Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

We had our first visit to Islands of Adventure last week on Wednesday, February 9. My husband and DD12 was with me and my other daughter, DD14 was coming with her school group. We arrived right at 9:00 and had pre-purchased our tickets so we went right in. (although there was no wait at the ticket counters). We went through the Dr Suess area and then saw the train and Hogsmeade. Oh my, what a cool sight! We did a quick picture with the conductor and then headed to the Olivanders line.

Two groups went in before us and then it was our turn and guess what? Our DD12 was picked! Of course she was thrilled and the other people in the group told me how perfect she was, etc. (which was so kind of them) Actually we had a good feeling about her getting picked because the group that went in was mainly older people and a 5 year old boy. She of course bought the wand and we sent it to the front of the park (Trading Post) so we wouldn't have to worry about it.

We then headed to the castle for the Forbidden Journey ride. The wait was listed at 15 minutes (about 10:00). Unfortunately it was longer as the ride had complications but the inside of the castle is just "spot on" in all the details. And then the ride! Well, it was awesome! The dementers weren't as scary as I would have thought, but the dragon was awesome.

Then we went to Dueling Dragons, about a 15 minute wait. Very fun! After this we bumped into my DD14 group and got in line to do the Forbidden Journey ride again. It was listed as 45 minutes, but did not take that long. The line moves very fast since the ride is a continuous load ride. It was as cool the second time.

Then we went to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. We went around 12:00 and had quick, friendly service. I had the sheperd's pie and my husband the fish and chips. All of us had the frozen butterbeer -- too wonderful to describe! I thought it would be too sweet and it wasn't and the cream on top was heavenly.

While we were eating lunch my DD14 and her friends got in line for Olivanders, I think they had to wait about 4 groups before going in. And guess what? my Dd14 got chosen! She was so excited! Both of my girls have read the books numerous times and love it all. We think they might have picked her since she was wearing her timeturner necklace.

We then headed out to do the rest of the park and had a wonderful time -- I was very impressed by the variety of rides and there were no waits to speak of.

At 6:00 we went back to Harry Potter and did the Hippogriff ride, shopping, and I hit the single rider line to do Forbidden Journey again (walked right on!) The dark chocolate mint frogs at Honeydukes were very good and we have a chocolate cauldren that we have not broken into yet.

Don't forget to use your AAA card if you have one. We saved about $20 using the 10% discount on food and shirts.

 

[jake&samsmom]

My 10 y/o son and I went to IOA this past Sunday, 2/13.

We left Disney propery at around 8:35 am. We took a cab from AKL-Kidani Village to US, and to get there was ~ $36.

This was our very first time at US-Orlando, but we had been to US-California several times before. We were going mainly to experience the WWOHP and to ride Spiderman. We got to the gates at exactly 9am. We didn't pre-buy our tickets because we were not sure if we'd have time to do WWOHP because DH and my younger DS wanted to do DTD on this Sunday, but we ended up doing separate things and decided to meet up later in the day.

Anyway, it was a short line to get our tickets, one day one park tickets only for each of us ~ $160 for the both of us. The person behind the ticket counter laughed when he saw my Disney Visa, and said he just loved it when US took money away from Disney! ! He also tired to sell us Express passes, but since FJ was not included in it, we decided not to get them. We entered the park at around 9:05 am and turned right thru Suess land and past Poseidon's temple to get to Hogsmeade. There were no crowds on the way to Hogsmeade. My son said he hoped WWOHP was empty too, and I said that that's probably where all the people are at. (I wanted to condition him to the crowds, if any. I didn't want him to get disappointed if the wait was very long.)

We were giddy with excitement as we approached Hogsmeade and saw Hogwarts Castle from afar We first took a photo by the Hogwarts express train with the conductor. There were a good amount of people walking around town but very manageable. We passed by Ollivander's, and there as a short line of ~ 20 people there. DS was not much interested to see the Ollivander's show, he merely wanted to buy a wand, so we decided to pass that over.

Then we hightailed it to Hogwarts Castle. Well, there was NO LINE AT ALL! Mind you, it was about 9:20 am at this point. The sign said standby wait was 15 minutes, but the truth is, we just walked-on. But, before entering the castle, there are ride seats you can sit on to measure if you fit in before actually going on the ride itself. I am a bit on the heavy side (~200 lbs) and I fit easily with some room to spare even . I was told by a Team Member (Cast Member in Disney lingo) that the end seats on the benches were modified to fit people who need the extra room, btw. So we go thru the gates and because I had a bag, we detoured to the locker area where we got a locker for free (1st 40 mins free, after 40 mins, you get charged a couple of bucks). I thought it was cool that it used fingerprints to rent and open your locker, no key necessary.

