1st Time April 11 Have Questions about Itinerary!!

[Midwest9]

Thanks! Think we’ll just go ahead and walk so we can avoid the line for the boat altogether

 

[Midwest9]

You can wait in the line with them. They'll even let you bring the bags in line that case, just tell the cast member when you enter the line that you are a non-rider. So you skip the lockers and stay together.

But really, the lockers aren't all that big of a deal. You do bypass them entirely if you don't need them, except at Hagrids if the line is out past the official queue entrance.

I have found lines for Ollivanders to drop in the late afternoon/evening, to the point of literally no line (this may depend on season/crowds/luck). While it is neat, it is not a must-do for me - if it were me, I'd go with your plan of getting the wand early and doing spells as you see fit, then if you walk past Ollivanders with no/short line, hop in line at that point. Note you can buy your wand at the Ollivander's shop even if you don't do the show. It has another door that you can go in just to the shop.

The Marvel area isn't super impressive, but the Spiderman ride is fun. And not a coaster, and you can bring the bags, so you can all go on it.

You may want to have a rough plan for lunch - HP restaurants get crowded although they are very well themed. You can often walk in just to look. If you want to eat there, aim for an early lunch or an early dinner as there will be less waiting. Thunder Falls Terrace in JP has the same BBQ that 3 Broomsticks has, but you can generally eat with minimal wait & it's much less crowded inside.

I found Universal to be great for non riders. I walked with them in all the lines and they showed me where to wait either in a family/child swap room or near where they would exit the ride. It was perfect!

 

[Midwest9]

Express pass isn’t good for Hagrid’s or VelociCoaster. You can buy a wand at the big Universal Store in City Walk, the big gift store in front of the park, and couple of other places in HP sections if you don’t want to wait for Ollivanders but want a wand for the spell casting. Express pass will help on waits for JP River Journey and HP Non Hagrid’s rides. The train will still take some time even with express since you have to wait for the train, load everyone in, go to other park, etc so the line doesn’t move super quick.

DD ended up deciding to get the wand the night before at City walk and not going into Olivanders at all. They had time to do Hagrids then Velocicoaster in our hour of early entry and that was it, and that was even with us being first in line to get in! Lots of people went running by us to the rides though.