Diagon Alley questions--No early entry :(

[kittyninja]

Hi all! My boyfriend and I are heading down in a week! We're staying with my sister in Kissimmee so we will not have EE like we have in the past. Because Harry Potter is the reason we're going (primarily DA) and I'm someone who gets everywhere super early, this is my plan:

First Day

• Arrive at US entrance about 1 hour prior to EE (yes I know we will be waiting a while).
• Enter whenever they finally let general admission in
• Immediately get in line for Gringotts
• Eat, shop, fall in love with DA
• Explore US, return to DA to ride HE to Hogsmeade.
• Explore Hogsmeade

So the first question is, am I crazy for getting us there 2 hours before we can get in? We could always just wait in the long Gringotts line but we also want to do as much as we can in the other parts of the parks.

Next, will the lines for non-HP things increase throughout the day because people do HP early?

I can't believe I'm at a loss for how to plan this! I need a basic plan but we will be very go with the flow like we usually are at US.

Thanks in advanced!!

 

[Senator Tressel]

There's no reason to get there two hours early. One will be perfectly sufficient. Crowds start to lessen the further you get into August. Mid to late August is only moderately busy.

How many days are you doing?

 

[kittyninja]

We will only be there two days. The 19th and 20th of August.

 

[Senator Tressel]

Yeah, that should be enough to get everything done. You might miss a few shows.

 

[kittyninja]

Great! Thank you!!

 

[johde]

I would recommend you flip your plan. Everybody boes to DA first. People on some of the other boards have noticed a drop in wait times in the mid afternoon early evening at Gringotts. So you probably want to do Forbidden Journey in the Morning and Gringotts in the afternoon.

You might want to look at this Touring Plan Blog post with their 1 day touring plan for inspiration for your day. (You'll probably want to skip attractions that don't hold interest for you)
http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/0...lando-wizarding-world-two-park-touring-plans/

 

[kittyninja]

I had thought about that too! Especially the second day.

Does IOA seem a bit less crowded with the Diagon Alley popularity?

 

[kwdw]

I would recommend you flip your plan. Everybody boes to DA first. People on some of the other boards have noticed a drop in wait times in the mid afternoon early evening at Gringotts. So you probably want to do Forbidden Journey in the Morning and Gringotts in the afternoon.

You might want to look at this Touring Plan Blog post with their 1 day touring plan for inspiration for your day. (You'll probably want to skip attractions that don't hold interest for you)
http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/07/23/new-universal-orlando-wizarding-world-two-park-touring-plans/

Yep, without EE, I agree with the flip. Do FJ first.

 

[wookiebeck]

We just got back. Feels like it is already lessening due to end of summer.

If you are going for the HP experience, start at Hogsmeade. Tour the street areas in the morning. The shops are least crowded. So much to see and get acquainted with. Do Ollivander's and dragon challenge. Buy butterbeer etc.

Then you can go over to DA to get the lay of the land and see the shows.

Here is what we did on two successive nights just this weekend. Went back to DA at 6pm. Rode Gringotts (75 min wait). Rode HE back to Hogsmeade. Rode FJ with no wait. Rode Dragon Challenge twice. Went over to Jurassic park and rode River Adventure (only ones in the boat). BTW it is better at night!

We got so much done at night my DW asked why we did rope drop and woke up so early. Haha.

 

[snoopboop]

Honestly, I'd say it'd be worth it to look into getting a room at Cabana Bay for a night. People are consistently finding rooms for less than $100. You wouldn't even have to actually stay there if you didn't want to, but then you'd get early entry for BOTH days.

As much as I *loved* Gringott's, there's no way I'd wait in line for it during the day. Early entry is really the way to go. Waiting in an excruciatingly long line is just such a waste of park time!

 

[kittyninja]

We just got back. Feels like it is already lessening due to end of summer.

If you are going for the HP experience, start at Hogsmeade. Tour the street areas in the morning. The shops are least crowded. So much to see and get acquainted with. Do Ollivander's and dragon challenge. Buy butterbeer etc.

Then you can go over to DA to get the lay of the land and see the shows.

Here is what we did on two successive nights just this weekend. Went back to DA at 6pm. Rode Gringotts (75 min wait). Rode HE back to Hogsmeade. Rode FJ with no wait. Rode Dragon Challenge twice. Went over to Jurassic park and rode River Adventure (only ones in the boat). BTW it is better at night!

We got so much done at night my DW asked why we did rope drop and woke up so early. Haha.

Thanks so much for the insight!! I'm glad it's feeling less like a sardine can!! We did 3 days just at Hogsmeade in 2012 and we went back to the room early a lot!! I will definitely keep us there after dark! We were SUPER Potter centered though so we will be doing a lot more than just Potter this trip!

I keep saying we'll start with Hogsmeade but knowing us the first day we'll run to DA because we haven't seen it! Our 2nd day we will definitely take it a little slower though and probably start with Hogsmeade!

If Gringotts is a crazy wait by the time we get there we will probably just wait until later in the evening as that's what everyone seems to be reporting (super early or pretty late).

Thanks everyone for the advice!! 6 more days!!