We just did a short Universal stay, and we intended to rope drop VC w little wait. Oct 9, busy Columbus day weekend, Got to hotel a little late, consequently was at rope drop late, as in around 8:10 for an 8:00 opening (which is really about a 7:45 AM opening, as they usually open the turnstiles then.) still hoped for short lines at VC, as the vast majority of crowds go to Hagrids, but.....Hagrids was delayed. so....that made the VC lines a lot longer than usual at rope drop. Usually, one can almost walk straight to locker room at rope drop, and then often ride again, posted times usually 10-20 mins. it was 50 mins by the time we got there at 8:25, It did move quickly though I don't know when Hagrids came back up, we much prefer VC over Hagrids, so had no intention of riding it at any point. Wait times for everything built pretty quickly. The delay in riding VC, caused us to find longer than expected lines at Hulk, Spider man, etc. So as the previous poster noted, a ride delayed at opening might change strategy.