Hagrid’s - standby or virtual line?

[Ross Kratter]

Sorry, if my adding my own Hagrid/Virtual Line questions is seen as hijacking the thread, but I figure it is on topic, and if I’m wondering about this, then others may be, too. Feel free to school me, if you think I’m out of order here, or to provide a link if any of this has already been answered elsewhere, ok?

—> We’re Universal/IoA newbies & HP fans, so Hagrid is of course high on our list. We are not staying on site, so no early admission, and we won’t have Express pass either. Should I gently prepare my kids for this ride being a long shot that might or might not happen for us, depending on if fate decides to smile on us that day or not, or is it very likely that we do manage to get to ride it, as long as I’m doing my homework here and elsewhere?

—> Is anybody here able and willing to explain the differences between Universal’s VL & Disney’s ROTR boarding passes to me? Is there a way to “practice” from home? When I looked at the app at 8am today, it said that VL slots were gone for that drop and gave the times for future drops. However, around 8:05, the yellow flag that signifies VL are gone for now disappeared, and clicking on the link for me not to the “next drop time” message but to one that instead said I couldn’t get a VL slot because I’m not in the park right now! So, are their ever rogue, between drop times VL slots, through cancellations maybe, do they release at least some for general opening out of mercy for non early admission people like us, or was that just the app being glitchy? Do they ever scan people who don’t have early admission in early, or is there no way that we can make the 7:45am drop and have to hope for the later drops?

—> What are typical return times if we do get a VL slot? How long is the return window? How strict are they about accommodating people who mistimed other rides, got stuck in another unexpectedly long line, and come late?

Thank you in advance, you wise and experienced ones for any pearls of inside knowledge you may have for us!!
❤❤❤

Unfortunately you can’t practice from home, as the Universal app will only allow you to join a virtual line if you are in or near the parks. I have gotten in from the parking garage before.
If I remember correctly (it’s been a few weeks), virtual line time slots are 30 minutes, i.e. 1:20-1:50, so you can arrive anytime within that slot.
If you keep trying throughout the day, you should be able to get a slot. If they are running Standby instead of Virtual Line, you’ll breeze in. Posted wait times have been super inflated at Universal since they reopened, in most cases. For me, a 60 minute posted wait for Hagrid’s was more like 30.

 

[jlay68]

We had a virtual line time at 9-9:30 today. Been waiting in line for 30 minutes and we’re still back in the Lost Continent. Poorly run attraction that needs to get its crap together.

 

[puffkin]

I don’t get the Jimmy Fallon thing either. I haven’t ridden it - but since we have limited time I think we’re going to skip it.
Why is it always on virtual line?? I watched a video and I don’t get it.

Virtual Line is not a fast pass. It is a way to limit the people in a particular space. Jimmy Fallon doesn't really have a line to wait in, so they don't have a lot of room if a bunch of people show up at once. Therefore the virtual line controls how many people are coming into the attraction at one time. For Hagrids, for example if the line can hold 1000 people but 2000 show up to ride at once, they activate the virtual line to help disperse people through the park. You will still wait with the virtual line, its just the other part of your wait is done virtually. For Hagrids, we have actually had better luck riding when it was not on virtual line.

 

[puffkin]

We had a virtual line time at 9-9:30 today. Been waiting in line for 30 minutes and we’re still back in the Lost Continent. Poorly run attraction that needs to get its crap together.

Virtual line is not a fast pass. It is just reserving your space in line virtually to limit the number of people in a particular area. Most likely the hold up is at the lockers. Once you get into the actual queue it should move faster.

 

[NorthernCalMom]

More VL questions:

—> Is it possible to hold more than one VL pass at a time, meaning if all of us want to ride Hagrid’s but one of us also wants to get a VL slot for the Mummy, would they be able to do both, or is it an either-or?

—> If Hagrid’s VL passes go quickly, is it possible & helpful for all of those of us who have cell phones to get the app & try at the same time (similar to how folks in WDW do for ROTR?), or would that be overkill?

Oh, cr*p! Am monitoring wait times right now, and Forbidden Journey has already hit capacity (so no standby or VL there for the moment, I guess?). Looks as if our Universal day will be a long one. Fortunately our kids have stamina and iron wills, when it comes to rides they want to do badly, and this is the last day of our trip, so we can sleep on the plane home...

