Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[macraven]

the 30 days out would be for confisco grille character breakfast.
for mythos and some of city walk places.
if you do the breakfast Grinch, 30 days out.

that is it for character breakfast in the parks.



for the character dinners at the three hotels, ressie's aren't really needed.

i was the sole dinner at the Island dining room last year and had scooby doo all to myself.



the hotels will take ressies for dinner but it probably would only be necessary during a high holiday time period.
thanksgiving, christmas, type of holiday.


if you want a character dinner, call the hotel and ask when the characters will be at your hotel.

the character dining alternates between the 3 hotels.
if they are at rph on a saturday, then hrh and pbh will not be having the character dining that night.

you order off the regular menu and as a bonus, characters will be present during the dinner hour.


that is character dining the darkside way.........

city walk doesn't have character dinners but some places have activities during the meal times.

margarittaville will have the ballon maker and the volcano.
things like that...

 

[macraven]

anyone can dine at the hotels.

you do not have to be a guest at the hotel to do so.

some dinners don't even do the parks but come to the hotel for a meal.



no restrictions on who comes to dinner.

as long as you cover your bill, you are welcome there.

 

[DizDragonfly]

the 30 days out would be for confisco grille character breakfast.
for mythos and some of city walk places.
if you do the breakfast Grinch, 30 days out.

<snip>

margarittaville will have the ballon maker and the volcano.
things like that...

Will we need reservations for Mythos lunch or Margarittaville dinner on Labor Day or the day after Labor Day?

 

[macraven]

Will we need reservations for Mythos lunch or Margarittaville dinner on Labor Day or the day after Labor Day?

depending on the crowd, you might want to make one for labor day for both of them.

the day after, probably not a necessity.


mythos closes early.
they are not open during the dinner hour time.
exceptions would be during the high attendance time period though.


go to www.opentable.com and see if you can make a ressie this far out.
i don't think you can, but why not try....



i have only made a ressie one time for mythos.
never had to in the past.
i did the reservation stand in city walk around 9:30 that morning for a first seating at mythos.
think it was for opening time, 11:30.

you can do a ressie that day at the kiosk ressie stand in city walk.
or you can plan in advance with open table.

or you can walk up to the restaurant the day you want to eat there and have your name put on a wait list.

all of them work.

for margarittaville, if you have a large group, do make a ressie in advance.
if it is just a regular family of 4-5, not necessary if you eat at the off times.

5:00-30 or after 8:00 i consider the off times.
once the park closes, many will go to margaritaville for dinner.
at that point, you will have a wait for a table.
if you go early before park closing, you will be fine.

M'ville sometimes gives a priority to hotel guests for seating them.

 

[macraven]

i pulled up opentable and put in labor day.
this is what came up.

ressies could only be made up to august 5th from today.



OpenTable Home> Orlando / Central Florida East restaurants> Restaurant availability
Orlando / Central Florida East Change Location ›
Restaurants

Date

mm/dd/yyyyTime
Party Size



Availability for Margaritaville at Univeral Orlando Citywalk
Restaurant Name Price Availability (click time to reserve)
Margaritaville at Univeral Orlando Citywalk
I Drive / Sand Lake | American
$$
No tables are available within 2.5 hours of your 6:00 PM request.

Margaritaville at Univeral Orlando Citywalk Next Available Around 6:00 PM
Saturday, July 30, 2011
5:30
5:45

6:15
6:45
Sunday, July 31, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Monday, August 1, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Thursday, August 4, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Friday, August 5, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
See Next 7 Available ›
Show me other options

 

[mom2rtk]

Out of your two dates, I'd suggest Tuesday the 13th simply because it's further away from Christmas. I was at Universal in early December last year on a Thursday and it was dead.

I've loved going to the dark side over this last year--WWoHP is magnificently themed. I think it's worth it at least once. Your little one would still like Flight of the Hippogriff, Ollivander's, and some of the little shows.