After we stowed my bag and jacket, we went through the queue. It was AWESOME!!! I don't want to spoil it for you, so skip this paragraph if you want to be surprised. There were talking paintings, the Daily Prophet, the Phoenix that guards Dumbledore's office, hologram Dumbledore in his office, DADA classroom, Harry, Ron and Hermione in hologram, Herbology classroom, the talking Fat Lady portrait, Sorting hat, and the Candles floating on the ceiling like in the Great Hall in the movie. You can actually go through the Castle without riding, there is a Castle tour path for non-riders. I wanted to stop to look at the displays longer, but there were people behind us and I didn't want to hold up the line. And as I said earlier, we walked on through to the ride benches. there are four seats on one bench, and they load very quickly. My DS sat on one of the middle seats, and I was at the left end beside him.

Again, I don't want to spoil the ride for you, so skip this paragraph if you want to be surprised. There was the Hungarian horntail dragon that breathes steam onto your face, a bunch of giant spiders (Aragog) that spit venom on you, Whomping Willow that attempts to hit you, Dementors chasing you, and the collapsing Chamber of Secrets. At the end of the ride, the characters from the movie are hologrammed onto a wall and wave bye to you as you exit.

The ride was a little rough, but not as bad motion sickness-wise as I had imagined --and I am a chicken when it comes to rides, having done TOT only twice and EE once in my life (my sons tricked me into those, but that is another story). Never rode Space Mountain nor RnRC. My type of rides are Haunted Mansion, and Peter Pan, so you can see where I'm coming from. I say try it once, I think you won't regret it.

After we exit the ride, we go to Filch's Emporium/gift shop. We look around a few minutes, but DS and I both need to use the bathroom, so we ask where one is and we go to the one in Hogsmeade. Surprise, Moaning Myrtle is in the Ladies' Room (my DS says she was in the Men's Room too!) I didn't "see" her, but she can be heard all over the bathroom.

Any ways, afer that, we decided we were hungry and want to eat at the Three Broomsticks. It was Bout 10:20AM. We ordered Fish and Chips (we shared) and a glass of Pumpkin Juice and a glass of Butterbeer ~ $ 20 for all.
We liked the Butterbeer, it was like watered down Rootbeer float! But the Pumpkin Juice was so-so, it tasted like liquified Pumpkin pie! We took plenty of photos there, and when we were done, I asked DS if he wanted to ride Dueling Dragons or FOTH, but he wanted to examine all the shops closely and explore the village instead. We entered Dervish and Banges and bought a Ron Weasley Wand ($30), a generic Ollivander's wand($30), and a white feather quill ($10)for writing, We went back to the entrance of Hogsmeade where the train was and took photos with another conductor. Hogsmeade was getting very busy and more people were arriving. We went into Honeydukes and bought 2 chocolate frogs ($10 each), a chocolate wand ($8). Entered Zonko's joke shop which connects with Honeydukes, but didn't buy anything from there. They did have plenty of cool stuff like sneakoscopes, screaming yoyos and extendable ears. We saw plenty of folks with Gryffindor scarves so we decided we would get us those too! They had the scarves just like what they wore in the movies at Dervish for $39. We got the Gryffindor one. We also wanted the Gryffindor scarf with the crest and the word "Gryffindor" written on it, but we were told by a Team member that only Filch's sold that kind. We wanted to tour the castle again anyway, so up we walked to Hogwarts again. This time, the line for FJ said 45 mins, still not bad. We walked through the Castle tour line, and there was only one other family who was touring the castle. We then walked over to Filch's and bought the other gryffindor scarf ($30 x 2 beause we got one for other DS), WWOHP cap for DH($25), 2 awesome harry Potter pins (we are pin collectors, Disney only, but Harry Potter too now!) ($10 x 2, one for each DS), a Gryffindor keychain ($9). The gift shops in general are very tiny and crowded, and darkly lit for ambience. If you have claustrophobia, this is not a good idea, I overheard one person panicking, "I gotta get outta here". We took plenty of photos in and around the castle but decided we didn't want to ride FJ again. One a day was enough. DS "dueled" with a team Member selling wands at a cart by the Hogwarts gate, and we took photos with other wizard-costumed Team Members. We examined the shop windows closely and saw self-writing quills, and a box of shaking, restrained quidditch balls. By 12:30 PM, we just about saw and experienced everything we wanted in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. The village was really very congested by that time. So we decided to say farewell to WWOHP.

