Harry Potter- Wizarding World FAQ

[macraven]

last year i spent $500 on pins at hard rock cafe.

and, $250 for pins in the parks.


does that help?


i'm addicted to pins.

 

[dtchgrl]

Thanks so much mesaboy, for clarifying Ollivander's. I thought it was only a wand shop!
Also, thanks for mentioning that fanny packs are allowed...you reminded me that the strap of my little crossbody can be put through loops on the back of the pouch and made into a fanny pack strapped around the waist. I will get some major eye-rolls from my teens but I could do that just for the rides that require a locker.

 

[mahannie]

Yeah, the line for Ollivander's gets crazy long very quickly.

One suggestion is to order your butter beer inside the Hog's Head Tavern (right next door to the Three Broomsticks). Only 2-3 people in line versus 20-30 people in line at the outside carts, plus you get a wee discount if you show your AAA card. Funny thing, the AAA card discounts only work inside, not at any of the outside butter beer carts

Using the single rider line, especially on FJ will decrease your wait times significantly. Take your pictures during the castle tour, take your time during this and listen to the talking portraits in each room, they add a lot of information about the ride to come that might get missed during the regular line or the single rider line.

Flight of the Hippogriff is the baby coaster. You can get some amazing pictures of both Hogwarts and Hogsmeade on this one. Dragon challenge are the high thrill coasters, just expect to walk a bit to get to them, it almost takes longer to walk the queue than it does to ride the coasters But you see both the tri-wizard cup as well as the golden egg in this queue. Ride both sides, if you like coasters these are great! This ride also requires people to use the lockers, which are located right next to the Hogwarts Express.

As for the rest of IOA, between express pass and single rider lines, wait times are quite manageable. I'd recommend Hulk, Spiderman, and Jurassic Park for sure. In my experience, the Wizarding World was the most crowded area, however, early entry will make all the difference. Have fun!

 

[MIChessGuy]

If you are interested in seeing Ollivander's at all, go there first, especially if you have early entry. The line builds quickly, even more quickly than FJ. Also, FJ's queue is at least interesting, whereas Ollivander's is just waiting outside in the heat. IMO, the show is worth a 45-minute wait at most if you've never seen it, and maybe a 30-minute wait if you have. It is cute, but not jaw-dropping.

Mesa, what's your take on the alternative strategy of getting to Ollivander's in the evening? I am pondering a daylight-hours trip to DHS followed by a few hours at IOA, based on the hope (pipe dream?) that the Wizarding World will thin out in its final couple hours of operation. This would be on August 1 or 2, by the way.

 

[mesaboy2]

Mesa, what's your take on the alternative strategy of getting to Ollivander's in the evening? I am pondering a daylight-hours trip to DHS followed by a few hours at IOA, based on the hope (pipe dream?) that the Wizarding World will thin out in its final couple hours of operation. This would be on August 1 or 2, by the way.

Hard to tell, but I'll give you some hope. I once saw Ollivander's with absolutely no one in line. I went over to talk to the lonely TM there 'cause I felt bad and to ensure it was actually open and I wasn't dreaming. This was about 30 minutes before close one night, but it was in the off-season. I think the crowds do die down at night, but during your dates I think it's too tough to predict when that starts and how drastically. I say go for it. Be careful with your timing for O's, though--I believe it is the one queue in WWoHP that will shut off before park close.

ETA: I just remembered my family did the evening attack at WWoHP three times over President's Day Weekend this past February. We had great luck doing everything we wanted each night, including Ollivander's once with maybe a 20 minute wait. For comparison purposes, I would consider PDW as a moderate or slightly higher crowd level.

 

[dtchgrl]

What is the difference in the three different lines for FJ? I'm guessing that in the single rider line you bypass most of the queue and therefore miss a lot of the ride "set up" in order to get the riders quickly up to the loading area.
How is "castle tour" different than the regular line? Do you see different things?

Thanks!

 

[mesaboy2]

What is the difference in the three different lines for FJ? I'm guessing that in the single rider line you bypass most of the queue and therefore miss a lot of the ride "set up" in order to get the riders quickly up to the loading area.
How is "castle tour" different than the regular line? Do you see different things?

Thanks!

