MUCH more active crowd management is needed during park opening because of this great ride...
We just arrived home from our Wizarding World trip (Orlando) and overall had a wonderful time. We were celebrating our anniversary, and had also invited a friend who loves the HP books as much as we do (and will do the rides that my husband won't!) None of the three of us had ever been, but our kids grew up together (we would host Harry Potter parties for book releases, and wait in line at midnight for those amazing books)
We were glad that we had the opportunity to ride Hagrid's - and I know that there are those out there who were disappointed because the ride was down when they were there. This is only addressing the crowd control, which should be improved. My friend and I agree that IoA is opening itself up to a lot of liability during the morning opening - I have no idea what it is like for Hagrid's line during delayed openings, etc. - this is only about the experience at park opening.
This past Saturday (was it the 17th?):
1) We arrived by 7:20 to wait in line for the 9 a.m. opening.
2) We were the very first in one of the lines. We chatted with some lovely people from England - it wasn't terribly hot - it was fine being there that early. Probably better than getting there later, as we had shade.
3) They pre-scanned at least 10 people in our line as the opening family was introduced - there were maybe 18 scanners? I believe 7 turnstiles on one side, 7 on the other, and between 6-8 portable scanners in front of the gate. Not really sure. So then most likely between 150 - 200 people, were pre-scanned.
4) They had the opening family introduced at around 8:20 or so. They warned verbally "Don't Run!" as they let us in - there was no one at the front of the line to walk us up to Seuss Land;
5) At 8:30 they let us go. Almost every person sprinted who had been pre-scanned, and those who were scanned after ran past as well. My friend and I walked, albeit at a quick walking pace - we saw a woman who had tripped and fallen and not be able to get up - the ground was wet in that area - she was under the first bridge of some sort, with her family, had obviously hurt her knee, and she was sprawled on the ground, yelling at them to go ahead and save her a spot in line. I was going to ask if they needed help, but when she yelled for them to go ahead and save her a spot, we looked at each other and just kept walking. People kept sprinting by. It felt surreal.
6) When we got up to Seuss Landing, there was thankfully a rope and two people on the other side. There was a large crowd of the runners ahead of us now, next to the rope. I was feeling a little anxious, as there was also a large growing crowd behind us, and I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if everyone started running again.
7) At a few minutes to 9 we were "walked very quickly" up to the ride, with team members along the side yelling to runners to not run (from behind us) - there were plenty who pushed by, either because they wanted to get there faster, or "to catch up with someone" - it didn't feel as if there was really much thought into crowd control. We were packed. I couldn't see the two Team Members. I think that they were walking very fast at the front and I'm not a slow walker by any means; there were many times that team members yelled from the side at people to walk as people ran/wove through the crowd/shoved by. Quite a few more jostled us as they pushed past than were yelled at. The pathway narrows, opens up and narrows again - not great for a crowd moving quickly. I could not have stopped if I wanted to.
My suggestion: it would have been much better to have a rope strung between at least 5 team members, walking us up at a slower rate - I would even suggest these types of ropes/team member teams spread every 10 to 15 people deep or so; with about 20 people across who want to ride this would give you pods of about 200 - 300 people. Just until the first groups were up front and a longer line began to form. Team members with the ropes could move in and out sideways to account for the path-width changing. It would keep down the ability to shove past others. Either that, or start a "rope pathway" MUCH sooner - or even hand out color coded cards, like they do with the Jimmy Fallon ride. Only "Green Cards" would be allowed in the ride line.....etc. They could be dispensed as people left the scanners. They could call it "Floo Powder Cards" for some theming fun - There would then be no incentive to run, because only certain colors of Floo Powder Cards could enter first. They need some disincentive to run besides just having team members yelling at people to stop running.
The ride was great. We were on and off within 20 minutes of getting to the actual ride line. (At the front gate at 7:15, off the ride at about 9:30.) It was smooth; intense; fast and well themed. A lot faster than I thought it would be.
I was, however, feeling stressed out from the crowd running/shoving earlier. With that woman falling and others running past/shoving in the line, the lack of crowd management brought out the worst in people. I don't like to see that, and I'm sure that J.K. Rowling would not like that either. I wanted to use "Immobulus!" on some of those Slytherins. ("Those cunning folk use any means/To achieve their ends.")
Universal IoA: you need to get some Ravenclaw's doing some creative problem solving on crowd control for morning opening of Hagrid's!
Photos:
- 2716.jpg: 7:20, the very short lines when we arrived early, and we were first in one of the lines;
- 2721.jpg: 8:32, after the "Big Run" up to Seuss Landing, and you can see that after beginning first at being scanned, we were 6th deep, from all the others running ahead, and once again, we are not slow walkers - if everyone had walked we would have been in the front (I want to be very clear that I don't really care about being first - I just don't want to get hurt or to feel anxious about my safety/the safety of others);
- also at 8:32 a photo of the crowd behind us- MANY of those people shoved by as we walked quickly.
We ended up finally stopped in the line "in the room with the slatted ceiling" (there were spiders or blast ended skrewts up there) - also, on the way inside, there were kids who were alone, not with each other, making their way through the line to catch up with their respective parents who had run ahead. Sigh.
I hope that Universal takes notice. Someone WILL get shoved down at some point - it felt like a wave of people, and with areas near where the path became narrower becoming challenging, because you couldn't see where the ground rises up (near trees?) - some guy pushing by on my left almost fell because of this.
It felt better once we were threading through ropes back and forth somewhere up past the Fountain in The Lost Continent - I wish that they had started this "rope pathway" much earlier.
Maybe it was because it was Saturday. Maybe because the day prior there was a delayed opening for the ride. Whatever it was, they need to re-think park opening procedures. They know that people are running, or they wouldn't tell them to not run before the park even opens. I highly recommend that CEO Tom Williams try and navigate park opening/walking up to the ride without telling anyone that he is coming, get in line around 7:35 a.m. on a Saturday, so he could see first hand the issues. While there has been a lot of coverage of the ride, (and the huge crowds waiting in long lines for this ride), and usually that is great publicity, they don't want someone getting trampled at park opening as the breaking news.