Semi-first-timer questions about EE and HP World...

[PHamrick]

So, I say semi-first timer because I grew up in Florida and went to college in Florida. However...I haven't been to US/IOA since 2000, our kids have never been and our friends have never been. If you can bear with me, here are some salient details:

--we are staying at RPR so we will have early entry and express passes. We also have park-to-park tickets
--we have three kids and four adults. One of the kids is 1 1/2, so someone will always be with her

Here are my questions:

1. How long does it take to ride the Hogwarts Express? Is there any reason to ride it more than once (meaning there and back?)?

2. Are all the stores in HP World open during EE?

3. If I don't want to ride the Forbidden Journey, can we still tour Hogwarts? Can you take pictures inside the castle?

4. Would you take a five year old on Escape from Gringotts? She's tall enough...and generally has a brave temperament. She is unpredictable on what she likes and doesn't like. She loved the Mine Train at 3, but didn't like the Haunted Mansion.

5. Do all HP rides have child swap?

6. I know some people could spend all day in HP World, but realistically, how long would you stay there in the morning before moving on the rest of the parks? Any sample itineraries?

OK, I think that's it for now. BUT, any advice you have for relative newbies is GREATLY appreciated!!

 

[Skiton]

1. Can't answer this as we didn't ride.
2. I remember all the stores being open during the EE hour.
3. When we went, they weren't offering the tour in the morning, but we did child swap. I think you could easily tour the castle and then just exit instead of getting on the ride.
4. My son had just turned 7 and was nervous about Grigotts, but went on it and loved it. For him it was less about the scare factor and more because he doesn't enjoy roller coaster type rides. Maybe you could find a video on YouTube and show it to her first so that she knows what it's like, and then let her decide.
5. Forbidden Journey and Gringotts do, I assume Dueling Dragons does, too. I don't know about Flight of the Hippogriff, but the line for that is pretty short in the morning. K
6. We stayed for probably an hour and a half. We could have stayed longer (our kids were nuts for the interactive wands) but we wanted to see the rest of the park, too, before it got too crowded.

Advice - even with early entry, try to get there at least 20 minutes early. We walked in right at seven and still had a good wait for the Gringotts and Forbidden Journey.

 

[pcstang]

So, I say semi-first timer because I grew up in Florida and went to college in Florida. However...I haven't been to US/IOA since 2000, our kids have never been and our friends have never been. If you can bear with me, here are some salient details:

--we are staying at RPR so we will have early entry and express passes. We also have park-to-park tickets
--we have three kids and four adults. One of the kids is 1 1/2, so someone will always be with her

Here are my questions:

1. How long does it take to ride the Hogwarts Express? Is there any reason to ride it more than once (meaning there and back?)?

2. Are all the stores in HP World open during EE?

3. If I don't want to ride the Forbidden Journey, can we still tour Hogwarts? Can you take pictures inside the castle?

4. Would you take a five year old on Escape from Gringotts? She's tall enough...and generally has a brave temperament. She is unpredictable on what she likes and doesn't like. She loved the Mine Train at 3, but didn't like the Haunted Mansion.

5. Do all HP rides have child swap?

6. I know some people could spend all day in HP World, but realistically, how long would you stay there in the morning before moving on the rest of the parks? Any sample itineraries?

OK, I think that's it for now. BUT, any advice you have for relative newbies is GREATLY appreciated!!

1. It's about a 5 minute ride. It's different both ways and the US side has the 9 3/4 platform.

3. I've never done the tour but it's worth it to do the entire que and take pictures. You can exit at the end of it if you don't want to ride.

4. My 5 yr old loved it. She hated HM also.

 

[Kivara]

3. If I don't want to ride the Forbidden Journey, can we still tour Hogwarts? Can you take pictures inside the castle? The tour is great, as you can go at your own pace. If they aren't offering a tour line when you go, let the workers know you are doing child swap. No need for lockers. You can let others move past you if you want to gawk a bit longer. The tour line will skip the greenhouse area, which is neat. If the ride line is short enough of a wait, I would do it to see the greenhouses and a bit more of the castle.

4. Would you take a five year old on Escape from Gringotts? She's tall enough...and generally has a brave temperament. She is unpredictable on what she likes and doesn't like. She loved the Mine Train at 3, but didn't like the Haunted Mansion. I would second the "watch a YouTube video first" Everyone is different on what bothers them in rides. My 9 year old didn't care for the scene where it looks like you are tipping over a great chasm, then dropped. He wasn't "scared" but he said he wouldn't ride again.

5. Do all HP rides have child swap? YES! (Except the Hogwarts Express, of course, but everyone can safely ride that ) I will warn though, if anyone wants to ride Dragon Challenge, and some adults do not, stay in the HP area & hold the bags. Not only is this an "everything in the locker ride" but my youngest has claimed it is the "worst child swap area ever" (and he's an expert ) You are sat in a block hallway, on a bench, facing a blank stone wall. Luckily, my non-rider can be patient!

6. I know some people could spend all day in HP World, but realistically, how long would you stay there in the morning before moving on the rest of the parks? Any sample itineraries?We just go with the flow...when we want to move on, we do. A lot will depend on your group, wait lines, if you want to shop, if the kids want to do the wands, there are shows as well.

OK, I think that's it for now. BUT, any advice you have for relative newbies is GREATLY appreciated!![/QUOTE]

 

[ruthies12]

Some suggestions from me (keeping in mind I've only been once and am in no way an expert lol)- I used child swap in gringotts and forbidden journey and will say that you may want to bring along a cell phone with games or something for the 1 1/2 year old to do. They have TV's in there but they were showing harry potter movies. Makes sense to show those moves BUT those movies are of no interest whatsoever to my 2 year old.

On our last trip my 6 year old loved mine train and hated haunted mansion, but liked gringotts pretty well though I do think it scared her a bit. As you know, every kid is different.

My last trip was only 2 days at US with the rest at Disney and we were not staying on site and did not have express pass. Based on that experience- my next trip this November has 3 full days booked for US, one day dedicated entirely to HP areas so we can see and experience everything we missed last time and then a one night stay on property so we that we get two days of EE and express pass with plans to use EE for repeat HP stuff and the rest of the day using express pass at the rest of the rides.

 

[ruthies12]

Oh and one more thing- if there is no line for Hogwarts express when you are boarding on the London waterfront side- hang back a big to see people walk through the wall to get to platform 9 3/4. It is a very cool visual effect and easily missed if you move through the line too quickly.

 

[sillyyankee]

Oh and one more thing- if there is no line for Hogwarts express when you are boarding on the London waterfront side- hang back a big to see people walk through the wall to get to platform 9 3/4. It is a very cool visual effect and easily missed if you move through the line too quickly.

It sure is. I totally missed it while my son saw it when I walked through.