Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[mesaboy2]

Im going to IOA 6 of october (just before columbus weekend) its thursday...ir will be so crowd?
Thanks

I think you'll have very manageable crowds.

 

[macraven]

that thursday usually is

i've been there on that date for the last 7 years.

 

[Alejop]

that thursday usually is

i've been there on that date for the last 7 years.

usually is....?
hahaha thnks

 

[magicgirl]

Hope someone can help. We are going to Orlando next week and can go to Universal on either Tuesday Sept 6 or Sunday Sept 11. We are desperate to spend time looking at and riding Harry Potter things. We are not staying at a Universal Hotel so will not have early entry. Which do you think will be the best day to visit and what would be the best time of day to see HP

 

[mesaboy2]

Hope someone can help. We are going to Orlando next week and can go to Universal on either Tuesday Sept 6 or Sunday Sept 11. We are desperate to spend time looking at and riding Harry Potter things. We are not staying at a Universal Hotel so will not have early entry. Which do you think will be the best day to visit and what would be the best time of day to see HP

Either day should be good--I might choose the Tuesday. No matter what day, WWoHP is best tackled first thing in the morning or the last few hours before close. Midday has the worst crowds.

 

[mcjw2011]

WWoHP was busy practically everyday last year and I don't see it really slowing down any this year. Mid-November isn't usually crowded so you should have no problems with seeing the rest of the parks.

I know... I went there a month after it opened. Big crowds, but oh it was so worth it. I'm very impressed by both IOA and Universal Studios, but the WWoHP was the icing on the cake.

 

[AK_Christina]

What day would you guys recommend going between Tues Sept 13 - Sat Sept 17? I have been thinking we would go on Thursday, thinking it would be a 'slow' day of the week. We only have 1 day at Universal and want to battle the least amount of crowds as possible =)

 

[macraven]

i would avoid the weekends, fri/sat as many locals do come to the parks then.

some say sunday is good, others disagree.

but, since that day of the week is not in the running.......

 

[Stew_Mouse]

Went three times this week in the late afternoon after work while in town on business and flying solo. Monday and Tuesday afternoon (8/22 and 8/23) were what I would call moderately crowded, which is more than I was expecting. Tuesday was the worst (relatively speaking), with waits at FJ posted wait at 75 minutes for the main queue (SR down the stairs), Spiderman 30 minutes. I think those waits were longer because of the on-and-off rains that day, which to my way of thinking has people going to the more indoor rides.

I'm glad you mentioned going on Tuesday (8/23). It was my first time there and I suggested to the family to do WWoHP near park closing, but even at 7pm (park closing at 8pm), the single rider line for FJ was about 20 minutes. The standby line was about an hour or so. I was quite surprised, and someone in the single rider line mentioned how he had never seen the single rider line so long. Hopefully this isn't common for those of you going in the near future!

 

[mesaboy2]

I'm glad you mentioned going on Tuesday (8/23). It was my first time there and I suggested to the family to do WWoHP near park closing, but even at 7pm (park closing at 8pm), the single rider line for FJ was about 20 minutes. The standby line was about an hour or so. I was quite surprised, and someone in the single rider line mentioned how he had never seen the single rider line so long. Hopefully this isn't common for those of you going in the near future!

Neither had I. It doesn't usually extend down the stairs, but I have heard occasional reports of it. This was the first time I personally witnessed it.

Usually, you walk right up to the TM on the far end of the Gryffindor common room and wait for him or her to direct you further up towards the Sorting Hat.

 

[neoavatara]

...with that Tuesday. I was there on Sunday 8/21, and the single rider line was never more than 15 minutes that I saw, and most of the day standby was around 30-45 minutes, dropping to less than that in the morning and later in the evening.

 

[damo]

Neither had I. It doesn't usually extend down the stairs, but I have heard occasional reports of it. This was the first time I personally witnessed it.

Usually, you walk right up to the TM on the far end of the Gryffindor common room and wait for him or her to direct you further up towards the Sorting Hat.

We hit a very long single rider's line in June. We couldn't figure out what was going on. Could have been a TM not handling the single rider line well or someone handling the normal line very well. When we finally got to the front of the line we noticed the TM in charge was just going an excellent job filling the rows with the standby lines of 2s, 3s and 4s. There just weren't a ton of options for the single rider.

 

[Stew_Mouse]

We hit a very long single rider's line in June. We couldn't figure out what was going on. Could have been a TM not handling the single rider line well or someone handling the normal line very well. When we finally got to the front of the line we noticed the TM in charge was just going an excellent job filling the rows with the standby lines of 2s, 3s and 4s. There just weren't a ton of options for the single rider.

Hmm, that's very interesting. I was wondering if a TM notices the single rider line hasn't been used in awhile, do they ever just let a few go to keep it moving? Or does standby always have first go?

And @neoavatara, I think you are right about it just being bad luck. Oh well!

 

[SnowWhiteIsDreaming]

Stew Mouse,
I was also there on Tuesday, the 23rd. I wonder if the single rider line was long due to the fact the FJ was down for an hour to start the day. We got there at 8:10am and got right in line. But the line wasn't moving. They said the ride started up fine, but then shut down a few minutes later. They said it was very uncommon for it to break down in the morning like that. A lot of people left the line. We waited in line until about 9:10, and then it started to work again, and the line moved right along, but it really backed up behind us as we were waiting.

We got to do the ride about 3 times that day thanks to acquiring elusive FJ express passes for all 8 of us which we could use once each day of our 4 day trip! That was quite a bonus for us!

 

[Stew_Mouse]

Stew Mouse,
I was also there on Tuesday, the 23rd. I wonder if the single rider line was long due to the fact the FJ was down for an hour to start the day. We got there at 8:10am and got right in line. But the line wasn't moving. They said the ride started up fine, but then shut down a few minutes later. They said it was very uncommon for it to break down in the morning like that. A lot of people left the line. We waited in line until about 9:10, and then it started to work again, and the line moved right along, but it really backed up behind us as we were waiting.

We got to do the ride about 3 times that day thanks to acquiring elusive FJ express passes for all 8 of us which we could use once each day of our 4 day trip! That was quite a bonus for us!

That's awesome that you got express passes for FJ! Thanks for that information, I didn't realize the ride had shut down that morning. We started at US that day. Other than FJ being busy, it seemed like all the other rides around that time of night was walk on. I did Spiderman twice on single rider and it was walk on.

 

[klacey1]

We were there Sunday, Aug 28th. Did early entry and rode FJ with no wait twice. Explored the area, left and went to US for awhile. Came back at 3 pm and rode FJ with a 15 minute wait. Insanely low crowds throughout the rest of the parks as well.

 

[LauraLap]

Went to US in the morning and got to WWOHP at about 11:30. Got right in and the line for FJ was 30 mins. At 1pm it was down to 20 minutes. Had a great time and enjoyed my first butterbeer!

 

[Disney999]

This month I going to visit Harry Potter on a Monday. I can't wait and hope that this will be low crowd day!

 

[BensDaddy]

We will be there on October 1st -- a Saturday. Early entry since we're staying at Portofino but still nervous about crowds, temperatures, etc.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

We were WWoHP Aug.18-20 and all I have to say is what a difference from last year. We were there almost exactly the same dates and the crowds weren't as bad. My kids were able to ride FJ quite a few times instead of just the 1 ride per day. I remember last year the wait being up to almost 3 hrs.!!! I never saw anything close to that this yr.
So anybody going soon- it's not that bad if you are staying on property.