Kings Cross Station wait time with EP?

[jenhelgren]

How long is the wait at King's Cross Station usually with EP? I have been checking wait times on the app and the wait times are always so much higher UO to IOA vs IOA to UO. We want to hop parks in the afternoon next week but wondering if we will be better off walking. TIA!

 

[cschaaf]

Totally unscientific, but we've experienced Hogwarts EP lines were about half of the posted waits.

If you're looking for 'faster', I think it's almost always faster to walk.

 

[Lashed34]

It really does depend on volume because the EP line converges with standby line just as you go up the stairs towards the platform and so there is still some distance to go.

If the standby line is very long then the EP queue will be slower also.

 

[Skywalker3]

Express pass doens't seem to help all that much at King's cross, since you merge fairly early. It helped us some, but we still had a 40-45 min wait from Diagon to Hogsmeade a couple weeks ago This was around 12:30 PM on a Wed (holiday week though.) Walking would definitely have been quicker, but we were nearing end of trip, and I hadn't ridden train yet, so wanted to make sure we did. Almost missed our dining reservation though....

 

[ruthies12]

I agree it merges early and you can never tell how long it will be cause if they have all the switchbacks open on the platform (which you can't see whether they are or not at the merge point) then it takes much longer.

If the switchbacks aren't open and you time it just right you can be on the train in about 10 minutes from the merge point.

If the switchbacks are open, and if they have multiple scooter/stroller/wheelchair parties coming up the elevator that they are letting in front of you repeatedly while you are going up the steps, it can be a good half hour or so from the merge point.

When the lines are long I've also stood at the merge point for quite awhile while the worker lets the main line go through ahead of us. I've had several times in Kings Cross where EP has not saved us any time at all, and even a few instances where it took us longer cause there were people walking through the merge point while were scanning and we would have just been better off walking the regular que if we'd known.

If you are in a hurry- walking is definitely better!

 

[nkereina]

We were there two weeks ago and the line for HE going from UO to IOA was always long. Its definitely faster to walk, but it just depends on the stamina of your group... you'll be walking from the back of UO up to the front, across and past Hard Rock and Toothsome, and then into IOA... possibly to the back of the park if you're trying to go to Hogsmeade. We chose to make this walk when we were there because the HE line was so long. It was hot and the walk through City Walk was in the direct beating sun. We were drained by the time we reached Hogsmeade!

 

[cschaaf]

I agree it merges early and you can never tell how long it will be cause if they have all the switchbacks open on the platform (which you can't see whether they are or not at the merge point) then it takes much longer.

On our last trip, we were hopping from USF right around the time the park was closing for HHN. We knew it would be a long wait, but we wanted to head to Velocicoaster, so it would have been a long walk.

The EP line was backed up almost to the where you scan your park pass and EP... like at the entrance to the ride. Meanwhile, you couldn't see anyone in the standby queue. Several left the EP line because they saw it was that backed up and were complaining that standby shouldn't be shorter than EP. We knew that appearances weren't everything.

Once we got into the main room, the EP line had a few switchbacks, Standby had many, many switchbacks. I don't know if the people that left the EP line decided to walk or went in Standby. For their sake, I hope it was the former.

We were there two weeks ago and the line for HE going from UO to IOA was always long. Its definitely faster to walk, but it just depends on the stamina of your group... you'll be walking from the back of UO up to the front, across and past Hard Rock and Toothsome, and then into IOA... possibly to the back of the park if you're trying to go to Hogsmeade. We chose to make this walk when we were there because the HE line was so long. It was hot and the walk through City Walk was in the direct beating sun. We were drained by the time we reached Hogsmeade!

Hogwarts Express isn't my favorite ride, in fact, it makes me feel a bit claustrophobic, but if we're going back of park A to back of park B, I'm willing to ignore the wait time and breathe my way through the mild claustrophobia.

