Early entry rides at Studios

[smile145]

I will be there May 6-9. The early admission is only at the Studios, no IOA. What rides can I expect to be open for early admission at Studios?

The official Universal site says Mummy and Gringotts are the only rides open. Do you think Fast and Furious might be open?

 

[bchbetha]

Early entry is great for sightseeing in Diagon Alley without the crowds. Because few rides are open, there lines can actually be longer during EE. Usually Minions is open and that’s the one I’d do. It’s a long, boring line (nothing really cool to see, unlike Gringotts- you want more time in the Gringotts line to see the cool stuff!).

 

[macraven]

No idea why minions is not listed for ee that day

 

[damo]

No idea why minions is not listed for ee that day

I thought that was interesting as well. I don't recall Mummy being part of EA before.

 

[cschaaf]

I saw something the other day where someone said they tested having Mummy open instead of Minions. I think that only lasted a few days, then the switched back to Minions.

It's interesting that the site still shows Mummy.

 

[Linkura]

I saw something the other day where someone said they tested having Mummy open instead of Minions. I think that only lasted a few days, then the switched back to Minions.

It's interesting that the site still shows Mummy.

The site had Mummy open a couple weeks ago. Then the site went back to Minions for a week or so. I checked today since I saw this thread and it was back to Mummy on the website.

I have no idea what is going on, but they've been changing it back and forth.

 

[sandam1]

Actually, at one point, they changed one part of the website (the AP holders) not the other part (the hotel guests) which remained Minions. This was brought to Universal's attention (through the AP holder Facebook page) and now both appear to be Mummy. I'm not a fan since Mummy has a single rider line and Minions usually doesn't. Also, I feel sorry for anyone with little kids.

The past two days (and in the early days of the Kong soft openings), Fast and Furious opened in the early afternoon hours. When it is open, it will pop up on the Universal app. But I wouldn't count on it being open for EE.

 

[Linkura]

Seems like The Mummy has low waits for a pretty good portion of most days. Minions builds up fast and often continues to have long waits all day (not every day, but most days it seems). Makes no sense to me why they would change it to Mummy if they want to disperse crowds and make EE feel more worthwhile. It also means that, as PP said, little kids have nothing to ride during EE.

 

[smile145]

Actually, at one point, they changed one part of the website (the AP holders) not the other part (the hotel guests) which remained Minions. This was brought to Universal's attention (through the AP holder Facebook page) and now both appear to be Mummy. I'm not a fan since Mummy has a single rider line and Minions usually doesn't. Also, I feel sorry for anyone with little kids.

The past two days (and in the early days of the Kong soft openings), Fast and Furious opened in the early afternoon hours. When it is open, it will pop up on the Universal app. But I wouldn't count on it being open for EE.

Thanks. When I go, May 6-9, I think F&F will be officially open, not in soft openings, which is why I thought it might open for EE. We will probably just do the Harry Potter area.

 

[Linkura]

Thanks. When I go, May 6-9, I think F&F will be officially open, not in soft openings, which is why I thought it might open for EE. We will probably just do the Harry Potter area.

Just keep checking the official site. It probably won't be open for EE, but we just don't know for sure at this time.

 

[georgina]

Actually, at one point, they changed one part of the website (the AP holders) not the other part (the hotel guests) which remained Minions. This was brought to Universal's attention (through the AP holder Facebook page) and now both appear to be Mummy. I'm not a fan since Mummy has a single rider line and Minions usually doesn't. Also, I feel sorry for anyone with little kids.

There's a Facebook page for AP holders? Never knew that, but I am not that much of a social media user (other than here of course!)

 

[TommyJK]

That's really disappointing that they changed it from Minions to Mummy. As others have noted, Mummy has low wait times nearly all day while Minions is pretty huge all day. For those without EPs but had early entry, Minions was always great to hop on right away with a low wait.

 

[cschaaf]

Selfishly, I would love to see Mummy in EPA - it's our favorite ride, but I totally agree with others that it doesn't make much sense to have that open over Minions.

 

[only hope]

I arrived towards the end of ee last week and Minions was open. I don’t know if Mummy was open as ee was over by the time I exited Minions.

They need to have more attractions open during ee. The Gringotts line is usually long. They keep adding hotels without expanding the number of attractions...once the value hotels open, ee will be insane if they don’t expand the offerings.

 

[Linkura]

I arrived towards the end of ee last week and Minions was open. I don’t know if Mummy was open as ee was over by the time I exited Minions.

They need to have more attractions open during ee. The Gringotts line is usually long. They keep adding hotels without expanding the number of attractions...once the value hotels open, ee will be insane if they don’t expand the offerings.

I'm hoping that they add at least once attraction once Aventura opens. Would be insane not to.

 

[macraven]

I hope they open both parks for ee since all the onsite hotels and some packaged offsite hotels take advantage of it

 

[only hope]

Some passholders also have access. Premiere always has access; preferred has some blackouts. I will be upset if their solution to overcrowded ee is to stop letting passholders in. Part of the reason I paid for a more expensive pass was to have access to ee.

 

[cschaaf]

I hope they open both parks for ee since all the onsite hotels and some packaged offsite hotels take advantage of it

On one of our trips a few years ago, they did this and it was great. We were able to EPA one park, hit the open rides a few times, then take the HE to the other park when it opened.

The next day, we'd do the same thing, but in the opposite direction.

 

[sandam1]

We were at Universal last week (4/22-25) and I wanted to report back on the current state of early entry for the Studios side. This was just our experience and things could change at any time.

Day 1 - Minions and Shrek were both running. However, the checkpoint for your room key or annual pass was past these two rides. So theoretically anyone could have come into the park and rode these rides during early entry. Gringotts was down so they had Rip Ride Rockit and Jimmy Fallon open. We didn't go over near Mummy so I don't know if that was open.

Days 2-3 - Same situation for Minions and Shrek. We rode Minions and then headed for Gringotts. it looked like Mummy was open as well.

Seeing the way things are set up, I suspect that Minions was dropped as the early entry ride to prevent back-ups and congestion at the front gate. By moving the checkpoint passed Minions, there is significantly more room for non-early entry guests to congregate.