Contemplating at trip for WWOHP - ideal time?

[panchodog]

I'm contemplating taking the kids (12 & 10) to Universal just for WWOHP (although they would probably enjoy some of the other Universal stuff too). They are not really big on theme parks, but they do like Harry Potter a lot. I'd rather not take them out of school for more than 2 or 3 days. They don't like thrill rides, but I think would like FJ — probably nothing scarier than that. They _might_ do the Hippogriff, but wouldn't do the dueling dragons. This close to Diagon Alley opening I think we would wait for that, so sometime later in 2014. They are not big crowd people, so a less crowded time would be best.

I'm wondering when to take them and trying to balance out having them out of school the least amount of time (no time at all would be ideal), having Diagon Alley open, and having the least amount of crowds. I think this is one of those conundrums like wanting something cheap, fast, and good — you can pick two of the three. So although the ideal would be a trip on a school vacation after Diagon Alley opens and it's not crowded I know that's pretty much an impossibility. I'm considering the Monday after Thanksgiving 2014. How crowded do you think that would be? It has the advantage of being close to younger daughter's 11th birthday so near the time she should be getting her Hogwart's letter.

Alternately, I read somewhere online someone said that when they went to Universal on the 4th of July it was not crowded because there were no fireworks there. That seems too good to be true, esp with Diagon Alley this summer.

Any possible Sept/Oct weekends that wouldn't be crazy?

thanks for any thoughts!

 

[RMulieri]

At this point it is too soon to know exactly how the park crowds will change.We are booked to go the week after Thanksgiving 2014.Traditionally that is a slower time, but I am going expecting larger than usual crowds and will be suprised if it turns out to be the opposite

 

[2girlsmom]

I would hazard a guess that the crowds on the IOA side will be reasonable by that week, certainly they were for us this past year, and in my experience the crowds are never as unmanageable at Universal as they are at Disney. I would expect longish wait times still for the Diagon Alley stuff, as that will still be very new. Though no one can estimate entirely, I think it is fair to say it will take an extended amount of time for the crowds to die down for Diagon. Be prepared that Hippogriff may, and in my experience usually does, have a longer wait time than FJ, for example, I was there on 12/9 and FJ was 10 minutes wait while Hippogriff was 30. If you can, I would recommend staying on property, as this will get you express for any IOA rides except FJ and may or may not give you express on anything in Diagon, but will almost definitely give early entry to both sides of WWOHP as well.

 

[glocon]

Another thing to consider is when HHN will be starting in October...

 

[klacey1]

We're doing the second week of September in 2014, which has had low crowds in past years.