Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[mrslur]

We arrived yesterday staying at PBH. At one yesterday posted wait time for FJ was 40 minutes but it only took 15. We were first at the turnstile at 7:35 today and got in the first Ollivander's show. I've been lurking here but you've been so helpful. Thanks!

 

[txmama]

All -- looking for the latest touring advice. We will be staying at RPR and will have early entry, and plan to be there well before our entry starts.

My kids have to do Ollivander's. Should we go there and line up for that first? Then head to FJ? What do you think?

Thanks!

UPDATED: Just saw the FAQ thread; which seems to recommend Olivander's first.

 

[SmallWorld71]

All -- looking for the latest touring advice. We will be staying at RPR and will have early entry, and plan to be there well before our entry starts.

My kids have to do Ollivander's. Should we go there and line up for that first? Then head to FJ? What do you think?

Thanks!

I would do early entry and do Ollivander's first. The FJ line seems to fluctuate, but Ollivander's seems to be long all the time. JMO

 

[mdb78]

Was there Thursday and Friday (Oct. 21 and 22). Arrived Thursday into WWOHP at 5pm. There was a crowd, but manageable. Line in Hogs Head was short (butterbeer cart, as expected, was long). Around 6pm, we decided to go ahead and ride FJ. Wait time showed 30 min (probably waited around 15 min). Que went rather quickly, just having a few stops along the way. Did child swap. FJ was AMAZING! After getting out of Filches around 6:45, wwohp was almost empty. Went into Honeydukes (not crowded ). IOA closed at 7pm.

Friday, did early entry. Got to IOA around 8:20am (being that we are not morning people, that was pretty impressive for us )- offsite guests were already lining up. Entered Wwhop and there was already a crowd. Went straight to Ollivanders. I think we waited around 45 min. Show was cute. While in line, wwohp was getting really crowded. When we got out of Dervish and Banges (connects with the Owl Post), the land was packed. There were lines to get into Dervish and Banges and Honeydukes/ Zonkos. Around 10 we were in line for Flight of the Hippogriff. Wait time said 25 min.. Since we stayed onsite (RPR) did express and we waited 23min- lol. DC wait time was 10 and with express it was almost a walk on. We finally left WWOHP at 12:15. Got to Mythos- was told wait time was 40 min., showed are room key and our wait time was cut to 20 min. Even after leaving mythos when we were leaving to go to the studios side, Lost continent and Suessland had a large crowd. ETA: Left the studios side at closing (5pm). Went back to WWohp. While heading over there, there were a lot of people leaving and we were thinking good, maybe the crowd is finally going down. WRONG! We walked in and it was still packed and the lines for the shops were still there! lol. Went to Hog's Head to get a refill except this time we got the frozen butterbeer. There was a wait, but nothing as compared to the long line outside. It was almost 6 and decided to go ahead and eat at the Three Broomsticks (5 min wait). After dinner we walked around wwohp and the line for Honeydukes/Zonkos was longer. For FJ, the wait was 60 min. We walked around a little bit more and then around 7:15, we decided to just do the single rider line at FJ. I asked the TM at the front if we could do child swap in the single rider line and she said yes. Single rider was just a 10 min. wait. When we got out, it was around 7:45 and there was still a crowd. After DH looked at the wand cart outside by the castle, it was 8 and IOA was closing. They were having a private event in Hogsmeade so we couldn't walk through there to leave and they had us leave through the Jurassic Park side.

I'm assuming the large crowd were due to HHN, and mostly fall break. Oh and on Friday, we saw many tour groups.

 

[jadejazzkayla]

i'm at rpr right now using the computer in the club level lounge. fj wait time at 2:15pm was 20 minutes. no line to get into any of the stores except for ollivander's. went to the 3 broomsticks pub area for a frozen butter beer. no line there either. wheather is sunny and 90. very low humidity.

off to the beach club tomorrow for food and wine.

