Back from Harry Potter and never again.

[AMG]

Just got back from 7 wonderful days and nights at Disney and one very disapointing day in the Harry Potter park at Universal. There were 9 of us altogether, 7 children crazy about Harry Potter and 2 adults. It cost almost $800.00 for a one day park ticket. The kids really did not want any part of the park except for Harry Potter and when we got there we were turned a way and given a ticket for a specific time to come back. About an hour. So the kids went on a few other rides. Wow, you can really notice the difference between the Disney parks and Universal. The place looked a bit run down. Paint peeling off the rides, unahppy faces behind the counters, not really friendly at all. The people that work there do not seem to want to be there, unlike at Disney.

So, finally we get into the Harry Potter park after about an hour. It turns out half of the country was visiting the park at the same time. Could barely move.

As for the park itself. FABULOUS!!!!! It is as if you walked into the movie. The castle is breathtaking. It towers over you and you can't wait to go inside. Once inside you are in another world. Everthing from the talking pictures on the wall, to Dumbledore's office to the wizarding classrooms. I could have spent hours in there just looking around. Unfortunately, the castle itself IS a ride and you must keep moving throughout the rooms to get to the ride. If you stop to lookaround at all the details (that was obviously built for our enjoyment) you are immediately pushed through by one or more of the line monitors who are strategically placed throughout the castle preventing you from admiring the very thing you paid to see. REALLY disapointing...The ride itself was fun but a very fast and sometimes nauseating. One lady came off the ride and I thought they were going to have to call 911. But definately worth going on at least once.

We never got into any of the stores within the Hogworth village. I wanted to go into Olliveander's but didn't. I did not mind waiting an hour to go on the rides, however, I was not prepared to wait an hour to go into every store in the Harry Potter park. We went on the one ride, drank the butterbeer (which I was convinced I was not going to like but was very suprised when I did) and left.

So in summary, we spend $800.00 to rush through the castle, go on one ride, and drink one glass of Butterbeer. I really am not one to complain, but I was very disapointed this one day.

 

[EvangelineG]

I thought there was a castle tour separate from the regular FJ line? Do they not have this on very busy days?

How disappointing for your kids!

 

[tinydancer09]

Sorry to hear about your disappointing experience in Hogwarts. However, this past week was the number 1 grade school vacation in the nation. The crowds are as they have been describes on this and several other forums for the past months that the park has opened.

As for spending all that money just for Harry Potter... That section is a fifth of the entire park. You spent $800 for all of IOA, not HP. There were plenty of things your entire family could have done and enjoyed just as much as a lot of disney rides. I think that your day would have been a lot more worth while had you spent more time in other sections of the park.

As for the park not being near as updated as Disney, I have to ask which part you went to. If it's Suess landing then yes, it needs a new coat of paint. But there are plenty of parts in disney that could do the same and need some updating. Employee wise is just luck of the drawl. I have always loved the employees at Universal because they were down to earth and didn't treat everyone like they're little kids.... like I always experience at Disney.

Don't get me wrong, I love both sides of Orlando, but don't go to Universal/IOA expecting to find Disney.

 

[damo]

Wow, you can really notice the difference between the Disney parks and Universal. The place looked a bit run down. Paint peeling off the rides, unahppy faces behind the counters, not really friendly at all.

This is what we saw when we were down in Orlando at the parks in February.



However, it was at Magic Kingdom. I made sure to take a picture because for some reason people need to post that there is peeling paint at Universal but never at Disney, lol.

 

[mesaboy2]

Sorry to hear you were disappointed. I'd be curious to know how much research you did for WWoHP before your trip. The timed entry tickets, castle tour queues, very crowded nature of the area, waits for shops and Ollivander's are all routinely discussed on here.

 

[ky07]

This is what we saw when we were down in Orlando at the parks in February.



