Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[julie1218]

Agreed.

awww... y'all are sweet --making me feel less stressed about my trip!

 

[I have/need codes]

I agree Sunday is the best day with the lowest crowds.. People have to get back to work on Monday...

 

[klacey1]

I always heard people do Saturday-Saturday! I thought this thread had told me Monday was a good day to go Time to switch ADR's!!
ETA: Okay, just checked the US/IOA website again and noticed Sunday is a green express pass day and Monday is blue. I'm sticking with Monday! Thanks for the advice, though, everyone

 

[macraven]

i always say that tues/wed/thur are great days at the darkside.

weekends get more crowds.


in the off season, you can't go wrong with the 3 days above and sundays.

 

[MIChessGuy]

Mondays tend to be the first day in many people's vacation and they are gung ho to do the parks right away.

I follow this pattern myself on almost all trips. It's a two-day drive down from Michigan; I show up Sunday night and get set for an early start on Monday.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I always heard people do Saturday-Saturday! I thought this thread had told me Monday was a good day to go Time to switch ADR's!!
ETA: Okay, just checked the US/IOA website again and noticed Sunday is a green express pass day and Monday is blue. I'm sticking with Monday! Thanks for the advice, though, everyone

Back in Mid-March we were planning on going on a Monday. After running it by the experts here, they suggested Sunday may have been better. We switched our Disney ADR's and went to IOA on Sunday. The Express prices were the same for Sunday and Monday.

Long story, short? We had a perfect day on Sunday for touring. When I returned home I read on these boards that the Monday we had planned on going, had been horrible for crowds. If at all possible try and do Sunday.

 

[SandraLee]

Anyone want to venture a guess which day will be least crowded over the Memorial Day weekend? For me, that includes Saturday, Sunday, Monday & Tuesday.

 

[klacey1]

Back in Mid-March we were planning on going on a Monday. After running it by the experts here, they suggested Sunday may have been better. We switched our Disney ADR's and went to IOA on Sunday. The Express prices were the same for Sunday and Monday.

Long story, short? We had a perfect day on Sunday for touring. When I returned home I read on these boards that the Monday we had planned on going, had been horrible for crowds. If at all possible try and do Sunday.

Thanks for the advice, but we're going to stick with Monday. We're going in the off (ish) season and it's too much of a hassle to change around our current plans, etc. Plus, in this case, the Express pass price is cheaper on Monday. We'll get there an hour before the park opens-- I think we'll be fine.

 

[mesaboy2]

Anyone want to venture a guess which day will be least crowded over the Memorial Day weekend? For me, that includes Saturday, Sunday, Monday & Tuesday.

I guess Tuesday, but that seems obvious. Is this a trick question?

 

[julie1218]

Thanks for the advice, but we're going to stick with Monday. We're going in the off (ish) season and it's too much of a hassle to change around our current plans, etc. Plus, in this case, the Express pass price is cheaper on Monday. We'll get there an hour before the park opens-- I think we'll be fine.

when are you going?

 

[macraven]

Anyone want to venture a guess which day will be least crowded over the Memorial Day weekend? For me, that includes Saturday, Sunday, Monday & Tuesday.

i have been there on only two holiday times.
mondays on the memorial weekend and on columbus day, monday, in october.

the memorial weekend was crowded.
the columbus day the last two years at universal was very very crowded.

i don't leave for home until the tuesday or wednesday after the holiday. those days were low attendance for me.after that columbus day, monday.

 

[klacey1]

when are you going?

August 29th

 

[rtphokie]

collage of photos taken this morning around 11am. Forbidden Journey was running about 110 minute wait and Olivanders was 90 minutes. Street running between the storefronts was shoulder to shoulder with little if any movement.

 

[tinydancer09]

collage of photos taken this morning around 11am. Forbidden Journey was running about 110 minute wait and Olivanders was 90 minutes. Street running between the storefronts was shoulder to shoulder with little if any movement.

*GASP!*

Man o man am I glad I am not on the HS spring break schedule anymore!

