Harry Potter- Wizarding World FAQ

[macraven]

mears increased to $19 rt for adults, $16 for kids last year.

 

[mesaboy2]

You can take a taxi to Universal from Disney. We stay at Royal Pacific Resort (for the Polynesian feel! Coming from Illinois I want the tropics as much as possible while we are down there!). IF you stay at one of the Universal sites you get access to the parks an hour earlier than non-Universal Resort stayers. Unfortunately, Universal does not transportation like Disney. You can have Mears Transportation (I think it's $18/person) or a taxi to the airport. Your DD will LOVE Harry Potter! We are on our countdown....we'll be there in 22 days!!! Have fun!!!

Well, Universal does not need transportation like Disney. Everything at Universal is so close together, and what little can't be walked between does have transportation in the form of boats or shuttles.

Neither Disney nor Universal provides transportation to the competition.

 

[xipetotec]

Do they still make you get a "return time pass" ( fastpass for lack of knowledge as to what they are called at Universal ) for Wizarding World? I guess it depends on how busy the parks are. We are going March 7th...

If so, where do they distribute these passes? At the Wizarding World entrance?

 

[mesaboy2]

Do they still make you get a "return time pass" ( fastpass for lack of knowledge as to what they are called at Universal ) for Wizarding World? I guess it depends on how busy the parks are. We are going March 7th...

If so, where do they distribute these passes? At the Wizarding World entrance?

I havent heard of this happening for a while now--even over the holidays. Doesn't mean it didn't happen though. For March 7, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

[xipetotec]

I havent heard of this happening for a while now--even over the holidays. Doesn't mean it didn't happen though. For March 7, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Awesome. And the Three Broomsticks *is* a counter-service restaurant we can just walk up to right? All this talk about reservations are only for the breakfast experience?

 

[mjohnson96]

Awesome. And the Three Broomsticks *is* a counter-service restaurant we can just walk up to right? All this talk about reservations are only for the breakfast experience?

yes, Three Broomsticks is a counter service and can get pretty busy. Breakfast is for those that book a WWOHP package but sometimes they will allow others in if there is space. We have had dinner there and it was very good.

Your 5 year old will have a blast, DD finally hit the 48 inch mark last year and could not wait to ride the mummy, but before that there was still lots for her to do there. This trip we are going to take more time in some of other kid freindly areas since DD 2 will be wanting to do things.

If you can, I love staying onsite. The perks of doing so are great and well worth the extra cost. We went during opening week of WWOHP and I remember the wait for Spiderman being 90 minutes and DD wanted to ride it just one more time. With the express pass we were on in 5 minutes! yeah

 

[Corly]

Just planning on what rids we want to definitely do...is the Flight of the Hippogriff coaster similar to Goofy's Barnstormer? Also, if we are gOing at the peak of Spring Break (ugh), but staying onsite, can we expect little wait time for repeat rides with express?
Thanks!

 

[mesaboy2]

Just planning on what rids we want to definitely do...is the Flight of the Hippogriff coaster similar to Goofy's Barnstormer? Also, if we are gOing at the peak of Spring Break (ugh), but staying onsite, can we expect little wait time for repeat rides with express?
Thanks!

Yes, FotH is very similar. (In fact, Woody Woodpecker over at the Studios is the exact same ride as Goofy's Barnstormer, only reversed.)

If you have express privileges, I think you'll be fine even during spring break.

 

[silverhaze269]

Does anyone know if you can get pumpkin juice at the Universal Studios gift shop in the Orlando airport? I know it's a bit of an odd question, but I'm planning a trip to Disney in the fall, and one of my friends is pretty much obsessed with HP, so I thought it would be awesome if I were able to bring a bottle back for her. I really wish I could get over to the WWoHP myself, but it doesn't look like it's in the plans this trip

 

[mousegear]

We are planning one day visit to Universal, mainly b/c of WWHP. I think kids in our party all read the books and watched the movies so it was a must for them. I am planning of taking them on Aug 27,Mon. I know that southern schools have started at this point and I wanted to avoid the weekend crowd. We'll try to get there supper early and hit WWHP first thing and plan on spending rest of day at both parks. The kids aren't really into big roller coaster rides. They could do Thunder Mt sort of ride but no more scary than that. So we are naturally planning on watching shows and mild rides.
Do we need express pass?

 

[Metro West]

We are planning one day visit to Universal, mainly b/c of WWHP. I think kids in our party all read the books and watched the movies so it was a must for them. I am planning of taking them on Aug 27,Mon. I know that southern schools have started at this point and I wanted to avoid the weekend crowd. We'll try to get there supper early and hit WWHP first thing and plan on spending rest of day at both parks. The kids aren't really into big roller coaster rides. They could do Thunder Mt sort of ride but no more scary than that. So we are naturally planning on watching shows and mild rides.
Do we need express pass?

