We’re visiting Universal Florid for the first time in October and unfortunately only able to visit both parks in one day. We’ll be staying at one of the universal hotels with early entry but we won’t be buying the express line.
I have done two separate plans for visiting both parks but it’s not clear to me if only the USF -Harry potter land is the only area open during EA. Is the IOA-Harry land open too? Would it be better to start at IOA first and ride Hagrid’s ride first?
Thanks!
Usually, only one park or the other is open during early entry. Have you looked to see which park is open for early entry that day? (I assume you mean October as in this month, and not October next year. If it’s next year, TP may have a prediction for which park is open early, but that would not yet be confirmed.)
It looks like USF is the early entry park this month. This means that you’ll be able to go to Diagon Alley.
Sometimes - not as often as even a few months ago - “Despicable Me” will be open. That’s really all there is open for EPA. However, all of Diagon Alley is operating so you can ride Escape From Gringott’s over & over, get a Butterbeer and tour the shops with a whole lot less people.
Thanks! We’ll be visiting Universal this Sunday (October 13th) and yes, USF will have the early entry that day (7am). IOA won’t be open until 9am. Our plan was to do as much as we can during early entry and then head to IOA. From what I read, it doesn’t seem wise to try to go on Hagrid’s right when the park opens? The touring plan I picked says to wait until later in the day.
Hagrid’s hasn’t been open long enough, or reliably enough, for the plans to be accurate. And the plans assume arriving at park open, not early (we arrived at 7.40 and were front of the queue). That said, if you’re not doing RD, 1pm is often a sweet spot for low waits.
We just got back from Universal. Yes, USF was the one with early admission, and the only things open were Despicable Me and Diagon Alley.
I was disappointed with the up-time of Hagrids. Our first day at the park was a half day, and we didn’t ride Hagrids because we planned on rope dropping it the next day. We lined up at about 7:35am on our second day and there was only one other group there. They announced that Hagrid would have an extended delay that morning. When the park open they walked us back through Seussland, and parked us behind the talking fountain near the entrance to Hogsmead. At about 11am they took pity on us and gave us Express passes that were good for the Hagrid ride. Sadly, the ride didn’t open at all that day. The next day was a half day for us, and we did the early admission at USF, and we kept checking the app to see if Hagrids would open. We gave up hope around 11 am, and then miraculously it opened! We were super happy to get to ride it…once with the express pass and once in the standby line. Moral of the story…if it’s open and you are there, ride it!! You never know if it will close and stay closed until after your trip.
Thanks! This is so helpful!