Strategy advice needed please ! For february 7th

[skyscrapermtl]

Hi !

I'll be attending Universal Studios and Islands of adventure on february 7th. I have early admission at Universal Studios at 8 am (and I've got the park to park ticket). I have not been to Universal parks since 2013 and I have only one day, I really want to make sure I get the best of it.

My main goal is to ride Hagrid motorbike adventure with minimal wait times. Would it be best to not go to the early admission and rode drop Island of adventures to do Hagrid motorbike first ? Or should I enjoy the early admission at Universal Studios ? Can I take the Hogwart Express before 9 and beat the rode-drop crowd at Hagrid Motorbike? Or should I not care and do Hagrid motorbikes whenever but in single rider ?(we are a party of two, we don't mind being seperated for this ride)

So many possibilities ! So little time !

Thanks you for your advices !!!

 

[Haystack]

That strategy has not worked from what I have seen. Just remember if you think you had an original idea so did 1000 others

The line for IOA starts early. They will start letting people in early sometimes too. My son is 15 and tried this.....I'm not a "need to be there so let's stand in this line" kinda guy so we walked around while he waited in the annual pass line. They opened the gates just after 830. He said the whole crowd booked it to Hagrids. The line was all the way in to mythos as they have a special queue there to wait for the ride to open. He was in the park before 9 and off the ride at 950 per his texts. By 930 it was a 2 hour wait.

From what I've seen the early park idea wouldn't work as youd be behind those people

 

[cfoxga]

The Hagrid Ride thread has lots of details about the best strategies. As Haystack mentioned, I think riding HE to get to IOA will put you much further back in line. We went over Thanksgiving and went to do IOA rope drop 1 hour early. They typically let us in at 8:45 and we had a 45 minute wait for the ride (we did not run like many others).

With only one day, I would do early rope drop to give you the best chance to ride. Depending how far back in line you are, you might consider doing single rider to shorten the wait...

 

[Haystack]

As I stated I'm not a "wait in a line guy" but I'm sure you could get there extremely early and bring a coffee and something to do. Bring a tablet even and then use a locker when you get inside. Watch The Office on netflix for a couple hours......proper use of time there. Then get in, cut right, cut left at Seuss and just keep running. Get on and off before 10 am and still enjoy the rest of the day. The first couple hours other lands will be quite quiet.

 

[skyscrapermtl]

Thanks for your advices !!
Well I guess the single rider line will be the best choice since I'll enjoy the low crowds at other rides... I don't want to rope drop Island of adventures and lose the early admission at the studios. Thanks you again !

 

[Disxuni]

Thanks for your advices !!
Well I guess the single rider line will be the best choice since I'll enjoy the low crowds at other rides... I don't want to rope drop Island of adventures and lose the early admission at the studios. Thanks you again !

SR line is rarely open. It's open once in a blue moon at Hagrid's. As once it's open it gets immediately filled, so then they close it. I will say that if you do not want to wait at the gate and want to take advantage of EE to essentially focus on EE and then try to get it later in the day. I will say that normally the wait time is over estimated (due to Universal compensating if there is weather and/or delay), so typically if nothing goes wrong, or weather is perfect the wait time can be much less than what is posted. If anything, you can also keep checking the main Hagrid thread for updates. Just skip to the last few pages and see what others are reporting for now up until you leave to get an idea on what is most recently happening.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

If you're counting on single rider, you'll have to monitor it carefully because it is often closed. We were told that it closes when there are so many people in the single rider line that it wouldn't be any faster (or not much faster). We have done single rider and the wait was about 25-30 minutes, but you have to catch it at the right time. And, remember that single riders get the sidecar unless the other rider doesn't want the motorbike. I would say that the end of the day is best for riding Hagrid's in general, but that's too big a risk if you have only one day and really want to ride. Early afternoon can also be a good time. You can monitor the wait times and keep in mind that, if it is operating with no delays, the actual wait time is usually less than the posted wait time.

 

[skyscrapermtl]

Oh damn I didn't know that the single rider line is not open regularly ! Well I'll track with Universal the wait times and enter the regular line when it's under 90 minutes if I'm lucky !

 

[J'aime Paris]

All really great tips from the PPs!
Also, keep watching the weather for your park day. Hagrid's is mostly an outside ride, and will definitely close during inclement weather....sometimes for only a bit and sometimes for the rest of the day.

 

[skyscrapermtl]

Yes great tips from everyone ! I'll let you know how it went ! Thanks !!

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Oh damn I didn't know that the single rider line is not open regularly ! Well I'll track with Universal the wait times and enter the regular line when it's under 90 minutes if I'm lucky !

We had a long trip during a pretty busy time. Most days we would see that the wait time had dropped to 90 minutes, get in line, and wait 45 to 70 minutes. If there are no delays, the line feels faster because you're constantly moving. And they were selling snacks, drinks, and beer at one point outside, but my stomach couldn't handle that.