WWoHP 11/11-12 - Thought I had a plan....

[BearFamily]

Hi all!

I've read through so much of the HP advice here over the last year, and really thought I had a plan together (yes, I know, you don't need a commando-style plan for Universal, but any plan that can minimize crowds is a win for DH) but am now doubting it.

We are there next Friday and Saturday, staying onsite with EP. We are primarily there for the HP stuff, but would also like to check out a few other things (Simpsons, Despicable Me, maybe MIB, probably Raptor Encounter). NO real roller-coaster stuff! Definitely getting a wand and doing spells. DD and DH rode Star Tours five times on our last WDW trip, so there may be some repeat visits to some rides!

My original plan was to start in one park as early as possible, do all the HP stuff, then take HE to the other park and do anything non-HP there. Then on the second day, do the same thing but start in the other park and go in the opposite direction. I was pretty well sold on doing Diagon Alley first. I've looked at a bunch of the canned plans, and advice on here, and trip reports, and it's just a lot of information.

The thing that's getting me is when I look at the crowd calendars, everything I can find lists Friday as a pretty light day and Saturday as moderate. It seems like some of the hotels are fully booked, which makes me think more crowded....And I keep reading that's it's crazy to try to do the wand stuff in the crowds, etc., plus I know DH is going to hate it if we're packed in body to body trying to go through the shops. So I wonder if maybe it makes more sense to put all the HP stuff on Friday (lighter day), and do the other stuff that we care less about on Saturday? Or to try to time things on Friday differently - maybe do some HP, take HE, etc., and maybe leave for a while and come back to finish up more HP when it starts clearing out again...or people say that Hogsmeade gets really crushy and crowded in a way that Diagon Alley doesn't - maybe we should start there Friday instead?

Basically, I master planned two Disney trips to a T and made DH (a total theme park disbeliever) into a convert. I worked the days, and the fastpasses, and the touring plan so that it came off completely stress free, well-planned and yet flexible, and he could marvel at how we had missed the lines that my parents stood in the very next day. I get that Universal is easier, smaller, less complicated, but I'm freaking out that this is going to wind up being crowded and nutty and a flop.

Do I need to just take a breath and stick with Plan A? Other suggestions or insights?? (The chances of us coming back any time soon are absolutely nil!)

Thanks!

 

[TheConsciousness]

As helpful as the crowd calendars are, there is a huge variance between all 5 that I've seen. Can be really frustrating for us planners.

From my experience in late August, many of the HP wand-effect stations weren't packed. At random times you'd notice a crowd of maybe 5 people at a few of them, but usually there were just 1-2 people at them. The HP shops aren't bad at all to do with crowds, so if I you're really worried about the wand stations, I would try:

Friday
1. Diagon Alley shops/wand stations
2. Hogwarts Express
3. Hogsmeade wand stations
4. IoA

Saturday
1. Hogsmeade shops
2. Hogwarts Express
3. etc etc

This will get the wand stations out of the way on Friday so you can continue on with your plan. You can experience the rest of the Hogsmeade magic on Saturday. I would also expect there to be less people on the wand stations around lunch time, so maybe calculate that in as well. Don't worry too much if there is a crowd around one wand station, just check out another and come back in a few minutes. Have fun!

 

[gotomu212]

We I've really found the crowds at HP to flex throughout the day. I've been in DA later in the night and it's been almost empty. Early morning and later in the evenings seem to work better for the shops and wand stations. That said a couple of times we were walking into Hogsmeade and it was packed so we turned around, rode other stuff, came back a few hours later and it was really light.

We took a friend who was hard core Disney and the EP blew her mind. I think your husband will be shocked by how fast you go skipping all those lines that he may not mind a longer Harry Potter ride in comparison.

 

[bumbershoot]

Going on school holidays like veterans day weekend does bring crowds.

I keep reading that's it's crazy to try to do the wand stuff in the crowds

It's not crazy but if there's a line you'll see the spell over and over. That doesn't bother many, but it bored me while waiting for ds and DH to get their turn!

DH is going to hate it if we're packed in body to body trying to go through the shops.

So....instead of designing shops so they look small but are magically large (the direction I would have gone) they decided to make them small. It's hard to shop IMO. You have to have patience. We've gone at busy times and non busy times and shopping is always a difficulty inside the WW areas.

We took a friend who was hard core Disney and the EP blew her mind.

Yep.

 

[angryduck71]

If you're not doing rollercoasters... I'd plan on doing HP stuff in the morning AND night. Just see how it is and go with the flow. I know as a Disney planner that's hard to imagine, but you can do this.

 

[nighttowll]

I think your original plan is great. I've gone at both low and high crowd times, and the HP area always seems crowded to me past early morning no matter what. Evening has been hit or miss in my experience. The rest of Univesal can be dead empty, but the HP areas always seem busy. We usually aim for HP at early entry each day, and then move on to the other lands when the crowds start forming. I don't think trying to do both lands in the same day will end up being a less crowded experience than doing each park separately first thing in the morning.

I've tried a number of different scenarios. It seems like each trip the plan is different. (Both in one day, one each morning, one in the evening, middle of the day, off season, peak season) So far what has worked out best for avoiding crowds has been doing each park at early entry in the morning, and then moving on.

We try to do the wands first. We don't like it when the suprise of the spell is ruined by a line, and we like to play around doing spells more than once (some have multiple variations) without feeling like we are holding up other people from having a turn.

Next, we like to explore the shops. They are so tiny, and it really only takes a few people for them to feel ridiculously crowded. Really more than 4 people in a few of them, and I just want to get out. The Owl Post shop and Honeydukes are the worst I think.

One advantage to going in this order is that if we purchase something, we can send the wand with the purchase either back to the hotel or to the front of the park for pickup later. This makes one less item for us to carry around and need a locker for.

Once we have gotten rid of all our stuff, we are ready to hit the rides. By this point the standby lines will be long, probably 40+ minutes, but we use the single rider or EP options to avoid those waits. Single rider is usually only 10-15 minutes, sometimes less. We do the tour only option to enjoy the castle, and we don't feel we are missing much by not doing the standby Gringots line as they don't make the ID cards every time anyway. I would suggest trying to do it at least once for the experience, but after that, I don't think it's really necessary. It's not the same as exploring Hogwarts which for us never gets old.

We usually end with lunch in either the Three Broomsticks or the Leaky Cauldron, and then we move on to the rest of the park after that.

This is the plan that has allowed us the least crowded experience while exploring. It is not necessarily the plan that goes in the best order, in the order of the books, or the plan that allows for the shortest wait if you aren't doing single rider or EP. This is just the plan I've found that tends to work best for avoiding being trampled by crowds.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We were there last weekend on days that were 8, 5, and 3 according to the crowd calendars and the HP areas seemed just as crowded on the 3 day in the afternoon as the 8 day. Either the crowd calendars are wrong or the pp is right that the HP areas are always busy. We found it much more manageable to be there in the early morning. I would recommend getting as much done then as possible and check back in the evening to see what it looks like.

 

[BearFamily]

Thanks, all!

Everything worked out really well - we were there early both days and honestly, there was no discernible difference in the crowd level between the two days.

We did mostly go with the flow, and the ability to bop back and forth between parks just by walking made a huge difference. EP was awesome....only long wait was Gringott's (TWICE) but that was made more palatable by the fact that the first time, we knew it would probably be our only long wait for the trip, and the second time, DH went to go ride something else instead.

All in all, a great trip. Thanks to all from here for the info I absorbed over the last year planning.