Can you go through Harry Potter and then not ride?

[BensWife]

My boys are Harry Potter fans, but they at 6 and 3, so I think the actual ride may be too scary and I don't think our 3 year old is tall enough anyway. Can they go through the que and then not ride? Is it a pain in the neck to do that or do a lot of kids do that? Is there anything that may scare a 3 year old? Thanks!

 

[Bluer101]

You can go in and ask for a castle tour still. It will take you through most parts of the castle without a line. You can walk at your own pace.

 

[Metro West]

You can go in and ask for a castle tour still. It will take you through most parts of the castle without a line. You can walk at your own pace.

 

[bumbershoot]

At Universal, everyone can enter the ride queues. The child swap area is towards the end of the queue, just before the area where you are seated on the ride.

The line is very very dark IMO, and even though I love having child swap inside the ride, I must admit that it wouldn't have worked well for my particular son. At 3 he knew nothing about Harry Potter, so there would have been no payoff, and the darkness of the castle would have bugged him.

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

DD had just nicely turned 4 on our last trip. She and I walked through the queue with the rest of the family, who were all riding, and walked out at the end with no difficulties. The whole area is very well themed and interesting to see; there was nothing that remotely scared my dd.

 

[DryCreek]

Another bonus of going through the entire ride line is that you can get right up to the sorting hat (for pictures) before you bail out through the child swap room.

Same goes for the Dueling dragons ride queue line. Lots of good theming there too. It wasn't until the last day that I realized that we were missing a bit of it by always using the Express Pass line!

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Another bonus of going through the entire ride line is that you can get right up to the sorting hat (for pictures) before you bail out through the child swap room.

Same goes for the Dueling dragons ride queue line. Lots of good theming there too. It wasn't until the last day that I realized that we were missing a bit of it by always using the Express Pass line!

You can go up to the sorting hat through the castle tour line as well; just ask the TMs and they'll let you go down the child swap lane