Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[bubba's mom]

I don't know about FJ since I haven't ridden it yet, but last May when I was there I had on a Vera Bradely mini hipster (so small cross body bag--6"x8"x1/2"). On every ride that had the free lockers, I was told I had to put it in a locker. Since it was smaller and flatter than a fanny pack and would have been held firmly in place by the restraints, I didn't understand why.

should be fine on FJ

I will make note that it is indeed worth waking up at the crack of dawn to do Potter!

unfortunately, you are correct

 

[unionville]

Thank you all for continuing to update with your experiences. I can't believe that we are going to set our alarm clocks on a Universal vacation to get up at 6:30 a.m., but seeing bubba's mom's pictures was the convincing I needed! We leave for PBH one week from tomorrow and are getting so excited. We are having a Harry Potter movie marathon weekend to get in the mood. My husband is a true muggle that has never even watched a movie so my son plans to give him a HP crash course!

 

[bubba's mom]

We are back in the room for breakfast (DH & DS woke up just before 9) so I figured I'd report on today.

Here's how THIS morning's HP adventure went....

Left PBH, walked shortcut (was going to grab rickshaw, but they was already gone ) thru HRH parking lot and arrived at the main entrance to IOA at 7am. Second in line at our turnstile. In about 10 min, it was starting to fill up, but then seemed to slow. I noticed by 7:15 it was noticeably LESS crowded than yesterday.

We were let into the park at 7:22 and went straight to Ollivanders.
Today they did NOT stop & hold us the bridge to LC. And, because of that, the people who are not in good shape, were losing stamina quickly. Cardio people...cardio.

We were the 2nd show at Ollivander's..and niece wasn't chosen again (note: do NOT push your kid to the front because he/she will probably not be chosen...as what happened this morning. He chose a brother & sister instead.)

After we exited Ollivander's, we were going to shop at Filch's, but the line for FJ was non-exsitant (unlike yesterday), so I decided to locker my husband's videocamera and ride w/ my niece.

FJ was walk-on....literally. (posted wait time was 10min tho)
By 7:52am, we were cruising thru the greenhouse part of the queue. We moved so quick, I didn't really note the time from then on...but, we didn't stop till our butt's were in the seats.

We shopped in Filch's and she got a Luna shirt and is thinking on a Azkaban and Dementor's shirt. She noticed a lot of the shirts are kids sizes. More kids sizes available than adults. She also spotted a Griff tshirt in another store (Universal store in the Studios) that wasn't available in Filch's.

After our shopping and videocamera retrieval, we headed to Hog's Head for frozen...again, nobody in there. On our way out...passing the BB cart, I noticed the frozen looked like the color it should be...meaning it just *might* be working again today?

By 8:30 we were leaving IOA.

We went to the Studios to try and ride HRRR, but a tour group beat us and the line was already crazy long.
Yet, same time yesterday, DH & DS said wait was like 30min.

Today's pix:

Inside Filch's:

 

[bubba's mom]

I can't believe that we are going to set our alarm clocks on a Universal vacation to get up at 6:30 a.m., but seeing bubba's mom's pictures was the convincing I needed!

my thots EXACTLY last nite setting the alarm

But...it IS 100% worth it!

 

[unionville]

Thank you for sharing the update today. Worth setting the alarm clock to be able to experience Hogwarts like that! Your "cardio people" comment made me laugh!!! Enjoy the rest of your trip.

 

[damo]

Barb, how is Potterhead enjoying the Wizarding World? I'd love to hear her thoughts! And what about the rest of you non-potterheads? Did you like the ride?

 

[John_RN]

Thank you all for continuing to update with your experiences. I can't believe that we are going to set our alarm clocks on a Universal vacation to get up at 6:30 a.m., but seeing bubba's mom's pictures was the convincing I needed! We leave for PBH one week from tomorrow and are getting so excited. We are having a Harry Potter movie marathon weekend to get in the mood. My husband is a true muggle that has never even watched a movie so my son plans to give him a HP crash course!