 

[abnihon]

More VL questions:

—> Is it possible to hold more than one VL pass at a time, meaning if all of us want to ride Hagrid’s but one of us also wants to get a VL slot for the Mummy, would they be able to do both, or is it an either-or?

—> If Hagrid’s VL passes go quickly, is it possible & helpful for all of those of us who have cell phones to get the app & try at the same time (similar to how folks in WDW do for ROTR?), or would that be overkill?

Oh, cr*p! Am monitoring wait times right now, and Forbidden Journey has already hit capacity (so no standby or VL there for the moment, I guess?). Looks as if our Universal day will be a long one. Fortunately our kids have stamina and iron wills, when it comes to rides they want to do badly, and this is the last day of our trip, so we can sleep on the plane home...

If a ride hits capacity can you still enter with express pass?

 

[SWDisfan]

Sorry, if my adding my own Hagrid/Virtual Line questions is seen as hijacking the thread, but I figure it is on topic, and if I’m wondering about this, then others may be, too. Feel free to school me, if you think I’m out of order here, or to provide a link if any of this has already been answered elsewhere, ok?

—> We’re Universal/IoA newbies & HP fans, so Hagrid is of course high on our list. We are not staying on site, so no early admission, and we won’t have Express pass either. Should I gently prepare my kids for this ride being a long shot that might or might not happen for us, depending on if fate decides to smile on us that day or not, or is it very likely that we do manage to get to ride it, as long as I’m doing my homework here and elsewhere?

—> Is anybody here able and willing to explain the differences between Universal’s VL & Disney’s ROTR boarding passes to me? Is there a way to “practice” from home? When I looked at the app at 8am today, it said that VL slots were gone for that drop and gave the times for future drops. However, around 8:05, the yellow flag that signifies VL are gone for now disappeared, and clicking on the link for me not to the “next drop time” message but to one that instead said I couldn’t get a VL slot because I’m not in the park right now! So, are their ever rogue, between drop times VL slots, through cancellations maybe, do they release at least some for general opening out of mercy for non early admission people like us, or was that just the app being glitchy? Do they ever scan people who don’t have early admission in early, or is there no way that we can make the 7:45am drop and have to hope for the later drops?

—> What are typical return times if we do get a VL slot? How long is the return window? How strict are they about accommodating people who mistimed other rides, got stuck in another unexpectedly long line, and come late?

Thank you in advance, you wise and experienced ones for any pearls of inside knowledge you may have for us!!
❤❤❤

Getting a VL pass for hagrids is by far easier than ROTR! We were able to score VL passes every day with ease and even twice in one day. ROTR we only scored once in 4 days! Hagrids is by far our most favorite ride in all of UO and Disney! Nothing comes close to thrill, storytelling and being fully immersive and long...3 minutes! Although it feels like 30 seconds. Lol. Once we had our VL pass it was anywhere from 20-45 minutes to board. I must say my daughter and I were there in August 2019 and waited 3 hours to ride! We’d do it again! It’s that good. Don’t worry if you forget to add everyone in your VL pass either, if you have a pass they allow your whole party. Hope this helps!

 

[TreeFalls]

If a ride hits capacity can you still enter with express pass?

For rides that have express pass, yes. But Hagrid's doesn't take express pass.

We were there last week, and by setting an alarm on my phone for 2 minutes before drop, I was able to get Hagrid's VL reservations every time I tried.

It did get off to a bad start, though.. Monday night we had VL pass and went to the parks just to ride Hagrid's, we waited about 30 minutes, loaded on the ride, rounded the corner... and just stopped and stayed there. After another 20ish minutes they came to get us off. They did give us passes to come back and bypass the line, which we used the following morning, but it was disappointing because by the time we got off the coaster the park was closed and we couldn't ride anything. At least we were still near the boarding area, though. They had to go out on the track and retrieve people from the trains that were not in the loading area.

 

[jlay68]

Virtual line is not a fast pass. It is just reserving your space in line virtually to limit the number of people in a particular area. Most likely the hold up is at the lockers. Once you get into the actual queue it should move faster.

