Hagrid's Coaster Queue Updates / Questions / Reviews

On the Touring Plans app, someone posted today at 11:05 that they got on in 15 min. though the posted wait time was 210. I assume they must have apparated?
Um no definitely not. I was there today. It wasn't even open this morning. I waited FOUR HOURS in line starting at 1pm between the wait and the weather delays. It was so amazing though.
 
I wish I would have attempted to ride it Sunday/Monday earlier this week now after reading the reports. I made the decision I didn't want to deal with the uncertainty and skipped the ride this go round altogether. Hopefully things will be more consistent the next time we come.
 
Has there been any rumors of EP or Virtual Line on this ride?

We are going in February and while we will of course wait in line for it, just wondering.
 
Has there been any rumors of EP or Virtual Line on this ride?

We are going in February and while we will of course wait in line for it, just wondering.

No virtual line. That idea was only toyed with during the first opening for the ride to prevent it from spilling out into Hogsmead, but that never happened so the idea of having a virtual line was killed.

As for EP, no one knows. It could be months, or it could be years. Some insiders are speculating it could come sooner rather than later (once things settle down and the ride is running consistently) but really it's anyone's guess.
 


Okay, one more question. Have guests shared their experiences of taking advantage of early park admission and heading into Studios first to ride the train into Hogsmeade for better start in line queue. vs. starting in IOA main entrance?
 
Okay, one more question. Have guests shared their experiences of taking advantage of early park admission and heading into Studios first to ride the train into Hogsmeade for better start in line queue. vs. starting in IOA main entrance?

Yes. Bad idea that has been posted many times in this thread.

You won't come close to beating the IOA rope droppers as the first train doesn't arrive until a good 10-15 minutes after park open.
 
Does anyone know which movie I should rewatch to understand the most references in the ride? I saw the Harry Potter movies about 8 years ago. Deathly Hallows Part 1?
 


I always recommend people to go on an insanely popular ride right before closing during the times in which shows are happening. As most people will be either watching the shows, or have gone for the evening. That's personally what I do rather than going for EE, or "the rope drop". For example, FoP can still be a 2-3 hour wait at AK and I've done this twice. I always get in line before the park is officially closed and never denied. First time I was able to do it within 45 minutes, the second time a little over an hour. That's including wait time and two pre-shows.

While obviously AK and IoA are different parks all together. I do not see them closing the ride prior to the official closing. I never had that experience at USF/IoA. Unless someone can protest differently in a more recent event?
That's what I do. We got in line for FoP 5 minutes before closing time and the wait time said something crazy like 150 minutes but I KNEW that since Disney lets you get in line right up until park closing time, they were just saying that to deter people like me from getting in line because there is no way they were going to stay open 2 hours after closing time. Our wait ended up being about 40 minutes or so. It's the only way to get to do any of the popular rides like that. I'll NEVER stand in line for more than an hour and that's pushing it. I've never seen fast passes that were available for this ride either. Even at 60 days out. Not ever.
 
That's what I do. We got in line for FoP 5 minutes before closing time and the wait time said something crazy like 150 minutes but I KNEW that since Disney lets you get in line right up until park closing time, they were just saying that to deter people like me from getting in line because there is no way they were going to stay open 2 hours after closing time. Our wait ended up being about 40 minutes or so. It's the only way to get to do any of the popular rides like that. I'll NEVER stand in line for more than an hour and that's pushing it. I've never seen fast passes that were available for this ride either. Even at 60 days out. Not ever.

Just to be clear, right now waiting until a few minutes prior to official park close is NOT a good idea as it relates to Hagrid's because they do in fact close the ride (the status you'll see on the app is "At Capacity") approximately 2 to 2.5 hours before park close.
 
Does anyone know which movie I should rewatch to understand the most references in the ride? I saw the Harry Potter movies about 8 years ago. Deathly Hallows Part 1?

Kind of a tough one because the main "creature" of the story of the ride never appeared in any of the movies. You'd have to read Goblet of Fire to find out about it, which I'd recommend as it's a great book. Probably my favourite of the series.

Aside from that you could re-watch Sorcerers Stone as most of the other creatures you see on the ride are featured in that movie.
 
