Hagrid's Coaster Queue Updates / Questions / Reviews

[Wreckem]

Looks like maybe 4:30 for it to open. The bikes are cycling every 30-45 seconds for the past 10 minutes or so.

Edit: just opened at 4:13. I probably have a hour in the official queue. At least there is AC.

 

[Wreckem]

My advice. Skip re opening queue. Hope it’s doesn’t rain. Get in line at 6:30.

 

[minnieluvzmickey]

In line now...fingers crossed

 

[Wreckem]

Storms rolling through. Hopefully they pass over quick and the ride starts back ups.

Just for the record it opened at 4:13, was only up for 15 minutes before being down another 45. Eventually got on the motorbikes at 5:15.

Definitely wouldn’t wait again. They really need to get the ride to a functioning level. Being open 5-6 hours a day is not functioning.

 

[SA mom]

Just another warning, there is VERY LITTLE SHADE in the pre-opening holding area.

 

[Wreckem]

Storms still going strong and lighting within the area. Not sure if it’s going to be back up tonight. Which if it doesn’t come back up tonight it will have only been online for about 3 hours and fifteen minutes or so. So about 8-9 out of the 22 hours the park was open the last two days.

 

[Wreckem]

Just another warning, there is VERY LITTLE SHADE in the pre-opening holding area.

If you chose to to do what I did and I wouldn’t do it again. Make sure you have a cool dri wicking type shirt, a cooling towel and drink a ton of fluids(not just water). Oh and sun screen. I reapplies sunscreen four times. Very minimal burning. There were quite a few burnt lobsters before they opened the official line.

Overall it paid off since the ride was only up a minimal amount time today and it was my last full day at universal. If I had all day I tomorrow I definitely would have not waited in the queue. And now I have an express for the three hours in the morning.

 

[minnieluvzmickey]

It rained and stormed so it was a no go for us.....total 4 hours of waiting today and we still didn’t ride the stupid ride !!!!!!

 

[skylock]

It is clear at this point this ride was rushed and not ready for prime time.

It is tricky. Those that get to ride are mostly very happy when they get off, even if they have waited forever, but on the other hand when you have people waiting in the sun for 4 hours and still doesn't get to ride is leaving those people with a bad taste and I do not blame them.

If it was anything except a HP themed ride, I am not sure what would be happening, but Universal needs to face the facts and shut it down until it can be made to run right. I am almost wondering now if it will ever run right without a major overhaul of the whole thing.

 

[TotoGogo]

https://imgur.com/a/jW0uOCf

I was one of the few (the ride was down most of the day) . I would advise to watch on mute as there is screaming. I wasn’t holding the camera so apologize for angles there’s better videos on YouTube. The day was a mess and it stormed at the last minute so after it started pouring I went home. I’m in the car

 

[StarWarsJez]

It is clear at this point this ride was rushed and not ready for prime time.

It is tricky. Those that get to ride are mostly very happy when they get off, even if they have waited forever, but on the other hand when you have people waiting in the sun for 4 hours and still doesn't get to ride is leaving those people with a bad taste and I do not blame them.

If it was anything except a HP themed ride, I am not sure what would be happening, but Universal needs to face the facts and shut it down until it can be made to run right. I am almost wondering now if it will ever run right without a major overhaul of the whole thing.

Agreed. A day out at Universal is a VERY expensive trip for most families, so to have so many people waiting 3-4 hours and still not getting on is really poor. The lack of shade in the queuing areas suggests they’re lacking care and consideration for their customers!

Sure, new rides are often prone to problems, but Universal appears to be managing this problem really badly.

 

[Disxuni]

It looks like this this heading to be a Jaws experience. It's been three weeks now. Which is give, or take is typically the amount of time soft openings occur. Occasionally after soft openings there is down time on occasion, but it's intermittent and down time is extremely short. So, I would say that after two months max have passed and they still do not have it together, they're going to need to do what they did for Jaws and just shut it down for an extended amount of time, really work on it, and open it back up. Because if they do not have it together by then, either something is wrong with the ride, or they're going to have to change how they operate it to make work.

 

[mitsukoshi samurai]

Same with gringotts and infinity falls

 

[mrd7896]

i was in the queue yesterday. The no tents/shaded areas is really telling for Universal as a company...yes they had JUGS of water that CM's were walking over to people but it was absolutely ridiculous. i saw some people have quite the freak out to some poor workers but

I made friends with one of the CM's who was corralled over to the lost continent with no prior warning because they needed more people. She made a comment to my party about how she was lucky and took a lunch before being 'voluntold' (her words) to go man the line, whereas some of her coworkers didn't take their lunch and wouldn't be taking one for quite some time. She had zero idea how long she would have to stand there in the sun watching the line but was just doing what she was told. I felt so bad, but really everyone was in the dark. And i'm not sure if all of the CM's aren't allowed to tell any guests information but no one was informed.

