Early Entry at IOA

[123SA]

My trip is Aug 19 -25. It is our first trip to USO. We have UExp. EE is at IOA for the entire stay.

The rides available during EE are Forbidden Journey, Dragon Challenge, Hippogriff. All of these are UExp, so it doesn't seem like we need to get there to ride these, and we will actually wait less during regular hours. Do you agree?


Next question -- is the rest of the park open to wander around and take photos with little people in the background? Would we be able to wander over to Jurassic Park area and take photos? Would we be able to find breakfast?

 

[bumbershoot]

For IOA we've had to show keycards to get in the gates for EE.

For Studios they let people in and then hold them back before despicable me. I think you can go into that sandwich shop.

I would rather do EE for those rides personally.

 

[123SA]

Thank you. We are staying at the Hard Rock so we are eligible for early entry.


Since it is our first visit, I was wondering if it is worth it to go, do Forbidden Journey for the full queue experience, but only if we near the front of the line, and then wander about taking photos. I guess my real question here is, is it worth it to go to EE just to walk around and take photos?

 

[littlejimmy]

ioa ee takes you through suess landing on your way to hogmeade. the rest of the park is not open. we just got back from a long weekend at hard rock, and we still did early entry even though we had unlimited express. just felt like we got so much more done, and if you want to do something cool, you can probably get your own boat on Jurassic because everyone goes to skull island after that part opens up.

 

[humphreydog]

The only rides that are open during EE all have EP. If you have EP, the only reason to go early now is avoid the heat.

 

[bchbetha]

The real benefit to early entry isn't about lines but enjoying the spaces before they fill up with people. Hogsmeade can be miserably congested, like good luck crossing the path congested. Use early entry, at least a bit of it b

 

[KJF]

I do agree w/ you point that the waits will be shorter later thanks to express. Now, we went two years ago when there was no express pass for the Potter rides. We did wait, but to your point, since that's where everyone is going, we did notice the waits were shorter later in the day than what we had waited in. And with express, it'll be even better to wait & go ride them later.

We're going the week after you & will still go to EE to go walk around that area & enjoy it being a little less crowded, then we'll move on to the other areas or hop on the train when the parks officially open. But, we won't feel rushed to get there, like we need to be there right at the beginning of EE.

They really had you walking along a path of employees when you got in, so really no way to go & wander around early. But, I would think you can stop along the walk to take pictures of things you see.