DD7's favorite parts of IoA are WWoHP and Seuss. General rule of thumb is to do WWoHP first before the midday crowds come. Even in the offseason, WWoHP gets crowded due to it's small size.

I don't recall saying much about character meals, but that probably just means I'm getting old. I may know my WDW characters, but am pretty dumb when it comes to Universal. We've seen a few, but mainly these are ones we just come across. Any of my Universal peeps want to help my good WDW friend an assist with this part of her question? Or any other part for that matter?

OK, so WWOHP would be first. So save me from appearing to be a complete newb...... what is the name of the second ride. I think Forbidden Journey is the bigger more intense one, right? (the one we won't be doing......) I keep hearing how crowded the wand shop is. Should we head there first? How crowded will the whole area feel since on-site guests will already be there ahead of us?

Thanks for putting out the request for help. I feel TOTALLY lost. We haven't stepped foot in US since 2004! YIKES!

the 30 days out would be for confisco grille character breakfast.
for mythos and some of city walk places.
if you do the breakfast Grinch, 30 days out.

that is it for character breakfast in the parks.



for the character dinners at the three hotels, ressie's aren't really needed.

i was the sole dinner at the Island dining room last year and had scooby doo all to myself.



the hotels will take ressies for dinner but it probably would only be necessary during a high holiday time period.
thanksgiving, christmas, type of holiday.


if you want a character dinner, call the hotel and ask when the characters will be at your hotel.

the character dining alternates between the 3 hotels.
if they are at rph on a saturday, then hrh and pbh will not be having the character dining that night.

you order off the regular menu and as a bonus, characters will be present during the dinner hour.


that is character dining the darkside way.........

city walk doesn't have character dinners but some places have activities during the meal times.

margarittaville will have the ballon maker and the volcano.
things like that...

30 days out. WOW! You do know that for a 180 day WDW uber-planner, that's hard to swallow!

Actually we would only do the Grinch meal. I just don't care enough about the other characters. I did some nosing around since I posted my first message and it looks like last year they only ran the Grinch meal on the weekends.

Mesaboy........ if I really wanted to do the Grinch character meal, how bad do you think Sunday the 18th would be?

Have any of you seen the Macy's parade at US? We really would just be spending one day, and I don't want to race through 2 parks in one day, but if it's really cool, it might be worth going over to the other park for just that.

Thanks everyone. I never should have dug out those 2004 photos to scrapbook.......... I could be perfectly content going all Disney again..........

 

[macraven]

if you want the grinch character breakfast, call universal and book thru them.

if you can't book far out, they will give you the date you can book it .



it is at confisco grille.

at other times of the year, it is the spidey, thing 1-2 and some other characters for the breakfast buffet.

you will enjoy the grinch.

but, he will act in character.

 

[macraven]

Out of your two dates, I'd suggest Tuesday the 13th simply because it's further away from Christmas. I was at Universal in early December last year on a Thursday and it was dead.

I've loved going to the dark side over this last year--WWoHP is magnificently themed. I think it's worth it at least once. Your little one would still like Flight of the Hippogriff, Ollivander's, and some of the little shows.

DD7's favorite parts of IoA are WWoHP and Seuss. General rule of thumb is to do WWoHP first before the midday crowds come. Even in the offseason, WWoHP gets crowded due to it's small size.

I don't recall saying much about character meals, but that probably just means I'm getting old. I may know my WDW characters, but am pretty dumb when it comes to Universal. We've seen a few, but mainly these are ones we just come across. Any of my Universal peeps want to help my good WDW friend an assist with this part of her question? Or any other part for that matter?

ok, i just wrote another essay to save your butt.

what do i win???

 

[mom2rtk]

if you want the grinch character breakfast, call universal and book thru them.

if you can't book far out, they will give you the date you can book it .



it is at confisco grille.

at other times of the year, it is the spidey, thing 1-2 and some other characters for the breakfast buffet.

you will enjoy the grinch.

but, he will act in character.