 

[AJA]

A very unscientific estimate would be half the posted wait time in Moderate crowds. But that ratio can go up in heavy crowds.

This is the one ride that express isn’t always half the wait time or much less.

 

[crazycatlady]

I agree it merges early and you can never tell how long it will be cause if they have all the switchbacks open on the platform (which you can't see whether they are or not at the merge point) then it takes much longer.

If the switchbacks aren't open and you time it just right you can be on the train in about 10 minutes from the merge point.

If the switchbacks are open, and if they have multiple scooter/stroller/wheelchair parties coming up the elevator that they are letting in front of you repeatedly while you are going up the steps, it can be a good half hour or so from the merge point.

When the lines are long I've also stood at the merge point for quite awhile while the worker lets the main line go through ahead of us. I've had several times in Kings Cross where EP has not saved us any time at all, and even a few instances where it took us longer cause there were people walking through the merge point while were scanning and we would have just been better off walking the regular que if we'd known.

If you are in a hurry- walking is definitely better!

The same thing happened to us! I finally said something to the cast member because there was no line for stand by and the EP was really backed up. I thought maybe it was a case of what the above poster had with the different sizes of switchbacks ahead but that wasn't the case and we were still on the platform waiting when stand by folks that walked past us were already boarded. It was really weird.

 

[jdrum3]

A very unscientific estimate would be half the posted wait time in Moderate crowds. But that ratio can go up in heavy crowds.

This is the one ride that express isn’t always half the wait time or much less.

I agree with this, it is a good rule of thumb from King's Cross. One tip is to make sure to go to the far right when everyone is trying to find their original park tickets for the initial entrance to ride the train. Sometimes you have to say "excuse me" to get past everyone waiting to scan in for the regular line. The far right is the EP entrance, so avoid getting stuck at the very beginning.

 

[Gentry2004]

It really does depend on volume because the EP line converges with standby line just as you go up the stairs towards the platform and so there is still some distance to go.

If the standby line is very long then the EP queue will be slower also.

Yes the two lines converge pretty early on so there is a lot of line left after that. We definitely waited 30-40 minutes once with EP. this was last April when it was only one family per car so maybe that made it worse.

 

[ClapYourHands]

I don't know that the lines are ALWAYS longer going US to IOA. I think it depends on the time of day and what's going on. When IOA has early entry, there's usually a big crowd of people trying to get from IOA to US at park opening time, but not many people entering US at regular time and taking Hogwarts Express over to IOA immediately. At other points in the day, I've definitely seen some lopsided wait times, but it's not always Kings Cross being longer.

But I do agree with PPs that EP doesn't help as much at King's Cross as it does at Hogsmeade. However, the King's Cross station has a better queue, and is air conditioned, so the wait is more pleasant than at Hogsmeade.

As for how much time you save walking, it's a matter of how fast you walk and where you're going in IOA. Since both HP lands are in the back of the parks, it can be a long walk back to the entrance, through City Walk, and then through the next park if your destination is Hogsmeade. It might be a bit faster than the train if you're quick walkers, and it might 'feel' faster because you're moving rather than standing in line, but you might be better off conserving your energy and just waiting for the train vs saving a few minutes with the walk. Plus, the King's Cross station has the advantage of being indoors and air conditioned. Depending on the weather, I'll take some extra time waiting in a queue with a/c vs hoofing it across both parks in heat and humidity to save 10 minutes.

 

[nkereina]

Hogwarts Express isn't my favorite ride, in fact, it makes me feel a bit claustrophobic, but if we're going back of park A to back of park B, I'm willing to ignore the wait time and breathe my way through the mild claustrophobia.

When we were there, the posted HE wait time was 75 minutes and we didn't have EPs. We walked in probably 15 minutes. But, we were in the direct sun and quite sweaty by the time we got to the other side!

 

[Lewisc]

Universal's stated goal is for the express line to be approximately half the wait as the regular line. It's frequently less