Report of our April Spring Break dealing w/WWof HP only

[baileybrad]

The 2 existing rides that were integrated into the area (Flight of the Hippogriff and Dragon Challenge) work quite well. I do miss the Dragon's running at the same time straight into each other but I suppose one cannot have guests being injured at a theme park. The Weasley's still running car setting outside in the grass at the entrance to Dragon's Challenge is priceless.

We were able to tour this area without much of a crowd due to proper planning/research and based on our choosing to enter the park early on one morning since we were staying @ the Hard Rock Hotel. We were there 4 days during the busy 4/1 – 4/5 Easter period but had no problems seeing everything in WWHP and were not impacted by the crowds.

The park was open until 10:00PM during our stay. We went over there on Sunday evening around 8:00PM on our 1st day of touring and did a general walk through of the area. Crowds had already thinned. We went into the main shop near Hogwarts. It was not overly crowded. Then we did the tour only line through Hogwart's Castle to see and get an overall understanding. It was better than we could have imagined. It is like Dumbledore is right there speaking to you. The talking pictures on the walls are amazing. We spent about 10 minutes just listening to the conversations going on among them. Salazar is a real jewel. Just wonderful. After our walking tour was over, we then rode the Hippogriff ride a couple of times with no wait (our 9 year old loved that) (Hagrid's place looked grand) and we all rode the Dragon Challenge, also with no wait. The nine year old was just tall enough. We thought he was okay but you never know until the attendants give you the thumbs up. The timing of this trip was based mainly on the projection that our youngest's height at the time of this trip would be 54" making him tall enough for all of Universal's rides. Our party of 8 (4 adults--Amy & Chuck; Jeff & Roxanne, and 4 boys: A&C's 3 sons--Bailey 14/Bradley 12/Casey 9 and J&R's son--Daniel) moved easily through the WWHP area. We had express passes from HRH but they really saved us very little time this night in WWHP, perhaps 15 minutes or so on Dragon Challenge. The express lines were walk-ons for us with the passes. This was the 1st time we had ridden the DC (or Dueling Dragons when we rode it 3 years earlier) @ night in the dark and we prefer it better in the daylight. The ride is really intense but it never phased Casey our barely 54" youngest. Brother peer pressure is an amazing thing. He does anything that his brothers can and usually at a younger age.

We then headed over to the regular Forbidden Journey cue about 9:20PM and did not run into any line until we were in the greenhouse. The line moved fast (we were glad that we had done the tour only line earlier allowing us to enjoy the inside of the castle at a more leisurely pace than while moving through the rider line) and we were on the ride in about 15 to 20 minutes. The ride was awesome. Not to be missed. Our party ranged in age from 9 to 56 and everyone was amazed by the experience. Note that we did not do the solo rider line this night because Casey was a little apprehensive about being separated (he is after all only 9) from the group on the ride. But again, the line was so short that is was not a problem and it was good being a little closer to view Harry, Hermonie, and Ron advise of the details of where to meet them.

We came over to this area again on Monday evening after we experienced the 3 "wet" rides in the park while donned in our swim suits, arriving around 7:30 PM for butter beers and enjoyed them on the patio of the Hogs Head Tavern. One person had pumpkin juice and the rest split their selections between frozen and regular butter beers. Here the opinions were mixed about which was the best and everyone had their favorite. I loved the frozen version and while I am not a fan of butterscotch I still enjoyed BB. The wait at the stand where (near 3 Broomsticks) we made our purchase was only about 3 or 4 minutes. The young lady working there was amazing. You tell her the break-out ie., how many of each beverage and she immediately gave you the price very quickly.

We came back to WWHP the next morning (Tuesday) for early entry. We were lined up at 6:30AM outside the gates. We were laughing about the crazyiness of it. The gates opened around 6:45AM, and the 3 oldest boys headed straight for the Ollivander's Wand Shop line. Much to our surprise (4 adults and our 9 year old son) when we arrived there after a brisk walk, they were 1st in line. Rumor has it was that there was some running involved. Not encouraging it; just reporting it. We witnessed folks heading to the WWHP heading the long way through Suessland rather than taking the cut-through the water area.