Thank you so much! That helps! I feel so Universal-STUPID!

ok, i just wrote another essay to save your butt.

what do i win???

LOL! Sounds like you have to do that a lot. That's OK......... I've always got him covered over on that WDW board!

 

[macraven]

OK, so WWOHP would be first. So save me from appearing to be a complete newb...... what is the name of the second ride. I think Forbidden Journey is the bigger more intense one, right? (the one we won't be doing......) I keep hearing how crowded the wand shop is. Should we head there first? How crowded will the whole area feel since on-site guests will already be there ahead of us?

Thanks for putting out the request for help. I feel TOTALLY lost. We haven't stepped foot in US since 2004! YIKES!

sorry, i over looked this question.

if you don't want to do FJ, do the wand show.
Ollivanders is the name of the joint.

about 25 peeps are allowed in for each 7-10ish minute show.

after the show, you enter into a shop for merch and can buy a wand here.

devilish and bangles something like that is the shop.

the owlpost is last.

you can buy cards here and have them stamped for parry hotter ville.


you can see, i don't do hotter......but i have enjoyed that new section.

just call me a muggle.....

the former flying unicorn is now the hippo something ride. wait, i remembered, flight of the hippograf

it's a kiddie roller coaster and it is short but lots of fun.


those two are the main rides in this section.
dueling dragons is a roller coaster, fire and ice.
wait, that was renamed also when potter came to town.

think it is called dragon challenge.

if you don't like coasters, you might take a pass on this.

there are a couple of shows done outside.
singing and dancing, well not dancing but a performance that is cute.

that is something you can ask a TM on what time it will be held.
you might like them.



go to the wand shop/ollivanders first.
the line only grows longer by the minute there.

the shop is small so not many in for the shows.

if you are into potter, check out the fronts of all the shops.
listen to myrtle moan while in the rest room.

talk to the train conductor.
he stays in character the entire time.



and that is mac 101 on the parry hotter section for rides and entertainment.

do enter three broomsticks
grab a frozenbutter beer.
delicious.

 

[macraven]

i have tried to edit my above post but it won't go thru.

scratch hogsmead to three broomsticks.

 

[macraven]

Thank you so much! That helps! I feel so Universal-STUPID!




LOL! Sounds like you have to do that a lot. That's OK......... I've always got him covered over on that WDW board!

you are not stupid.
you are learning and pretty soon will be an expert!!

and, you are now an official homie here on the darkside.
you post here, you are one of us....


i've been doing the motherland since 1974......
have been doing split vacations since 93 annually to the motherland resorts first and then switch to the darkside resorts.

i enjoy them both!

 

[mom2rtk]

you are not stupid.
you are learning and pretty soon will be an expert!!

and, you are now an official homie here on the darkside.
you post here, you are one of us....


i've been doing the motherland since 1974......
have been doing split vacations since 93 annually to the motherland resorts first and then switch to the darkside resorts.

i enjoy them both!

Well, many thanks. I don't think I feel quite at home yet though. Nobody has told me I need professional help yet......or is that something they save for the WDW board?

I really appreciate the quick rundown.

I clearly have much to do in the way of my own Harry Potter education. The last exposure I had was taking my now 18 year old son to one of the movies with a group of friends when he turned 9. The lead character was named Harry, right???????? My daughter is the real fan, as I'm sure you can tell already.......

 

[macraven]

you'll be fine.

you'll have two parry hotter experts with you.
i went in blindly.



i listened to other guests in the park oh and ah about things.
i learned quick.

i have not read the books.
i tried two movies twice and gave up after an hour of it.

let the stoning begin...........

i guess i am more of the Lord of the Rings type of person.

but, i really did enjoy the setting, ambiance and structure of all the buildings and the little added extras to the area.

it is beautiful in that area.
you don't have to read the books or see the movies to figure the place out.

you can enjoy it thoroughly with limited background.

i stayed 8 days onsite last fall and only did the early entry once.
rest of the time i did visit mr potter each day but at different times the crowds were low or not there.

i'll be repeating it all again for 8 days this fall.

i might get out of bed and in the line for the early entry this time around.

it is good.
it's all good in that new section.

details everywhere!