 

[Tarheel Tink]

We went for our first trip to IOA last Sunday the 17th; we arrived around 8:15 at the parking garage. We bought IOA/Universal tickets and waited a few minutes until the gates opened early. They stopped us all around Spiderman which we dashed into with no wait. When we came out they had just released the pack so we followed (one in our party has some issues with walking so we did not rush) taking some quick photos along the way (Jurassic Park).
The WWOHP was crowded when we arrived and we headed straight to FJ. Myself and the slow walker tested the seat and neither of us got the green light so I asked a young man in Hogwart's robe with a charming British accent if they had a "chicken exit" so we could view the queue. He insisted we try the seats again and then told us to ask for a certain line (modified?) and we would be seated on the end seats. Yeah!
I loved the queue and the special effects. It actually went too fast for me, I would have liked more time there! The locker system actually held me up because someone bumped it shut before I could put my bag in there and then the system wouldn't recognize me. It took a while in the bedlam to find someone to get in it for me.
The ride itself was wonderful but once was enough; the special effects got to us. I think it was listed at 30 minutes when we entered before the locker snafu and I think we were in line less than that; the greenhouse portion was the longest wait.
FH was next with a wait of 10-15 minutes. I was pretty amazed with how short a ride it was. I loved the sound effects in line with Hagrid's hut. We got into a not too long line for butterbeer when a server came up to us and took our order and brought them to us while we waited in the shade and stared at the store lines. I enjoyed the frozen butterbeer and shared it with my DH.
We walked around some and tried to walk in the candy store but the crowds were too daunting to shop. I had seen some HP items at the IOA entrance store so decided to shop there when we left. We ate some lunch at Jurassic Park and did the IOA loop twice. We had tired pretty much by then and left stopping at Guest Services to see if we could get a refund on our combo tickets (the additonal charge for both parks, around 30 dollars each) since we were not going to make it to Universal; they did it with a smile!
I am glad we made it over to IOA and saw for ourselves the phenomenom of HP. Thanks for the hints I got for this last minute trip I had not researched; it could have been a bit of a disaster if I had not been prepared for what we found. I would love to attend a private event held there, wouldn't you?

 

[BrytEydBelle]

We finally made the trek to IOA on Thursday 10/21....family had never been, it took the lure of Harry Potter to convince them to forgo Epcot for one trip. We arrived "early"....got to the gates by nine. I am the micro manager, but my parents do not obey my directives as well as my husband, so definitely not as early as I would have liked.

En route to WWoHP, parents stopped for breakfast pastries, so did not make it to the land till about 9:30. By this point, the line for Ollivander's was far longer than anything I would stand in for what I essentially take to be a store with a cute show where they pick children to be the wand testers...having no children, nor being one, not too big of an enticement. We went over to the Forbidden Journey and the line was insane! All the way past the entryway to Jurassic Park land...I could not see the end. Having read the boards thoroughly, I recalled single rider as being a good option. I approached a cast member, who advised me to just cut in and stay to the left as my dad and I did not have any bags. We did, and it took about 20 minutes. We even went through parts of the line slowly so we could linger in the castle. Amazing ride!

Tried a few of the stores, but my mother is in a wheelchair, and while the stores may be ADA compliant, due to the size of the aisles and the people in them, they are definitely very wheelchair unfriendly! Apparently there are no handicapped wizards.

Left to tour the other lands with plans to return at five...when we came back, we did Flight of the Hippogriff with roughly a five minute wait, saw a cute show with the Hogwarts Choir and Frogs, and saw the Triwizard tournament show...not too crowded at all. Got Butterbeer (delish!) with less than a minute wait. Rode Forbidden Journey again, single rider, with about a 25 minute wait.

Tried the stores one more time around six, but still no luck. I actually just got my Potter stuff at one of the stores in the Port of Entry, as well the next day at the Studios store. Sorry so long winded!

 

[VincentR]

Is it safe to assume the lines to get inside the island have gone away? I remember waiting in line around 8AM in Jurassic Park waiting to get in (what an experience! The entire park was practically empty!) a few months ago, but I think it's not a problem anymore, is it?

 

[jayally]

We are going to Universal on Nov 24 & 25 (thanksgiving) what do you think the crowds might be like? My daughter really wants to see Harry Potter but we have never been the park at all so would at least go to both parsk. Would it be better to go to HP on the Wed or the thurs? How much is it to add on the express pass? We are not staying at one of the park hotels.