Just got back from our trip, and we got to ride Hagrid!

We only rode once, on Wed Aug 28. At 11 am the posted time was 120 minutes and we were on in about 45 minutes. We took the chance based on what we read here, that the line was about half of the posted times, and were thrilled to get through in less time than that.

That said, there were 4 of us, and we were in the first 2 cars of our train (woohoo!!!). My sis loved the ride, but was too distracted from watching the twists and turns to even notice the creatures, and my past 70s mom and aunt about peed their pants from the acceleration. I thought the ride was AMAZING, and I think I saw all the creatures. I wish we'd ridden again, but I was so happy that we got on it even once.
 
Rope dropped both yesterday and this morning - got to the gates around 8:00 both days. They opened the center gates yesterday but not today, though they opened a gate at the far left stating a new line at around 8:40 when the TM came out to man the tap ins, so a bunch of people got a jump up in line then. Each TM can be different scanning in 5 or 6 guests while the opening ceremony goes on, or waiting until the go signal, so some lines get a jump on others. It’s a bit chaotic but you don’t need to run to get a good spot, although some do. Both days we (family of 4) got to the queue at 8:58, and on the ride by 9:08. The ride was running fine both days, and many I spoke with got on and off before 9:30 as long as you were in that group who was there in line at opening (first 25 or 30 in each line. The ride was really fun. Very cool.
 
Just to be clear, right now waiting until a few minutes prior to official park close is NOT a good idea as it relates to Hagrid's because they do in fact close the ride (the status you'll see on the app is "At Capacity") approximately 2 to 2.5 hours before park close.

I do not know @Alicefan's intentions, but I was simply expressing how I generally do things in other parks. The reply she referenced is something I wrote very early in this post. I have stated it on other pages in this post, but have also expressed that this would not be the best move as of yet since Hagrid's at the moment doesn't stay open until the park closes. This strategy would only work until Hagrid's coaster is fully operational and open without no issues open til close.
 
Disx, we all were thinking of what was the best strategy for the new ride days before it opened

I usually skim through posts and start reading reports from those that did ride
(It now sounds like waits of over 2 hours plus in line are not common due to ride breaks)

I know you posted just like you said above
You did good!

I’ll probably hit the ride a few times when I go late this month
I know there will be waits and it will be worth it
 
It might have been like that the past few days. A friend of mine who has a boyfriend who's a TM there and who's a APH herself said on Monday (I believe) they rode it three times in the evening.
 
FYI, in case nobody's mentioned it previously, if you have a backpack you're going to get waived over to a locker room at the beginning of the queue (ie, in front of the stone arch entrance to the attraction). If your backpack is too big for the free lockers that you pop open by scanning your ticket, then you'll have to use the ones that require a credit card and this will definitely slow you down if you are rope dropping. Just something to keep in mind.
 
Last edited:
FYI, in case nobody's mentioned it previously, if you have a backpack you're going to get waived over to a locker room at the beginning of the queue (ie, in front of the stone arch entrance to the attraction). If your backpack is too big for the free lockers that you pop open by scanning your ticket, then you'll have to use the ones that require a credit card and this will definitely slow you down if you are rope dropping. Just something to keep in mind.

I may not typically use bags, but personally, I do not think that is fair, but I guess that's life for ya.
 
Ugh, according to the app, it's on delay yet again this morning. Over an hour since the park opened. I'm so frustrated by this ride. It's amazing, and I want to ride it as much as possible, but it makes planning impossible when it's a total guessing game when it will be open.

I'm planning to hit both Universal and Disney tomorrow (I have AP for both) and my plan would work so much better if I could do Hagrid's first thing, but there's just no way of knowing when it will open. I want to watch the parade in Magic Kingdom, so the ideal "early afternoon" time period won't work for me, and I'm afraid that if I wait until after the parade, I risk them closing it before I even get over there. I'll definitely be watching the app to see what time it closes tonight. I have a couple other things I could do in IoA/US to waste time in the morning if it's still delayed, but not a ton, and the main reason I'm planning to go there at all is for Hagrid's, so it's just really annoying to have everything this uncertain.

It's been open long enough - they should really have something more consistent figured out by now.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











Top