Hogswarts Express Soft Opening

[pageantmom]

My daughters took the bus to Universal about 45 minutes ago. They called to say they are letting people ride the train so anyone in the park, now is a good time to go try.

 

[hpfan100]

Woohoo...lucky ducks. I was wondering if that was happening since I saw a posted wait time on a free app.

 

[beebeeryan]

Yup, friend of mine just texted me they were walking by and got invited to ride! So excited for them, they were bummed it wouldn't open in time for their trip and their kids are huge Harry Potter fans.

 

[Rags]

Missed it by one day

 

[atricks]

I happened to be working from home today, so when I got word it was opened, I high-tailed it over to the park.

When I walked by King's Cross it was wide open, and team members were asking everyone if you had a park-to-park ticket. This was still fairly soon after the opening, the line was building.
The line moved a lot faster than I thought it would, but the queue was still getting fairly full.

The downstairs team members were playing off they were 'muggles' and responding oddly to questions about hogwarts express.
Once upstairs you got to the olatform 9/10 crossover, with the 9 3/4 wall effect, which was a photo bottleneck, but still cool. Everyone in line was elated and excited.

Then around the counter out into the train platform, which is HUGE, and awesome.

The other photo bottleneck was where I took the photo here. The train interior was very well done, and each cabin sat 8 people. The very happy family that was with me I took photos of. The train window works fairly well, for a non glasses based 3d effect, the best view is if you lean out into the middle to look at it. The cabin door also had activities going on, as well as a
few in cabin effects.

Once I got out I could walk into Hogsmeade, but needed to get back to work so I hopped back on the train to the return trip (with a different video), the line by that time was even longer. And there were many more people lined up to upgrade tickets to the park-to-park on the Islands side than the Studios side. But with the AP I just queued up again. The Hogsmeade queue is mostly outdoors, but had some misters going on to cool it. King's cross is A/C throughout.

The ride experience going from Islands to the Studios is different, and builds excitement for Diagon Alley.


They totally nailed it, and it handled the crowds (which built and built after I got there) surprisingly well.

Diagon itself wasn't soft opened.

 

[nugov2]

How fun!! Hope someone posts some pictures

I have been watching the youtube videos and think they have done an amazing job. They influenced us to go for 9 days in September of 2015 instead of waiting like we originally planned. Dh wasn't thrilled about going back so soon(promised him 3 years between trips) since we went last year, but my dd is a huge HP fan so we talked him into another uni/wdw vacation.

 

[HM]

I happened to be working from home today, so when I got word it was opened, I high-tailed it over to the park.

When I walked by King's Cross it was wide open, and team members were asking everyone if you had a park-to-park ticket. This was still fairly soon after the opening, the line was building.
The line moved a lot faster than I thought it would, but the queue was still getting fairly full.

The downstairs team members were playing off they were 'muggles' and responding oddly to questions about hogwarts express.
Once upstairs you got to the olatform 9/10 crossover, with the 9 3/4 wall effect, which was a photo bottleneck, but still cool. Everyone in line was elated and excited.

Then around the counter out into the train platform, which is HUGE, and awesome.

The other photo bottleneck was where I took the photo here. The train interior was very well done, and each cabin sat 8 people. The very happy family that was with me I took photos of. The train window works fairly well, for a non glasses based 3d effect, the best view is if you lean out into the middle to look at it. The cabin door also had activities going on, as well as a
few in cabin effects.

Once I got out I could walk into Hogsmeade, but needed to get back to work so I hopped back on the train to the return trip (with a different video), the line by that time was even longer. And there were many more people lined up to upgrade tickets to the park-to-park on the Islands side than the Studios side. But with the AP I just queued up again. The Hogsmeade queue is mostly outdoors, but had some misters going on to cool it. King's cross is A/C throughout.

The ride experience going from Islands to the Studios is different, and builds excitement for Diagon Alley.


They totally nailed it, and it handled the crowds (which built and built after I got there) surprisingly well.

Diagon itself wasn't soft opened.

Nice report! Thank you!

