Tracking Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure opening times

I know, it sounded like they were going to and there were a few CMs there, but it ended up just one.

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We go Monday and Tuesday. I’ve been “stalking” this chat to figure out the best plan for our group of nine. I think we’re going to try RD if the whole group agrees. Otherwise we’re assuming for the 1pm spot. I can’t tell you how great it’s been to get all this insight!

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This is fantastic information in this thread, especially this most recent update from missoverexcited.
I wonder what the RD wait would be like if you arrived later, like 8:00am or even 8:30am? How much does the line build during that time?

By 8am I would say there were 500 people there, probably more. When we got to the ride entrance it was posted 180 - though of course I have no idea if it really was 180 for people at the back of the RD crowd.

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We had a few reports earlier in the thread from people who arrived at 8 or so – I think they were mostly off around 11am? So it does seem like it builds pretty fast.

Your Saturday update:

Not much change with this one either – is the pattern starting to become more consistent day-to-day?

It still looks like, based on data and liner reports, rope drop is the best option for Hagrid’s to guarantee (A) that you do get to ride, with (B) a relatively short wait. 7:30am arrival to the IOA gates seems to be the ideal here.

Outside of rope drop, the 1pm “sweet spot” is still present, with the ride showing low average wait times and being open on around 75% of days.

There is also a spike in ride up time around 7pm. I am very interested to see if this continues. If it does, it might be a better option than 1pm. This is because the downtime after 1pm (especially between 3pm & 5pm on the chart) is due to “true” ride downtime, mostly due to weather. The “downtime” after 7pm is mostly due to the ride closing to capacity for the day – for those people already in line, the ride should still be operating. So you are less likely to get “caught” in line during a lengthy delay jumping in line at 7pm than at 1pm. The risk with the 7pm option is that the ride sometimes only reopens post-afternoon-storms for a very short period – on some days it’s been as little as 5-10 minutes of being open before closing again for capacity for the day. So to hit it correctly you might basically have to be waiting outside the ride entrance waiting around for it to reopen after a weather closure.

As always, let me know what you think and good luck to those whose trips are coming up soon!

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Thanks so much for sharing all of this info! We are arriving in the afternoon of 8/18 for our first ever USF trip and have been trying to figure out the best way to get this coaster in! It’s a must do for the kids but I’m not sure in real life if we’ll all be able to handle the wait. Or the RD running of the bulls. Or honestly arriving at 7:30am (not so bad) but still technically waiting at least 90 minutes before actually getting into the real queue. I guess we’ll be obsessively looking at the forecast…

We’re arriving the same day! Also a first trip. DS11 and I really want to ride, DH likes rides but isn’t a big HP fan so for him it’s wait time dependant, while DS7 doesn’t like drops and when he saw the going backwards part of the ride on a POV video he went from maybe wanting to do it to a hard NOPE. So I still don’t know what our plan is other than watching the weather forecast closely and maybe jumping in the queue around 1pm or 6:30/7pm. I don’t think the RD mêlée will work for us.

Thanks for all of the charts @dunegirl!

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I just hope they actually help! I do a bit feel like we’ve crunched a lot of data to come to the conclusion that “rope drop is helpful” and “it rains in Orlando in the afternoon in summer” :rofl:

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We did rope drop today and our total wait was 2 hours, including rope drop. That ride is amazing!! The hold in Suess land was brutal. This morning crew members did pull people that ran. Beware though the free lockers are truly small.

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Good to hear that they did something to discourage the running! What time did you arrive at IOA for that 2 hour wait?

We were at the entrance at 745. Gates opened at 825. Then they let us leave Suess at 850. That part of waiting was pretty miserable with the humidity.

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Has anyone been tracking what time they close the line each day?

I hadn’t been tracking it specifically, but looking quickly through my data, since 25th July when they switched to the later closes there have been 20 days. Of those it closed:

Before 7pm – 5 days (once as early as 4:30!)
Between 7pm and 7:30pm – 5 days
Between 7:30pm and 8pm – 4 days
Between 8pm and 8:30pm – 2 days
After 8:30pm – 4 days (latest close was 8:45)

So maybe 7:30 as the average time? But it’s not settled into any real pattern yet. The other problem with predicting the close time is that, for example, if you look at the wait times for 8/8:

https://touringplans.com/islands-of-adventure/attractions/hagrids-magical-creatures-motorbike-adventure/wait-times/date/2019-08-08

You can see that it did reopen after the afternoon weather closure – but only for about 5-10 minutes. It seems that on some days they reopen, pulse in the crowd that was literally standing around waiting outside the queue entrance, and then close again for the day almost immediately. So trying to hit that right would be a challenge.

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Thank you to everyone for posting their experiences, it was a great help in my planning yesterday

Summary of below:

7:40 arrival
10:50 ride time (about 75 minutes ride downtime)

This morning we arrived at the gates around 7:40. Gates opened around 8:30 and many people were running. We were held at Suess and were next to the food cart on the left until approx 8:45. Once released people were running again but it was so narrow few really could. Once we hit Lost Continent there were ropes to follow. Some people ignored them and would cut the line by going under. These seemed to be very few and were loudly booed by others. Once we arrived at the official entrance a fair number of people were confused about using the lockers and where to go. We were able to save time by not needing a locker. We walked all the way into the castle and weren’t stopped until there was a motorcycle and sidecar for checking guests size on it. We moved at a good pace and were in the final room about 30 people back when the ride broke down. I’d say it was about 9:25 when the delay occurred. It came online at around 10:40. We were on within 10 minutes.
Unbelievable ride!

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I’m glad you got to ride, sorry about the long downtime wait! The rope drop scene sounds like a total zoo but brief, at least? Were most people just walking with purpose vs. running after the hold at Seuss?

From Suess there were very few runners where I was. Most were walking briskly

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Thank you for these post. I’m going in mid Sept. and this helps with my planning and expectations!

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Glad you enjoyed the ride and sorry about the bad luck with the break down. If it hadn’t broken down you were for sure on track to be done well before ten.

I still think on balance we will try to do Hagrid Rope Drop in a couple of weeks on maybe the second of three days that we are there. Hopefully, we’ll just have better luck with the breakdowns.

I want the kids to have a positive experience on the first partial and full day so we will hit Studios and other non-Hagrid rides first.

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