One of the fellow line waiters near me motivated our party to stay as she has been on the ride 4 times and was actively choosing to wait in the 4+ hour line..however she said that because of all the moving parts, some 'newer' technology and the control room not used to everything just yet, the ride takes longer than most (obviously) to get fixed. I'm not sure if that is a load of rubbish but not opening up until after 4, then shortly being shut down again for roughly 30 minutes seems like a bigger problem.

I'm happy i was able to ride it, it was a fantastic ride..honestly one of the best. And not spoiling anything really made it much better. I'm going to have a hard time waiting for the ride again for any thing longer than 2 hours since i know how finicky it is.

I just feel bad for anyone that got in the line, waited a few hours and then was unable to ride it due to the weather. THEN i would've been pissed.

 

[Disxuni]

I really do wonder why they're so against having people actually wait in the queue itself. The only thing I can think of safety wise is if something went wrong, or they were to close it period and everyone needed to leave it would take longer for people to evacuate (however you kind of have that problem in any queue technically) the building.

 

[Wreckem]

I really do wonder why they're so against having people actually wait in the queue itself. The only thing I can think of safety wise is if something went wrong, or they were to close it period and everyone needed to leave it would take longer for people to evacuate (however you kind of have that problem in any queue technically) the building.

There wouldn’t be room for water stations and it would be much more difficult to get out of line to get food and drinks. Which is necessary if the ride doesn’t open until the end of their midday range(4pm). There are also some very narrow parts of the queue. When it went down after being open for 15 minutes(after opening at 4:13) they had some people with claustrophobia having issues in parts of the queue.

It looks like it opened around noon today. Not sure why as it only operated about 3 Hours and 15 minutes yesterday. Hopefully people have better luck today.

 

[mrd7896]

I also heard people muttering yesterday that that was one of the latest openings for it thus far...just our luck i guess.

 

[NickC]

We are going to Universal in a little over 2 weeks. It sounds like we might not make this one. Unless they have it running full time, I don't see us waiting for it.

 

[mrd7896]

We are going to Universal in a little over 2 weeks. It sounds like we might not make this one. Unless they have it running full time, I don't see us waiting for it.

honestly, i never would've thought i would've waited 4 hours for a single attraction. we were able to use the extra hour of park opening, went on Gringotts, transformers and despicable me. took the train over to IoA and by about 12:30 we had done forbidden journey, jurassic park, kong and popeye's. there were only a few attractions we had left and about 10 hours of park time. and we weren't rushing, or at least it didn't feel like we were. we stopped and ate, had a butterbeer, mosey'd around some stores, etc.

even after we got off the ride at 6:30 we ate dinner, went on spider man (half the party took the time to go on hulk), hopped back over to the other side and did men in black, mummy, fast and furious and jimmy.

keep in mind we only had 1 day of park tickets.

it obviously feels silly spending your valuable time sitting in a queue when you have little to no information about its' operation but i was shocked at how much we were able to get done still!

 

[Wreckem]

honestly, i never would've thought i would've waited 4 hours for a single attraction. we were able to use the extra hour of park opening, went on Gringotts, transformers and despicable me. took the train over to IoA and by about 12:30 we had done forbidden journey, jurassic park, kong and popeye's. there were only a few attractions we had left and about 10 hours of park time. and we weren't rushing, or at least it didn't feel like we were. we stopped and ate, had a butterbeer, mosey'd around some stores, etc.

even after we got off the ride at 6:30 we ate dinner, went on spider man (half the party took the time to go on hulk), hopped back over to the other side and did men in black, mummy, fast and furious and jimmy.

keep in mind we only had 1 day of park tickets.

it obviously feels silly spending your valuable time sitting in a queue when you have little to no information about its' operation but i was shocked at how much we were able to get done still!

It was helpful crowds were light this past weekend. This morning until 12 was even better. Over the weekend it seem a that most everything in both parks was pretty much walk on till 11ish-11:30ish and ride times didn’t get very long. I rarely saw the two other main potter rides get over a hour. Kong and Hulk hot 75-80 a couples times. I’ve seen Gringots and Forbidden Journey hit 180-210 during Xmas/New Years. I infact waited 1.5hrs in the Gringotts Express line last Christmas.