One day, 2 park ticket. Help with schedule, please!

[Lucky'sMom]

We are staying at Disney, and taking Uber to the parks for one day, Jan. 30th (Monday). Park hours are 9-7. I've read various schedules, but still am not settled on how we should approach this. We are not Harry Potter fans, but do want to do the 3 headliners (Gringotts, train, FJ). The only must dos in IOA are Kong, FJ, and Spiderman. Otherwise, we mostly prefer the rides in US. I read a recommendation to do HP at the end of day, that lines are shorter then, but is that true when the parks close early at 7pm? I know the lines for Despicable Me can be very long. Kong probably also has esp. long lines but it's at the other park. Not sure where to start at rope drop. Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[audrey2580]

Have you downloaded the Universal app? It has all the wait times. I would suggested looking at that now and watching wait times. Since you don't have early entry i would start with Spiderman and then Kong. Both Harry Potter rides and Kong (sometimes) have single rider open.

 

[bchbetha]

I wouldn't dally on riding any must ride rides. Our first day at UO and we got on Gringotts in the first hour. It broke shortly after and stayed broken almost all day. When it reopened the line was humongous. Knock out your can't miss rides when the park opens.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

So we should head to Gringotts first, train then FJ, then Kong maybe.... .

 

[bchbetha]

I'd do Gringotts, train, Kong then FJ. Kong's line will probably be long most all day but FJ will thin out.
ETA- but, honestly, we used the Universal wait time app to plan where to go.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I often find at US we can largely wing it. Do the headliners early, but otherwise you can often take a bit of a more relaxed approach, especially on a quieter week in January, relative to MK.

Since it is January, it bears stating that weather is often your biggest factor. If temps end up being cool, crowds will diminish. In winter, temps are often cool in the morning and evening. Crowds will absolutely diminish if temps drop when it gets dark. If so, be prepared for it and you'll do well. I suppose that is the downside of Uber, you can't leave your coats out in the car.

Kong is still the newest ride, so I advise going to it first.