Queued up at 12:05. 60 min wait. (I need to edit saying the standby wait was 120 min when we lined up)
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Today, 25 Sept Hagrid’s reopened about 12:50. I’m not sure how long it was down when we walked up or if it even opened with the park (someone maybe can help with this bit of info) We grabbed a beer at Hogshead and sat just outside the doors taking advantage of the A/C. From our vantage point we could see the bikes had started running at about 12:25. After the first train ran another followed 30 seconds later, then 60 seconds, followed by 45 seconds. This pattern repeated for about seven or eight cycles. Six minutes of no bikes. Then six runs with 30 seconds in a row followed by the opening. We just happened to be at the right place right time to take advantage of a five minute wait but maybe this info could help if you see empty trains start running.
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For those who’ve hidden already, does it matter where you sit for the best views? I know, the motorcycle side, but does it matter front, middle, or back?
Front might be slightly better but they did a really good job making sure all the bikes have an excellent view. Bike vs sidecar to me comes down to the cool factor of “driving” vs having the set props on the sidecar side. Another well thought out detail giving both a great experience!
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Thanks, that’s good to know! It takes the pressure off of making sure you’re requesting a certain spot when you’re riding.
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Here’s our report from our trip this week:
We rode Hagrid’s 3 times! The first time (Monday 9/23), we went for it at 1:30 when the wait dropped to 90 minutes. We ended up only waiting about 45! On Tuesday we planned on the 1 pm spot again. But at 1:30 or so, they closed the ride. We waited about 30 minutes and then gave up and went back to the hotel to relax and swim. Heard via the liners chat that bees were being removed. On Wednesday, 9/25, we did RD successfully (at the gate at 8:15, in the park at 8:50) but after waiting in line for about 20 minutes, TMs closed the line saying the bees were still an issue. Went back to the hotel for lunch at 12:30 and when we saw the ride was open with a 90 min wait at 1:30, we scooted back to the park. By the time we got there, it was up to 120, but we were worried it might be our last chance, so we got in line. There was a bit of an issue with them running out of lockers, so they closed the line for a few minutes, then reopened it. This time we ended up waiting about 95 minutes, but we DID get to ride! Then, when we returned to the park that night, we saw the wait was down to 45 minutes and jumped in! This time is was a true wait time. We were glad we got in line when we did (6:30, I think) because they closed it shortly after that. All in all, it was a success! And everyone agreed the ride was awesome!
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Bees? That’s interesting!
Happy Saturday, all! Here’s your Hagrid’s update:
As always, all data is from the great team at Touring Plans. Left axis is Universal’s average posted wait time at that time of day, while the right axis is the percent of days on which the ride was open and operating at that time.
Rope drop and around 1pm remain the two best time slots to attempt a ride. (Although significant morning downtime is still happening – as @brerbeer noticed the ride didn’t open until around 1pm on 9/25.) The early and erratic closure times have also continued this week. On 9/21 Hagrid’s was open the entire park operating day from 9am to 8:30pm, but three days this week saw the ride close at 3:30pm. I wouldn’t count on an evening ride being possible. If you want to ensure you get a chance to ride, I would plan to be in line by 3:15pm at the latest.
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I also wanted to canvas people’s thoughts on whether the weekly updates are still helpful. The basic advice (RD or 1pm) hasn’t changed in a long while here, and I’m starting to feel like I’m spamming the thread with repetitive information.
What do you all think? Drop back to biweekly updates? Monthly? Only update when something changes/there’s something new to report?
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I like seeing it every week. I don’t feel like it’s spamming.
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I like seeing your notes about early closing times and such, and it’s easier to find recent info by finding your last post.
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Even though I won’t be back for 3 years, I enjoy seeing your weekly posts. But I’m aware it must take some time to produce. If it’s easier for you to do less often, do that. You’re doing us a favour, so don’t feel you have to do it weekly, or less often, if that’s more work for you.
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What she said. 
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All right – seems like I’m not annoying everyone here yet! I will keep posting weekly for now. 
I do have a mea culpa from last week however. When I initially ran the 7-day trailing average data to see if overall daily ride uptime had increased over time, I didn’t take into account the different lengths of the operating day throughout the data. In other words, I didn’t take into account that the ride being open from 10am-5pm, for example, represents a larger percentage of the operating day now (when the park often closes at 8) than it did in July (when the park closed every day at 10pm).
Adjusted for the different park closing times, there has been some improvement in ride uptime since July:
So credit where credit is due, they have managed to get the ride operating throughout more of the day than it was when it first opened. The downward trend since the start of September is still present, but hopefully the switch to drier fall weather will help with that soon.
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Word on the street is that it is going on two days of solid downtime now. Anyone heard anything about what might be causing it?
TP is showing a posted wait time for Hagrid’s between about 9am and 4pm yesterday, and at least one timed actual wait:
So it doesn’t seem to be a multi-day closure, at least. This has been a noticeably bad week for Hagrid’s, however. Maybe they are still having problems with bees as was reported before?
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The bees returned this week on Wednesday?
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Yeah. Guess they didn’t get the memo that only magical creatures are invited on the motorbike adventure…
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Happy Saturday, all!
As ever, all data is from the awesome folks at Touring Plans. Left axis is Universal’s average posted wait time at that time of day, while the right axis is the percent of days on which the ride was open and operating at that time.
This week has been rough for Hagrid’s. Best strategies are still going to be rope drop and around 1pm, but ride uptime took a hit across the board this week for all time slots. Liner reports on chat were that the bees returned on Wednesday, and the downtime shows it. The ride was down for the majority of the day on Wednesday. It did reopen with the park on Thursday, but closed around 4pm and didn’t reopen that day or all day Friday.* Reports on chat are that the Department of Agriculture was out on Friday to try to work a more permanent solution for the bees, so that they don’t come back. Here’s hoping it works. (I do feel badly for Universal on this – the last thing they need for their already unreliable new headliner is for some distinctly un-magical creatures to keep trying to move in.)
*A liner on chat did report that Hagrid’s reopened on Friday at around 7:45pm and they were able to ride, but the posted wait times collected by TP don’t seem to have picked up on that. The reopening must have been very brief.
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Back in August I was disappointed we only got to ride once. Now I’m grateful that we did! I’d have been gutted if it was closed and we missed it.
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