amityisland
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2012
- Messages
- 118
Hi. I went to Universal on Friday the 18th and `thought I'd share my Diagon Alley experience for those curious. I am an annual passholder, but was not staying at a hotel so did not get EE into DA.
-Left at 5:30am from Tampa. Arrived at the parking garage around 6:50. One parking booth was open and staffed.
-Got into the park a little after 7am. All the ticket kiosks were open. Was directed to a roped off waiting area near Mel's Dine-In.
-They led us out of the waiting area around 7:50. Employees walked ahead of us with a yellow rope.
-When we got to Diagon Alley at about 8am, we were told Diagon Alley was already at capacity! They had set-up sort of fast-pass like distribution center computers where you could get a ticket that gave you a time when you could return to DA. I got a ticket to return between 9am-10 am.
I was a little miffed, but the good news was that the train was open. It said a 10 minute wait, but there was really very little wait. Rode the nice, air-conditioned train to Hogsmeade and then back to London. FYI - the London train station is air-conditioned very well, the Hogsmeade station felt a lot more humid - just fans, really.
Got back to London around 8:45am. They let those who had 9am return times into DA about 10 minutes early.
Headed over to Gringotts, which had a wait time listed at 180 minutes. I asked about single rider, but they weren't letting people in that yet. I did the seat check that was to the right of Gringotts. I had no problem, the green light came on (I'm 5ft.3 and 230 pounds). I asked if I should put my purse in a locker now. They said not yet....what they did was you went through the bigger, longer outside line behind Gringotts first and then when you wound back at the bank opening, they gave you a ticket to get out of line and go to the lockers, put your stuff in, and get back in line. I kinda like this... I could have my water, medicine, book, whatever I needed for the majority of the wait time in the boring part of the lineand then put it in a locker at the point where we finally get inside the back and get to see the neat stuff lol.
The line was moving pretty constantly... the only stoppage I noticed was maybe for about 15-20 minutes once we were behind the main goblin in the bank.
They let us take pictures up until we got to outside the elevators. Once it came to get in the ride vehicle, I was put in one of the back row seats. Again, the restraint came down and locked fine for me, but two taller, heavy gentleman beside me had to "maneuver" a few times before it worked for them.
The ride worked fine and did not break down. I was so happy to ride it that I didn't notice if they were loading from both sides or not, sorry
I got in line a little after 9am and was done at 11:33, so it was about a half hour shorter than the posted wait time.
Then I went off to find the butterbeer ice cream and snap a lot of pictures. Since I specifically wanted the butterbeer flavor, I went into the inside "beer shop" (sorry, forgot the name) where I heard you could the bb ice cream as well. It had less of a line then the ice cream shop (I peaked into that shop - it was crowded inside, but the line did not go out the door yet). I thought it tasted like caramel ice cream
Wondered around the shops and Knockturn Alley. The lunch wait for Leaky Cauldron was about 20 minutes, but decided not to eat there that day.
I felt that, although still hot and muggy, Diagon Alley seemed ok and not overwhelmingly hot. However, once I got out of London and into the rest of Universal at around 12:30pm, the heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks! ate at Bubba Gump's, then left.
photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...868.1073741853.1460501708&type=1&l=1975f0dc6e
-Left at 5:30am from Tampa. Arrived at the parking garage around 6:50. One parking booth was open and staffed.
-Got into the park a little after 7am. All the ticket kiosks were open. Was directed to a roped off waiting area near Mel's Dine-In.
-They led us out of the waiting area around 7:50. Employees walked ahead of us with a yellow rope.
-When we got to Diagon Alley at about 8am, we were told Diagon Alley was already at capacity! They had set-up sort of fast-pass like distribution center computers where you could get a ticket that gave you a time when you could return to DA. I got a ticket to return between 9am-10 am.
I was a little miffed, but the good news was that the train was open. It said a 10 minute wait, but there was really very little wait. Rode the nice, air-conditioned train to Hogsmeade and then back to London. FYI - the London train station is air-conditioned very well, the Hogsmeade station felt a lot more humid - just fans, really.
Got back to London around 8:45am. They let those who had 9am return times into DA about 10 minutes early.
Headed over to Gringotts, which had a wait time listed at 180 minutes. I asked about single rider, but they weren't letting people in that yet. I did the seat check that was to the right of Gringotts. I had no problem, the green light came on (I'm 5ft.3 and 230 pounds). I asked if I should put my purse in a locker now. They said not yet....what they did was you went through the bigger, longer outside line behind Gringotts first and then when you wound back at the bank opening, they gave you a ticket to get out of line and go to the lockers, put your stuff in, and get back in line. I kinda like this... I could have my water, medicine, book, whatever I needed for the majority of the wait time in the boring part of the lineand then put it in a locker at the point where we finally get inside the back and get to see the neat stuff lol.
The line was moving pretty constantly... the only stoppage I noticed was maybe for about 15-20 minutes once we were behind the main goblin in the bank.
They let us take pictures up until we got to outside the elevators. Once it came to get in the ride vehicle, I was put in one of the back row seats. Again, the restraint came down and locked fine for me, but two taller, heavy gentleman beside me had to "maneuver" a few times before it worked for them.
The ride worked fine and did not break down. I was so happy to ride it that I didn't notice if they were loading from both sides or not, sorry
I got in line a little after 9am and was done at 11:33, so it was about a half hour shorter than the posted wait time.
Then I went off to find the butterbeer ice cream and snap a lot of pictures. Since I specifically wanted the butterbeer flavor, I went into the inside "beer shop" (sorry, forgot the name) where I heard you could the bb ice cream as well. It had less of a line then the ice cream shop (I peaked into that shop - it was crowded inside, but the line did not go out the door yet). I thought it tasted like caramel ice cream
Wondered around the shops and Knockturn Alley. The lunch wait for Leaky Cauldron was about 20 minutes, but decided not to eat there that day.
I felt that, although still hot and muggy, Diagon Alley seemed ok and not overwhelmingly hot. However, once I got out of London and into the rest of Universal at around 12:30pm, the heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks! ate at Bubba Gump's, then left.
photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...868.1073741853.1460501708&type=1&l=1975f0dc6e
I know DA will be packed and we are planning on during EE for the ride and late evening to explore the DA area. We should be OK to cover the rest of the rides and enjoy the park, from your experience right?
