Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[damo]

We were there today starting at about 5. The crowds were really low with no wait for any stores, 15 minute wait for FJ (after it was down for about 1/2 hr), and 20 minute wait for Ollivanders.

 

[Varalith]

We were there today starting at about 5. The crowds were really low with no wait for any stores, 15 minute wait for FJ (after it was down for about 1/2 hr), and 20 minute wait for Ollivanders.

Great news! Thanks Damo!

 

[jerseygal]

At 7:30 in morning, on Thurs.Aug.12th, FJ was not working...My family stayed on line, and at about 8:30 it started working..By 9:00, lines were insane...Except for FJ and Rip Ride, the express pass lines were practically nothing!

At 10:00, Rip Ride was not running either that day..When we returned after breakfast at about ll:30, lines were insane for Rip Ride Rocket..Unfortunately,
my sons never got on that.

Glad to hear lines are becoming more manageable!

 

[PegIra]

We don't do roller coasters, but just want to see inside the town,shops and castle. Can we do that?

Peg

 

[jerseygal]

1 hr early opening at IOA for on site guests at 8:00...When we were leaving at about 9:15 AM, there were long lines just waiting to get in...Get there as early as possible and you can browse....When my family was on FJ,
I browsed the gift shop in the castle and waited right outside the castle on a bench for them to come off the ride!

 

[disneysteve]

lines were insane for Rip Ride Rocket..Unfortunately,
my sons never got on that.

Tell them not to be too disappointed. We rode it for the first time last week and it really isn't all that great - very over-hyped in our opinion. If it is supposed to rival Rockin' Roller Coaster, it doesn't.

Hulk is great. Dragon Challenge is great (I preferred blue, DD preferred red) and Hippogriff is a fun little family coaster. We were just disappointed in RRR.

 

[disneysteve]

We don't do roller coasters, but just want to see inside the town,shops and castle. Can we do that?

Peg

Sure. And you can go through the queue for FJ and not actually take the ride.

 

[damo]

Tell them not to be too disappointed. We rode it for the first time last week and it really isn't all that great - very over-hyped in our opinion. If it is supposed to rival Rockin' Roller Coaster, it doesn't.

Hulk is great. Dragon Challenge is great (I preferred blue, DD preferred red) and Hippogriff is a fun little family coaster. We were just disappointed in RRR.

It isn't really over-hyped. I've heard of very few people that like it, lol. It is way down on my list of favourite coasters and I've ridden a lot. Between break-downs, shakey cars, and very long waits, I wish they would have used a different manufacturer and put in a different coaster.

 

[disneysteve]

It isn't really over-hyped. I've heard of very few people that like it, lol.

That's good to hear. We aren't the only ones who felt that way.

When we were there last year, the ads for RRR were all over the place, in every magazine and guidebook and even on TV as I recall. I don't think it was worth all that.

 

[bubba's mom]

We don't do roller coasters, but just want to see inside the town,shops and castle. Can we do that?

Peg

FJ isn't a rollercoaster

Tell them not to be too disappointed. We rode it for the first time last week and it really isn't all that great - very over-hyped in our opinion. If it is supposed to rival Rockin' Roller Coaster, it doesn't.

No...it's not supposed to rival RRR.

 

[Thumper_Man]

We were there today starting at about 5. The crowds were really low with no wait for any stores, 15 minute wait for FJ (after it was down for about 1/2 hr), and 20 minute wait for Ollivanders.

Good news. Can't wait to hear back on what the crowds will be like now that school has started. We purposely scheduled for October to avoid the mad rush. Thanks everyone for all the updates.

 

[jenny105]

Tell them not to be too disappointed. We rode it for the first time last week and it really isn't all that great - very over-hyped in our opinion. If it is supposed to rival Rockin' Roller Coaster, it doesn't.

Hulk is great. Dragon Challenge is great (I preferred blue, DD preferred red) and Hippogriff is a fun little family coaster. We were just disappointed in RRR.

I'm not a big fan of RRR either. Was so excited to go on it last year and it was not a smooth ride AT ALL. That sucker hurt!

Good news. Can't wait to hear back on what the crowds will be like now that school has started. We purposely scheduled for October to avoid the mad rush. Thanks everyone for all the updates.

Ditto!

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

Good news. Can't wait to hear back on what the crowds will be like now that school has started. We purposely scheduled for October to avoid the mad rush. Thanks everyone for all the updates.

I hope October will be a good time to go. We, along with a lot of other southern schools, have fall break the first week of October. Some have the following week (Columbus Day inclusive) off. We are venturing to Universal for the first time the first 2 nights of our fall break. We've never been to Universal & are drawn mostly for WWoHP. That part of the trip is a birthday surprise for my son.

We're following that with 5 nights at Disney with free dining. We've found October to be a very pleasant time to visit there.

 

[brenda1966]

I hope October will be a good time to go. We, along with a lot of other southern schools, have fall break the first week of October. Some have the following week (Columbus Day inclusive) off. We are venturing to Universal for the first time ....QUOTE]

We have fall break at the end of October. I've already spoken with 2 families that are also planning a stop at US for the first time to see the Harry Potter stuff. I'm sure crowds will be better than summer, but I expect it to be busier than years gone by, unless the people that normally go stay home and it's just us newbies.

 

[2Relax]

We went to Universal Studios today after going to IOA yesterday when we had 0-5 minute lines all day. US had 5-20 minute lines today and we went back to IOA and WWoHP at 5:30 today. Forbidden Journey had a 1 hour line, but we did the single line which only took about 5 minutes; rode twice and then we left the park with many more people milling about on the streets than yesterday though we did not stay until 5:30 yesterday. A guy in the single line that we spoke to at 5:30 told us that he had been on FJ 19 times today with some Rip Roar Rocket at US thrown in during the day too.

