The Best Early Entry Strategy for Universal Islands of Adventure

Do you want to utilize Early Park Admission at Universal Islands of Adventure? Here are tips for effectively taking advantage of the benefit so that you get to do everything your heart desires.

Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando

When you elect to stay at one of Universal Orlando’s resort hotels, you receive a host of exclusive benefits. One of the best of these is Early Park Admission.

Early Park Admission entitles Guests to a full hour of extra fun in the scheduled park before it opens to the general public. Select attractions are available, but they typically include most offerings in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando switches between Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure (UOA). It is also consistently offered at Volcano Bay. You must check the calendar to be certain which park will offer Early Park Admission during your stay.

However, the trend has been for the Early Park Admission to be held at UOA. In fact, UOA is scheduled for early hours through October 2024.

What is Open

As I mentioned, select attractions are open during Early Park Admission at Universal Islands of Adventure. And, the attractions are about as far from the park’s entrance as you can get.

You can experience multiple experiences in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter including Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, Hagid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, and Olivander’s. You can also enjoy Jurassic World VelociCoaster.

While this might not sound like many attractions, it is PLENTY to keep you amused for an hour. In fact, many people find they can’t do it all unless they play their cards right.

Our #1 Tip

Where you head first is going to largely depend on what you want to accomplish. Therefore, our #1 tip for Early Park Admission is this: get there early.

Try to arrive an hour before Early Park Admission begins.

You may be thinking, wait, I am already getting to the park an hour early. Why do I need to get there extra early?

The truth is, the earlier you arrive, the less waiting you will have to do once you are in the park. You can get more out of your “park time” if you beat the crowd that will inevitably form behind you.

We have tried rolling up to Early Park Admission about 15 minutes prior to opening. This was a mistake. The cluster of people waiting to get into the park was backed up all the way to the bridge from CityWalk to Universal Islands of Adventure. We weren’t in until Early Park Admission was well underway.

The lines to scan into the park were wild and a bit of a free-for-all. The only group of people this is untrue for is Universal Orlando annual passholders. That line is delightfully short if you can fight your way over to it.

Typically the park begins scanning people in as early as about 15 minutes prior to the official opening time. This means those toward the front can be well on their way to the attractions before the park even officially opens. People showing up right on time can find an hour+ wait has amassed at Hagrid’s before they ever arrive.

However, we have also tried arriving super early, anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour prior to opening. When the Team Members began scanning, we whisked right in and were on and off Hagrid’s swiftly and on to the next rides.

I would highly recommend arriving early on at least one of the days of your visit. And, if you only have one day in Universal Island of Adventure, early arrival is a MUST.

Getting To Attractions

Once you are in the park, you will have quite a hike ahead of you to get to your first Early Park Admission attraction. None of the open attractions are near the park entrance.

Fortunately, there is really only one way to go. Follow the crowds up through Seuss Landing and keep going until you get to either The Wizarding World of Harry Potter OR Jurassic Park.

Where to Begin

Now, this is a question of preference. Are you looking to get as much done as possible? Do you want great photo ops? Do you have a must-do attraction? It is really up to you!

For example, some people want the best chance of being chosen for a Wand Ceremony and will start with Olivander’s. Most people will start with Hagrid’s because it is one of the only attractions without the Express Pass option, and it tends to accumulate and maintain a long wait. It can also reach queue capacity at times.

Starting with Hagrid’s

In general starting with Hagrid’s is a VERY good idea if you are toward the front half of the crowd and if it is a must-do for you. The wait will be low early on if everything is going well. If you do something else first, it is unlikely that the wait will remain low.

If everything is going well, and you are in early and head right to Hagrid’s, you could be boarding the attraction before the park even officially opens for Early Park Admission. We once found ourselves on and off by 8:05 with an 8:00 posted opening time.

We were then able to ride VelociCoaster with a very short wait and then head back to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Flight of the Hippogriff, both of which were nearly walk-ons.

Then, there is time for Olivander’s or a nice breakfast. You can even go await the opening of another hot attraction like Hulk and take advantage of that.

Some people even opt to hop over to Universal Studios and take advantage of low morning waits there as well. If everything is having a good day, the options are wide open.

PIVOT

However, sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes, Hagrid’s is on a delayed opening due to technical issues. We have seen this happen as well.

In fact, once (before we knew any better) my travel party and I arrived at a delayed Hagrid’s and decided to wait it out. We ended up waiting 90 minutes. This is not a great use of Early Park Admission time. You can catch Hagrid’s later in the day when everything else also has longer wait times.

If Hagrid’s is delayed or if it has amassed a long wait by the time you get there, go ahead and do the other attractions while they have short wait times. After all, you can wait for Hagrid’s any time of day. But it is unlikely you will see such short wait times for the other 4 attractions except perhaps the Harry Potter rides at the end of the night.

If you want to do VelociCoaster, shift gears and go ahead and do it. It will have a short wait, and you can get back to the Harry Potter attractions while they are still walk-ons.

This idea also works if you have arrived later than you meant to. If you like, you can easily start with Velocicoaster and then work your way through Hippogriff and Forbidden Journey.

You might end up having to wait for Hagrid’s, but you can at least make great use of time before you head back to it. You can even set your app to alert you when the wait times drop and head back over.

Other Considerations

If you plan to use disability services such as Universal’s Attraction Assistance Pass, it is best to pick your pass up from Guest Services the day or the evening before you utilize Early Park Admission. That way you do not have to tackle the Guest Services line and potentially miss valuable park time.

People may also wonder whether it is possible to check in to your hotel and drop your bags off at your resort very early and take advantage of Early Park Admission. The answer is yes, but that could be tough if you aren’t a morning person. This is because will need plenty of time to check in, drop your bags, and head to the parks if you are to make it in time.

Final Thoughts

Some people would rather not mess with the main gate madness that accumulates at Ealry Park Admission time. Some people would rather trickle on in once the crowd has cleared out a bit.

However, if you are here researching theme park strategies, you are probably the type who wants to get the most bang for your buck. That means doing Early Park Admission properly at least one of the days of your visit.

Have you tried Early Park Admission at Universal Island of Adventure? What strategy worked well for you? Let your fellow theme park goers know. And, be sure to share this post with your family and friends who are planning a trip so they know how to plan their days.