Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[philliplc]

hell week at universal is when the schools have their fall breaks.
they go in groups to hhn.
meaning, they take up the entire walking space or stop dead in their tracks to talk, or scream

if the teens can get out of bed early enough, they tend to hit parks.
universal and some do disney.

wednesday would be the first day of school break.


i have only encountered hell week one time.
one time was enough for me.


they act like i did when at that age.

We're doing disney/universal Oct 12 -22. So you're saying Orlando schools are out Wed-Fri 19-21st?

 

[macraven]

We're doing disney/universal Oct 12 -22. So you're saying Orlando schools are out Wed-Fri 19-21st?

no, i do not know when the orlando schools will be released.

fall break is in october for many school districts in florida.



i have not seen any of the school break times yet, but universal increases days during hhn.

their increase of hhn dates usually coincide with school breaks.
not necessarily orlando school's.

until the school schedule has been released, all i can do is assume based on past years, how the crowds increases.

 

[kpk89]

We are going to be at Disney Aug 12 - 19th -- which day would be the best to try and visit WWoHP?

 

[BAFFY]

Macraven

thanks so much for your reply.

It helps so much to get someones opinion,My family leaves everything up tp me!

I am pretty sure I am going with option 1.

It gives me all the perks staying on site without being too too expensive.

I thing I found a tranfer company that is very reasonable.

Ciao

 

[macraven]

you made a good choice.


i have tried all types of ways to do the parks.
i usually share my experiences with others.
glad i could help with suggestions.


i always do a split stay.
first i do the motherland then move over to the darkside.

i love them both.

 

[klacey1]

i don't know about a small duffel. i have heard back packs are fine.
i think you should send them an email, it's on their website, and inquire.

since mears has to return for the pick up guests at uo to bring them back to disney, so i would think it would not be an issue to go in the late afternoon to UO.

cabs are always the easiest way to travel.
you pick your time, you can take anything you want with you using them.

they would cost more.
mears is cheaper but it does take longer.
they do stops at other disney resorts coming and going.

you have to ask yourself, which is more important?
going cheap or going at your pace and needs.


if it was me, and i go solo, i would do a cab.
i say that because time is my factor.
i could control the situation on being somewhere when i wanted it and be dropped off in front of the UO hotel.

Our tickets include the shuttle, so I think we'll stick with them-- especially if they will drive us to UO at night (this I have to find out). Do you happen to have their email address (easier than calling at work)? I combed their website and couldn't find it...

 

[rymomaph]

Is the week after Thanksgiving usually a slow week?
I looked back in the thread to that time in 2010, and it seemed to be slow?

Can anyone confirm?

Also, we are only going to have about 6 hours in IoA strickly for WWoHP
we are possibly doing the excursion from the cruiseline.

is it worth the $550 i am going to spend for a family of 4, or should we just plan a UO/IoA trip for the following year?

help

 

[mesaboy2]

Is the week after Thanksgiving usually a slow week?
I looked back in the thread to that time in 2010, and it seemed to be slow?

Can anyone confirm?

Also, we are only going to have about 6 hours in IoA strickly for WWoHP
we are possibly doing the excursion from the cruiseline.

is it worth the $550 i am going to spend for a family of 4, or should we just plan a UO/IoA trip for the following year?

help

Yes, the following week should be back to normal off-peak crowds. Six hours is enough to take in all of WWoHP, but $550 for those 6 hours would be too rich for my blood. YMMV.

 

[rymomaph]

Yes, the following week should be back to normal off-peak crowds. Six hours is enough to take in all of WWoHP, but $550 for those 6 hours would be too rich for my blood. YMMV.

trying to find a less expensive way....
the cruise line is 160 per adult 120 per child...including transfers total $596
if i use the transfer only and buy tix online it is $520 total...

i wonder if i leave my family on the ship and go off by myself.....
but what kills me is that my kids are not ride lovers like me....

instead of a cruise next yr, UO/IoA it may be

thanks

 

[Howellsy]

We are going to be at Disney Aug 12 - 19th -- which day would be the best to try and visit WWoHP?

I'm wondering this too - I'm there 7th-21st and am not sure what crowd levels will be like. Any thoughts anyone?

 

[DisMomAmy]

We'll be at Disney from 4/22-4/29 next year. We're planning our first visit to IoA one day during our trip. Easter is early next year (April 8th) and our school vacation week is a week later than most of the other New England vacation weeks. We usually encounter fairly low crowds during this week at Disney. I'm hoping it's the same at IoA.

FJ is the main attraction that we really want to visit but we won't be eligible for early entry.

I don't see any park hours out yet but the express pass is listed as $25.99 on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday of that week.

How do you think the crowds will be?

Is our best bet to arrive 30 minutes early and head right to FJ or closer to park closing, or both?