Haha! My thoughts exactly....well actually my SO's thoughts exactly. He is a big Harry Potter fan like I am but I am more of a researcher and have been reading these boards for about a month now. He has no idea what to expect as far as lines and when I told him we needed to be out of the Royal Pacific room each morning by at least 645am his eyes widened! I showed him some of the pics of the lines and he understood a little better but I can see it still being a challenge to get him out of bed that early on "vacation".

I am a big planner and I am coming up with a strategy for our upcoming trip and he just rolls his eyes and says "whatever". I told him we could sleep in a little our second day there when we go to Universal because there is no early entry there and when we get done with Universal in the evening, we will head to HP before they close.

This has probably been mentioned before but how long can you stay in the HP park after the official closing time??

 

[HebeJebe]

I love all the pictures!! Thank you!!!!

 

[ChevyNat]

I am going in October and I've decided on a week day... I am second guessing myself now. I hope we will be able to go in and not wait to long to get in WWoHP, because my sis will decide to skip it all together!
And we are not staying on site.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I am going in October and I've decided on a week day... I am second guessing myself now. I hope we will be able to go in and not wait to long to get in WWoHP, because my sis will decide to skip it all together!
And we are not staying on site.

We are going in October as well and also decided a week day. We're hoping by then, the crowds will have died down enough with all the kids having to be back in school. This is part of the main reason we're going to Orlando this year. We're not staying on-site either. We own a timeshare and will be staying there. We're devoting an entire day for this just in case.

 

[CaptHomer]

We were there again this morning at 7:15. The gates opened at 7:30. Like another poster said they didn't stop us today at the end of Dr Suess. It was straight back to Harry Potter. This was much better for crowd control.

We were the 2nd or 3rd group for Olivanders. When we finished the line had to be at least 2 hours long. I can't imagine going to see Harry Potter without staying at a Universal park. The line went back through Toon Town when we left around 9:00.

We went last night around 8 and the lines were still crazy. There was a line of probably 45 minutes just to get in the store next to the Owl's nest (sorry I can't think of the name of it). It didn't look like the line died down much all day.

We are going again tomorrow morning. The Harry Potter group is here now at the Royal Pacific. They have Quiddich at 3:00. They also get Harry Potter to themselves tomorrow night from 10 PM to 2 AM. Must be nice.

Homer

 

[klacey1]

Today's experience....

I was up at 6:30am and left the PBH within 15-20minutes. (NOT a morning person here ) We walked (the shortcut thru HRH parking lot) and got to the entrance of IOA in about 10 minutes. We were 4th in line at our turnstile.

They let us into the park at 7:24am and we (sorta) followed the masses thru Suess Landing (along Sneetch Beach, past Green Eggs & Ham...only way to go) and got to next stop in 5 minutes.

We were a couple dozens parties back here

and waited till 7:49am till they let us to HP....checking room keys.

If onsite, I recommend being AT the entrance by 7am because there were an AWFUL lot of surprised people coming around the Moose Goose Juice store with looks of confusion for a VERY LONG line stretching back as far as ye can see thru Suess.

My niece & I beelined it for Ollivanders. COULD have made 1st show, but we decided to wait for the next one. TM said line was already 30minutes.

NO line for Honeydukes.
Owl Post gets EXTREMELY crowded after show...try to be near door and be first OUT of wand show.
Frozen bb is not working cart...go to Hogs Head. She told us to go there this AM, and we were the ONLY people there! btw...niece & I both agree frozen is MUCH betterer

We didn't go by FJ because we did it yesterday and it was looking crowded in that direction. Did everything else but other 2 rides. Did Ollivanders, Owl Post, Honeydukes/Zonkos and got frozen bb @ HH.

Left at 9am to head back for breakfast and meet up w/ DH & DS.

btw...lady behind us in line at Ollivanders said crowds yesterday morning weren't as bad as todays

I am pretty sure we are going again tomorrow.....ugh.....

Thanks for posting the pictures + info, Barb! Are you doing a TR this time?

 

[klacey1]

I am going in October and I've decided on a week day... I am second guessing myself now. I hope we will be able to go in and not wait to long to get in WWoHP, because my sis will decide to skip it all together!
And we are not staying on site.

We are going in October as well and also decided a week day. We're hoping by then, the crowds will have died down enough with all the kids having to be back in school. This is part of the main reason we're going to Orlando this year. We're not staying on-site either. We own a timeshare and will be staying there. We're devoting an entire day for this just in case.