However, it was at Magic Kingdom. I made sure to take a picture because for some reason people need to post that there is peeling paint at Universal but never at Disney, lol.

damo I am so glad you posted that pic cause so many people go to Universal like others have said for the Disney factor and when they realize its totally different then they come here and post something negitive and don't get me wrong I like Disney too but they also have thier faults too but to go just for WWOHP when your in one of the most well themed parks is just mind blowing

 

[tinydancer09]

This is what we saw when we were down in Orlando at the parks in February.



However, it was at Magic Kingdom. I made sure to take a picture because for some reason people need to post that there is peeling paint at Universal but never at Disney, lol.

I GIMS (giggled in my seat).

Thank you for posting this!

 

[Timmy Boy]

I was just there today. Everything was a 10 minute wait or less (FJ was 30). As for "line monitors strategically placed to push you through", they are there during the busy seasons, so ensure everyone gets on the ride. Would you rather you be in the back of the line behind everyone stopping and taking pictures? If you go in the slow season (like today) the "evil line monitors whose jobs are to ruin vacations" won't be there. Or if they are, then take the castle tour line, where you can take as long as you want.

Also, IOA is a theme park, with other attractions. I'm sorry that you only did Potter and nothing else. Did you automatically assume that the other attractions were "inferior" simply because they weren't sitting in a Disney park?

EDIT: Nice pic damo. I should have taken a pic of the mountain of overflowing trash can I saw in the Jungle Cruise line, but it was a walk on so I didn't, but it was about a 2 feet higher than the trash can itself haha

 

[Tink2Day]

Yes these Disneyphobes really get to me. And this is coming from someone who went to Disneyland the first year it opened and every year for 35 years after that. Someone who actually MET Walt Disney and sat next to him at an event for around 2 hours with plenty of conversation.
Now the people going to Disney feel so proprietary. Like it's going to kill them if something is better than Disney.
People go to these parks when it is a school holiday then are shocked when it's packed.

Then again it may just be that nothing makes people happy these days. Like I said on another thread, the trash and disrepair I saw at the MK, the rides that broke down at Epcot and MK and the complaints about CM's and long wait times at WDW must have been my imagination.

I think what people are expecting or what they WANT is that Universal is so inferior they'll be able to walk right in and do whatever they want. Won't happen. The Forbidden Journey is the #1 theme park ride in the WORLD.
Seems like the commando planning I've read about from some of the people who go to Disney would at least have had a CLUE about what might have been going on at WWOHP or at the very least have known about single rider lines and the castle tour.......

But all in all I hope they do stay away, it will make it better for the people who don't think the world owes them and know if they go at peak times they can expect the long lines (we were fortunate with short lines in Universal even WWOHP, the longest lines were at WDW, waited 45 minutes for most rides and some rides ran out of fast passes, waits were close to 2 hours for some of those).

 

[Tink2Day]

As for the park itself. FABULOUS!!!!!

We never got into any of the stores within the Hogworth village. I wanted to go into Olliveander's but didn't. I did not mind waiting an hour to go on the rides, however, I was not prepared to wait an hour to go into every store in the Harry Potter park. We went on the one ride, drank the butterbeer (which I was convinced I was not going to like but was very suprised when I did) and left.
So in summary, we spend $800.00 to rush through the castle, go on one ride, and drink one glass of Butterbeer. I really am not one to complain, but I was very disapointed this one day.

Yes and Disney is so cheap. DHS has so few rides and you can't even get on the best ones TSM and RnRc most of the time.
By the way, if you're kids really ARE Potter fans? It's HOGSMEADE and OLLIVANDERS.
The telling comment from you that proves you went with a mindset that you weren't going to like it regardless? "(which I was convinced I was not going to like but was very suprised when I did)" and left. So you found something you liked and immediately had to leave.
I don't get why people who are so hung up on Disney would even come to Universal. Funny someone else has this opinion:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2699224
Oh and by the way? A Disney marketing rep told our group that they are losing their best CM's after training to Universal. Enough that it has them very concerned......