 

[DizDragonfly]

depending on the crowd, you might want to make one for labor day for both of them.

Thanks for the help! You rock!!

 

[macraven]

Thanks for the help! You rock!!

i enjoy sharing what i have experienced. i like helping others. i know that feeling of going blindly into a new park.
it can be overwhelming..



thank you.

 

[mesaboy2]

mom and mac--you two crack me up. Here's WWoHP according to the Mesa.

Rides

- Forbidden Journey. Half dark-ride, half-simulator. Ride vehicle is 4-person bench on end of robotic arm similar to Sum of all Thrills. Except the arm is on an omnimover type track. Dark-ride elements can be scary and get as close as I've ever seen. Simulator portions get a fair number of people sick. Robotic arm motion very smooth and fluid. All that said, FJ is the most unique and probably coolest ride I've ever been on and worth a chance to anyone willing. Universal Express not accepted, but single-rider and castle-tour queues are a good alternative.

- Dragon Challenge née Dueling Dragons. Two inverted thrill coaster tracks with multiple inversions each. More intense than anything at WDW IMO. Universal Express accepted.

- Flight of the Hippogriff née Flight of the Unicorn. Kiddie coaster not unlike Goofy's Barnstormer. Universal Express accepted.

Shows

- Ollivander's. Recreation of wand selection scene in first HP movie. Cute but not jaw-dropping. Lines build fast and move slow. If any desire to see, do either as close to park open or park close as possible. Worth a 45-minute wait to first-timer, 30-minutes repeat visitors IMO. Lines often much longer than this. Universal Express not accepted.

Frog Choir. Roughly 10 minute concert with 6-8 students, some with frog puppets (oops, spoiler) like choir in brief scene near beginning of third Harry Potter book/movie. UE not required.

Beauxbatons/Durmstrangs. Maybe 10 minutes of two competing school students doing routines akin to those early in fourth HP book/movie. UE not required.

Shops

- Owl Post/Dervish & Banges. Ollivander's wand show dumps out into Owl Post, which is connected internally to D&B. OP has all the different wands, D&B has robes, broomsticks, and various other merch. If Ollivander's is not done, OP can be accessed via D&B, but even this can have a short line sometimes.

Honeyduke's/Zonko's. Connected internally, H's has all sorts of HP candy and sweets while Z's has mainly jokeshop-type stuff. DD7 has two Pygmy Puffs from Z's--one pink one purple. Lines also possible here.

Filch's. The shop that FJ riders are dumped into. More various HP merch. Never seen a line to enter.

Restaurants etc.

- Three Broomsticks. Well-themed CS restaurant for lunch and dinner. Mainly British-type food such as fish and chips, Cornish pasties, roasted chicken, and Shepherd's pie. Breakfast also available through package reservations almost exclusively. Occasional reports of successful walk-ups for breakfast.

Hogs Head Tavern. Connected to 3B internally and can get Butterbeer here in addition to outside carts where lines can be long. I think it also has adult bevs, but since Mesa is a dry city I don't know much about that.

Overall, WWoHP rivals and probably surpasses anything WDW has in terms of theming. Area is small, however, and the shops in particular. Moderate to busy days often require a FastPass-type entry system merely to enter the area. In my opinion, WWoHP is a must-do for either the most casual HP fan or any theme-park fan.

How's that for an essay?

 

[macraven]

mom and mac--you two crack me up. Here's WWoHP according to the Mesa.

Rides

- Forbidden Journey. Half dark-ride, half-simulator. Ride vehicle is 4-person bench on end of robotic arm similar to Sum of all Thrills. Except the arm is on an omnimover type track. Dark-ride elements can be scary and get as close as I've ever seen. Simulator portions get a fair number of people sick. Robotic arm motion very smooth and fluid. All that said, FJ is the most unique and probably coolest ride I've ever been on and worth a chance to anyone willing. Universal Express not accepted, but single-rider and castle-tour queues are a good alternative.

