Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[mollybeasley]

When the crowds are a little larger, you won't be allowed to move to the rail and let people pass. TMs will be telling you to move along. If you want to tour the castle, it is best to do the touring line.

The sign that tells you how long the wait is, means how long it will take you to actual get to the ride part, not enter the castle.

The sign said 60 minutes, but it probably took only about 10 minutes to walk through the castle to the ride. (I wasn't looking at my watch.) We could have run through the walkways at a few spots, but we frequently stopped to take pictures along the way. People are very happy if you let them go ahead of you in line, so it was no problem to linger when we wanted to. We waited a few minutes at the end of the line for the loading.

 

[TIGGERGUY]

Late at night is definitely the way to go for WWOHP. We hit there around 9:15pm tonight. Hippogriff was a walk on so we rode it twice. Headed to FJ around 9:45, which had a posted 60 minute wait time but we were on in less than 15 minutes. Hit US in the morning and save Potterland for the end of your day. The view from the first hill on Hippogriff at night makes it all worth it.

 

[Caribbeanprincess]

What do you guys think for January 3rd? How will it be? We're travelling from WDW early so we can get there when IOA opens and go directly to WWoHP

 

[MIChessGuy]

I always make the effort to get to the park early, as my niece and I did back in August for FJ. We were stuck inside the castle for ~30 minutes or so while the TMs remedied a ride breakdown. And then, the big finish: I didn't fit into the test seat and had to do the Fatty Walk of Shame. (This was before the modified seats.) D'oh

 

[Magpie]

We just left hp this morning. We got there early because we are staying onsite at universal. So we got in line for the forbidden journey and ..... The ride is broken down. We waited for 45 minutes for nothing, then went to havebreakfastat the 3 broomsticks. You have to make your res through your hotel, and we had tickets for 8 am breakfast. Food was awful. After choking down the breakfast we tried to at least get into dervish and banges. But the line to get into the shop was awful.

It was freezing, and,frustrated and tired, we left. If you are headed there now you will have to get a ticket just to enter hogsmede. Good luck to you. We are done with universal. Disney handles ride problems so much more successfully.

Sorry to hear the ride broke down. We were there all last week, and it never broke down once, though we rode it every day.

As for breakfast, everyone has different tastes, I guess... We thought the Three Broomsticks breakfast was quite yummy. I especially liked the black pudding, so everyone gave me theirs. And the baked beans reminded us of home!

But maybe you should have ordered something else off the menu?

If you're intending to give it another try, here's some tips...

1. Leave your hotel at least half an hour before guests are allowed in. So if the park opens at 8, that means you walk out of your room at 7:30. They start letting people through the gates about 15 minutes before "official" opening.

2. Have a plan, do what you want to do in the first hour or so, and then leave that section of the park and go visit Jurassic Park, or Marvel Island, or basically anywhere else in Universal. Harry Potter is a madhouse during the day, but the rest of the two parks are lovely.

2. Return in the evening after it gets dark. Things quiet down a LOT just before closing. If the Forbidden Journey says 30 minutes or less, it's a walk-on. Literally!

3. If you want to browse a shop in peace, then duck into the shop just before closing. The shops stay open until the security folks sweeping the park get around to you - so depending what end of the park they start at and depending on how busy it is, that might be anywhere between 15 minutes to half an hour.

4. Dress for the weather! Seriously, it makes a huge difference in your enjoyment, when you aren't freezing.

Good luck with the rest of your vacation!

(My husband and my son once got stuck in the Tarzan room of the Great Movie Ride for 30 minutes. Tarzan kept swinging back and forth and screaming until they were just about ready to hop out of their ride vehicle and start smashing things. )

 

[mesaboy2]

What do you guys think for January 3rd? How will it be? We're travelling from WDW early so we can get there when IOA opens and go directly to WWoHP

My money's on it being almost dead. Good luck!

 

[Jason71]

Ducky, it wasn't busy much on Saturday but starting yesterday, the crowd level really started picking up. I expect it may be pretty crowded today.

