in Oct, and a Uni local in line with us told us to have our app open around 15-20 before park open and REFRESH until it pops up. We had early entry and went straight to hagrids to ride standby and while in line waiting for hagrids sure enough the VQ popped up right about 15 min before official park open. both my husband and I did it and we were each able to snag a time so we got to ride two more times!
Was at Universal both parks on Wednesday USF jumped to a 7 or 8 but IOA was a 5 I believe. We didn’t have EE at IOA so started at USF. Didn’t even get to IOA via HE until 2:15. All standby all day. Posted 60 minute wait was on 45. Then did FP with EP as a walk on (wut!?!) and wanted to do Hagrid’s again. Posted 45 was only 30 minute wait. Our family of five couldn’t get enough.
Hope it’s standby for you with those kind of waits!
I just set phone alarms near the VQ drop times to make sure it was still standby.