Took 2 hours from getting in the line to off the ride.

 

[Ross Kratter]

Took 2 hours from getting in the line to off the ride.

The ride must have gone down while you were in line if the wait was that long.

 

[puffkin]

The ride must have gone down while you were in line if the wait was that long.

Agreed....shouldn't take more than 45 minutes if you are in the virtual queue. Sounds like a breakdown to me. We've never had that happen to us on Hagrids....but on Kong it has literally happened every single time we have ridden it. Both times we waited 40-50 minutes in the EP queue. The second time, we ended up getting evacuated from the ride in the last seen because it broke down again. But we have never had an issue with Hagrids, even the time we were backed up into the Sinbad theater it still only took about 45 minutes.

 

[Gentry2004]

What are the times each day that you can sign up for Hagrid's virtual queue?

And does the line die off near the end of the night ever? I don't see us rope dropping at 6am during spring break, especially since we have express pass for everything else.

 

[Gizmo74]

If it's virtual queue, how long should I expect to wait when I get to the ride? Is it basically a walk on, a minimal wait, or should I expect an hour in the physical line after returning with my virtual line time?

We rode it 5 times on this trip. Average wait time was an hour all 4 times we had to wait. The ride broke the first time we rode it so they let us ride it again. That was lucky because we had no idea it even broke while we were on it.

 

[Patches Lee]

What do they do about restroom use now? Are people able to leave and come back to their spot?

 

[R2D2]

We waited 2 hours last week to ride with VL and that was early in the morning. We waited around an hour with an evening VL pass. So, be prepared to wait for quite a bit.

We were able to go use the bathroom and jump back over the rope and such.

 

[yellowfish78]

We were there on the 14th and 15th of March.

The 14th they released Hagrids on the dot at their scheduled times. We were able to get two on each of our phones between 10am and 11am. Got into line and they scanned us and then the ride went down. Ended up waiting an hour 20 - and I'm glad we did because it was the only time we got to ride. We missed the next virtual line spot and received an express for any ride but Hagrids. We asked and they still said no, even due to the fact the ride went down.
The 15th seemed like they released the virtual line at 7:45am and then 15 minutes after 11am... the ride was up for a few hours in the morning and then down the rest of the day. So I'm glad we stuck it out for the first day.

 

[Mr. Drauer]

the ride always opens at standby and depending on the day and crowd, moves to VQ pretty much right after opening to limit the line. the VQ is easy and can be done from anywhere on Universal property, including the hotels and parking garage. It pretty much drops right on the hour so just be prepared to hit the button. You can set your party number, but they don't really check when they scan it, whatever size party can usually just follow right into the line. The ride tends to go down, and that can kill the wait time. If you hear that announcement that there is a delay in today's lesson, take a seat because that means a guarenteed 20 minute stoppage. Recently, the turn table for loading and unloading has had the speed reduced, which really slows the loading and unloading procedures. Both times we rode this weekend on VQ took an hour in line because of this. If it is all performing up to standards, the wait for VQ should be 25 - 30 minutes, You can tell if it is working in line when you move forward 5 or 6 spots every minute or two, or in lower crowd days, just keep walking all the way into the castle and don't stop until the egg room or creature room. if you have 5 or 10 minutes in one spot, it is not working great. We also saw way more people using the Accessibility entrance in the creature room, which can really slow things down. I am an AP who lives locally and have ridden 25+ times in the last year.

 

[asuburbanman]

Ugh this ride seems like a nightmare to get on. I can’t imagine Velocicoaster will be as bad since it seems more or less a typical coaster.

 

[Ross Kratter]

Ugh this ride seems like a nightmare to get on. I can’t imagine Velocicoaster will be as bad since it seems more or less a typical coaster.

I have a feeling that Velocicoaster will draw a lot of the Hagrid’s crowd over, thereby reducing the wait time and need for Virtual Line. We’ll see.

 

[03GirlsMom]

I have a feeling that Velocicoaster will draw a lot of the Hagrid’s crowd over, thereby reducing the wait time and need for Virtual Line. We’ll see.

One can only hope! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will be the case by the time we visit in the fall. That's my back-up plan in the event we're not able to ride Hagrids on this spring trip.