General Discussion - Hagrid's Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure

[Clive]

With 2025 complete, here is how Hagrid ended up w/ the Express addition (thanks to TouringPlans.com data). The red line is Hagrid's average all-time wait-time data (92 mins). The dark black line is Hagrid's wait, while the lighter grey is the overall IOA wait-time for E-tickets excluding Hagrid (Spidey, FJ, Hulk, JPRA, Veloci, Kong).
View attachment 28765

Average Posted Before Express: 90-minutes
Average Posted After Express: 118-minutes

A +32% Jump compared to before (an additional ~half hour). IOA's other E-tickets saw a combined -22% drop in average waits.

I mean, tracks. I would've hoped that the expanded maintenance bay would've helped overall capacity somewhat, but it appears that hasn't really happened?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I mean, tracks. I would've hoped that the expanded maintenance bay would've helped overall capacity somewhat, but it appears that hasn't really happened?

So far, it does look like it's working and downtime has improved, so there's a gain on that end. But you still have express being prioritized, so it ends up negating that improvement for standby.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I mean, tracks. I would've hoped that the expanded maintenance bay would've helped overall capacity somewhat, but it appears that hasn't really happened?

The expanded barn was for getting it open earlier during EPA.

 

[SkiBum]

So far, it does look like it's working and downtime has improved, so there's a gain on that end. But you still have express being prioritized, so it ends up negating that improvement for standby.

Has there been any ride that benefits from Express, Lightning Lane, or FastPass? I mean, I understand that the intention is pull more money out of the consumer's wallets or to give an incentive to stay the more expensive hotels but the wait times are suffering because management doesn't have a clear idea on how to successfully balance the line-jumping passes against those that are waiting in stand-by.

 

[Mad Dog]

Has there been any ride that benefits from Express, Lightning Lane, or FastPass? I mean, I understand that the intention is pull more money out of the consumer's wallets or to give an incentive to stay the more expensive hotels but the wait times are suffering because management doesn't have a clear idea on how to successfully balance the line-jumping passes against those that are waiting in stand-by.

Probably not. Even at WDW a huge people eater like Pirates and Haunted Mansion experienced increased stand by times when fast pass, and later lightening lanes, were added. It's a direct result of the process, and to be expected.....Fast Pass/Lightening/Express = Longer stand by times

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Has there been any ride that benefits from Express, Lightning Lane, or FastPass? I mean, I understand that the intention is pull more money out of the consumer's wallets or to give an incentive to stay the more expensive hotels but the wait times are suffering because management doesn't have a clear idea on how to successfully balance the line-jumping passes against those that are waiting in stand-by.

Express, or any form of skip the line pass, doesn't benefit anyone (I'd argue even those with Express as wild as that sounds). There's no reason why, like Mad Dog mentioned, there should be a significant wait for rides like POTC and HM.


In Hagrid's case, express really only benefits premier hotel users, premier passholders after 4PM and those that purchase the pass. They aren't getting rid of the system, but I do wish they exempted Premier Passholders from it (sorry!) and limited express use to 1 per person per day. Daytime guests are severely penalized during EPA and then later in the afternoon with the wave of premier APs arriving at the park.

 

[JohnHammondsCane]

Express, or any form of skip the line pass, doesn't benefit anyone (I'd argue even those with Express as wild as that sounds). There's no reason why, like Mad Dog mentioned, there should be a significant wait for rides like POTC and HM.


In Hagrid's case, express really only benefits premier hotel users, premier passholders after 4PM and those that purchase the pass. They aren't getting rid of the system, but I do wish they exempted Premier Passholders from it (sorry!) and limited express use to 1 per person per day. Daytime guests are severely penalized during EPA and then later in the afternoon with the wave of premier APs arriving at the park.

Yeah, I downgraded my Premier pass coming into 2026, and I'll probably not ride Hagrid's anymore unless we A) stay at HRH, PB, or RPR, or B) are near the front of EPA. Sad, because it's my favorite ride, but I just can't justify the wait time. Even worse, when my brother, who has an AAP, comes with us, the line was 15 min max. With the addition of express, that wait time is now more than double, so he can't ride either.

Totally not trying to be all "poor me", but just lending my POV on how this will effect park guests of different stripes. Absolutely love the ride, but it's going to be a slog for anyone without express or waking up super early for EPA

 

[Mad Dog]

Hagrids and RotR used to have similar wait times during the first few years they opened, nearly at similar times. But while
RotR has dropped considerably, Hagrids has remained very high. I don't have any operational or theoretical ride capacity
information for either attraction. Does anyone have any 'up to date' capacity numbers? That could help to see what's going on.
Both attractions have express versions now. Neither has the troublesome lottery like virtual lines anymore.....I rode this a
ton of times when I had hotel express in November, but didn't bother after the second half of the vacation at a non express hotel.
I do not stand in lines over an hour long. No ride is worth that, not even Hagrids.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Hagrids and RotR used to have similar wait times during the first few years they opened, nearly at similar times. But while
RotR has dropped considerably, Hagrids has remained very high. I don't have any operational or theoretical ride capacity
information for either attraction. Does anyone have any 'up to date' capacity numbers? That could help to see what's going on.
Both attractions have express versions now. Neither has the troublesome lottery like virtual lines anymore.....I rode this a
ton of times when I had hotel express in November, but didn't bother after the second half of the vacation at a non express hotel.
I do not stand in lines over an hour long. No ride is worth that, not even Hagrids.

