Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[jenny105]

Just as an FYI, express pass can't come with the ticket because it is a free perk offered to onsite stayers. If it came free with the ticket as well as to onsite stayers, there would be no point in calling it express because it wouldn't be. Having it as a purchase only option creates revenue as well as keeps the express line down low enough so that it is still a huge perk for onsite guests.

And the nice thing about having express as an onsite guest is that it's unlimited. I know most of the passes available for purchase are one time only use per ride for off-site guests.

 

[mckinfam]

We just did IA/US on July 25 (Sunday) and July 26 (Monday). We arrived about 5:30 p.m. at WWOHP on Sunday. Posted wait time for FJ was 60 minutes and we waited about 50. (When we left WWHOP around 7:15, wait time said 30 minutes.) Stores were very crowded but we got in the ones we wanted to (not Ollivanders). We were able to get butterbeer and pumpkin juice at the Hogs Head after about a 15 minute wait. As we were staying onsite at PBH, we arrived at the turnstile about 7:45 a.m. on Monday and walked into WWOHP about 8:00. Unfortunately, FJ was down for about 30-40minutes so we waited as long for the ride as the night before. When we got off the ride about 9:00, they were starting to let non-on-site guests in. After we shopped at the stores again and left about 9:45, the line to get in WWHOP was at Rip Saw Falls. Sunday nights, as others have mentioned, seem to be a good time to visit.

 

[kelmac284]

We are thinking about going on a weekday in Nov NOT thanksgiving week. What do you think the crowds will be like once school is back in??

 

[Pirate Mamma]

I need help with a WWOHP touring plan for the end of September... What would all you experts recommend since according to the Universal Website IoA closes at 6pm every night we are there!!! I just can't believe they close at 6 ... We are staying at RPR..

So please what would YOU do?

TIA!

 

[bubba's mom]

We are currently offsite in Florida and did US/IOA the weekend of 17th/18th July which also conincided with the Invictus Convention

We were there then too. Tues 7/13- Sun 7/18


We have to "wait n see" what crowds do after school goes back...hard to tell. Just have to watch this thread for peeps to report in.

 

[Metro West]

We are thinking about going on a weekday in Nov NOT thanksgiving week. What do you think the crowds will be like once school is back in??

That's a good question and only time will tell. It's usually not busy leading up to Thanksgiving so you should be OK. We'll have to wait until September to see what's going to happen.

 

[kelmac284]

Yeah I am REALLY curious. I have been twice once on Halloween day and then once in November around Thanksgiving. Both days were not bad. Halloween was completely dead and the 2nd time was a little busier but still not as bad. I am hoping since we are going before Thanksgiving we will be ok but not sure. I will be watching this thread anxiously!!

 

[Hope1]

Thanks to everyone for the information!

Sounds like a possible stroke of luck that we planned our day at US/IOA for Sunday. Guess we'll give the morning a go and if it's horribly crowded, we'll move on and try again in the evening.

Thanks for the info on Monster Cafe also. Guess we'd better come up with another option!

 

[emmamc252]

we are planning to go to universal on thursday the 12th of august.
we are staying in disney so this will be our 1 trip out to universal.
we are a group of 3 adults so we are planning to be there for the WHOLE day, 9am to 10pm!
with this in mind our current plan is,
arrive at Universal about 8am and got UNIVERSAL STUDIOS park for opening. we will then head to rip ride rockit and do the rest of this park. After reading how busy WWOHP is in the mornings, we thought it would make sense to just avoid this park and hope for less queues and to get most of the other park done in the morning,

IS THIS A GOOD IDEA??

then hopefully about 1-2pm we will head over to Isalnds of Adventure, hope to go on the hulk and spiderman etc while its the lunch period and then we will check to see how busy WWOHP is and if its still busy we will do the rest of the park, this is the likely option, and then head back to WWOHP about 5-6pm, so before evening only guests arrive.
At this point, whatever the queues, we will just wait, but we are HOPING that by then the queues will not be as bad,

This is our plan based on what we have read on here, I know its not a sunday we are going, but what do ppl thing??? any advice would be SO MUCH APPRECIATED!!!

 

[Virgderon]

we are planning to go to universal on thursday the 12th of august.
we are staying in disney so this will be our 1 trip out to universal.
we are a group of 3 adults so we are planning to be there for the WHOLE day, 9am to 10pm!
with this in mind our current plan is,
arrive at Universal about 8am and got UNIVERSAL STUDIOS park for opening. we will then head to rip ride rockit and do the rest of this park. After reading how busy WWOHP is in the mornings, we thought it would make sense to just avoid this park and hope for less queues and to get most of the other park done in the morning,

IS THIS A GOOD IDEA??

then hopefully about 1-2pm we will head over to Isalnds of Adventure, hope to go on the hulk and spiderman etc while its the lunch period and then we will check to see how busy WWOHP is and if its still busy we will do the rest of the park, this is the likely option, and then head back to WWOHP about 5-6pm, so before evening only guests arrive.
At this point, whatever the queues, we will just wait, but we are HOPING that by then the queues will not be as bad,

This is our plan based on what we have read on here, I know its not a sunday we are going, but what do ppl thing??? any advice would be SO MUCH APPRECIATED!!!