We rode Spiderman once, then left US at around 215 pm, took a cab to DTD and met up with DH and other DS and baby DD at the World of Disney store in DTD. The cab ride from US to DTD (exit #68) was only $25. From US, it is much cheaper to go to DTD instead of your Disney resort. Then take the Disney bus to your Disney resort. (This was a tip from the cab driver that brought us there).

Sorry this post was detailed and long, but I wanted to do a mini-report especially for the US-IOA first timers (like I was). I also included the $$$ amounts to give you an idea what the costs were. Hope this mini-TR helps. Thank you to the others who contributed to this thread and reported that Sunday early AM was the least crowded time to visit WWOHP -- y'all were very right! If I have time, I'll post photos later. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and I'll try to answer. Lastly, enjoy y'all's visit, we sure enjoyed ours!!!!

 

[seattle-swarm]

Thanks jakeandsamsmom! Excellent report - with all the details I need to know for our trip in April!

 

[jake&samsmom]

Thanks jakeandsamsmom! Excellent report - with all the details I need to know for our trip in April!

Thanks

Btw, I forgot to add that there were carts around WWOHP that served Butterbeer in case you didn't want to go to Three Broomsticks. The butterbeer is served either in disposable plastic cups with "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" printed in front, or you could get a plastic mug with an emblem on it, but I think that one was more expensive. No drink covers for either Butterbeer mugs/cups. Too bad because I wanted to bring butterbeer to DH and younger DS. They did have bottled and sealed Pumpkin Juice if you wanted to take it home.

Also, about wands, they are sold everywhere there. You could get them from the places I mentioned above, or even at the main US-IOA gift shop in front, by the IOA entrance. At WWOHP that day, there was an abundance of all the wands, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Voldy, Sirius, Ginny, Lupin, McGonagal, etc. They also had generic wands, which appealed to my son more. Of course, he has 2 Harry Potter wands at home already . Younger DS got the Ron Weasley wand as a present from me. He likes Ron better than Harry.

One last thing, we sat by a nice young lady at Three Broomsticks, and she is a US AP holder who lives in Orlando. She said the day before, Saturday, she was at WWOHP at around noon-ish, and the standby wait to get into FJ was 4 HOURS! Whoa!

 

[Pumpernoodle]

Does anyone have any thought on Mid March vs. the beginning of May? I'm wondering how the late Easter will affect spring breakers.

 

[flfun]

Hi everyone...I have'nt been here in a while. We will be at WDW May 30th (Memorial Day) throught June 3rd. We are going to add 2 days, June 4th and 5th, to the trip and the debate centers on whether we should add WDW days or UO days.

We are 44 year old parents of a 13 year old thrill junkie girl. I am also a thrill junkie while my wife is not. I am also the only HP fan in the house but my 13 year old would love to ride FJ. We won't be staying onsite at UO if we go, so I'm wondering what crowds are like on weekends in early June. Predicted crowd levels at WDW per touringplans.com are really low everywhere except Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekends. If we go to UO and I can't get into the WWOHP I won't be a happy camper.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I would avoid IOA on Saturday, definitely. My advice is to do the Studios on Saturday (arrive early and do the most popular attractions first) and IOA on Sunday (get there before opening and head to HP). Enjoy the rest of the park during the day and return to HP at night when crowds have probably thinned out (especially if it was too crowded to enjoy that morning). HP is great at night!

You can check the closing times on different dates to see what the expected crowd levels will be, 6:00 or 7:00 is low to moderate, 8:00 and beyond is crowded. You can also check the cost of express passes for specific dates to gauge crowd levels, the more expensive the passes, the greater the expected crowd levels.

 

[phamton]

Does anyone have any thought on Mid March vs. the beginning of May? I'm wondering how the late Easter will affect spring breakers.

The very beginning of May is usually less crowded than mid-March.

 

[tea pot]

jake&samsmom
Thanks so much for your great detailed trip report.
I was so happy to hear that the castle has a walking tour!
I'm not sure about riding FJ I have a hard time on Thunder Mountain but I so wanted to see the castle.

We are returning to Disney the first week of December and plan on going over to US/WWOHP for the day. Any guess about the crowds at that time?

