Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[Iott Family]

We were in the parks Monday Oct, 18th and Wednesday the 20th. At IOA at rope drop and did the crowd march back to HP. It was like being a sardine in the can. Packed! On Wednesdat USO closed at 5pm and IOA was open until 7 so we left USO at 5 and headed over to IOA. Still very crowded but could actually make out a sidewalk, buildings, etc.

We have decided to give HP land a year and next visit stay onsite, use FOTL priveleges, etc. IOA is just swamped with the addition of HP

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

I am doing IOA this Thursday with my daughter, so afterwards I will post how the crowd level was.

Perfect..Looking forward too hearing how it is............I do think we will go on Thursday for sure!

 

[3darlings]

. Maybe we will do WWOHP early entry and then head over to US on Friday then back to WWOHP on Sat morning???

This is basically what we did. We were there on a Thurs and Fri and both days did early entry for WWOHP. On Thurs, we then hit Superman and then headed over to US (word of warning: it is hard to exit WWOHP shortly after the park opens to the public with the masses coming in.) We stayed there the rest of the day. Lines weren't bad but we had FOTL anyway. On Friday, early entry to WWOHP, then hit other parts of IOA that morning. Lines weren't bad although I see from other posts that they got bad later. Then we decided to head back to the hotel to change (we got absolutely soaked on the barge ride!) and eat lunch at City Walk. Then over to US which was pretty quiet and seemed better than Thurs. After closing, headed back to WWOHP with apparently everyone else since it was a zoo! I think HHNs do factor in.

 

[edamethyst]

We were at Universal for 10 days in August and the week days were much less crowded, even in Harry Potter World. It was great to get into Harry Potter early do what you wanted then go back into the other parks and spend time while all the crowds seemed to be in Harry Potter. Seemed like it wasn't as crowded in the evenings after dinner during the week either but the weekends were very crowded. If you stay on site make sure you get there for the extra morning hour it makes a big difference. We did that the first morning had a butter beer with no wait, about a 15 minute wait for the ride and then about 15 - 20 minute wait at Olivanders. Later on wen we left the line was probably an hour or more just get into Harry Potter and then wait in more lines to do anything.

 

[lor]

Ok we have the choice of going either Sunday Nov 14, or Monday NOv 15th. I was leaning towards the Monday because I thought with Sunday maybe being part of the Veteran's Day long weekend might be better going on the MOnday? but it seams people are saying Sunday is better any thoughts or advice?
Lauren

 

[Mad Hattered]

Ok we have the choice of going either Sunday Nov 14, or Monday NOv 15th. I was leaning towards the Monday because I thought with Sunday maybe being part of the Veteran's Day long weekend might be better going on the MOnday? but it seams people are saying Sunday is better any thoughts or advice?
Lauren

We will be there both those days. I am curious as to what people think as well.

 

[amycishere]

We are thinking about going either Oct. 31st or Nov. 1st. Will Halloween be really crowded?

 

[rie'smom]

We're going to RPR on the day before Thanksgiving. My thought is to go to US on Thanskgiving Day and IOA/WWOHP on Friday. I'd appreciate input. Oh and we'll tale advantage of the going at 8 am.

 

[SmallWorld71]

We're going to RPR on the day before Thanksgiving. My thought is to go to US on Thanskgiving Day and IOA/WWOHP on Friday. I'd appreciate input. Oh and we'll tale advantage of the going at 8 am.

JMO - Do you have park to park passes? If yes, I would probably start Thanksgiving at WWOHP using the early entry and arriving well before 8 o'clock. I would spend an hour or two in WWOHP and then head over to Universal Studios for the rest of the day. Then you can do WWOHP again the next day as well as the rest of IOA. The reasons being that it will probably be mobbed and you might enjoy it more in smaller doses. Also, you will be able to revisit any favorites again and if there are any problems with the technology, you have two days to work with.

 

[rie'smom]

JMO - Do you have park to park passes? If yes, I would probably start Thanksgiving at WWOHP using the early entry and arriving well before 8 o'clock. I would spend an hour or two in WWOHP and then head over to Universal Studios for the rest of the day. Then you can do WWOHP again the next day as well as the rest of IOA. The reasons being that it will probably be mobbed and you might enjoy it more in smaller doses. Also, you will be able to revisit any favorites again and if there are any problems with the technology, you have two days to work with.

Thanks for the reply and the great advice! We have APs so hopping is no problem.

 

[Missyrose]

We are thinking about going either Oct. 31st or Nov. 1st. Will Halloween be really crowded?

We'll be there on the 31st...when I called to add HHN tickets to my order, the guest services person said Halloween isn't usually terribly crowded. So I'm hoping she's right!

 

[amycishere]

We'll be there on the 31st...when I called to add HHN tickets to my order, the guest services person said Halloween isn't usually terribly crowded. So I'm hoping she's right!