- Dragon Challenge née Dueling Dragons. Two inverted thrill coaster tracks with multiple inversions each. More intense than anything at WDW IMO. Universal Express accepted.

- Flight of the Hippogriff née Flight of the Unicorn. Kiddie coaster not unlike Goofy's Barnstormer. Universal Express accepted.

Shows

- Ollivander's. Recreation of wand selection scene in first HP movie. Cute but not jaw-dropping. Lines build fast and move slow. If any desire to see, do either as close to park open or park close as possible. Worth a 45-minute wait to first-timer, 30-minutes repeat visitors IMO. Lines often much longer than this. Universal Express not accepted.

Frog Choir. Roughly 10 minute concert with 6-8 students, some with frog puppets (oops, spoiler) like choir in brief scene near beginning of third Harry Potter book/movie. UE not required.

Beauxbatons/Durmstrangs. Maybe 10 minutes of two competing school students doing routines akin to those early in fourth HP book/movie. UE not required.

Shops

- Owl Post/Dervish & Banges. Ollivander's wand show dumps out into Owl Post, which is connected internally to D&B. OP has all the different wands, D&B has robes, broomsticks, and various other merch. If Ollivander's is not done, OP can be accessed via D&B, but even this can have a short line sometimes.

Honeyduke's/Zonko's. Connected internally, H's has all sorts of HP candy and sweets while Z's has mainly jokeshop-type stuff. DD7 has two Pygmy Puffs from Z's--one pink one purple. Lines also possible here.

Filch's. The shop that FJ riders are dumped into. More various HP merch. Never seen a line to enter.

Restaurants etc.

- Three Broomsticks. Well-themed CS restaurant for lunch and dinner. Mainly British-type food such as fish and chips, Cornish pasties, roasted chicken, and Shepherd's pie. Breakfast also available through package reservations almost exclusively. Occasional reports of successful walk-ups for breakfast.

Hogs Head Tavern. Connected to 3B internally and can get Butterbeer here in addition to outside carts where lines can be long. I think it also has adult bevs, but since Mesa is a dry city I don't know much about that.

Overall, WWoHP rivals and probably surpasses anything WDW has in terms of theming. Area is small, however, and the shops in particular. Moderate to busy days often require a FastPass-type entry system merely to enter the area. In my opinion, WWoHP is a must-do for either the most casual HP fan or any theme-park fan.

How's that for an essay?

A +







you are hired!!





and i like how you were my translater on the big parry hotter words....things...
i use Mac 101 on them

 

[ducky_love]

I stopped in last night and it was beautiful! 10min wait for FJ single rider, 10 min wait for Spiderman. Weather was perfect after dark.

 

[kingken]

i pulled up opentable and put in labor day.
this is what came up.

ressies could only be made up to august 5th from today.



OpenTable Home> Orlando / Central Florida East restaurants> Restaurant availability
Orlando / Central Florida East Change Location ›
Restaurants

Date

mm/dd/yyyyTime
Party Size



Availability for Margaritaville at Univeral Orlando Citywalk
Restaurant Name Price Availability (click time to reserve)
Margaritaville at Univeral Orlando Citywalk
I Drive / Sand Lake | American
$$
No tables are available within 2.5 hours of your 6:00 PM request.

Margaritaville at Univeral Orlando Citywalk Next Available Around 6:00 PM
Saturday, July 30, 2011
5:30
5:45

6:15
6:45
Sunday, July 31, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Monday, August 1, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Thursday, August 4, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
Friday, August 5, 2011
5:30
5:45
6:00 PM
6:15
6:30
See Next 7 Available ›
Show me other options

i booked for 26th august about 2/3 weeks ago and got a reservation, also did lombards for a couple days later with no problems