Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[sbp59]

It was a perfect day in the park today. The first two hours we felt like we had HP world almost to ourselves. We walked onto the FJ ride twice - no waiting - and in Ollivander's within 10 minutes. Just awesome! By lunch there were more people but really not bad and the rest of the park felt empty. We thoroughly enjoyed the HP experience; it was simply amazing...and Butterbeer is the best!

 

[mariks714]

It was a perfect day in the park today. The first two hours we felt like we had HP world almost to ourselves. We walked onto the FJ ride twice - no waiting - and in Ollivander's within 10 minutes. Just awesome! By lunch there were more people but really not bad and the rest of the park felt empty. We thoroughly enjoyed the HP experience; it was simply amazing...and Butterbeer is the best!

Did you stay onsite? And if so, did you do early entry? Or did you stay offsite?

My family is planning on going to IOA the Thursday before Superbowl weekend so we are anticipating light crowds as well. Also, were you just in HP during the day, or the night as well? If you went at night, were the lines noticeably shorter?

Thanks!

 

[Sukina]

I was at IOA on Nov.10.(Wed) I walked on almost every ride there, except for the Flight of the Hippogriff that was a 20min wait. I walked on the Forbidden Journey, HP shops, Spider Man, all the rides in Seuss Landing, etc. On Nov.11(Thurs), I went to the US, and very minimal wait, about 5-10min waits. Then, on Nov. 12 (Fri), all the rides have about 20min wait. The HP section was just packed with people, impossible to get into the shops too.

So, best days for Universal seems to be Wednesday and Thursday.

 

[HebeJebe]

What's the recommendation these days for hitting WWoHP first thing or later in the day? We will be there in about 2 weeks and I can't decide if we should head there first or hit the rest of the park first.

 

[sbp59]

We stayed onsite at Royal Pacific. We like the location and walking right up beside Margaritaville.
We used the early entry to get in at 8 am. I originally thought you couldn't ride FJ before then but that was wrong. We rode the ride twice before 9 am and then went straight to Ollivanders and was in the shop within 10 minutes. We stayed in HP world another couple hours going through the shops, eating breakfast at Hogsmeade, etc. It didn't get crowded there until around 11 am.
The park was only open until 6 that day but we did all the rides we wanted 2 to 3 times and after going back to HP world for the 3rd time we were done. We rode FJ one more time and waited in line 15 minutes. Did the small roller coaster beside the castle and that was fun just to see the large Hippograff and Hagrid's Hut. Kids did the dueling dragons and said it was worth it to see the themed items. The conductor around Hogwarts Express was fun also and kids took pics with him.
Don't forget to get a postcard with the stamp.
We did everything we wanted to do - my guess the week before SB will also be light but definitely take advantage of early entry.

 

[DustGlitterVapor]

Went Monday the 15th. Crowds were light in the rest of the park but Hogsmeade seemed far more crowded. Waited ~40 min for Ollivanders and my daughter got picked! Walking on Cloud Nine after that! The shop after Ollivanders was jam-packed. In fact, all the stores were jam-packed, elbow-to-elbow people. The line for FJ was not bad, about 40 min (didn't mind because the wait was so interesting). Easy to find a table at Three Broomsticks. Plenty inside and outside. Breezed through the line at Hippogriff no wait at all.

 

[mollybeasley]

Logistic Advice For On-Site Morning after Off-site Night

Hi all, it's my first time on this thread- it's amazing how generous everyone is with their information - thank you.

I asked this same question on another thread, but it might have been the wrong one, so I'm posting it on this (possibly more relevant) thread.

I'm a first-timer to Universal, arriving with DH and four kids on Saturday night, really late (around midnight) Dec. 4, and staying at an off-site hotel for that first (crash) night.

In the morning, Sunday, as advised by the wonderful people on the Disboards, we'll go and check in at RPR where we have a reservation for three nights.

My question is, could you please advise on how to do that first morning regarding getting to IOA to take advantage of the early on-site hours?

I'm not sure how to go about doing this since we have to first check into our hotel, leave our bags etc.- then we have to get to the parks and buy our tickets (because I'm buying an AP which I understand I can only do at the gates, and then buy our tickets with the AP discount)....and where to go first considering we probably won't get our act together for 7:30 a.m. when it has been suggested to get there for early hours and to first get to Olivander's as I understand this place fills up super quickly because of its small size.

In short, I'm really confused and a bit stressed because of everything we have to do that morning before we even make it over to WWoHP! Any and all advice on how to plan this first day in light of what crowds are expected to be (hoping not too bad as it's a Sunday, and low(ish) season) would be supremely appreciated!

I would call both Customer service and the hotel directly to get some advice on how to streamline your first morning. You might find someone who will facilitate your ticket purchase for you on the phone with a credit card, or through the hotel.

But honestly, if you don't make it for early entry that day, I think you'll still be in good shape touring HP at the end of the day. You picked a good day from everything I can tell. If WWOHP is packed when you get there, tour the rest of the parks and go a little later in the day. You can always get in super early the next morning to be first on line at Olivanders or FJ.

I can tell you from experience that an extra hour or two of sleep could make the difference between a nice day and a serious meltdown. (I'm not just talking about the kids, I'm talking about mom and dad.) Though if you're traveling across time zones, the shift might work in your favor if you can all sleep on the plane.

 

[lengmui]

Went last Saturday (the supposedly more packed day). Hogsmeade was packed and FJ was around a 60-min wait (well worth it though). The line to Hog's head and Three Broomsticks was SO long, same for Ollivanders. Honeydukes and Zonko's was sort of elbow-to-elbow but sort of manageable I guess. And whoever said go to the lockers through Filch's is the best

 

[martinrmn]

We fly Thursday and are lucky enough to have Virgin early entry tickets. They assured me that this will get us in the park 2 hours earlier, free parking and breakfast. We intend trying on the Friday or Saturday, depending on the jet lag!