We had been iffy on whether to do this or not. We did not want to wait in a long line and since we were really doing it for our youngest, we had advised our friends who were travelling with us if they opted out of getting up early on this day, we would understand. They were all for experiencing it. We all had a great time watching the line grow behind us. And when they ushered in the first group at around 7:10AM for the ceremony of one wizard 'having a wand select him or her" we led the way. Mr. Olivander's assistant was great. His character was right on the money. He turned to our youngest son (Casey) and said I believe you were the first at my door…..the look on his face was amazing. He asked Casey his name and how old he was and remarked that 9 is a bit young but that Harry was just a little older than that when he first visited. It was an awesome experience and nobody was prouder or enjoyed it more than his 2 older brothers (Bailey and Bradley) along with our traveling companion's son, Daniel, who had hustled through the park to secure our place in line. It was terrific. And, of course, a wand did finally select him, and, yes, we bought it for him. That had been his one wish to get a wand. Having it "select" was all the more special. We will remember it always. And it was very convenient being able to have it delivered back to our room at the Hard Rock.

We did some more looking around in WWHP on this morning taking pictures(rode the Dragon Challenge a couple of times and Flight of the Hippogriff a few times) before moving out around 8:30AM as the thundering hordes continued to arrive. We did do some more window gazing. It was cool to have experienced the area in both the dark and the daylight.

We returned to the WWHP around 9:30PM in the evening on Wednesday (our last day in the parks). We rode Forbidden Journey using the single rider line for all eight of us. We had about a 20 minute wait. The lines were longer on this night than they had been on Sunday evening. We walked off the ride at 10:05PM and much to our surprise were able to get butter beers at a stand around 10:15PM. We stopped at the main shop at the front of the park to purchase some Harry Pointer souveniors. Chocolate frog and specific tee shirts that we had decided on earlier in the week. We actually remembered to use our AAA card this time for the 10% discount.

Again, we thoroughly enjoyed this section of IOA. It was being built 3 years earlier when we were visiting Universal for the 1st time. We knew then that we would return again once it was completed.

Just the overall theming…..so many details: how the buildings lean, the smoke coming out of the chimneys, and the locomotive engine, the butter beer, 3 Broomsticks, the shops and all the things going on in the store fronts, Hogwarts Castle both inside and out, the supporting castmembers in the area, moaning myrtle in the bathroom, the sorting hat as you approach the FJ seating area, just so much. While the Forbidden Journey ride is great (nothing like having Hagrid greet you, a dragon cover you in smoke or death-eaters chase you and then have Harry lead you to safety). The overall theming of the area and how it all fits together really makes it a not to be missed experience for Harry Potter fans. I am not sure how not having a famililarity with the series would be all that much fun. Our sons have read all the books (Casey finished them last year--again the youngest one has done everything earlier) and we have all seen the movies countless times so, again, we loved the WWHP.

I do understand that people do not like the crowds (massive at times). I, also, know that we are/were very fortunate to be able to spend our vacation at the Hard Rock Hotel and enjoy 4 days leisurely touring the 2parks. That being said before we visit any attraction we get as much information as possible to understand how to tour the attractions. (We used Dan Hatfield's informative Orlando Informer website to great advantage before our trip.) We understand that you must understand the logistics of a park's areas. For people to show up during a holiday period at mid-day and think that they are going to be able to tour the most popular attraction in Orlando is just short-sighted. You have to plan. If you do not, you will not have much success. And most likely leave the area very frustrated. We see this all the time at the Disney Parks.

This area is a must for any Harry Potter fan.

 

[Metro West]

Excellent report...thanks for sharing!

 

[stylist]

Thank you so much for the info.We are going in two weeks which should not be nearly as busy but I am a PLANNER. I have two boys 9&13 and we are staying at Hard Rock as well. I would love to here about your hotel stay, dining choices and any other advice you would like to share.

 

[Amy]

Thanks for the trip report! We're heading to USF/IOA in a couple of months for our first trip since 2007.

One question: Dragon's Challenge - they're not "dueling" coasters like they were before? We always liked the part on the loop where it looked like your feet were going to hit the feet of the folks on the other dragon. I didn't know they'd changed it!

 

[baileybrad]

Thanks for the trip report! We're heading to USF/IOA in a couple of months for our first trip since 2007.

One question: Dragon's Challenge - they're not "dueling" coasters like they were before? We always liked the part on the loop where it looked like your feet were going to hit the feet of the folks on the other dragon. I didn't know they'd changed it!

Amy, feel the same way about the dueling aspect of DC. We had read prior to our trip that sometime within the last year that something had came loose from one of the coasters while they were still "dueling" and flew off and struck some riders on the other coaster.

Not sure how accurate this is or if it was part of the coaster or just something from another rider that caused the issue. We too missed the thrill of having the coasters come so close. It sort of takes away from the ride a tad.

