Seth, the Sinbad kiosks are gone forever, and the Trike kiosks have been replaced, but unless you sneak past the planters, you can't get in there.
I was there at 5 AM opening day in 2010, and there were already guests lined up at the turnstiles, and the ones I talked to said they got there about 3 AM. At 5, parking hadn't even opened yet. Those first few people got to sit in the audience of the Today Show; the others were sent to the temp bridge, and were the next set of guests to enter the land, which I think was around 8 AM, although my memory is a little foggy on that detail.
I remember the day after grand opening, the line to get into Potter, but not through the turnstiles, was in Seuss Landing, but, by the time my crew got there, turnstiles had opened up because there were so many people waiting to get in the park. On my way from work that day, I was called and asked to come in at 5 AM instead of 6, because of anticipated large crowds. That is the only time after grand opening I remember Potter lines snaking all the way through the park. We were so unprepared for the popularity of the WWoHP that we really just kind of flew by the seat of our pants that first 6 months or so. We ran a stand-by line only the first summer, taping out a rudimentary line every morning, from Watering Hole into Toon Lagoon. That Christmas was the first time IOA ever reached capacity in its history, and it did so for 3 days in a row.
We are MUCH more prepared for crowds this time around, because after all, we have had a few years to smooth things out, but we know we will still be making changes on the fly, as we see fit according to business needs.
And no, I DON'T know when grand opening is, at this point, I don't think anyone does.
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I do not know if things have changed since Cabana Bay opened or maybe we've never stayed on-site in the summer. Anyway, we went for early entry and all the turnstiles were open. They never asked to see our keys at the turnstiles which surprised me.
Once inside, they check for our room key when you rounded the corner towards Seuss. In the past, we have only been when only the left side gate was open and you needed to show your key before entering the park.
The only point I am trying to make is that I think Universal will always make adjustments to operations based on crowd level, learn what works, and continue to adjust when they feel they can help crowd flow work better.
This is how we are doing EPA now, mostly because of Starbucks, but just about the entire events staff prefers sorting inside the park. And for the people who don't have EPA, they at least have Starbucks and a couple of shops open to occupy their time, and Croissant Moon usually opens about 8:30 as well. This has so many more advantages, but expect the set-up to change slightly during peak seasons.
Please also be aware that because of Cabana Bay, our EPA attendance has increased by quite a bit.