Wait until you arrive and see the wait times before deciding on spending the money for Express Plus passes. It's probably you won't need it as many schools will have started back by then.

 

[Corly]

We'd love to check into RPR and get set up with room key lanyards for the next morning...anyone see if they were available froma hotel gift shop? Harry Potter/Gryffindor House ones in particular?
Thanks!

Surprise birthday trip to WWoHP in 20 days!!

 

[Cheesehead9]

Does anyone know if the Castle Tour has been open since Spring Break started? I know it can be sporadic but I'm wondering if they are keeping it closed through SB.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Does anyone know if the Castle Tour has been open since Spring Break started? I know it can be sporadic but I'm wondering if they are keeping it closed through SB.

It's been off and on recently, but since castle tours usually stop during the busier times I wouldn't bet on it being open during the peak spring break times. Although it wouldn't hurt to check back towards the end of the day when the line starts to dwindle down a bit.

 

[Restomod]

Did they ever get the issue with bigger riders fixed on the Forbidden Journey. Took the family to Universal in Oct. 2010 and found out I was too big to go on th Forbidden Journey ride. Spent a lot of money just to be told "sorry". Was not happy!!!!
Never have had an issue with any DW ride, Six Flags ride, airline seats, etc.
I'm 6' and 280#

 

[damo]

Did they ever get the issue with bigger riders fixed on the Forbidden Journey. Took the family to Universal in Oct. 2010 and found out I was too big to go on th Forbidden Journey ride. Spent a lot of money just to be told "sorry". Was not happy!!!!
Never have had an issue with any DW ride, Six Flags ride, airline seats, etc.
I'm 6' and 280#

Yes they did make adjustments and we haven't had many people report that they haven't been able to fit since then. They may have made them just after your last visit, as the adjustments have been made for quite a while.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I'll just mention briefly that I was able to ride the modified seats at 5-8 and almost the same weight as yourself. As you are significantly taller, you should have an easier time than I did.

 

[Restomod]

Yes they did make adjustments and we haven't had many people report that they haven't been able to fit since then. They may have made them just after your last visit, as the adjustments have been made for quite a while.

When we went they had a modified chair, but I think it had just been installed.
They took us to a back area where there was a static mock-up, but it wouldn't lock up.

Hopefully, it has been modified again.
They sure need to publish some stats on waist and chest size requirements.

They have a min. height requirement, but if size is an issues they should list the requirements.

Our last trip was based around one ride Harry Potter, spent over $5K for the trip and stood in line for 2 hours.

If there is an issue you should be able to know before all that.

Very bad design and planning and even worse PR.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

When we went they had a modified chair, but I think it had just been installed.
They took us to a back area where there was a static mock-up, but it wouldn't lock up.

Hopefully, it has been modified again.
They sure need to publish some stats on waist and chest size requirements.

They have a min. height requirement, but if size is an issues they should list the requirements.

Our last trip was based around one ride Harry Potter, spent over $5K for the trip and stood in line for 2 hours.

If there is an issue you should be able to know before all that.

Very bad design and planning and even worse PR.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.

They haven't modified the seating any more than they did before, except to install it on every end seat of every bench. I think the reason that they don't publish size restrictions is because every person's physical composition is different. Two people may have the same chest measurement but one may be solid muscle while the other is not, therefore they can be squished into a seat more easily than the muscled person. You'd also have to take into account the person's hip size, waist size, chest size, shoulder size...

They do have two test seats in front of the building to try out before even stepping into the queue line.

 

[Cheesehead9]

I just wanted to report that we were at US/IOA on Sun 3/18 and Tues 3/20. It seems that the Harry Potter crowds are definitely starting to die down. We went to WWoHP 1 1/2 - 2 hours prior to park close each night and never waited more than 15 minutes for FJ (we did it several times). The queue was about 1/4 the length that it was during our visit during March last year (prior to park close). During the day the lines are still long though.

The Hippogriff stand-by line was always at least 30 mins. We did the express line a bunch of times and heard people say several times after the ride, "that's all..??" Dueling Dragons was walk-on during the last 2 hours of the park. Ollivander's was at least 30 mins always. Three Broomsticks didn't seem busy at all at 7pm (the patio in the back is nice).

The castle tour WAS available and a worker told me it only closes during very heavy peak times. Single rider for FJ was always 5 mins or so. Butterbeer lines were also very manageable.

In summary... the HP mania is dying down and the best time to visit WWoHP is by far the end of the day (I would prefer it over on-site guest morning hours).