Thanks, Michelle

 

[3darlings]

We were there the same two days. We got there about 8:15 both days for early entry and went on FJ three times on Thurs and 2 times on Friday before the swarm of people arrived alittle after 9. You really do need to ride FJ more than once because you miss alot the first time because so much is happening. Friday was significantly more crowded than Thursday. Both days, we left the HP area about 9:30 and it was almost impossible to get out there with such a swarm of people coming in! It all reminded me of New York City right after Christmas! Based on advice read here, we decided to come back at night to shop when it was quieter. As noted above, that didn't work at all on Friday - it was still a zoo at 6:30 (8 p.m. closing). Looks like it was better Thurs night but we had to use up our dining credits so we went back to Disney for dinner. We should have done Olivander's on Thursday morning when the line wasn't too long (but we wanted to do FJ) because on Friday at 8:15 the line was already long so we didn't do it. I did ask one of the CM if it was always this crazy and she said it had quieted down for awhile but lately it has been packed. She also sid HHN make it worse.

Early entry is really the way to go (on all the other attractions as well). The lady behind us in the security line at the airport (which was terrible by the way) told us she waited 70 minutes for FJ. Now FJ is amazing! The detail in the castle is wonderful so there is much to see.

I must say I was rather shocked at how small the HP area is and the size of the shops. They really are ridiculously small. The locker area for FJ is a recipe for chaos. They started putting tables up for the private event in the middle of the walk way on Friday night about 7:30 and it just made the situation worse. The Butter Beer cart in the middle of the walkway doesn't help either (my DDs did love that stuff!) This place was just not built for crowds!

Was there Thursday and Friday (Oct. 21 and 22). Arrived Thursday into WWOHP at 5pm. There was a crowd, but manageable. Line in Hogs Head was short (butterbeer cart, as expected, was long). Around 6pm, we decided to go ahead and ride FJ. Wait time showed 30 min (probably waited around 15 min). Que went rather quickly, just having a few stops along the way. Did child swap. FJ was AMAZING! After getting out of Filches around 6:45, wwohp was almost empty. Went into Honeydukes (not crowded ). IOA closed at 7pm.

Friday, did early entry. Got to IOA around 8:20am (being that we are not morning people, that was pretty impressive for us )- offsite guests were already lining up. Entered Wwhop and there was already a crowd. Went straight to Ollivanders. I think we waited around 45 min. Show was cute. While in line, wwohp was getting really crowded. When we got out of Dervish and Banges (connects with the Owl Post), the land was packed. There were lines to get into Dervish and Banges and Honeydukes/ Zonkos. Around 10 we were in line for Flight of the Hippogriff. Wait time said 25 min.. Since we stayed onsite (RPR) did express and we waited 23min- lol. DC wait time was 10 and with express it was almost a walk on. We finally left WWOHP at 12:15. Got to Mythos- was told wait time was 40 min., showed are room key and our wait time was cut to 20 min. Even after leaving mythos when we were leaving to go to the studios side, Lost continent and Suessland had a large crowd. ETA: Left the studios side at closing (5pm). Went back to WWohp. While heading over there, there were a lot of people leaving and we were thinking good, maybe the crowd is finally going down. WRONG! We walked in and it was still packed and the lines for the shops were still there! lol. Went to Hog's Head to get a refill except this time we got the frozen butterbeer. There was a wait, but nothing as compared to the long line outside. It was almost 6 and decided to go ahead and eat at the Three Broomsticks (5 min wait). After dinner we walked around wwohp and the line for Honeydukes/Zonkos was longer. For FJ, the wait was 60 min. We walked around a little bit more and then around 7:15, we decided to just do the single rider line at FJ. I asked the TM at the front if we could do child swap in the single rider line and she said yes. Single rider was just a 10 min. wait. When we got out, it was around 7:45 and there was still a crowd. After DH looked at the wand cart outside by the castle, it was 8 and IOA was closing. They were having a private event in Hogsmeade so we couldn't walk through there to leave and they had us leave through the Jurassic Park side.

I'm assuming the large crowd were due to HHN, and mostly fall break. Oh and on Friday, we saw many tour groups.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

We plan too visti IOA and WWOHP for a day... I see that Fridays seem much busier than Thursday...

We will be arriving the the Thursday before Memorial day weekend. So for those of you who have went...Would you spend Thursday at Universal even if we don't get there till 10:00 or 11:00 am or wait and go on Friday when we can get there first thing?

Sounds like we may get more done on Thursday even with a shorter day since Fridays are busy and it would be the kick off too Memorial day weekend?

We are staying on Disney Property, but we will have a car to I am just planning too drive over too Universal for one of those days.

Thanks for any advice.... I guess we could plan too get up earlier on Thursday and make it before 10:00am....drive further on Wednesday...I do have options.