Have a great trip!

 

[baileybrad]

Thank you so much for the info.We are going in two weeks which should not be nearly as busy but I am a PLANNER. I have two boys 9&13 and we are staying at Hard Rock as well. I would love to here about your hotel stay, dining choices and any other advice you would like to share.

Stylist, I would love to share some of our experience @ the HRH and feel free to ask any specfic questions.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn on John Young the Saturday night before our check-in @ HRH on Sunday 4/1. We pulled up front, told one of the valet's what we were doing (checking in and picking up our keys) and he cheerfully pointed us to a parking location, asked to hold our key while we were inside, and told us anytime during our stay we needed to do this just ask. Very helpful. We actually did this when we unloaded the van later in the day. We picked up our keys (for express line usage) around 8:15AM, explored the lobby area, looked at the pool. I then moved the van to the regular parking lot. It is very close and convenient. We then took the 5 minute or so stroll over to Universal Studios. The IOA is about another 5 minutes. Very close. We rode the boat 1 afternoon just for the experience. The HRH is the most convenient to the parks.

Sorry for the digression....we had an over-sized 5 person room with 2 queens and the sleeper sofa. We have 3 sons (14, 12 and 9) and need the space. We liked the HRH. We had stayed at the Portifina Bay 3 years ago during the summer. We again had an oversized room there. The only edge at PB was that the bathroom for the type of room we had was huge with a separate shower and tub. It had a sitting chair that doubled as a sleeper making it a room for 5 also.

Back to the HRH, we did not ask for the key to the mini-bar in our room. We had 2 coolers (one that rolled) and another decent size one. We just used the ice machine to keep them filled. One held our milk and orange juice. The other all kinds of drinks--water, soft drinks, gator aides, yoo-hoos, etc.

We ate breakfast in the room each morning just like we do at Disney (we are DVC owners). We found the beds to be very comfortable here. We like having the extra sink in the bathroom but the commode and tub room is on the small size. The door closes with just a 1/2 inch or so to spare from stiking the toilet.

As you most likely know the HRH is a full-service property. So parking ($17 per day), internet, work-out room, etc all have incur a charge if you utilize them. Our 2 oldest boys spent time in the lobby (wifi is available there) some during the day and early afternoon playing their devices as I call them. My wife had her computer down there some too tweaking some last minute work projects. The parks were open until 10:00PM during our stay so we were at the hotel/pool during the afternoon and early evening several days.

We did not eat at the "Kitchen" or any of their quick service type locations. And for that matter did not eat or buy any food at the hotel. We carried a drink with us to the pool. Kids would just shoot back to the room for a gator aide when they needed one. A server at the pool asked if we needed anything and kind of gave us a dirty look with our own beverages but not a big deal. The items at the pool can be expensive and it is our money. That is the full-service thing kicking in. I find it odd that you can't bring a small cooler with into the pool area at the Loew's hotels. The pool is a fairly quick shot back to the room. We did not have the trouble that some have mentioned in finding a chair. One day it was apparent that towel was just sitting on a chair and after watching it for about 30 minutes, I must moved it and we had a 3rd chair for the 3 kids to pile on. The slide was decent. The music is good. Just don't sit right on top of a speaker. Many mention the depth of the pool. Yes, it is shallow, just short of 4 feet tops in a few areas but it was fine for cooling. They do not allow for any outside balls or floats but will sell you theirs (they even inflate them for you) for a price. We had plenty of snacks for everybody in our room so we did not miss out on anything. We do the same thing at Disney.

We tipped $10 dollars the first day and had towels and shampoos coming out of our ears the rest of the week. I left only $5 each day after that.

The A/C in the room did not cool as well as I would have liked. The wife loved it and she does not like a cold room. We were not hot but the hallway was cooler than the room. I have read since that you can ask if you wish for it to be allowed to go lower. This was not a big deal. It was odd that the hallway was cooler than the room. The elevators are fast we had little issue with their availability. You can exit through the pool area to get to the walkway to the parks. You can also exit out of a stairwell on the backside of the hotel. It is very simple and you will have no issues getting the hang of it.

I know I am jumping around. Our room was 4101 overlooking a lovely courtyard area. We did not hear noise from the other rooms at night. However, some folks still let their kids carry on way too loud in the hallways in the early morning. We only did the IOA early entry on one morning. It would be great for the WWofHP touring if the parks are not open late. That is when were able to do the wand ceremony. If you do early entry, make sure you have verified the opening time and remember that they open the gates about 15 minutes or so prior to the actual time.

