Hagrid's Coaster Queue Updates / Questions / Reviews

[Beer Me]

That's great if they open it with the park. You can get in line early and not have to wait super long and waste the day. With it opening at noon I was going to just avoid it completely.

I rode today. Arrived at IoA gates at about 7:20. There weren’t a ton of people waiting that early. They let us through the gate about 8:15. Waited near suess landing until 8:45ish. Then went through the extended Hagrid queue but walked straight through until almost to the loading area. They were skipping the preshow entirely - just walked right through. We waited near the loading area about 30-40 minutes with no line movement. After it started we moved quickly and we were done riding by about 9:45.

 

[FSU Girl]

I rode today. Arrived at IoA gates at about 7:20. There weren’t a ton of people waiting that early. They let us through the gate about 8:15. Waited near suess landing until 8:45ish. Then went through the extended Hagrid queue but walked straight through until almost to the loading area. They were skipping the preshow entirely - just walked right through. We waited near the loading area about 30-40 minutes with no line movement. After it started we moved quickly and we were done riding by about 9:45.

that’s great to hear! You had the rest of the day to enjoy the parks and still got to ride

 

[zebsterama]

We are there in a couple of weeks - I guess there’s still hope for an early entry!

Fantastic

 

[MeridaAnn]

I got to ride again this morning! I parked at about 7:20 (mine was the second car in the parking garage) and was at the front of one of the entry lines. They started scanning tickets at about 8:20 (I was the 7th person through the gates) and then held us at the entry to Seuss Landing until 8:45. For some ridiculous reason they don't use a rope to walk everyone back to the entrance, so a ton of people got ahead of me because they ran (just moments after TMs telling them not to, of course, and two people did fall) - I was probably around 100 people back or so once we were in the holding line in front of Sinbad's. I entered the official part of the queue just a couple minutes after 9:00, took the Single Rider line, where there were about a dozen people ahead of me, and I boarded the ride at 9:10. Posted wait was listed as 3 hours from the end of the line when the park officially opened at 9.

The ride was just as amazing this second time - especially since all the animatronics and effects were working this time (the skrewt and fire blast didn't work when rode during the opening weekend). I was in the sidecar this time, and while it was still great, I preferred the motorcycle last time. The sidecar was a bit "cozy", but not uncomfortable. Both make for a great ride, though and since the Single Riders all end up in the sidecar and that saves a ton of time, I'm sure I'll happily ride in that seat plenty more in the future.

And now I'm off to ride Gringotts and grab a frozen butterbeer!

 

[MumziMom]

I checked the app an hour ago, and it said a 210 minute wait. No thanks!

 

[robot1000]

From the sound of it, it seems that it would be better to rope drop IOA than use the Early morning hours in US and get the train across. Is that right?

 

[Beer Me]

that’s great

I rode today. Arrived at IoA gates at about 7:20. There weren’t a ton of people waiting that early. They let us through the gate about 8:15. Waited near suess landing until 8:45ish. Then went through the extended Hagrid queue but walked straight through until almost to the loading area. They were skipping the preshow entirely - just walked right through. We waited near the loading area about 30-40 minutes with no line movement. After it started we moved quickly and we were done riding by about 9:45.

Follow up - rode again today (sat 7/13) using basically the same plan. Arrived at IoA about 7:30 and was off the ride by 9:25.

 

[Spike101]

I'm going to be watching this thread like a hawk for the next 12 weeks!

 

[multiculturallit]

Just want to chime in with our experience yesterday 7/14. We entered the line at 4:43 PM (park closing was 10 pm) (my daughter noted the time exactly), and I was surprised to enter at the ride entrance, not further back in the park. The posted wait time was 150 minutes, but just under an hour in, we were in a cave type room just before the room with some switchbacks before you enter the room with moving platform to ride. And then....the announcement of weather and the ride shut down.

A kind person near us in the line showed the weather radar ( my phone was in the locker), and it showed the storm passing almost as soon as it came through. The ride was closed for an hour. Right as we entered the line, many were coming out of the line saying single rider had been closed, dont know why. Announcement made at hour 2 that ride would reopen. Cheers ensued. We rode about two hours 15 minutes after we entered the line ( but keep in mind weather delay of one hour.) My 12, 10 and 7 year old and I all rode. 7 and 12 in sidecar, 10 year old and me on bike. In a word....Amazing ride, worth every minute in line. Some aniamotronics not working like Hagrid when we rode, but we didn't care. LOVED the motorbike side. My kids who rode the sidecar loved also....my 12 year old felt the turns felt really fast and fun in the sidecar, and she also felt the hill before falling back would be better in the front as we were in the back and were not far up before the fall back. Just her two cents. Seriously, it is not to be missed. I won't give anything away, but we wished we could have ridden again, but line was closed due to capacity when we came off. Questions welcomed if anyone has them.

 

[Disxuni]

Just want to chime in with our experience yesterday 7/14. We entered the line at 4:43 PM (park closing was 10 pm) (my daughter noted the time exactly), and I was surprised to enter at the ride entrance, not further back in the park. The posted wait time was 150 minutes, but just under an hour in, we were in a cave type room just before the room with some switchbacks before you enter the room with moving platform to ride. And then....the announcement of weather and the ride shut down.