 

[strawberryblonde]

We were on property Sat. 10/16 - Sat. 10/23

Sunday was lightest
Friday was busier than either Sat.

Do Dragon coasters during the day....early morning and later evening they reduce down to one train per track. We went Friday evening around 7pm thinking it would be light and we could ride up front a few times before closing....it was a mob scene because they were only running one train per track...we only got in one ride that night. We "wasted" one early entry morning doing the dragons because of the one train per track as well, we were able to get in 3 rides in one hour though, so not as bad as Friday night.

During the day, with 3 trains running, you won't wait much at all, IMO.

We did Ollivander's sunday morning, early entry. We got in line around 8:30am and waited about 20 min. Neither of our kids were picked, but we could see well, and we all enjoyed the little show. The girl picked did well and enjoyed herself, made it fun for everyone. My kids were not upset to not be picked and they were glad we did it once. Neither felt the need to buy a wand, even though they had saved up enough money to buy one if they wanted to.

We loved the butterbeer and bought our first round with a meal in 3 broomsticks, the rest of the week we bought it at Hog's Head tavern with hardly ever a wait, even on sardine crowded days. I liked reg. butterbeer best at first, but by the end of the week, I ordered a frozen one to enjoy during the heat of the day and that hit the spot!

Single rider line for FJ never took us longer than 10 min. or so, even at mid day on crowded Friday and Sat.

My DH and DS bought marauder map t-shirts that match, tans and browns, I think they look cool. My DH bought a Hogwarts notebook for his sister as a gift. We bought butterbeer about 4 times throughout the week, but not the mug, I didn't care for it being plastic. My DD bought some of the watermelon candy at Honeydukes but that isn't Potter related, it is just her fav candy . Other than that, it was great to see everything available, it looked neat, but we didn't feel the need to buy it. DD did think about getting a pink pigmy puff, but in the end, decided she didn't need one more stuffed animal.

 

[sparklynails23]

Friday was super crowded. We ran from rope drop to ride HP with no wait, but there was no chance of us waiting in the long lines for the shops. The dragon coaster was down for a long part of the day. The other rides were so crowded, we wished we would have stayed on site. Oh, well. The kids liked frozen butter beer, but it was very sweet. Too, sweet. Pumpkin juice was ok. It was amazing to see, and the castle was Harry Potter come to life, so it was all worth it. The weather was beautiful.

 

[mom2aandj]

agreed, Friday was very crowded, and it wasn't just in WWOHP---we saw a posted wait time of 75 minutes for the Seuss Trolley ride that afternoon!

 

[smillerguy]

AAAGH!! Planning on this Friday and Sat. then moving over to Disney for two days and there Halloween party. Already bought tickets for a certain night or I would move things around a bit. Maybe we will do WWOHP early entry and then head over to US on Friday then back to WWOHP on Sat morning???

 

[nmmom95]

How is mid-week? We will be in WDW from 11-12 to 11-20, and were planning on spending Tuesday and Wednesday and US/IOA. We are pretty flexible, though, except for Thursday, because we will be at MVMCP. In your experience, how crowded are weekdays?

 

[consultant]

We are going to do IOA either Sat Dec 18 or Sun Dec 19. This is the beginning of the week before Christmas. We arrive Friday. Initially I was thinking Sat is best because we beat the families traveling on Sunday AND Saturday. But I see posts here that since school has been out, Sunday is less crowded than Saturday. Wonder if that will hold true for the Sunday starting the week before Xmas?

Also, I know the Express Pass doesn't work for the Harry Potter rides and the secret is to use the single rider lines. But as far as the waits for the other rides this fall since school has been back in session, have they been long enough to justify the cost of an Express Pass? (Note: We are going to get a 2-day pass and come back later in the week probably on Wednesday.)

Also, I take it unless you make a b-line for the shops right when it opens, better to do the shops as late as possibly shortly before closing in the evening. My 9 and 11-yo can handle the late hours especially since we will be on West Coast time.

 

[Drkaito]

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

 

[smillerguy]

Greta checking late Thursday!

 

[strawberryblonde]

IMO, Monday is heavier than Tue. and Wed. We were at SeaWorld on Thurs. so I don't know about that day, Friday was the most crowded, Sat. was 2nd most crowded, Sunday was the least crowded. Hope this helps, I'm sure things mix up a bit from week to week.