We found the theming of the hotel to be nice. The rooms were clean and in pretty good shape. Our rooms were made upon our return to the room around 1:00 pm or so each day.

We dined at Margaritaville one evening at City Walk. We had made reservations prior. So we had virtually no wait. We were travelling with another family so we had a party of 8. All of us really enjoyed our meals there. We ate at Mythos for lunch (again we had made reservations). We ate at Confisco Grille for dinner on our last night (just checked in around 7:30PM and had about a 10 minute wait for the table. Both of these are sit down type places with a server. The inside of Mythos is very cool.

We ate at the Monster Cafe for lunch one day in Universal (my least favorite meal of our trip). We ate lunch at Circus McGurkus in IOA. I like this place. I have eaten here 3 times over 2 trips totally 8 days in the parks. I have always gotten the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.

We ate dinner at Thunder Rivers Falls in IOA near the Jurrassic Park ride. It is a counter service place and we really enjoy it. That night after dining we went to WWofHP for butterbears, kind of our dessert.

We also ate lunch at the food court area at City Walk--Moes, Panda Express, and Burger King on the day that we were dining for dinner @ Margaritaville. Just tried to keep it light. Wife and the wife of our travelling companions had Starbucks over there when they chose not to participate in another round of the water rides. That is my one serious tip....the 3 water rides do get you really wet in IOA but are quite fun. We make a special trip over there and were our swimsuits and appropriate water type footwear. Makes is much more enjoyable. It is easy to return to the hotel to change.

The refillable containers at Universal are a great deal. Around $8 dollars for the bottle with 95 cent refills. We did not do the meal plans....just too much fast food for our palattes. We just had one bottle and shared. Not a big deal with us.

Hope this helps somewhat. Have a great trip!

 

[stylist]

I really appreciate your great advice. We have many of the same restaurants chosen and I love the water ride tip and the tip tip. I am starting to get in panic mode so I may have some last minute questions for you later.

 

[Amy]

Thanks for all the info, baileybrad! I'm starting to get really excited now. The 3 or 4 times we visited in the past, we stayed at the HRH; this time I suggested switching to Royal Pacific and was out-voted by the rest of my family. After reading your report about the HRH, I'm glad we're staying there again.

Another ques. about the Forbidden Journey ride: is this one of those rides where you're not allowed to take cameras/purses/backpacks and have to leave them in a locker outside the ride? From what I've read, the ride sounds a little like Soarin' at WDW, but with more movement. So I'm thinking this is one where they won't let you take bags. And the line for the ride goes thru Hogwarts, right? I'm worried about missing out on some cool photos inside the castle!

 

[pixeegrl]

Terrific trip report! We are staying at the HRH in a Queen Deluxe room with our 3 boys this August. Our last stay was at the RPR. I can't wait to have the bigger room since we will be there 5 night!

 

[baileybrad]

Thanks for all the info, baileybrad! I'm starting to get really excited now. The 3 or 4 times we visited in the past, we stayed at the HRH; this time I suggested switching to Royal Pacific and was out-voted by the rest of my family. After reading your report about the HRH, I'm glad we're staying there again. We did this a couple of times back in December of last year.

Another ques. about the Forbidden Journey ride: is this one of those rides where you're not allowed to take cameras/purses/backpacks and have to leave them in a locker outside the ride? From what I've read, the ride sounds a little like Soarin' at WDW, but with more movement. So I'm thinking this is one where they won't let you take bags. And the line for the ride goes thru Hogwarts, right? I'm worried about missing out on some cool photos inside the castle!

Amy, the FJ ride is similar from what I understand to the "The Sum of All Thrills" attraction in Innoventions. That is the one where you create a rollercoaster, a bobsled run, a jet ride, etc. and then climb into a 2 person compartment attached to a robotic arm with hoods over your head. You then see a simulation under the hood and experience the movement via the robotic arm.

We love Soar'in but while similar in that you are viewing a screen and your feet dangle...the similarity sort of ends there. The room where you board the ride for FJ has multiple devices (robotic arms, that is why I referenced the SofAT attraction) that seat 4 per "vehicle". You do not have a hood but rather have a screen near your face that has about a 4 1/2 minute loop of events associated with all things Potter. You can not see the person beside you. Our 9 year old Casey did not want to do the single rider line the first time our family did this even though he would have not even seen his co-riders. He was fine doing the SRL the second time our group of eight did the attraction. We just put him in between our group. The only time he was out of our sight was when he was aboard the ride. One of us was there before he boarded and waiting on him after he got off of the ride. The more I think about it your Soar'in reference is a good one but the difference in the intensity of the attraction kept me from thinking about it. Also, on Soar'in large groups board and disembark at one time. On FJ, it is almost a continuous assembly line of folks on and off.

