FOTL and Harry Potter attractions

[Boardwalk III]

Hi all,

Staying at Royal Pacific next Fall for early entry and FOTL access. If I remember correctly the Harry Potter attractions were not included in the FOTL benefit when I was there a few years ago. Is that still correct and what about the newer HP attractions in the Studios section including the train ride? Finally, FOTL is based on hotel room key irrelevant of where you buy park passes, correct?

Thanks!

 

[pad406]

Hi all,

Staying at Royal Pacific next Fall for early entry and FOTL access. If I remember correctly the Harry Potter attractions were not included in the FOTL benefit when I was there a few years ago. Is that still correct and what about the newer HP attractions in the Studios section including the train ride? Finally, FOTL is based on hotel room key irrelevant of where you buy park passes, correct?

Thanks!

None of the main 3 HP rides have FOTL, ie Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Hogwarts Express.

You're right, FOTL is based on your key so it doesn't matter where your tickets come from, but remember you will need park to park tickets for Hogwarts

 

[Boardwalk III]

Great - thanks. Anyone know about FOTL and the train ride? I've heard those lines can be quite long.....

 

[bumbershoot]

The train ride is Hogwarts Express, and isn't included in Express Pass.

Dragon Challenge and Flight of the Gryffindor are included in Express Pass, and in Potter-themed rides, those are it for Express Pass.

You don't just show your key anymore; you take a picture of each person in your hotel party and get a personalized Express Pass for each person. They show THAT to get into the Express Pass lines. So you have hotel keycard, park ticket, and express pass at the very minimum.

 

[hydrotony]

The Hogwarts Express loads about 180 people about every 8 minutes. So, even if there are 1000 people in line in front of you, it will take only about 40 minutes to get on. At the 9 3/4 effects door, don't get weirded out on the line getting jumbled by people getting video and seemingly cutting line because every 180 grouping boards at the same time.

 

[nkereina]

You don't just show your key anymore; you take a picture of each person in your hotel party and get a personalized Express Pass for each person. They show THAT to get into the Express Pass lines. So you have hotel keycard, park ticket, and express pass at the very minimum.

This. There is a self-serve kiosk at your hotel that you insert your room key into, click to take a photo of yourself, and then it spits out your paper express pass. The pass has a barcode on it that they will scan at every express pass entrance (perhaps later in the queue as well).

As for Hogwarts, we didn't find the wait to ever be too bad coming from Diagon Alley, but it always seemed backed up coming from Hogsmeade. Maybe try to ride the train early, because it seems people use it as a means to park hop mid-later in the day.

 

[MinnieGi]

We found for the Hogwarts Express if you took it in the morning the wait time were only about 10 to 15 minutes. It was in the afternoon that the waits grew to 45 minutes.