A kind person near us in the line showed the weather radar ( my phone was in the locker), and it showed the storm passing almost as soon as it came through. The ride was closed for an hour. Right as we entered the line, many were coming out of the line saying single rider had been closed, dont know why. Announcement made at hour 2 that ride would reopen. Cheers ensued. We rode about two hours 15 minutes after we entered the line ( but keep in mind weather delay of one hour.) My 12, 10 and 7 year old and I all rode. 7 and 12 in sidecar, 10 year old and me on bike. In a word....Amazing ride, worth every minute in line. Some aniamotronics not working like Hagrid when we rode, but we didn't care. LOVED the motorbike side. My kids who rode the sidecar loved also....my 12 year old felt the turns felt really fast and fun in the sidecar, and she also felt the hill before falling back would be better in the front as we were in the back and were not far up before the fall back. Just her two cents. Seriously, it is not to be missed. I won't give anything away, but we wished we could have ridden again, but line was closed due to capacity when we came off. Questions welcomed if anyone has them.

Glad you were able to ride. You were lucky to have rode it at all. Since they have stated from now on they plan on opening it when the park typically opens and then close it off at 5pm, then on top of that weather got involved. Unfortunately, once they detect lightning 10 miles away, that's when they shut down, and regardless of how big, or small the storm might seem to be, it'll take awhile for that storm to pass. It seems like even when something as a little "spec" appears on the radar that alone might take about a half hour to pass from my personal experience.

Soon the park will be open again in about 15 minutes. It'll be interesting to see what it brings today.

 

[TommyJK]

From every report I've read over the last week (twitter, other boards etc.), wait times have generally been about half of what the posted wait time was.

So it seems they are for the time being continually overestimating the wait time on the app/in front of the line probably to buffer in case there is temporary downtime (like adding or removing trains or other technical issues).

Also I haven't heard of any major down times due to technical issues in the last little while, just ones for weather.

 

[jrsharp21]

Been keeping an eye on this thread. We are headed to Ft. Meyer at the end of the month. Because of airline ticket prices we are actually flying into Orlando a day earlier. So we thought we would go to a theme park for the day before driving over to Ft. Meyer. The kids chose IOA due to the new Hagrid ride. But after telling them about the long waits and the constant issues they are second guessing if they should go to a park at WDW instead. Continuing to keep them updated. The recent threads are giving me a little bit more hope. One thing we will have to decide is that we will get to whatever park at open, but have to leave around 5pm. So is it worth even all the hustle and bustle of the Hagrid ride or would it be better to just completely forget about it and enjoy a full day of other attractions.

 

[FSU Girl]

Been keeping an eye on this thread. We are headed to Ft. Meyer at the end of the month. Because of airline ticket prices we are actually flying into Orlando a day earlier. So we thought we would go to a theme park for the day before driving over to Ft. Meyer. The kids chose IOA due to the new Hagrid ride. But after telling them about the long waits and the constant issues they are second guessing if they should go to a park at WDW instead. Continuing to keep them updated. The recent threads are giving me a little bit more hope. One thing we will have to decide is that we will get to whatever park at open, but have to leave around 5pm. So is it worth even all the hustle and bustle of the Hagrid ride or would it be better to just completely forget about it and enjoy a full day of other attractions.

If they open the ride at park opening and you line up before it opens you should be able to ride it relatively early in the day and still have plenty of time for everything else.

 

[dbavis]

From every report I've read over the last week (twitter, other boards etc.), wait times have generally been about half of what the posted wait time was.

So it seems they are for the time being continually overestimating the wait time on the app/in front of the line probably to buffer in case there is temporary downtime (like adding or removing trains or other technical issues).

Also I haven't heard of any major down times due to technical issues in the last little while, just ones for weather.

We lost three hours in line on Saturday before they closed it down and gave everybody ruby passes. Finally rode it yesterday. It's still having mechanical issues.

 

[FSU Girl]

We lost three hours in line on Saturday before they closed it down and gave everybody ruby passes. Finally rode it yesterday. It's still having mechanical issues.

What's a ruby pass?

 

[dbavis]

What's a ruby pass?

It's essentially an Express pass that also covered Hagrids. We used it to get on yesterday and only had to wait about 30 minutes.

 

[FSU Girl]

It's essentially an Express pass that also covered Hagrids. We used it to get on yesterday and only had to wait about 30 minutes.

oh cool thanks!

 

[AngiTN]

We lost three hours in line on Saturday before they closed it down and gave everybody ruby passes. Finally rode it yesterday. It's still having mechanical issues.

I was wondering what was up. I have looked at the wait times after it opened each day on the app the past 2, 3 days it's always showing Closed without weather delays or anything. I was afraid that it was closed continually for days but if you rode yesterday then I guess it's still working sometimes.
Trying to decide if we are going to go over one day while we are there later this week

 

[dbavis]

I was wondering what was up. I have looked at the wait times after it opened each day on the app the past 2, 3 days it's always showing Closed without weather delays or anything. I was afraid that it was closed continually for days but if you rode yesterday then I guess it's still working sometimes.
Trying to decide if we are going to go over one day while we are there later this week

Yeah, its definitely open for parts of the day but it seems to still be having issues pretty regularly. Best bet seems to be to get in line first thing and wait it out.
It really is a fun ride. Once they get it sorted out, it'll be great.

 

[NickC]

We are leaving on Thursday for a weekend visit to US. At this point, we are planning on pretending this ride doesn't exist and planning our day without it. It's always fun to try new things, but it seems too risky at this point.