Quick example below on how Express impacts wait-times.

Rise of the Resistance & Hagrid have very similar max (100% efficient) capacity. However, both differ greatly day to day. ROTR will often have downtime but can run enough vehicles to get close to its maximum hourly capacity. Hagrid suffers from not being able to have enough trains running to reach that goal everyday.

The chart below shows how Hagrid's hourly capacity depends on the number of trains running. Below that, you can then see how the Express to Standby ratio impacts standby capacity and wait-times. So if you're the 1,00th guest in line with a 10 Express to 5 standby guest ratio (33% dedicated to Standby), and the ride is running an efficient 11 trains, you're looking at a 100-min wait.


(If anyone has actual(s) data and/or another method, please let me know!)

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I know the resort is busy this week, but this has become a common occurrence since express was added.

I really think this attraction should have express removed entirely and replaced with an individual one time purchase with limited availability.

 

[Clive]

I know the resort is busy this week, but this has become a common occurrence since express was added.

I really think this attraction should have express removed entirely and replaced with an individual one time purchase with limited availability.

Who does that benefit, though? The result would still be the same. People will pay to skip that Hagrid’s line, almost certainly to the point where you’ll see similar results. They aren’t going to gate it with “limited availability.”

One of the biggest complaints re: Express access that comes with hotels was the lack of Hagrid. Also the biggest impediment to selling à la carte Express passes.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Who does that benefit, though? The result would still be the same. People will pay to skip that Hagrid’s line, almost certainly to the point where you’ll see similar results. They aren’t going to gate it with “limited availability.”

One of the biggest complaints re: Express access that comes with hotels was the lack of Hagrid. Also the biggest impediment to selling à la carte Express passes.

It would benefit the single day guests that only have a single shot at experiencing Hagrid. Right now, the queue is bombarded with hotel express pass, regular express pass holders and to top it off premier passholders after 4PM.

IMO, limiting the # of users coming in through the express line should be a priority to reduce impacts to standby lines. Hotel guests already get an advantage by having access during early park admission.

I would remove Express Pass entirely and create a new system just for Hagrid that would be an additional upcharge just like Disney's lightning lane system*. This might be a bit too much, but at the very least I'd remove it from premier annual passes. Hagrid is too popular to prioritize passholders who can visit often versus the 1 day guest.


This chart just shows you how bad it's gotten... (thanks to Thrill-Data.com)

 

[StevenX]

The wait time can be a little bit exaggerated and it's now quite as painful as it sounds if you hit it tactically, but Express has really screwed Hagrid's. If you're in line for park close, you can 100% tell when they get rid of the last Express people, and the standby line really starts moving like it used to, and as it should. The amount of Express pass guests feels wildly different to 5 years ago even; I don't know if I'm mis-remembering, but it feels like you never used to see too many Express pass users, and it didn't impact the line much at all - now, it absolutely cripples some of them.

 

[Andysol]

Express, or any form of skip the line pass, doesn't benefit anyone (I'd argue even those with Express as wild as that sounds).

I’d like to hear that argument.

I do wish they exempted Premier Passholders from it (sorry!) and limited express use to 1 per person per day.

It should absolutely be limited to 1 per person per day. I’m actually surprised they haven’t moved to this with all attractions since that’s how every other park works.

Hagrids and RotR used to have similar wait times during the first few years they opened, nearly at similar times. But while
RotR has dropped considerably, Hagrids has remained very high.

Hagrids has tremendous re-ride ability. And you can go on it over and over and not sit through a 30 min+ pre show (I’ll say “pre show” for rise since it’s part of the experience). Flight of Passage is super fun- I’ve had chances to ride it through lightning lane and skip it after already riding just because the preshow is so damned, uh… long. If I could get right on a banshee and had the ability to ride it over and over I’d probably do it 3 in a row. Instead I do it once.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I’d like to hear that argument.

I won't go into that rabbit hole now, but all Express does is "shift" the priority to Express users. With that, you have "the regular folk" either stuck in line (not spending money on food & beverage, merch, etc.) or balking at higher wait attractions, and filling up the lower wait attractions... resulting in higher waits as well for express users.

There's also this sense of "superiority" and class division that Walt Disney (and recently Michael Eisner) tried to avoid within the park's turnstiles. I 100% agree that the parks need to generate money... but it's doable without impacting the regular guest experience.

Express (and any other form of skip the line pass) works when it's limited and priced accordingly. A premium option should be price at a premium number... and remain limited.

