Just returned from our 8-night stay at Portofino stay last week. Here's our Hogwarts experience.
Last Saturday, we ventured over to Hogwarts after dinner. It was around 8 p.m. and very crowded. We rode the Flight of the Hippogriff several times with no wait and could have ridden the dragons with no wait too. FJ had a posted wait time of 120 minutes and they had closed the line and were not allowing anyone else to enter. By the time we left Hogwarts, they reopened the line and the poor cast members tried to keep everyone from stampeding the entrance. We did not enter that chaos!
We sat our clock for 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and left the hotel by 7. We took the short-cut walk from Portofino (it is awesome)! By the time we arrived at Islands of Adventure they were already letting people enter. Non-resort guests were sent to the left and hotel guests to the right. We entered Hogwarts and left our bags at the lockers at the train. We ended up paying $3 but it was a much better decision we would find out later in the week. No crowds to get to these lockers. We went straight to FJ and ended up in the greenhouse right outside the door to Hogwarts. The ride had some technical difficulties so we had a very short wait. No worries as we moved through the castle. A very short wait and a very awesome ride experience. By the time we were off the ride, the crowds had gathered. We rode Flight of Hippogriff several times with no wait. We had frozen butterbeer on the nice covered tables behind Hogshead. No wait at the bar for the drink. We left Hogswart only to discover the mobs of people in line just to enter Hogswart. The heat was unreal last week and I can't imagine waiting in line to wait in line!!!
We set our clock for 6:30 a.m. again on Tuesday morning. We arrived at Islands of Adventure by 7:15 only to find that the ticket gate was not open this morning. They opened at 7:30. We went to the right and arrived at Ollivanders to discover only a couple of people in line. We were the second group of the day. Fun, but the child that was picked really "did not get into" the experience so it wasn't very exciting. I would not wait hours for the Ollivanders show! My 10-year old quickly bought a wand and we moved on to FJ. We made the mistake of using the lockers inside of the castle. We wish we would have just paid to use the ones at the train. It is madness at those lockers!!! The ride was down once again this morning and the posted wait time was 45 minutes when we arrived. We ended up waiting in the greenhouse area for quite a bit of time. Already a hot and humid day and it was around 8 a.m. I cannot imagine spending the heat of day in this greenhouse area. Once the ride was up and running, we moved through quickly. Once again, the other two rides did not have much of a line. We once again enjoyed frozen butterbeer in our secret shady spot behind Hogshead bar.
We returned to Hogswart on Thursday evening for our son to ride FJ one last time. The posted wait time was 120 minutes and it was at least 8:30 p.m. We decided to use the single rider line and just let our son ride. Lots of entire families in this line! The ride was being tested so we had a short wait without moving. He probably ended up being in line for over an hour. You really miss the castle atmosphere in this single rider line, but it served the purpose for a "one last ride". We left Hogwarts after 9:30 p.m. and Hogwarts was still crazy busy.
I think the lockers are crazy at FJ because people do not know they need to leave bags until they are there. The lockers by the train are mostly for DC, but work if you plan to ride FJ too.
You either exit thru the store, or hang a right off the ride into the locker area. and are staying offsite. What time should we arrive? I've heard some say by 7 or 7:30. Is this what we should do? Any other suggestions? Thanks!
will point you in the right direction.