 

[ldmilton]

Crowds were very manageable Mon, Tue and Wed this week (2/14 – 2/16) Longest wait time for FJ said 40 minutes and that was mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Late afternoon wait time said 30 minutes but was more like 15 minutes…just a leisurely stroll through the castle. Dragons were pretty much walk on to maybe a 5 minute wait. Ollivander’s had a line most of the day with the exception of early morning (before park opening) and late afternoon. Of course, getting in an hour before opening was great! Felt like we had Hogsmeade to ourselves. It was so nice to be able to browse through the shops without a crowd.

Walked right in to the 3 Brooksticks for breakfast around 10 on Tuesday and never saw much of a line at either of the Butterbeer carts. Overall a wonderful crowd-free experience!

 

[dfriia]

jake&samsmom
We are returning to Disney the first week of December and plan on going over to US/WWOHP for the day. Any guess about the crowds at that time?

I was at IOA/WWoHP on December 1, 2010 and the crowds were very light. No real lines at all to speak of.

 

[mesaboy2]

I was at IOA/WWoHP on December 1, 2010 and the crowds were very light. No real lines at all to speak of.

I was there on Dec 2 and it was dead for me too. Loved it!

 

[tea pot]

I was at IOA/WWoHP on December 1, 2010 and the crowds were very light. No real lines at all to speak of.

I was there on Dec 2 and it was dead for me too. Loved it!

Thanks a Bunch Guys !!!
We're going to go for it

 

[mesaboy2]

Here now thru Sunday. A line to get into WWoHP when we arrived at 5, both from Lost Continent and Jurassic Park. Line not moving from LC, looked to be at least a 15 minute wait, but tried JP and walked in in 5 minutes. Packed of course, but only tried FotH for DD6. Sign said 10 minute wait--more like 15 but still less than I expected. FJ said 75, but we did not do.

Asked TM if they would be instituting pass system into WWoHP this weekend--he said yes.

 

[Mikelly1221]

Here now thru Sunday. A line to get into WWoHP when we arrived at 5, both from Lost Continent and Jurassic Park. Line not moving from LC, looked to be at least a 15 minute wait, but tried JP and walked in in 5 minutes. Packed of course, but only tried FotH for DD6. Sign said 10 minute wait--more like 15 but still less than I expected. FJ said 75, but we did not do.

Asked TM if they would be instituting pass system into WWoHP this weekend--he said yes.

Ditto this post. We got there around 3pm yesterday and the pass system was in place until 5:30 on the LC side. Went to Dr. Seuss land (can't think of the proper name for the island right now) and rode the merry go round and stood in line for Cat In the Hat. Got to the front of the 30 min. line at Cat but wasn't able to ride due to technical difficulties. Went to Jurassic Park and walked onto the river ride. Ate supper and then was able to enter WWOHP..they were letting people in at regular intervals around 5:15. FJ was around 60 min. and FOTH was around 10-15. Was able to ride FJ once and FOTH twice before the park closed at 7pm.

 

[chiamarie]

I know I already posted once in another place... but does anyone have any ideas if Monday (Presidents Day) is also going to be included as "this weekend?" (as it's a holiday weekend, which is why it is busy). My parents are going to be in town and they wanted to visit Wwohp; since it's the one place here in Orlando they haven't done yet.

 

[damo]

I know I already posted once in another place... but does anyone have any ideas if Monday (Presidents Day) is also going to be included as "this weekend?" (as it's a holiday weekend, which is why it is busy). My parents are going to be in town and they wanted to visit Wwohp; since it's the one place here in Orlando they haven't done yet.

I would assume so.

 

[HLAuburn]

Went to IOA yesterday (Friday). By around 10am, FJ was reporting wait times about 60 min. After lunch at Mythos (around 1pm), we went to WWoHP and they were handing out the dreaded "return time tickets". Our return time was from 4:15-5:15. We returned around 4:30...FJ wait was 45 min, but quickly changed to 60 then 75.

 

[jockey]

We are thinking of going to wwohp later today any idea what crowds we can expect

 

[coastgirl]

We are, too. I'm hoping the crowds have died back a bit after the weekend. IoA is only open until 6. I think we'll not go earlier than 4; planning on hitting universal as soon as I can get my family up. Our best experience at WWoHP last week was heading back late.

 

[jockey]

Thanks , kids just up but I think we probably go after lunch !! We have all net week too so I am hoping crowd levels will drop!!