The single rider queue is pretty much exactly as you describe. With the castle tour queue, you see most of the major parts of the queue that you would see in the main queue. (CT parallels the main much of the way.) You do not get to ride after CT--the TMs point you towards a side door which takes you towards the exit. This door is before the Sorting Hat and ride load area. You do see the SH in SR queue however. You also miss the greenhouse area with both of these queues, but nothing much interesting happens here--just people sweating. . The main queue you see everything and ride, but it takes the longest by far.

 

[Harry Potter]

Wrong post..

 

[LizEN]

last year i spent $500 on pins at hard rock cafe.

and, $250 for pins in the parks.


does that help?


i'm addicted to pins.

Is there pin trading at Universal? Uh oh!

 

[macraven]

Is there pin trading at Universal? Uh oh!

yes.... i have found the tm's working on the carts around city walk are the ones to trade with.



i have a small fortune of disney, universal, hrh, hhn pins .......

i have so many there are in two boxes in my basement.



i sleep better at night knowing i have them......

 

[DisneyNDecember]

I usually wear a ball cap to the parks, do I have to put that in a locker before I ride FJ, or can I take it with me on the ride? Will they make me take it off?

 

[SarahWeasley]

I usually wear a ball cap to the parks, do I have to put that in a locker before I ride FJ, or can I take it with me on the ride? Will they make me take it off?

I don't THINK you'll have any problem wearing a cap on the ride.

 

[Metro West]

I usually wear a ball cap to the parks, do I have to put that in a locker before I ride FJ, or can I take it with me on the ride? Will they make me take it off?

If you are asked to remove the cap, just sit on it...I used to do that on Dueling Dragons and it's not a big deal. I don't recommend wearing caps on rides since they might fly away and you probably won't get it back.

 

[poohbear8]

I'm sorry to ask, because I know it has been posted before, but I lost my notes.

I will be in Orlando Nov 3-8th and plan on one day at Universal, with the main plan to see HP. Which days are best again? We are staying on Disney property, so we will be arriving at the regular gate time. I just made all of my ADRs for Disney and realized I didn't leave a day open for HP.

TIA for the help!!

 

[neoavatara]

Sun, T, W, Th are lighter...

 

[dtchgrl]

We are a family of 5 (the three kids are teens) staying onsite at the very end of this month, so we will have WWOHP early access.
On arrival day, we will probably make it to the parks early to mid afternoon. Would it make sense to do the castle tour only that afternoon/evening, and then for one or two of our early entry mornings, do the actual FJ ride as Singles?
Is the Single rider line even open during early entry? Attendance will a bit down by end of August and we will plan to be at gates 15-30 min before early entry time of 8am. Is it possible that it will be light enough attendance that FJ regular ride is somewhat of a walk-on anyway (in the sense that the line is not too backedup and moves continuously)?

thanks!

 

[mesaboy2]

We are a family of 5 (the three kids are teens) staying onsite at the very end of this month, so we will have WWOHP early access.
On arrival day, we will probably make it to the parks early to mid afternoon. Would it make sense to do the castle tour only that afternoon/evening, and then for one or two of our early entry mornings, do the actual FJ ride as Singles?
Is the Single rider line even open during early entry? Attendance will a bit down by end of August and we will plan to be at gates 15-30 min before early entry time of 8am. Is it possible that it will be light enough attendance that FJ regular ride is somewhat of a walk-on anyway (in the sense that the line is not too backedup and moves continuously)?

thanks!

Any of your suggestions should work fine. With early entry and at the end of the month, crowds should be very manageable.

May I suggest Ollivander's first on an early entry morning? If you have any interest in seeing it, you should go there even before FJ. Ollivander's will not blow you away, but it is a cute show and definitely worth at least a short wait. Your best chance for that short wait is first thing on an early entry morning. If you do FJ first, that short wait will not be there when you come back out. Since you know about FJ's single-rider and castle tour queues already, you are a leg up already on 90% of the people there and know how to minimize waits on FJ. There are no such tricks for Ollivander's.

 

[dtchgrl]

Thanks mesaboy, Ollivander first on an early entry day sounds like a good idea..especially if we use the single rider for FJ b/c we did the castle tour the prior afternoon.