There are 3 lines for this ride: the regular line that moves through the Hogwarts Castle, where the que is an important part of the experience. The SRL that goes through a very limited part of the Hogwarts Castle. Both of these require that you place pretty much all carry-ons in the provided locker area. The lines are not marked real well. We just asked a CM to verify which was which. You sort of half to stop at the lockers on your way through these lines. You really do not want to have a carry on while riding this attraction. Some daredevils might disagree but the ride is amazing and worrying about holding on to something would really take away from the experience. The ride can be intense in its movements. Our family just happens to ride everything. I understand how some folks are not able to but this is a great ride. Now back to my ramble about the lines, there is a third option...it is called the tour only. It goes through a portion of the Hogwarts Castle at time running right along side the "rider" line. I would suggest, if your touring permits, going through this line 1st. You can take your camera and shoot pictures. The "rider" line moves with folks heading for the ride. In the tour line, you can take your time and folks can go around you if they wish. They can also do so in the "rider" line but that could be a little tricky with folks thinking they are being line jumped and other not really caring if they get passed. Also, some in one's own party might wish to take more time soaking it all in.

I have probably confused you a ton. We were lucky, in that, the park was open until 10:00PM when we visited. We were also lucky in that we had 4 days which is a lifetime to do things at Universal and IOA.

Our plan was to just explore the WWofHP area on the 1st night of our visit (the crowds do drop off later in the day), doing the tour only line. The only mistake we made was not having cameras with us on this night. But after doing the tour around 8:00PM or so we did some more exploring and decided to do the regular line that night. Our wait was only around 20 minutes or so. Another thing is that some parts of the "rider" line and tour lines get closer to the viewing areas. There is a picture room on the tour line that is much easier to view than on the "rider" line.

I hope that I have not made things more confusing for you. If you reread my post on our tour then this post might make more sense.

Planning is a big part of tackling one of these big theme parks. Heck, like many of us who have been to Disney literally dozen of times, I still find myself doing some planning. Disney is the king of changing protocols around. I am scared to death of how they are going to alter their "fast pass" system. It will already impact us but that is a can or worms that I shouldn't open.

 

[baileybrad]

I really appreciate your great advice. We have many of the same restaurants chosen and I love the water ride tip and the tip tip. I am starting to get in panic mode so I may have some last minute questions for you later.

Stylist, sounds like you are on top of things. Like I mentioned to Amy, planning is the only way to tackle these big theme parks. I am not saying the turn left here, stop here, turn right here type of commando touring. But knowing what is out there in the way of restaurants, etc. and the best way to not waste time enjoying them or the attractions is the only way to go for our family. My spouse, on the morning after we had entered the line to IOA at 6:25AM for our WWofHP wand ceremony day, said the nicest thing to me as we were exiting that area as the thundering herds were passing by us with wild looks in their eyes. "I am so glad that you found out about how to do this, it really was worth it" Priceless. Still doesn't mean they all still won't complain when we rise early to hit the Disney parks in the future. But a compliment, is a compliment.

 

[Amy]

Thanks baileybrad - you answered my question perfectly. If I want photos of inside Hogwarts, then we need to do the "tour only" with camera; when riding, we'll have to put our stuff in lockers. And Forbidden Journey is NOT one of the express rides for staying onsite, right? The only way to do "express" on Forbidden Journey is to do the single rider line.

Eh, we'll figure it out - we'll be there for 4 days, and I plan to nag my family for early entry at least once.

 

[baileybrad]

That is a great way of looking at the SRL on FJ. There is not an Express Line.

Two other rides that I recall that do not have Express: Pteranodon Flyers in IOA (our youngest still qualified to ride this one but chose to spend more time playing in Camp Jurassic instead) That did not break my heart, because the line can be long and it is extremely short and only allows for 2 vehicles on the overhead track at one time; and the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit in the Studios (that one also has a SRL). The Hollywood RRR is really prone to breaking down. I would suggest if you choose to enter the Studios right at opening on one of your mornings that you try to do it first thing before it gets hot. This was the only ride that we wanted to ride more than once on our recent trip but due to it being prone to breakdowns only got to ride it once.