 

[bumbershoot]

Wow, you can really notice the difference between the Disney parks and Universal. The place looked a bit run down. Paint peeling off the rides, unahppy faces behind the counters, not really friendly at all. The people that work there do not seem to want to be there, unlike at Disney.

Unfortunately, the castle itself IS a ride and you must keep moving throughout the rooms to get to the ride. If you stop to lookaround at all the details (that was obviously built for our enjoyment) you are immediately pushed through by one or more of the line monitors who are strategically placed throughout the castle preventing you from admiring the very thing you paid to see.

We never got into any of the stores within the Hogworth village. I wanted to go into Olliveander's but didn't. I did not mind waiting an hour to go on the rides, however, I was not prepared to wait an hour to go into every store in the Harry Potter park. We went on the one ride, drank the butterbeer (which I was convinced I was not going to like but was very suprised when I did) and left.

So in summary, we spend $800.00 to rush through the castle, go on one ride, and drink one glass of Butterbeer. I really am not one to complain, but I was very disapointed this one day.

FWIW, what you describe about Universal vs WDW was the exact *opposite* of what we experienced in December, in our very first trip to both WDW and Universal.

The CMs just kept tuning us out...the TMs looked us in the eye and really listened. The parks at WDW were amazing...Universal (talking in general of Universal, not THE park "Universal") made me gasp as I entered the Port of Entry from the beauty and theming.

But then we figured we'd like it and bought multiple day tickets and stayed onsite, so it wasn't going to be a mad scramble like a 1 day trip would be...

When you pile all that stress and money for ONE day...it's going to be really hard for it to live up to anything good.

I bet if you'd stepped to the side and let people behind you go past that you could have stood there longer. But if you didn't want to lose your spot in line, you can't just hold up that line...

After you did the one ride and the one drink of butterbeer...you just *left*? Even though you were spending all that money for the day? I'm fainting just to think of it.

Then again my experience with new places is this...we went to Seaworld in San Diego. We entered and apart from the Clydesdales, half of the day was just boring and awful and BLAH. We were all just hating the place, and we were about to leave (we were giving it a good shot, though, we got there at opening and this was noonish!). We walked past a stadium advertising the Pets Rule show. That sounded adorable, and it was about to start, so we went in. The show was cute and incredible and impressive!!! We left the stadium and continued looking at the park, and our whole day just brightened. We ended up staying until well after 5, when our day started off just yucko.

So I always give things a good try...

Having fallen madly in love with Universal in December...I'm just really sad that you guys didn't run around and experience the shops, the little coaster the big coaster, all just in Hogsmeade, and that you didn't experience the rest of the amazing Islands of Adventure!

Yes these Disneyphobes really get to me.

Disneyphiles, I think?

 

[~Tonga Wingo~]

I'm a Disney freak and going to Universal for the first time this year but won't be knocking it. They are two different parks. So please don't lump all of us Disney Freaks all in one group. Simply not fair to stereotype.

Sounds like the OP didn't plan to me. I fully expect waiting and crowds when we go. My sister and I are HUGE, HUGE, HUGE Harry Potter fans. If all I get to do is ride FL once and drink a butterbeer, I'd be happy. I think it's all about expectations before you go. We simply expect to see whatever we can of WWoHP and the rest of the park, however, crowded it may be since we chose only one day to go. I think for us it's more the experience then what we will accomplish in the day. However, I think with planning, we'll accomplish a lot more than the OP. If they were handing out return times, I don't think the OP got their at RD which I think is probably a must do, especially during spring break crowds.

 

[cv1990]

I'm sorry but I am not gonna let you moan about the crowd levels at a relatively new park during a school holiday. What were the crowds like at Magic Kingdom? The one time I have been to Magic Kingdom in Orlando, I managed to get on 2 rides. You could literally not move anywhere in the park let alone the queues. Don't even get me started on how much of a nightmare Blizzard Beach was!!

Epcot and Hollywood Studios are amazing though.