Our two boys both have high functioning autism. They can handle some lines but definitely not 60+ minutes for one ride.

Also - Am I ok with a fanny pack type bag? We will plan to skip the lockers if possible. I wear Rx glasses & need to swap them out with my sunglasses so I need to carry some sort of small bag.

Thanks!!

 

[macraven]

if you can put the glasses in a case and slip them in your pocket, that would work.
or put them in your fanny pack.



carrying a small bag could be an issue.
you need to be 'hands free' on FJ.

some have stated they wear a fanny 3 pronk pack and have not had issues.

you talked about a fanny pack and then carry a small bag for your sunglasses.

i don't know if you are talking about 2 separate things or not.

 

[DisMomAmy]

if you can put the glasses in a case and slip them in your pocket, that would work.
or put them in your fanny pack.



carrying a small bag could be an issue.
you need to be 'hands free' on FJ.

some have stated they wear a fanny 3 pronk pack and have not had issues.

you talked about a fanny pack and then carry a small bag for your sunglasses.

i don't know if you are talking about 2 separate things or not.

I'm talking about just doing a fanny pack instead of a bag for this trip. I need some type of "bag" to hold the glasses (a hard case that can't fit in my pocket) but a fanny pack should do the trick. It would be great if I could skip the lockers.

 

[macraven]

I'm talking about just doing a fanny pack instead of a bag for this trip. I need some type of "bag" to hold the glasses (a hard case that can't fit in my pocket) but a fanny pack should do the trick. It would be great if I could skip the lockers.

if your fanny pack has three prongs, you should be fine wearing it on the rides.

 

[DisMomAmy]

if your fanny pack has three prongs, you should be fine wearing it on the rides.

Thank you!! That's great!

Any thoughts on the crowd levels during our visit & our plan of attack for FJ?

 

[mesaboy2]

Thank you!! That's great!

Any thoughts on the crowd levels during our visit & our plan of attack for FJ?

Crowds at WDW and UO will generally track together, so if you've had good luck with that time in the past then that's your best guide. Personally I'm wary of the mid-March to late April timeframe due to Easter and Spring Break season. Too many systems have too many different schedules for me to pin down a good week to go.

Certainly the two best times to hit WWoHP are first thing in the morning or last thing at night. You can count on most anytime in between being pretty crowded in WWoHP 365 days of the year. Which one (or both) is up to you.

 

[mom2rtk]

OK, so I'm back to thinking about this again for December. We'd be going on a Tuesday the 13th or Sunday the 18th, not staying on site. Is one noticeably better than the other?

It might just be my daughter and me and she probably won't do the really intense ride. Is it still worth it?

Mostly I'm reconsidering because I was looking at photos of Seuss Landing from our trip many years ago and want to see it again. Would we want to do Seuss Landing first when no one is there then take our chances at WWHOP since we're not doing one of the rides anyway?

Also, I think Mesaboy pointed out they book character meals around 60 days out. Am I recalling that correctly? What location has the Grinch? And is there anyone else there too?

 

[mesaboy2]

OK, so I'm back to thinking about this again for December. We'd be going on a Tuesday the 13th or Sunday the 18th, not staying on site. Is one noticeably better than the other?

It might just be my daughter and me and she probably won't do the really intense ride. Is it still worth it?

Mostly I'm reconsidering because I was looking at photos of Seuss Landing from our trip many years ago and want to see it again. Would we want to do Seuss Landing first when no one is there then take our chances at WWHOP since we're not doing one of the rides anyway?

Also, I think Mesaboy pointed out they book character meals around 60 days out. Am I recalling that correctly? What location has the Grinch? And is there anyone else there too?

Out of your two dates, I'd suggest Tuesday the 13th simply because it's further away from Christmas. I was at Universal in early December last year on a Thursday and it was dead.

I've loved going to the dark side over this last year--WWoHP is magnificently themed. I think it's worth it at least once. Your little one would still like Flight of the Hippogriff, Ollivander's, and some of the little shows.

DD7's favorite parts of IoA are WWoHP and Seuss. General rule of thumb is to do WWoHP first before the midday crowds come. Even in the offseason, WWoHP gets crowded due to it's small size.

I don't recall saying much about character meals, but that probably just means I'm getting old. I may know my WDW characters, but am pretty dumb when it comes to Universal. We've seen a few, but mainly these are ones we just come across. Any of my Universal peeps want to help my good WDW friend an assist with this part of her question? Or any other part for that matter?

 

[wdhinn89]

How have the crowds been seen the release of the last movie?

 

[macraven]

i thought it was 30 days out was the max time you could do a reservation.



if you go to opentable, it was 30 days out last time i looked.

but, you never know if things changed from october last year to now.