Harry Potter Itinerary- EE or Rope Drop Hagrid’s?

[jenPSU]

We are taking one day of our Disney vacation to do the Harry Potter attractions at Universal. We have 1 day park to park tickets and are eligible for early entry, which is 8am at US that day. IOA opens at 9. Touring plans is predicting a 5 out of 10 crowd level that day.
We are very interested in Hagrid’s but it’s not our top priority. What would you recommend? Should we do early entry and start with Diagon Alley, and try for Hagrid’s later in the day (seems like lines drop a bit around 1?) or should we try rope dropping Hagrid’s and skip early entry?
A few additional details: it will be three adults and my 8YO who is really into HP and wants to get a wand, so we’ll likely spend a lot of time exploring. She’s interested in the rides for sure but her priority is probably the wand experience. It will be her first time at Universal.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[macraven]

When are you going?

 

[Disxuni]

I'd say check out the (end of the) main Hagrid thread throughout the week prior to going to the parks to see what has been happening with the ride. However, if it's not a top priority as you say, I would say try to catch it in the afternoon. The wait times are ridiculous period due to it being the highest peak season, but other than the season it is now, traditionally the wait times are over exaggerated as traditionally if there are no delays guests are getting onto the ride much sooner than the reported wait time.

Getting there at the rope drop sometimes works and if it does it's great since you do all your waiting prior to the official park opening, but you also have to sacrifice your EE period while waiting at the gate and it's also only great if there's no delays.

 

[damo]

We were there before Christmas and didn't rope drop it but watched the app very carefully. We found that the line was usually way overestimated on the side of caution. It all depends on crowd level.

 

[jenPSU]

When are you going?

January 13 (a Monday)

 

[Leigh L]

We were there this past weekend and the lines for Hagrid's were crazy long. App routinely said 280 minutes...and honestly, I don't think it was that far off based on the # of people we saw in line outside, not including the inside queue. But this week can't be compared to other weeks so no accurate input for the wait times.

We ended up not doing Hagrid's and took advantage of the early entry. Forbidden Journey was a walk-on and we did it twice, then headed to Flight of the Hippogriff (this was on 12/28, and a Saturday, so busy time). We were totally impressed with the HP theming in both parks, every nook and cranny. Since you have park to park, I recommend taking the Hogwarts Express both ways, different experiences. We liked them both, but we thought Kings Cross was a little bit cooler of an experience, esp in the train station itself . In January, I think you can easily do both areas of HP land in one day.

This was our first time at USO and our 13DD is a big Potter fan, she loved the wand experience!

 

[Lashed34]

I would do early entry for Gringotts & Diagon Alley. Take your time and enjoy them. Then hop on the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmead. You'll see the wait time for Hagrids and can make a decision - posted time is usually more than wait time - but if the line starts after the entrance I'd get in line personally. Then you can head up to the castle and Forbidden Journey.

If Hagrids is a long wait do FJ first and then do it after.

Also, do the Hogwarts Express back - the 2 journeys are different.

 

[Liljo22]

Do EE and Gringott's first. That line can grow quickly during regular operations. Then walk around Diagon Alley for a little bit. If you plan on doing Ollivander's, do the one in DA. Its show room is bigger and so is the store. Actually most of the shops in DA are more impressive than Hogsmeade. Also check out Knockturn Alley.

Take Hogwarts Express to IOA and hit up Hagrid's and FJ. Download the Universal App. You can set it up so that you will be notified when a wait time hits a certain point. Since Hagrid's is not a priority(it should be), I would set it to where you feel comfortable waiting.