Has anyone recently rope dropped Hagrid’s with early admission. It seems like a no brainer but Thrill Data for level 9/10 crowds actually says lines are shorter mid afternoon than at 8am. Any truth to this?
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It is true that waits in the afternoon are shorter than the morning (overall) for Hagrid’s. But, Thrill Data only lists the posted (not actual) wait times and Universal often starts out at 8am with a very inflated wait, like 75 minutes. But if you arrive at the gates 30-45 minutes before EPA opening time, you will have a short wait. That is, if the ride is running and not delayed.
Now if it’s a lower crowd day, sometimes it’s actually not worth it to rope drop because waits can be under 60 minutes after the morning rush.
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We roped dropped the week of March 13- arrived at 715 , were about 10th in our row to get in, gates opened at 750, got stuck behind someone who’s passes would not work so that delayed us a good 3-4 minutes while what looked hundreds of people passed by us (prob an exaggeration) , fast walked to the ride and we were off before 830. I think it was worth it. Another day that we we went early evening and waited over 60 mins.
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It’s great to rope drop if you can (arriving 30+ minutes before park open) but it kind of ruins your early entry if it’s delayed. Maybe I just have bad luck but it has a delayed start for me more often than not. Therefore, I shoot to be in line just before close.
If this is your first time riding it though, I would def try for early entry in case it rains or something later so you don’t miss your opportunity!
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If you can move relatively quickly, and get to the gates 30-45 minutes before EE starts, it’s definitely worth it.
We walked right on, one morning, and it was a BUSY day! We got to the taps about 45 minutes before EE (so, like 7:15), and lucked into being first in line. We had no issues with our tickets that day, so were some of the first ones through. They started scanning about 7:45. Walking quickly - we didn’t run - we hit Hagrid’s queue with only a hundred or so folks who’d run ahead of us. We never stopped at all in the queue.
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I’m trying to decide if we want to RD this or just ride it late in the day. We’ll be at UOR May 21-22. If we do RD I’m considering doing it on our 2nd day. That way we will have gotten a chance to learn where things are a little bit and not be going in totally blind as first time visitors. We have EP so I’m not worried about the other lines, and we may skip some of the big coasters. Maybe we’ll grab some ice cream and get in line late in the day.
How late is too late to get in line? I’ve heard sometimes they close the queue before the park closes.