Yes, I like your idea of going to Universal in the morning, and Rockit has the longest lines, so definitely do it first.

I was there on Monday - Tuesday last week, and I think that WWOHP will still be busy around 2 pm. Going at night is the best option, the only risk you take is if the ride breaks down for the entire night, and there would be nothing you could do about that anyway.

You probably don't need an Express pass in the morning at Universal, but it would come in handy at IOA in the afternoon if it is in your budget to get one.

 

[emmamc252]

can you get the express passes ont he day or not??
TBH they aren't really in our budget, but we have spent so much on this day that I think if the lines were collasal we may get them, as it would be silly to waste all the money we had already spent for the sake of $30. does that make any sense. but as we are planning ot be there for 13hours i am hoping we won't need them. If we can avoid it I would prefer to!!!

 

[damo]

can you get the express passes ont he day or not??
TBH they aren't really in our budget, but we have spent so much on this day that I think if the lines were collasal we may get them, as it would be silly to waste all the money we had already spent for the sake of $30. does that make any sense. but as we are planning ot be there for 13hours i am hoping we won't need them. If we can avoid it I would prefer to!!!

You can purchase the express passes inside the park once you get there and check out the crowds. I wouldn't get them unless I found that they were really, really necessary.

 

[bubba's mom]

we are planning to go to universal on thursday the 12th of august.
with this in mind our current plan is,
arrive at Universal about 8am and got UNIVERSAL STUDIOS park for opening. we will then head to rip ride rockit and do the rest of this park. After reading how busy WWOHP is in the mornings, we thought it would make sense to just avoid this park and hope for less queues and to get most of the other park done in the morning,

IS THIS A GOOD IDEA??

then hopefully about 1-2pm we will head over to Isalnds of Adventure, hope to go on the hulk and spiderman etc while its the lunch period and then we will check to see how busy WWOHP is and if its still busy we will do the rest of the park, this is the likely option, and then head back to WWOHP about 5-6pm, so before evening only guests arrive.
At this point, whatever the queues, we will just wait, but we are HOPING that by then the queues will not be as bad,

This is our plan based on what we have read on here, I know its not a sunday we are going, but what do ppl thing??? any advice would be SO MUCH APPRECIATED!!!

actually, I would flip your plan.

I would do IOA first, (esp FJ & WWoHP, then Hulk & Spidey) then Studios in the afternoon.

IOA is mostly outside stuff while the Studios is indoor. Given the mid-August time you'll be there, it'll be pretty hot in the middle of the day outside at IOA.

but...that's just my opinion.

 

[unionville]

Just returned from our 8-night stay at Portofino stay last week. Here's our Hogwarts experience.

Last Saturday, we ventured over to Hogwarts after dinner. It was around 8 p.m. and very crowded. We rode the Flight of the Hippogriff several times with no wait and could have ridden the dragons with no wait too. FJ had a posted wait time of 120 minutes and they had closed the line and were not allowing anyone else to enter. By the time we left Hogwarts, they reopened the line and the poor cast members tried to keep everyone from stampeding the entrance. We did not enter that chaos!

We sat our clock for 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and left the hotel by 7. We took the short-cut walk from Portofino (it is awesome)! By the time we arrived at Islands of Adventure they were already letting people enter. Non-resort guests were sent to the left and hotel guests to the right. We entered Hogwarts and left our bags at the lockers at the train. We ended up paying $3 but it was a much better decision we would find out later in the week. No crowds to get to these lockers. We went straight to FJ and ended up in the greenhouse right outside the door to Hogwarts. The ride had some technical difficulties so we had a very short wait. No worries as we moved through the castle. A very short wait and a very awesome ride experience. By the time we were off the ride, the crowds had gathered. We rode Flight of Hippogriff several times with no wait. We had frozen butterbeer on the nice covered tables behind Hogshead. No wait at the bar for the drink. We left Hogswart only to discover the mobs of people in line just to enter Hogswart. The heat was unreal last week and I can't imagine waiting in line to wait in line!!!

We set our clock for 6:30 a.m. again on Tuesday morning. We arrived at Islands of Adventure by 7:15 only to find that the ticket gate was not open this morning. They opened at 7:30. We went to the right and arrived at Ollivanders to discover only a couple of people in line. We were the second group of the day. Fun, but the child that was picked really "did not get into" the experience so it wasn't very exciting. I would not wait hours for the Ollivanders show! My 10-year old quickly bought a wand and we moved on to FJ. We made the mistake of using the lockers inside of the castle. We wish we would have just paid to use the ones at the train. It is madness at those lockers!!! The ride was down once again this morning and the posted wait time was 45 minutes when we arrived. We ended up waiting in the greenhouse area for quite a bit of time. Already a hot and humid day and it was around 8 a.m. I cannot imagine spending the heat of day in this greenhouse area. Once the ride was up and running, we moved through quickly. Once again, the other two rides did not have much of a line. We once again enjoyed frozen butterbeer in our secret shady spot behind Hogshead bar.

