Crowds in the REST of the parks...

[MScott1851]

So, I and my family have never seen the first second of any Harry Potter movie, nor have we read the first line of any of the books. (I know...I know...but dd is only 4, it's coming soon enough.). We have seen Hogsmeade & rode FJ on our last two Universal trips, have been riding Dragon Challenge since it was called Dueling Dragons and back when the Hippogriff was still the Flying Unicorn. In short, while we will probably take a peek at Diagon Alley, we won't be battling for Butterbeer or waiting more than an hour for Gringotts.

Has anyone been able to tell if the Harry Potter sections of the parks are pulling a lot of the crowd from other sections? We are going in September and staying on site, so we are used to walking on most everything anyway. But it sure would be nice to get three or four rides in a row on stuff in the early morning while everyone else is dashing for the back of the park!

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't know the answer, but I would really recommend reading the books ahead of the time you're going to share them with your daughter. Like, starting now. That way you KNOW what is coming, and you know what she can likely handle.

Since I read the books that were out at the time more than once when DS was little (the kid nursed ALL the time, and slept in arms much of the time, so that's all I had to do with my days, was sit and read while he did what he was doing) I had a good handle on when he could deal with starting the stories. And I knew when to read another chapter to get past the hard stuff and end for the day with good stuff, etc etc.

I can't believe you made it through the original releases of everything without reading or seeing them!

 

[PSN]

I was there this past weekend and I would say Yes, the Harry Potter areas are pulling people out of the other park areas. Wait times at Dragon Challenge were never more than 10 minutes, Hulk was 15 minutes in the morning, The Mummy was usually 15 minutes. The only exceptions were Minions, which always seemed to be at least 1 hour wait, and Transformers which got to 75 minutes during peak times.

And Forbidden Journey was generally 30-45 minutes wait during peak hours

 

[cgattis]

I was wondering the same thing. We'll be there in October, and I'd kind of like to try Cabana Bay. Main focus will be DA, but will still want to do other things too. Wondering if EP is really needed (currently booked at RPR to get it and EE), or if the lines elsewhere will be do-able without EP?

 

[cigar95]

I don't know the answer, but I would really recommend reading the books ahead of the time you're going to share them with your daughter. Like, starting now. That way you KNOW what is coming, and you know what she can likely handle. . . . .

. . . not to mention that the books are great for adults as well as for kids.