Okay, so we’re one week out from heading to Universal. Staying at the Hard Rock, armed with Express Unlimited, primed and ready to rope drop… even have our 3-pronged fanny packs! My question is, should I go with our plan of hoofing it over to Hagrid first-thing, via my touring plan? Or should I listen to Touring Plan’s optimized version, which has us doing everything else in Hogsmead, then Hagrid around 10? Overall, that is showing an anticipated wait time of 20 minutes less than straight there at rope drop (makes sense, as it’s the most popular ride right now.) Thoughts? Takeaways? Suggestions? I’m a big believer and supporter of Touring Plans, but I often hit these crossroad moments and this is one I’m unsure of.
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Personally, I care less about my overall wait time than how long my wait is in each individual line. If I can have all my waits less than 15-20 minutes but it ends up costing me an extra thirty minutes in line overall, I’ll take that trade. And I’d rather spend my time at rope drop mostly walking through the Hagrid’s line than having a 45-60 minute wait later in the morning even if I could have walked onto the other Hogsmeade rides with zero wait. With Express Pass those waits will be pretty short later.
This is assuming you’re close to the front at the tapstiles for rope drop. If you’re further back I might follow the touring plan. Being right at the front during Christmas week we knocked out all of Hogsmeade and were having a sit down breakfast before Early Entry even finished.
One suggestion if you do start with Hagrid’s: hit Hippogryph next if it’s part of your plan. Even its Express Pass line can get slow fairly early.
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My DH strongly advocates for not doing Hagrids first but doing all the other things that everyone goes by or ignores that’s all walk-on or very short waits and reserving Hagrids for after lunch, using the wait to let your food digest. He swears you’ll be able to enjoy many more attractions with this approach
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There is a mid morning Hagrid sweet spot, but I think it’s a little later than that.
About 11/11.30 ish.
@bebe80 did well with it recently. Can you confirm the time??
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That’s a good idea!
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If you’re planning on getting to the IOA gates around 7:15, definitely head to Hagrid’s first. You should have less than a 30 minute wait. Having EP helps with this decision, as you don’t have to worry about maximizing EPA as much.
(Note that a touring plan that has a popular attraction first at rope drop almost always shows an inflated wait time because it doesn’t factor in your position at the gates)
If you’re not wild about starting so early and arrive after 8:00, head to VC first for a short wait there. Then, I’d wait to do Hagrid’s til after 11am. From that time on, well into the afternoon, actual wait times are pretty consistent 50-70 minutes no matter what the posted wait says. Its usually higher than that on on CL8 days and up.
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Thanks - and thank you all. I anticipated some different responses, and I appreciate all of them. We are staying at the Hard Rock, and I did plan for us to be in line around 7 (as long as we can get out of the hotel and into line quickly.)
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Ah this would def make a big difference vs my fam which is coming to the Shadowy Place from the Magical Place 
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Yes.
Also, if they didn’t have Express Pass, it definitely is smart to maximize that early time with other/more attractions. Especially if they’re only visiting for a short time.
They always have EP because it’s one day do or die lol
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One other factor I was thinking about was wanting to go through the standby-by line for Forbidden Journey. Even though we havr EP, i fgure this is worth and early ride so we can see the whole queue the first time. Is that good thinking?
The FJ queue goes pretty fast. So, I’d say you can do the standby queue/tour successfully when posted waits are under 50 minutes. Actual waits would be up to 40 minutes, which is fine to be able to see everything and take pictures and enjoy it.
Keep in mind, even though FJ is technically open for EPA, it usually only opens at 8:30.
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We are going to Ollivanders first and explore a little with the wand, so 8:30 is perfect.
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We’re doing an impromptu trip to Universal next week (booked just last week, love how much less planning is required!), staying at the Royal Pacific. We have two days (with park-to-park and EP from the hotel) so we’re planning to try to do Hagrid’s in the last hour of park time on the first night and then rope drop in the morning (be at gates by 7:15) either because we couldn’t get the ride in the night before or we did and loved it so much we need to re-ride.
This is only our second trip to Universal and we employed the same strategy last time (a year ago) and were 0 for 2. It was closed at night because of rain and down for all of early park hours the next morning, non weather-related (we bailed after 40 min in the queue and still got a couple VC rides in). If we’re 0 for 2 this time, I’m going to politely head to guest services and see if they’ll do anything for us.
Fingers crossed!
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