 

[GoingtoDisney]

We are considering doing IOA this Saturday, 4/9, before we head for home (been at WDW). Since this is last minute I have only had minimal time on computer to do my research (and I researched and planned WDW to death). We would be going to mainly do Harry Potter as we went to IOA and Universal two years ago.

Should we bite the bullet and stay on site for $350 to get the early entry--an hour early, 8 am, correct? Does it save that much time on lines? Or, save the money and stay somewhere less expensive and go in with everyone else at 9? If we did this what time do we need to arrive at the park? We need to be out of the park by 3 to head for home so staying late is not an option.

Sounds like we should do Ollivanders first, followed by FJ and then the other two rides is best strategy wait wise?

Any advice would be so appreciated. Usually I read all the relative threads but I have limited internet access right now. Thanks in advance.

 

[rtphokie]

It's going to be very very crowded. *If it were me I'd invest in the on site hotel and plant head to the wizarding world of Harry potter immediately upon entering at 8am. *Do forbidden journey first and then olivanders.

The wizarding world has been shoulder to shoulder crowds by shortly after 9am all week and Saturday is the busiest. They were giving out timed return tickets to even enter the area by 9:30 yesterday.

 

[rbrainerd]

Just experienced the past two days at both parks. Wednesday we got to WWofHP at 8:45 as they dropped the rope and headed straight there. Went to FJ ride and got in the no bags line...people where not happy when we said "can we move over to the no bag line"...got the looks of "what do you think you're doing" which makes me feel uncomfortable.. so then we got even more of those looks as we headed up the stairs to the single rider line and got right on with no wait. Proceeded to do the same thing right after we got off...JF done twice by 9:05. Park became busy after that with 40-80 minute waits for popular rides. Did Universal Studios the next day with the longest wait time 20 minutes. I really enjoy the rides at the parks but..I am looking forward to my Disney days this weekend. The parks seemed dirty, the people who work there seemed "blah" and the garabge cans needed emptying whereever we went...the smell was absolutely terrible.

 

[damo]

Just experienced the past two days at both parks. Wednesday we got to WWofHP at 8:45 as they dropped the rope and headed straight there. Went to FJ ride and got in the no bags line...people where not happy when we said "can we move over to the no bag line"...got the looks of "what do you think you're doing" which makes me feel uncomfortable.. so then we got even more of those looks as we headed up the stairs to the single rider line and got right on with no wait. Proceeded to do the same thing right after we got off...JF done twice by 9:05. Park became busy after that with 40-80 minute waits for popular rides. Did Universal Studios the next day with the longest wait time 20 minutes. I really enjoy the rides at the parks but..I am looking forward to my Disney days this weekend. The parks seemed dirty, the people who work there seemed "blah" and the garabge cans needed emptying whereever we went...the smell was absolutely terrible.

Don't get too excited about a clean Disney. We were there in February and saw so much peeling paint in queues and garbage cans overflowing outside of washrooms. The one in Animal Kingdom had stuff all over the ground it was so overflowing. I didn't find any difference in the employees.

 

[mesaboy2]

It's going to be very very crowded. *If it were me I'd invest in the on site hotel and plant head to the wizarding world of Harry potter immediately upon entering at 8am. *Do forbidden journey first and then olivanders.

The wizarding world has been shoulder to shoulder crowds by shortly after 9am all week and Saturday is the busiest. They were giving out timed return tickets to even enter the area by 9:30 yesterday.

Cannot agree with you here either. (Humble apologies O Wise and Powerful Mod.). If GoingtoDisney opts for onsite and early entry, then definitely do O's before FJ. The line for O's gets long fast and stays that way almost all day. It's queue is also as uninteresting as uninteresting can be. FJ's line fluctuates more, is very interesting, and offers other options such as single-rider and castle tour to speed the experience.

 

[MrShiny]

How is it at closing? When we went in July, he last couple of hours at closing were very bearable- much better than the capacity crowds in the morning.