It was rainy on Saturday, but I was still surprised in the middle of the afternoon to find no lines at the shops (other than Olivander's) and only a 20-minute wait for FJ. Falsely confident, I went back with other friends on Sunday--only to find a posted hour-wait just to get into WWOHP itself! And that was with a line for Grinchmas stretching thru half of Seuss Landing! The entire lagoon-side courtyard behind JP Discovery Center seemed to be filled with switchbacks.

Keep in mind, Touring Plans has has the past couple days as only "6"s. The "10"s theoretically don't kick in until tomorrow. I am curious to see how bad Sunday/Monday get next week.

 

[Caribbeanprincess]

Oh, I hope so! That would be wonderful! :

I'm getting a few crazy days at WDW next week and then calm the next week! Best of both worlds!

 

[klacey1]

Is is still seeming like Sunday is the best day to go? Thanks to having to make our August 2010 dining reservations in FEBRUARY (we're staying at POR from August 24-31 and cabbing it/Mears-ing over to US/IOA for the day), I have to plan which day we'd like to go to WWoHP that early as well. Since we'll be there Wednesday-Wednesday, we will be there over a Sunday. However, since the FL kids will be back it school, would it make more sense to go on say, Thursday instead? I know this is so, SO far in advance to ask, but what do veterans think? Thursday or Sunday in late August?

 

[wingnutty99]

I've never posted on a message board before and am probably a bit of an old fart, but thought I'd share our family experience over the past few days.

My wife and I have grown up with Disney and have taken our 11 and 8 year old sons there since they were babies. However, we're all also huge Harry Potter fans and thought we'd split our trip between Disney and Universal this year.

Our first day in the parks was this past Saturday, the 17th, and we went to Universal. We arrived in the park about 8:30 and went straight to HP and the FJ ride. As mentioned in previous posts, the weather was pretty crummy, but I was still surprised by how few people were there. By 11:00 we had ridden FJ twice, Hippogriff and Dragon Challenge once each and been through Ollivanders and Zonkos. Tried the butterbeer and pumpkin juice. The rest of the family preferred the butterbeer, but I thought the pumpkin juice was pretty good!

We went back today and the crowd had definitely changed. We arrived at the park right as they were letting folks in (other than those staying at the resorts). We went back to FJ and the posted wait was 90 minutes, but we were through the ride and back out in under an hour. Did Dragon Challenge and Hippogriff a couple of more times. Ollivanders line was very long.

After walking around and taking all of the pictures we missed on Saturday during the rain, we left to explore the rest of the park. At this point, they were handing out return passes for later in the day in front of the Mythos restaurant. If you didn't have one of these, you couldn't get back into the HP area at all.

Around lunch we met up with my in-laws and they wanted to check out HP. I found the "fast pass" guy and grabbed one for 2:30 -3:30. Just had to tell him the size of our party ... didn't have to show park tickets or anything ... I was surprised by that.

It was an absolute zoo when we returned around 3:00. You could barely walk around Hogsmeade. Strangely though, Dragon Challenge continued to be a walk on ride, much to the delight of my 8 year old. FJ was posted as a 2 hour wait. My sister-in-law wanted to give it a try and someone mentioned that the single rider line was short. Was it ever! We tried it and the wait was about 5 minutes! This is definitely the way to go with these types of crowds.

Anyways, we had a blast. Even though we're still Disney fanatics, we definitely enjoyed our trip to Universal. Hope there are a couple of nuggets of info in here that someone will find useful!

 

[phamton]

Thanks, Wingnutty. It's always great to hear of others' experiences. A reminder about single rider is definitely helpful. I'm glad you had a good time. Don't be a stranger on the board. Stick around! Oh, and welcome!

 

[geenab]

Thanks Magpie, but we did all those things. We were up at 5:30, and on the first boat from our hotel at 6:15. We were in WWoHP by 7. I guess that is why I was so frustrated after making such a special effort.