If you don't mind...a few more quick questions: Is the entrance for the castle tour the same main entrance/castle archway as the regular FJ line? (I did see that there is a "secret" door that might be used for the single rider line.) Is it obvious where to go for the castle tour rather than full FJ? In the castle tour, will we see almost everything that we would see waiting in the regular line...and perhaps even better b/c we can move at our own pace?

How many seats are in one car of the FJ ride?

Thank you so much!

 

[mesaboy2]

Thanks mesaboy, Ollivander first on an early entry day sounds like a good idea..especially if we use the single rider for FJ b/c we did the castle tour the prior afternoon.

If you don't mind...a few more quick questions: Is the entrance for the castle tour the same main entrance/castle archway as the regular FJ line? (I did see that there is a "secret" door that might be used for the single rider line.) Is it obvious where to go for the castle tour rather than full FJ? In the castle tour, will we see almost everything that we would see waiting in the regular line...and perhaps even better b/c we can move at our own pace?

How many seats are in one car of the FJ ride?

Thank you so much!

The main queue, the castle tour queue, and the single-rider queue all branch off at the same point. Yes, you get to this point by going to the main entrance archway and it is just past the locker area. Usually there is a TM there, and if you're unsure of anything this is where you should ask. The single rider queue goes left and up some stairs, the main queue continues forward, and the castle tour queue goes right and up some stairs. This point is not well-marked, if at all. It is also not uncommon for the single-rider and castle tour queues to be roped off, but I've not heard of anyone who asked to go in them being turned away.

The main area you would miss in the castle tour queue that you see in the main queue is the greenhouse area, which is outside. It's nicely themed, but not a big deal to me to miss. You would also miss some miscellaneous statues, the house beads scoring thing, and the phoenix/stairs thing leading to Dumbledore's office. The other difference is that the castle tour queue routes you through a second portrait room instead of the one in the main queue. The two portait rooms are not significantly different. The two queues actually merge into the same areas afterwards, though they're separated by stanchions and rails. So, you will still see Dumbledore's office, the DADA classroom and the Griffindor common room, just as the main queue does. The castle tour queue ends after the common room, so you don't get a close up look at the Sorting Hat either, though you can see it down the hall a bit from the castle tour exit. And you can see everything at your own pace in the castle tour queue.

The FJ ride vehicle seats 4. You will likely be split up 3&2. Given the design of the RV, however, it doesn't really matter who you're with once boarded--you can't see your ridemates except for their legs.

By the way, the "secret" entrance to the single-rider queue only leads you to the base of the stairs in the single rider queue I mentioned above.

 

[arlsdimples]

Hi, I'm relatively new to the board but have been lurking for a few months. I apologize ahead of time if I am somehow posting wrong. Although I think I'm ok.

Anyway, we are heading to WDW next week. We have been there many times and know what we our way around the "world'. However we have never been to Universal. I convinced DH somehow to take a day of our trip and go there because the kids and I are huge Harry Potter fans. I'm looking for advice on how we should possible do things. Even though I've been reading through the thread and talked to some people I'm still unsure.

- Would it be better for us to go on Fri 8/19 or Sun 8/21?

- Where should we head to first? I'm guessing Ollivanders but we are flexible. Yes we will want to go there even though it is just a short little show.

- Should we try to get there first thing in the morning before they open? **

-I've heard from people that it is best to go there first and from others that they had an easier time doing everything later in the day or evening, especially when fireworks are going on. Which is more likely to be workable?


** Ok I need to add some disclaimers for going early. We have breakfast booked on both of those mornings, but they are at the same place so if need be we can cancel one. However we will need to at least eat something before we go.
We are NOT morning people. In 11 trips to the world we have never seen the rope drop or park opening show and honestly have never been interested either. Only once did I manage to drag the kids to MK for early morning extra magic hours while DH slept. Waking DH up early while on vacation makes him extremely unpleasant the rest of the day unless it's his idea or he thinks it's his idea. In other words unless HE wants to get up early that day he will likely ruin it for the rest of us by being miserable.

We have a 14 yr old, a 9 yr old and a nearly 6 mo old. Obviously I'm not worried about the older two but my concern is the baby. I'm going to need to nurse her and she will need a place to wind down if that is possible.

Also what other recommendations would anyone have for either WWoHP or the rest of the park?

Thank you so much for any help.