General Discussion - Hagrid's Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure
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- Mar 24, 2023
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It also took a very long time for Forbidden Journey to get Express, but it will happen eventually. Most likely after Lost Continent's replacement opens.
I have a bad feeling
Probably, but I hope not. Velocicoaster wait times are much higher than before. Averaged 45 before the implementation, typically 60 now.
I understand that standby increases a little (15 minutes isn't bad), but for someone that pays for the upgraded passes not being able to ride that one ride is a pain. Now I am hoping after the holiday madness I can get on it without being in a 110 minute wait. I will say wait times were not just inflated. Every ride we went on at first it seemed express and stand by started at the same point if not stand by a little shorter until we got to the second or 3rd room when standby was wrapped all over the place and we were a more straight shot. I also imagine after the holidays express will be less crazy as all lines should lower a little bit, I hope.I have a bad feeling
Probably, but I hope not. Velocicoaster wait times are much higher than before. Averaged 45 before the implementation, typically 60 now.
It will be interesting to see if the 'rumor' requiring a virtual time for each Express line becomes fact. If so, you'll never be able to put your phone down, or use express without carrying a phone around.
Will be hilarious if Universal reveals their own version of an Individual Lightning Lane
But maybe recent changes will delay that? Will see, I'd imagine someone at Comcast is salivating over sales on an only hagrid express will generate lol
I think this might be harder. Maybe I am just jaded because of Holiday, but several Express lanes we waited 30 minutes. It wasn't as fast as I expected it to be. So if you pay for a single ride and still wait 30 minutes? I assume Disney LL isn't that long, at least FP never was.
Are they still just using one drop track, or are both operating now? That issue seemed to be the major capacity issue causing long lines, besides the popularity.
LL has made using Standby at WDW undesirable. While the old Fastpass was free, you never really complained about waiting 15-20 minutes in the fastpass line. Now, there's an expectation you'll get straight into the ride as quickly as possible. Some of the LL to Standby ratios they are using (especially when a ride breaks down) are just horrendous. Universal does this as well, but there are far fewer people purchasing Express which reduces the amount of people using the Express lines, so its a tad better.
The one drawback of Express at Universal is that it doesn't limit how often it can be used at a specific attraction, so a very popular attraction like VelociCoaster has people getting back in line to do it again.
More reliable than it used to be... but it has its days lol
Ironically, today Thrill-Data is reporting that it hasn't operated since 10:30AM today. The weather didn't turn bad (expecting some brutal storms tonight) until an hour ago.
- Mar 1, 2017
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It's been pretty windy all day and Hagrid's closure was listed as weather related on the app.
For context, I don't think HRRR ever opened today.
One of the reasons I am not a passholder at Disney is their change and how APs get nothing and always would have to do standby unless paying. But prior I never really waited very long in a Disney FP line. A long wait was 15 minutes. Again, I have not visited since Genie+/LL has been added. My last visit was during Covid when they had no FPs and everyone was in Standby. Which I will say I really liked that. Waits were much lower all around. I would be for all parks getting rid of all express lanes paid or free. But since we live in the system we do, I bought he top tier AP.
I went from day after Christmas to Sunday 3 times and all 3 times was the same, but all are during the busy season since school was out of session for many people. Some express was pretty fast (10 or under) and other ones were much longer (up to 30). The worst was the train going to IOA, Flight, Velocicoaster, and Gringotts. Mummy and Transformers was OK, but probably around 15 to 20 mark. Velocicoaster by far was the worst as the merge point you think you are almost there to then have another giant line and child swap is at that merge point making it even longer for those families with kids too short to ride it. ET was 25 we opted out of staying and just heading elsewhere. I felt ET wasn't worth a 25 minute express line when I could ride it in a couple weeks in express for a much lower wait. So I would say they are either selling too many Express or have too many top level AP holders. I think top level AP, hotel guests, and people who buy over the holidays probably maxed the system out on all days I was there.
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Hagrid rarely closes for wind like HRRR, doubt it was because of the wind.
I'm an advocate for anything that reduces the amount of people who use express. I don't think it's a tipping point yet, but we're pretty close. HHN, in my opinion, has to get rid of Frequent Fear with the express pass option. The event is way too popular, and that perk was invented to generate more interest/attendance at a time when HHN wasn't as popular as it is now.
We always went during 'moderate' crowd level seasons. We probably had hotel unlimited Express about 80% of the time. Every now and then we would do CBBR or Sapphire, but I know when and what the wait times are so well that I can get around pretty well even without Express. Never went though, during Christmas week, high Spring Break, or July, so we never experienced the highest level crowds. During those many hundreds of vacation days, I can probably count on two hands the number of times when the Express line was more than 15 minutes. They must be selling a lot more Express passes and/or top level AP's if the lines are getting that much longer outside those real high traffic days.
Again all of these were high traffic days which is why I laughed at the reason for the late opening of the ET/Simpson/MIB section and the closing hours moving from 10 back to 9 then 8 because of "weak demand". That park was beyond packed from Christmas to this past Sunday because not just Orlando schools were not back in session so were a TON of other schools around the country. So lots of people vacationed the week after new years instead of the week between Christmas and New Years. I don't know why Universal was pulling any operations back before Monday. And now we go into another holiday weekend. Operations probably shouldn't have been reduced until after MLK in my personal opinion. Maybe during this week having some early close days.
Hagrid's was always above 100 minutes except once I saw 90 but that didn't last very long at all. Many times it was 120 to 180. I never attempted that line, but I am hoping some day it will be better.
- Jul 8, 2019
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When you’re sending 14 people per vehicle on a popular coaster, there’s only so much one can expect.
I like Hagrid's coaster, especially the layout. I've rode so many coasters, for so many years, at so many parks that they no longer interest me much. But Hagrid's transcends that boredom because it's very different. The reality of the situation though, is that I refuse to waste my vacation time that long in a queue, even if the queue is pretty good (though not on the level of FJ, Kong, or Gringotts queue). So I rarely ride it more than once on a long vacation, and that's usually around noon when the line is a bit more reasonable than rest of the day. At the best, it puts a ton of people in line, which helps keep the other parks' attraction lines more reasonable....Universal Creative really hit it on this attraction. A Grand Slam to the GP if there ever was one. And it's a 'beautiful look' addition to IOA.
Makes sense. Can't rely on Lost Continent being in Spirit Halloween mode forever, I'd hate to see Hyrule consistently used as an extended queue for Potter.
That and if they want to offer express at some point they're gonna need all the standby queue they can get lol
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