We returned to Hogswart on Thursday evening for our son to ride FJ one last time. The posted wait time was 120 minutes and it was at least 8:30 p.m. We decided to use the single rider line and just let our son ride. Lots of entire families in this line! The ride was being tested so we had a short wait without moving. He probably ended up being in line for over an hour. You really miss the castle atmosphere in this single rider line, but it served the purpose for a "one last ride". We left Hogwarts after 9:30 p.m. and Hogwarts was still crazy busy.

 

[emmamc252]

oh no!!!
I really do not know what to do with our 1 day in universal, if the wait times are 2 hours at 8pm then my whole "plan" seems pretty pointless!!!
I guess we will just have to wait and see!! who knows, maybe we will be lucky and it will rain all day!!!
(we went to universal a couple of years ago during a hurricane, we went 2 days in a row and there was only British ppl in the parks! obviously we are the nutty nation think the longest queue was about 5 minutes! we had a great, if very wet time!!!)

 

[Asm]

We will have 2 partial days for Universal - Aug 14 & 15. We are 2 adults staying off site, have 2 day 1 park tix with express passes. WWoHP is our primary focus but we want to check both parks out for next year's family trip. We are new to Universal.

Should we be at IoA at 7am? What about a plan of attack? I'm thinking FJ, no locker, then try Olivanders, then other shops and ride? Early lunch at TB and then Spiderman, whatever else fits in before out by 2 or 3.

We have less time for US. Have to leave by 1pm at latest. That's why the express passes. Any thoughts or suggestions? I hope we can get a good taste of the parks.

 

[phamton]

we are planning to go to universal on thursday the 12th of august.
we are a group of 3 adults so we are planning to be there for the WHOLE day, 9am to 10pm!
with this in mind our current plan is,
arrive at Universal about 8am and got UNIVERSAL STUDIOS park for opening.

Just remember that the Studios close at 8 PM on that day but Islands is open until 10:00 PM. So I would start with the Studios that day like you had planned. Here's the hours: http://www.universalorlando.com/Res...s.html&expID=13-5804&contentID=13-10102&seq=1

 

[tashasmum]

We were there from the 8-29th and did US and IOA the first 2 weeks with the longest wait being 55mins for FJ, although the line did say 90mins we were on and off in 55. Went to do the ride 4 times and each time there were queues but the queues for Ollivanders was the worst at 2 hours. Don't see much point in queueing when you only have a 1 in 30 chance of being chosen, especially when you can buy them in the next shop.


We went mornings and early evenings and thought the times were quite reasonable seeing as it hasn't been open too long.

 

[Planogirl]

We will have 2 partial days for Universal - Aug 14 & 15. We are 2 adults staying off site, have 2 day 1 park tix with express passes. WWoHP is our primary focus but we want to check both parks out for next year's family trip. We are new to Universal.

Should we be at IoA at 7am? What about a plan of attack? I'm thinking FJ, no locker, then try Olivanders, then other shops and ride? Early lunch at TB and then Spiderman, whatever else fits in before out by 2 or 3.

We have less time for US. Have to leave by 1pm at latest. That's why the express passes. Any thoughts or suggestions? I hope we can get a good taste of the parks.

You are doing pretty much what we plan to do. Our first day is the 15th in fact. I'm still mulling over what time to show up too.

I also plan to head to WWoHP first but we'll bypass Olivanders and go directly to FJ. Then we'll do shops a little and leave WWoHP and maybe come back later for a late lunch.

I want to get over to Spiderman reasonably early in the hope that the line hasn't grown too much. We have never bought express passes and hope to not do so this time either.

Do you like coasters? The Hulk can get busy too.

 

[carps09]

We visited WWoHP for the first time about 3 weeks ago. It was a Saturday, and it was crowded, though really not as bad as we had anticipated it to be. (I posted a report on that earlier in this thread.) We went back again this past Saturday (7/31) and were surprised at how much lower the crowds were.

Like we did a few weeks ago, we started our day at Universal at the E.T. Ride and made our way around the circle (Simpsons, MIB, Jaws, etc.) riding nearly everything we wanted to by lunchtime. After lunch, we tried to ride Rip Ride Rockit, but it was down. (This seems to happen a lot with this ride, by the way!) So, we went over to IOA. Rode Spiderman and Hulk and made it over to WWoHP around 2:30.

The wait for FJ was only 45 minutes! We were really shocked by this. We noticed they had configured the queue a bit differently, and we didn't have to walk through the entire greenhouse this time. After FJ, rode Dragon Challenge (20 minute wait) and then spent some time in the shops since they were not crowded at all! When we were there 2 weeks ago we had to wait in line outside of Honeydukes and Dervish and Banges just to get in and the waits were long - on Saturday, we could walk right in.

On a sidenote, being a Harry Potter fan, I was a little disappointed that Universal wasn't celebrating Harry Potter's birthday on Saturday! (The character's birthday is 7/31.)