Also, I don't think the castle is heated. We were stuck in one spot in an unheated room for a long time and got chilled even though we were dressed for the weather (It was about 45 degrees F).

We probably should have gone back that night, but after being yelled at by staff for going in the wrong door twice, while we were searching for somewhere to warm up, we were done. The rest of the park is not open at 7 am, only WWoHP. Not even the bathrooms.

I do believe the best plan is to go at night, after 8. And go as a single rider.

 

[marinapj]

What's the deal with Three Broomsticks? Do you need a reservation for lunch, or do they take walk-ons? What kind of food do they serve?

 

[damo]

What's the deal with Three Broomsticks? Do you need a reservation for lunch, or do they take walk-ons? What kind of food do they serve?

Lunch and dinner are all for walk ons. It is only breakfast that is by reservation.

 

[SmallWorld71]

What's the deal with Three Broomsticks? Do you need a reservation for lunch, or do they take walk-ons? What kind of food do they serve?

I'm sure someone here has more comprehensive info. for you, but when we went we had: roast chicken meal (or rotisserie?) and rib meal, both of there came with roast potatoes and corn on the cob. Everything was good except the corn. One "turkey" leg which was just OK. And the cornish pasties meal - these were very dry and I was the only one who would eat them.

The TM's there were very organized. There was a line to get in and once you made it up to the ordering counter, someone then showed you to your table. This was much easier than vying for a spot in the crowds. Overall, a good experience although the food wasn't particularly memorable.

 

[phamton]

The rest of the park is not open at 7 am, only WWoHP. Not even the bathrooms.

The restrooms are always open. Maybe it was being cleaned but even then you can go in.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

We went to IOA on Wednesday, Dec. 15 and Thursday, Dec. 16. WWHP was packed! We have 4 kids and have never split up to do rides, but we did the single rider line on FJ and it worked out great! The standby line was always between 60 and 90 minutes, but we never waited more than 10 minutes in the single rider line. We did the casle tour (no riding) after we did the single rider line a few times. The Hippogriff line was about 20 minutes and so was the Dragons line. The Ollivander's line was so long we never even tried to get in there. There were also lines for all the stores. We did make it into Honey Dukes and Zonko's and they were great.

The lines in the other parts of the park were fairly low, 20 minutes or below.

 

[mariks714]

We are planning on going to WWoHP on February 6 and just realized that it falls on Superbowl Sunday. Do you think that it will be less busy as the day goes on because of the game? Are Sundays generally a good day of the week to go? Thanks!

 

[f86sabjf]

Dec 22
The wife went today with her mom . They got into the park at 8:30am and had to get a return time of 11:30am. The ride line was 1hr posted but moved quicker. The restaraunt was on a 2hr wait.

 

[karriemouse]

We arrived yesterday at 11.30am and after seemingly being directed over the entire park we got a return pass for 2.50pm and then walked straight out again and had a wonderful lunch at Margaritaville!

When we got in FJ was posted at 75mins but we were through in much less, DD was a walk on and the Hippogriff was about 20mins. Three Broomsticks had a line past the restrooms at 3pm but we went at 5.30pm with no wait.

By the evening all the wait times had shot up and FJ had broken. We literally couldn't walk through the crowds near Hogwarts so left at 6.30pm.

Our thoughts? (Compared with our last visit in Aug.)

The return pass was by far the best option and I would highly recommend it but the organisation of getting it left a lot to be desired. Better location and much better directions and signage were needed.

Walking through Hogsmeade was at times dangerous and a one way system would have improved things.

The team member at the castle directing people to the locker or ride line needed to be at least a mile further down the line - many people were stood for ages in the locker line believing it was the ride line. Again more signage and better directions are needed.

For shopping try the main shop near the park entrance (not all the merchandise is available) - we were able to get the robes my daughter wanted there on the way in and in much less cramped surroundings.

This does sound quite negative but the idea was to 'tell it like it was'!