We are just going to going to WWOHP and IOA so I am hoping you are right!!!

 

[onyx8]

Went to IOA on Thursday, 10/21. Got there before opening and went right for FJ - posted wait time was 20 min. We rode it 2x in a row through the normal line and waited about 20 min each time. Went back later in the day and rode FJ 4 more times using the single rider line and never waited more than 10 minutes. Posted wait time never exceeded 30 minutes.

Skipped Olivander's but the TM at the line estimated the wait to be 45 minutes at approx 2PM. No lines for the other shops except a 5 min wait for D&B's. Ate 2x at the 3 Broomsticks with no wait (~11AM and ~2PM). The line for butterbeer outside was pretty long most of the day, but no wait at the Hog's Head or 3 Broomsticks.

 

[mdb78]

We're going to RPR on the day before Thanksgiving. My thought is to go to US on Thanskgiving Day and IOA/WWOHP on Friday. I'd appreciate input. Oh and we'll tale advantage of the going at 8 am.

From my experience, I would suggest doing WWOHP early entry on Thanksgiving. Do early entry again on Friday and then head over to the Studios side. Fridays have been reported to being very busy at WWOHP. I did early entry last Friday (10/22) and it got really crowded. While leaving to go to the Studios side, Dr. Suess land was very crowded as well. When we got to the Studios side, it was empty.

 

[rie'smom]

From my experience, I would suggest doing WWOHP early entry on Thanksgiving. Do early entry again on Friday and then head over to the Studios side. Fridays have been reported to being very busy at WWOHP. I did early entry last Friday (10/22) and it got really crowded. While leaving to go to the Studios side, Dr. Suess land was very crowded as well. When we got to the Studios side, it was empty.

Thank-you!

 

[nancyjane]

We are thinking about going either Oct. 31st or Nov. 1st. Will Halloween be really crowded?

I think WWOHP would be a very cool place to be on Halloween. If other people agree with me, it might be crowded. I don't know if I'd trust what the employee said. Maybe Halloween wasn't crowded at US/IOA in past years, but isn't HP still in it's first year? Locals might really want to go for Halloween this year, even though they didn't in the past.

On the other hand, it sounds like WDW has a lot more going on for Halloween with parties and such, so maybe Universal will be less crowded because of it.

Either way I'm sure you'll have fun.

 

[consultant]

Still wondering if anyone has a good feel for whether Sat the 18th or Sun the 19th will be less crowded or is it a toss-up? In general Sun is suppose to be a little less crowded I think but with families arriving on Sat and Sun ahead of a holiday week before Christmas, my gut is that the earlier the better before more families get there. Or will the local crowds on Sat offset any advantage to going that day.

Also, I've seen some reports that lines for the shops go down at the end of the day? Is this true? We will be on West Coast time so staying until close when all the tired younger kids have gone back to their hotels is no problem. Should we wait to do the entire Harry Potter experience until the end of the day and do the other rides in the morn while everyone else is in Harry Potter land? (we have 2-day pass so can come pack second day in case we miss anything)

 

[amycishere]

I think WWOHP would be a very cool place to be on Halloween. If other people agree with me, it might be crowded. I don't know if I'd trust what the employee said. Maybe Halloween wasn't crowded at US/IOA in past years, but isn't HP still in it's first year? Locals might really want to go for Halloween this year, even though they didn't in the past.

On the other hand, it sounds like WDW has a lot more going on for Halloween with parties and such, so maybe Universal will be less crowded because of it.

Either way I'm sure you'll have fun.

Thanks, it's just I have to decide b/c if I went on November 1st, I could only go in the morning b/c we are going to MNSSHP that night.

 

[Lou Holtz]

Still wondering if anyone has a good feel for whether Sat the 18th or Sun the 19th will be less crowded or is it a toss-up? In general Sun is suppose to be a little less crowded I think but with families arriving on Sat and Sun ahead of a holiday week before Christmas, my gut is that the earlier the better before more families get there. Or will the local crowds on Sat offset any advantage to going that day.

Also, I've seen some reports that lines for the shops go down at the end of the day? Is this true? We will be on West Coast time so staying until close when all the tired younger kids have gone back to their hotels is no problem. Should we wait to do the entire Harry Potter experience until the end of the day and do the other rides in the morn while everyone else is in Harry Potter land? (we have 2-day pass so can come pack second day in case we miss anything)

I think Sunday will be significantly less crowded and I might actually be there that day myself.

 

[Drkaito]

Well, our plans to go to IOA changed. We didn't go today (Thursday) because our flight which was supposed to leave at 4:20 pm on Wednesday from Chicago, ended up leaving at 10 pm due to bad weather!! We didn't get to our condo at Windsor Hills until after 2 am! We went to bed at 4 am, and didn't get up today (Thursday) until noon. So, our backup plan is to do IOA on Friday. We plan to go to Universal City Walk for dinner too.