 

[Tink Wanna Be]

We were there last Tuesday, 11/16 and crowds were extremely light. We were staying at Disney, so did not get in an hour early. We arrived at the gate to IOA around 8:30 am and there were among only a dozen or so people there. The gates were opened around 8:45 and we went right for WWOHP, of course. We decided to do Olivanders first and waited about 10 minutes for that. I was surprised how small and intimate that setting was. My 10 year old son got have the wand choose him and he was just thrilled. I never even mentioned the possibility to him We did FJ next with no wait at all. FOTHG had a short wait, then we walked on everything else all day. Had lunch and butterbeer at Hogshead with no wait. Everything else in IOA was walk on. All of Suess Landing, Hulk, Spiderman, everything. The park was only open 9-6 that day, but we managed to do just about everything in both parks by 6:00 and did some of our favorites several times. We were so pleasantly surprised after being unsure what to expect in terms of crowd levels this time of year.

 

[damo]

We fly Thursday and are lucky enough to have Virgin early entry tickets. They assured me that this will get us in the park 2 hours earlier, free parking and breakfast. We intend trying on the Friday or Saturday, depending on the jet lag!

This is the first mention of a 2 hour early entry. Are you sure they didn't mean that you get 2 - hour early entries (as in two separate days where you get in an hour early?) Would hate to see you showing up so early and it not being open for you.

 

[McIntoshTx]

This is the first mention of a 2 hour early entry. Are you sure they didn't mean that you get 2 - hour early entries (as in two separate days where you get in an hour early?) Would hate to see you showing up so early and it not being open for you.

I agree a 1 hour entry on two separate days sounds more likely, I can not see Universal opening the park at 7am for that limited number of people.

If they do you will own the park for an hour

 

[CookieMueller]

Was there Wed, the 17th. Walked onto everything. Didn't do Ollivanders because we did IOA after Universal (wrong idea based on everything I heard...since we got there at 9am, we probably should've done IOA first) and it had a loooong line at about 4pm.

 

[Rora]

I was just there on Saturday the 20th. It was pretty packed. FJ was a 60min wait but we probably only waited 30-45min.

Flight of the Hippogriff was 30minutes, and the line for Ollivanders was massive so we skipped it.

We got there about 10am.

 

[tamaraten]

I would call both Customer service and the hotel directly to get some advice on how to streamline your first morning. You might find someone who will facilitate your ticket purchase for you on the phone with a credit card, or through the hotel.

But honestly, if you don't make it for early entry that day, I think you'll still be in good shape touring HP at the end of the day. You picked a good day from everything I can tell. If WWOHP is packed when you get there, tour the rest of the parks and go a little later in the day. You can always get in super early the next morning to be first on line at Olivanders or FJ.

I can tell you from experience that an extra hour or two of sleep could make the difference between a nice day and a serious meltdown. (I'm not just talking about the kids, I'm talking about mom and dad.) Though if you're traveling across time zones, the shift might work in your favor if you can all sleep on the plane.

Thanks for reply Mollybeasley - I did check out trying to get tickets in advance but unfortunately, I can't because of the AP which has to be activated at the gates, and only then can be used for the discount on the rest of the tickets for my family. So I have to do it all there that first morning....adding to the stress! I agree with you that having everyone get a decent amount of hours' sleep the night before is really important and can make or break the day, but I feel so pressured to get to WWoHP early!!!

 

[txmama]

Hi all. We arrived at IOA about 3:30pm, after checking into RPR. Our goal was to explore the "rest" of the park, knowing WWOHP would be insanity. And it was packed; but there wasn't any timed entry or anything, we just walked in. We rode Hippogriff in about 3 minutes (using our resort guest Express passes) but didn't attempt anything else.

With the express passes, we walked on every other (non-WWOHP) ride we wanted to do. It was amazing.

Tomorrow we'll do early entry and hopefully be able to do more!

 

[txmama]

p.s. for context, FJ wait was 90 mins and Hippogriff read 35 mins.

 

[ducky_love]

p.s. for context, FJ wait was 90 mins and Hippogriff read 35 mins.

Wow- I have seen that on just a regular Saturday! I thought it would be crazier!! Maybe the extended hours are helping?

 

[txmama]

This morning we arrived at the gates of IOA at about 7:30 for the 8am open for resort guests. They began letting us in around 5 til 8. We were among the first 100 into WWOHP. There was a long, backed-up line for Forbidden Journey (the start of which was around Olivander's) - which stood there until nearly 8:15 and folks were getting cranky. Then they let them walk briskly up to the castle.

Those of us heading to Olivander's figured this out eventually and went to the right to get in that line. We were in the third group allowed in, after waiting about 20 minutes. That actually gave the FJ line time to die down a bit and we basically walked through quickly all the way to the room with Harry, Ron, and Hermoine. It still moved pretty fast after that though.

Everything was much, much less crowded than it was on Saturday, all the way up until 11am when we headed out.

It was wonderful! We're big fans and it was heaven for us.

 

[tink1953]

Posted this in another thread but will do it here too....

today we arrived around 1:30 at WWOHP and walked around looking at everything, thinking FJ would not be doable on a weekend day...well I was wrong.

Wait said 30 mins....I took the single rider line and walked right on..

came back later (around 5:30) to ride again and wait was just 20 mins, so we did the wait to see everything and then jumped in the single rider line (husband took the chicken exit, hah He gets sick, I told him no way he could ride it) again I just walked on...no wait either time.

Going again Tuesday and will let you know the wait time then.

BArb