I think by November, it'll be okay not to stay onsite. We're going in Nov and staying in a villa offsite--we're pretty confident things will be much, much better than they are now.

 

[bubba's mom]

Thanks for posting the pictures + info, Barb! Are you doing a TR this time?

prolly....don't see my DH lettin' me NOT


D-she tells me she's 'absolutely amazed'. She just can't believe it. (actually, she has no words in her state of awe)
For us non-Potterheads, after we rode FJ once, I got off thinking "wow...pretty cool...i knew Quidditch (sp?) and the Dementors"...that was it (and the spiders) Oh, and I could figure out that the dragon was over the bridge and we were in/under it....other than that...i was like...uhhhh.... (i only watched the movies [1x ea] so i could have a better appreciation.

If you're a Potterhead, you'll love it....if not, you'll just be like "kewl".

 

[bubba's mom]

oh yeah....this picture....

This is the entrance to Ollivanders. At the bottom right of the picture, the bald man in the white shirt & the man in the mustard yellow shirt are literally at the door for Ollivander's (going in).

Between them and the next building snakes a line for Ollivanders.

When the line reaches the end of that building (bottom left of picture, where the kid in the light blue shirt is standing w/ a lady in a yellow tank top) THAT is the 30 minute mark (according the to TM).

 

[LMO429]

We are going in October as well and also decided a week day. We're hoping by then, the crowds will have died down enough with all the kids having to be back in school. This is part of the main reason we're going to Orlando this year. We're not staying on-site either. We own a timeshare and will be staying there. We're devoting an entire day for this just in case.

We are going in October as well. Staying at Bay Lake Towers and planned on going the first monday in october. Preparing for the worst hoping for the best.

 

[bubba's mom]

Crap..forgot to mention.... We went back to the room for breakfast and back w/ DS & DH to IOA and we came walking around JP (in direction of HP) around noon.

There was a VERY long line thru JP to get into HP area. (will post pix later)

Dunno for how long tho?

 

[Larrabe]

We were let into the park at 7:22 and went straight to Ollivanders.
Today they did NOT stop & hold us the bridge to LC. And, because of that, the people who are not in good shape, were losing stamina quickly. Cardio people...cardio.

Thanks for the awesome report and pictures!! I am so beyond excited about seeing WWOHP, especially now that I'm re-reading the series!!

Okay, here's a potentially stupid question. My husband walks with a limp, and I don't want him to ache because he pushed himself--even though he probably will anyway. Is it considered bad protocol for me and my boys to walk ahead and have him join us or is it just too chaotic in the morning for that? I don't want to make folks angry.

 

[ChevyNat]

We are going in October as well and also decided a week day. We're hoping by then, the crowds will have died down enough with all the kids having to be back in school. This is part of the main reason we're going to Orlando this year. We're not staying on-site either. We own a timeshare and will be staying there. We're devoting an entire day for this just in case.

Ha! you are going at the exact same time as us... cool! Let's wish together and maybe we'll get our wishes ha!

 

[fairyprincess88]

I was WWoHP last Thursday/Friday and stayed off-site at Disney. On Thursday we got to Universal at 7:30 and they let us in with the on-site guests but directed us to JP side to wait. There were about 20 of us in line at 8:30 when suddenly they pulled back the rope and said, "come on in guys", so they let us in a half an hour early. Went straight to FJ and were on the ride by about 8:45. Lines were managable for about an hour then it was crazy. We were waiting for our family members who came to the park at 11 to join us for lunch at Three Broomsticks but after 3 phone calls trying to locate them, they finally answered and said they were in line to get into the Wizarding World for the last 35 minutes in JP. On Friday, we started the day in the Studios and went over to Potter around 6. It was packed but stil managed a ride on FJ using single rider that took 10 minutes and saw the Frog Choir/dancers and shopped in Fliches. Never made it to Ollivanders due to the never ending 2 hour line at all hours both days.

Things were busy all day and night both days but things did clear up some for the shops around 9:30-10 at night except for Ollivanders. They also let us stay in the area well after park closing on Friday as we were still shopping in Honeydukes at 11 pm.