 

[spoliz911]

Was here today as well and just happened to be walking by when the opened up Kings Crossing and pretty much walked right on. The queue is very cool with luggage bags throughout and like a previous poster said air conditioned, which is very nice. Huge break from the sun. Again, there was a log jam of people taking photos (I admit I was one of them, why not?) when you get to the platform..... totally worth it and made my daughters day since she is a half an inch too small for the HP Forbidden Journey. Short, but a very cool ride, we had the cabin to ourselves which made it even better!

 

[atricks]

The Hogwarts Express is open again today, both directions, and they are telling folks they plan to keep it open all day.

The TM's were saying yesterday that It will probably be open more often than not right up to the grand opening day, July 8th.

Diagon itself is unknown for openings.

 

[Grumpy92]

Atricks Thank you for the report. It was very helpful.

 

[wdw&sonny]

Once upstairs you got to the olatform 9/10 crossover, with the 9 3/4 wall effect, which was a photo bottleneck, but still cool. Everyone in line was elated and excited.

Can you explain the 9 3/4 wall effect?

 

[taliategan]

Do they run a train from each station at the same time or is there just one train? Is there any indication how this will work next week after the grand opening - are they going to somehow limit the number of times you can ride the train each day?; Will there eventually be express pass lines for the train? Does anybody know a rough percentage of people in the parks that will eligible to ride this - people with park to park tickets or APs compared to people with single park tickets.

 

[schumigirl]

Atricks.........nice report

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[bellanotte10]

How do they seat you? Is it self serve or do they do it for you?

 

[Magpie]

Does anybody know a rough percentage of people in the parks that will eligible to ride this - people with park to park tickets or APs compared to people with single park tickets.

Anyone who wants to ride it is going to upgrade to a Park to Park or AP. So, current stats on the proportion of P2Ps and APs versus single park tickets will be meaningless.

As a previous poster said, people are lining up to upgrade their tickets. This has got to be a goldmine for Universal!

 

[DisUniversal]

Do they run a train from each station at the same time or is there just one train? Is there any indication how this will work next week after the grand opening - are they going to somehow limit the number of times you can ride the train each day?; Will there eventually be express pass lines for the train? Does anybody know a rough percentage of people in the parks that will eligible to ride this - people with park to park tickets or APs compared to people with single park tickets.

Not sure, but if you look at an overhead view (ie, satellite view in Google Maps), you can see that there is a place where the track splits into two just long enough to let two trains pass each other if necessary.

 

[Oodalally13]

I was there on Friday June 27th and from Springfield in US I could see them doing runs with the train but I could only see 1 train and it would go forwards and then backwards. I was wondering if this is how it would be or if they would have a turntable or two trains. It just seemed weird to make the train just move backwards.

 

[kyzman]

I was there as well yesterday and was able to ride HE 3x in each direction. I think the ride is exceptionally done and immersive, from the queues to the actual ride experience. Awesome stuff. From what has been reported, this is only the tip of the iceberg as well, and I can't wait to see the rest.

I shot a vlog around the experience yesterday: http://youtu.be/7BMW7iI2RDw

 

[jade1]

I was there as well yesterday and was able to ride HE 3x in each direction. I think the ride is exceptionally done and immersive, from the queues to the actual ride experience. Awesome stuff. From what has been reported, this is only the tip of the iceberg as well, and I can't wait to see the rest.

I shot a vlog around the experience yesterday: http://youtu.be/7BMW7iI2RDw

Nice job.

Do they take your ticket each way for entry?

If so that would be 7 park entries for you alone yesterday-smart UNI.

 

[kyzman]

Nice job. Do they take your ticket each way for entry? If so that would be 7 park entries for you alone yesterday-smart UNI.

Yes. They have TMs out in front of the queue repeatedly announcing that you need a 2 park pass (or annual pass) to ride HE. That set of TMs do a quick check of your ticket prior to you getting in queue where another set of TMs use machines similar to the set at the main entrance of the parks that scan your ticket and do a finger scan.

I'm an annual passholder for the past 11 years, so it wasn't costing me anything extra. However, for those that are "regular" tourists, I can see a big pocketbook hit with the need for the 2 park pass. It's pretty genius on Universal's part.