 

[Mad Dog]

I won't go into that rabbit hole now, but all Express does is "shift" the priority to Express users. With that, you have "the regular folk" either stuck in line (not spending money on food & beverage, merch, etc.) or balking at higher wait attractions, and filling up the lower wait attractions... resulting in higher waits as well for express users.

There's also this sense of "superiority" and class division that Walt Disney (and recently Michael Eisner) tried to avoid within the park's turnstiles. I 100% agree that the parks need to generate money... but it's doable without impacting the regular guest experience.

Express (and any other form of skip the line pass) works when it's limited and priced accordingly. A premium option should be price at a premium number... and remain limited.

I think that line problem is accentuated at Epic also. Lots of one day Epic guests willing to splurge on the very expensive Express Passes. Universal could probably significantly ease the long line issues at Epic by eliminating Express passes from the park, but they'll never do that since they're making huge money from the sale of those passes. Ironically, Express probably sells better because of the operational problems. I'm guessing there wouldn't be such a huge Express demand if the attractions ran like they are supposed to do, capacity wise.....Big win win for the Universal accountants. .

 

[Brian G.]

It would benefit the single day guests that only have a single shot at experiencing Hagrid. Right now, the queue is bombarded with hotel express pass, regular express pass holders and to top it off premier passholders after 4PM.

IMO, limiting the # of users coming in through the express line should be a priority to reduce impacts to standby lines. Hotel guests already get an advantage by having access during early park admission.

I would remove Express Pass entirely and create a new system just for Hagrid that would be an additional upcharge just like Disney's lightning lane system*. This might be a bit too much, but at the very least I'd remove it from premier annual passes. Hagrid is too popular to prioritize passholders who can visit often versus the 1 day guest.


This chart just shows you how bad it's gotten... (thanks to Thrill-Data.com)
View attachment 29029

Express was added to Hagrid's in May last year. The timeline doesn’t support Express being the root cause. The highest spike occurs when JPRA goes down, which removes a major people-eater from IOA. On top of that, we can't just outright ignore that we’re in a Northeast school break window right off the heels of a big holiday weekend.

Removing Express might make standby move a bit faster per hour, but it doesn’t change Hagrid’s capacity/demand. It's still a big reason people wake up at the crack of dawn for IOA's EPA (along with VelociCoaster). You’d likely still see long waits, just without the premium options that support hotels that @Clive mentioned.

From a business standpoint, since Express is baked into Premier hotels and Premier APs, taking the park’s most popular ride away from would devalue some of Universal’s highest-tier products overnight. That’s a pretty drastic move for something that probably wouldn’t meaningfully reduce waits in the long term.

 

[Mad Dog]

Express was added to Hagrid's in May last year. The timeline doesn’t support Express being the root cause. The highest spike occurs when JPRA goes down, which removes a major people-eater from IOA. On top of that, we can't just outright ignore that we’re in a Northeast school break window right off the heels of a big holiday weekend.

Removing Express might make standby move a bit faster per hour, but it doesn’t change Hagrid’s capacity/demand. It's still a big reason people wake up at the crack of dawn for IOA's EPA (along with VelociCoaster). You’d likely still see long waits, just without the premium options that support hotels that @Clive mentioned.

From a business standpoint, since Express is baked into Premier hotels and Premier APs, taking the park’s most popular ride away from would devalue some of Universal’s highest-tier products overnight. That’s a pretty drastic move for something that probably wouldn’t meaningfully reduce waits in the long term.

Yeah, I think Hagrids will always have long lines. The ride is that good and guests 'love' it. The Express lines did cause stand by times to increase a decent amount even before JPRA closed, but I don't think eliminating Express will ever get Hagrids down to a middling wait. It's always going to be one to two hours unless it's a very very low crowd day. I actually saw stand by listed at 45 minutes a few times (and a pure walk on with my Hotel Express) during the week before Thanksgiving week, but at other times of the day jumping to 90 minutes. Hagrids is a Universal Creative Superstar.

 

[StevenX]

Hagrid's will 100% always have a long wait - but at least before Express came along, the line actually moved. Now it's at a standstill for 5 or 10 minutes at a time at points whilst they batch Express into the penultimate room, right after the caves. It's always been a bit of a pain to wait for and get on, but it's worse now that it's so stop-start; before Express it was at least a slow, but persistent shuffle through the queue line.

 

[Mad Dog]

Hagrid's will 100% always have a long wait - but at least before Express came along, the line actually moved. Now it's at a standstill for 5 or 10 minutes at a time at points whilst they batch Express into the penultimate room, right after the caves. It's always been a bit of a pain to wait for and get on, but it's worse now that it's so stop-start; before Express it was at least a slow, but persistent shuffle through the queue line.

Yeah, that's always a bitch whenever you're on a standby line at Universal or WDW that has Express/Lightening. One of the worst is Mickey & Minnie at DHS. You'll get to that merge line rope, and stand there for 15 or 20 minutes while they empty out the Lightening Lane continual flow of guests.