I confirmed with Universal over the phone FJ will not have express when it opens. DC and Hippo will.
I went, along with a bunch of other people from various websites. While nothing happened, a whole bunch of us waited on and off all day. It was kind of like a geek-fest, but it was tons of fun meeting people who were just as excited as I was. If you're asking if it opened.. The answer is no. In fact, they had people in white/gray polos standing at the gate near the Hogwarts Express answering questions. Early in the morning they were telling guests there was a "100% chance it will not open today and there are no scheduled soft openings. It will be a complete surprise to team members and guests". (Yep, that's a quote from a TM)
There was a lot of movement going on today though, which really surprised me as 5:30 approached and nothing happened. It seems they've been moving the queue line for Dragons around, like they're expecting to just roll away the walls at any minute, construction walls that have been guarding what lies behind them are gone (except for that one last gate, I assume is permanent), and there were tons (and I mean TONS) of team members dressed in the white/gray polos that were staffing the gate. At one point, a large group of them swarmed towards the gate, hung out for a minute, then walked away.. laughing. Yep, that's a great way to treat the people who pay your pay check!
So I've come to a couple conclusions after today.. I heard from one team member soft openings will be Wednesday.. Heard from another it will be Tuesday.. Heard from another it will be Friday. It's something that will have to be timed right, like the TM stated.. It's going to be a surprise. Either Universal is a marketing genius or they're just playing games because of the large rumor of the soft opening today.
They've created a monster and I'm not sure if they're ready to face what they've created.
Check out the latest update from everything that went on today at Universal over at
Behind the Thrills.