 

[Galactus]

Hi Everyone!

I am an offsite guest and visited WWHP yesterday (Aug 30, 2010). We arrived at 5 minutes to 9am and there were a lot of people already heading towards WWHP from Suess Landing. We arrived at WWHP exactly at 9am and went straight to Fobidden Journey. It was only a 10 min wait so the crowds have definitely died down. We were thinking about getting an Express pass (even though it didn't include FP) but thought we chance it.

FP is defintely on the cutting edge of technology. I love motion simulator rides but this one is very intense. I had to close my eyes not because I was scared but because I started getting dizzy. It is also a very fast ride with a lot of movement (think Epcot's 'Soaring' mixed with Universal's 'Spiderman' on steriods).

It got more crowed throughout the day and Ollivanders was still about a 1hr what at all times except towards 5-7pm.

 

[Dax]

Hey everyone...quick crowd report..

Went Sunday, Aug 29th. We went to the movies first(which were EMPTY), then went to the Studios around 3:30p. RRR was posted for 30min wait, we waited more like 20....Mummy posted at 5..waited about 10...Everything else in the park listed between 10-25 min...but crowds were really low..

Headed to IOA and went to WWoHP...got there around say 5p or so..Crowds again very light...we were able to move around without issue. Rode Dragon Challenge which was posted at 5min..walked RIGHT into the 2nd row...1st row was a 2 car wait for Red...

Walked into Dervish and Banges, checked it out a bit..a tad crowded, but managable. Also looked into 3 Broomsticks...no wait there. Headed to FJ..posted at 20min wait...I think we waited 15..This was my first time riding FJ...LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!! Needed a small push to get my 3 clicks, but it was easy peasy.

Overall crowds were light...Again it was a Sunday, so that may have helped...weather was nice...it was overcast, a cool breeze, and temps not as high as before...cant wait to head back for HHN

 

[damo]

Today (Tuesday) the FJ wait was 30 minutes at 11:15. Singles was a complete walk on. Crowds are definitely higher in IOA than US but still very manageable.

 

[mrslur]

Today (Tuesday) the FJ wait was 30 minutes at 11:15. Singles was a complete walk on. Crowds are definitely higher in IOA than US but still very manageable.

So glad to hear you say this! We fly in in October and should check-in to PBH around 10:30. It would please DH no end if we could ride FJ first thing without too long of a wait.

 

[Grumpy & Sirius]

Hi Everyone,

I've been a lurker on this board for quite some time, gathering info for my trip. I got so much valuable info, I thought I'd share my experience.

We were in WDW from 8/21 to 8/28. Based on the info from this board, I was hoping to visit IOA on Sunday but other arrangements made that impossible. We ended up going on 8/24 (Tues) and arrived later in the day, about 4:00. This worked to our advantage as I heard that FJ was down until about 3:00.

Got to WWOHP at around 4:15 - no lines, just walked in. Took in all the sights (and several photos), then went to the FJ line at about 4:30. Wait was reported as 60 Min, we were going to go into Filch's (for the lockers), but saw that we could walk right in the front. No wait for the locker line, just straight in and back to the ride line. The real line formed just outside the greenhouse - total wait was probably 45 min (but worth it to see the castle). The ride is awesome - better than Spiderman and much more intense than Soarin'.

We lingered for a short while in Filch's. As we exited, it was sprinkling slightly. This kept people away from Ollivander's cart, so I was able to get my Sirius Black wand and a birthday wand for my niece with no waiting. They were out of stock of several birthday wands, but I believe all of the characters were available. We then walked on to Hippogriff and had a short wait for Dragons (maybe 10 Min).

We popped into Dervish and Banges with no wait (but VERY crowded - Ollivander show had just let out and dumped a bunch of people into the wand shop area). We purchased some post cards and HP stamps and proceeded outside to write cards and have them owl posted. While my wife finished up the cards, I ran over to the butterbeer cart and got us some refreshment (surprisingly good). Next we visited Honeydukes and Zonko's. Not really crowded at all, nothing like D&B. After several more pictures (the atmosphere is wonderful), we headed to Marvel Island.

We rode Spiderman, Hulk, and Dr. Doom. These were all fairly short (10-15 min lines). Very nice! At this point, my wife (who is not a Harry Potter fan in the least), requested that we go back to WWOHP and ride FJ again. Sounded great to me! We went back and once again had zero locker line (a little tough to fit two wands in a locker - but it worked) and went straight into the single rider line. If it took 5 min I'd be surprised. We ended up in the same car together. This time we lingered a little longer in Filch's. At this point, it was about 8:30 (closing time 9:00). We went over to 3 broomsticks and walked in to a half full dining area and had a fairly decent dinner. I was pleased that we accomplished what we wanted in our short 5 hours.

We stopped at the stores outside on the way out, and as someone pointed out earlier, you can get just about everything that is available in all of the WWOHP shops at this point (except for wands). But it didn't really matter for us since the crowds were fairly slim in the shops anyway (although I did get a really cool death eater shirt here that I hadn't seen in WWOHP).

Sorry to be so long winded, but I think the point is that crowds are diminishing for those of you planning fall vacations. Hope you have as much fun as we did!



Note for those suffering motion sickness - I get fairly nauseous and sick on most rides. I used the patch behind the ear (transderm scopalomine - prescription) and had no trouble on FJ, Dragons, Spider-Man, Hulk, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Soarin', etc. Also works great for sea-sickness. Allows me to enjoy things that without it would ruin the whole day.