 

[RMulieri]

I am a DIsney Freak but I would NEVER compare it to Universal.They are 2 DIFFERENT parks and different experiences.I am sorry Op you felt let down, but it is SPRING BREAK season, and WWoHP is crazy busy most of the time because it is NEW and it is POPULAR.It is also a SMALL FRACTION of IOA.I think if more people went to Universal with an open mind instead of trying to find a 2nd Disney they would enjoy it more and appreciate it for what it is.

 

[StalkerX]

It truly is a hit or miss on any given day of the week, no matter which theme park (Universal or Disney) you go to. It's very unfortunate you had a bad experience that day. That's the beauty and also the stinky part of the whole Florida theme park experience. You never know what you are going to run into that particular day. I suppose I was lucky when I went as I walked into all the stores and got on all the rides (multiple times) all within a couple of hours whilst in the HP area.
As far as the employees and paint. Is it possible when peoples experiences are not going as well as hoped, that they start to notice other small negative things?

 

[mom2aandj]

we had a great time at Universal last fall. As with Disney, if you try to just buy a one day ticket, it's really expensive. I wanted to experience Universal at its best (just like I do Disney!) so we stayed at an on site hotel and bought multiple day tickets. This allowed us to do things like use the Express lines at the parks (over and over!) and got us into Harry Potter an hour early (which is a perfect time to go into the shops when they aren't mobbed!) I read so many reports on here of people who try to just *run over* to Universal for a few hours and then are disappointed and filled with complaints. IMO, that's just not a good way to experience it, especially at one of the busiest times of the year.

 

[ducky_love]

Well, posting this on a Universal board there aren't going to be many people that agree with you. It sounds like you went expecting it to not be crowded. A little planning and research here would have saved you a lot of disappointment.

I took my family in March and it was certainly crowded but I helped them work the crowds and they saw everything at HP more than once. You have to get there in the morning then leave and do other things while everyone in the park goes to HP. In the afternoon - evening it almost always clears out. They were able to see Ollivanders with a 10 minute wait (2 hrs earlier in the day), walked the castle tour slowly and took all the photos they wanted, and enjoyed a Butterbeer for Hogshead with no wait while the line at the cart was a mile long.

It is sort of like someone showing up to MK at noon ONLY wanting to ride the rides in Fantasyland and then complaining because everything it a 45+ minute wait. Well, yeah, you have to have a strategy. Same thing - just because it is Universal doesn't make it any less crowded.

If you give it another try let us help. You'll have a much better day!

 

[damo]

I can understand how the OP feels. When you go to a different park you notice all the differences and flaws. When we stayed onsite at Disney in Feb (we haven't been for ages), we kept saying, "This would never happen at Universal, lol". We saw the peeling paint, the garbage issue, employee issues, transportation issues and many boring ride issues. Then when we got to Royal Pacific after a few days of staying at Disney, we were all so relieved and thrilled to be "home".

However, I did not rush over to the Disney boards and post my issues that I had at Disney and say that Disney just could never compare to Universal. What would be the point? I'm sure I would get massacred and rightly so. We had a wonderful time at Disney and these things did not detract from our vacation at all.

Interestingly enough, we had new people with us on our vacation who had never been to Disney or Universal and they preferred Universal hands down.

 

[LUVIOA]

I'm not sure how you take 7 kids through Suess Landing, Jurassic Park, and Marvel and they don't find it interesting enough to even try
So you didn't even go on Spiderman? wow.

IOA is so beautifully themed, Disney has nothing compared to it. The immersion is enjoyable right down to the atmospheric music for each Island.

Oh well, that's 9 less people in front of me the next time I go!

 

[IdesOmarch]

You're not going to enjoy it if you take that approach. "The kids didn't want any part of any other part of the park" well what do you expect if you don't even go to check anything else out? Of course HP is going to be crowded, that is why you have to stay on site, make 2 or 3 days out of it. You can't rush in to go to one section of one park and expect it to be a good experience.

I'm going to go to Magic Kingdom but I'm not going to look or go to anything except Pirates of the Caribbean. Do you think I'll get my money's worth?