Harry Potter- Wizarding World FAQ

[wrestlingchick26]

We're looking at this package for my family's trip in October. Just to confirm, the breakfast includes the actual cost (meal vouchers) and not just a reservation? Also a question about the 3 day park passes. If we do this, we'll be flying in Friday night from 2 different cities. Would the park passes start friday, when our stay starts, or Saturday when we start visiting the parks?

I asked the question about flying in late and not using my park day and I was told it's up to you which 3 days you use your ticket.

As far as I'm aware yes it is meal vouchers.

 

[DisneyInfinityFan]

check Universal Studios tomorrow. You may get a nice little surprise.

 

[MagentaMulan]

If i'm not going on any of the rides, how long would it take to tour the both Diaggon Alley and Hogmeade? I'm only going to be there for 1 whole day, is that enough?

 

[macraven]

If i'm not going on any of the rides, how long would it take to tour the both Diaggon Alley and Hogmeade? I'm only going to be there for 1 whole day, is that enough?

a lot depends on the date you are going and the time you get into the park.
if you plan to go on July 9th, i suspect waits........

there will be crowds in the park for the shops besides ride line waits.

 

[MagentaMulan]

a lot depends on the date you are going and the time you get into the park.
if you plan to go on July 9th, i suspect waits........

there will be crowds in the park for the shops besides ride line waits.

I'm going mid-January and will be there when the park opens in the morning for non-resort vistors. Would there still be large crowds like in summer? in

 

[macraven]

I'm going mid-January and will be there when the park opens in the morning for non-resort vistors. Would there still be large crowds like in summer? in

i was at the darkside and left on january 13th.
the BTG were there then and more came after i left (read about that on the dis)

the crowds in january are nothing like the crowds in the vacation months.
check out past threads about january by doing the forum search is your best bet.

 

[tiggerluvr]

Subscribing to thread. We will be there Sunday, October 25 (HHN day) and Monday, October 26. I am an enormous HP fan (40 yr old nerd here) and couldn't care less about the rest of the park. It is all about HP for me. I fully expect Diagon Alley to be balls-to-buns packed on Sunday, but I'm really hoping it's less crowded on Monday. We're coming from California and this is our first trip to Florida - it's not something we'll be able to do very often, so I am determined to pack as much in as we can: 2 days at US/IOA, and four days at WDW. Any tips for a newbie? We are staying offsite (for both): we have to take advantage of our timeshare week before it expires, so we're staying at the Sheraton Vistana Resort, close to WDW. That means no EMH or early entry at US/IOA. It seems that the "fastpass" thing for US is pretty useless for WWoHP, so we'll skip that too. Any suggestions for maximizing our experience are very appreciated.

 

[macraven]

Subscribing to thread. We will be there Sunday, October 25 (HHN day) and Monday, October 26. I am an enormous HP fan (40 yr old nerd here) and couldn't care less about the rest of the park. It is all about HP for me. I fully expect Diagon Alley to be balls-to-buns packed on Sunday, but I'm really hoping it's less crowded on Monday. We're coming from California and this is our first trip to Florida - it's not something we'll be able to do very often, so I am determined to pack as much in as we can: 2 days at US/IOA, and four days at WDW. Any tips for a newbie? We are staying offsite (for both): we have to take advantage of our timeshare week before it expires, so we're staying at the Sheraton Vistana Resort, close to WDW. That means no EMH or early entry at US/IOA. It seems that the "fastpass" thing for US is pretty useless for WWoHP, so we'll skip that too. Any suggestions for maximizing our experience are very appreciated.

be at the entrance gate a good 20 minutes before the park opens.
there have been times people have been let in 5-10 minutes prior to the 9:00 opening.
that is not a given but it has happened before.
once you have ridden FJ do repeats in the single rider line.
(i go solo and stay onsite.
i use the SRL a lot for this ride, after i have gone thru the regular castle line.)

have lunch at off times.
while the majority does lunch between 11:30-1:00, do the rides then.

if you buy merchandise in the parry hotter shops, have the clerk send your bags to the front store in the park so you don't have to use lockers for them when you do rides.
pick up your purchases at the end of your stay.
this is a free service.

the studios won't see much on crowds until the afternoon.
those doing HHN will start coming into the park maybe 2ish to hit the rides.
studios will close at 5:00 that sunday.

monday should be fine.
no hard ticket event that evening.
do an early start for potter and cover what you didn't on sunday.

hope your visit to the darkside will be great!

 

[mickeyworld]

I have friends visiting for 3 days and they want to do everything related to HP in one day... Aug 1-4 first of all, Sat, sun, mon. Which day is best?
Anyone who can recommend a touring plan, please help! I'm a Disney girl and know nothing about touring Universal.

 

[tiggerluvr]

Thanks for all the great info, macraven!

 

[macraven]

Thanks for all the great info, macraven!

very glad to help!

 

[macraven]

I have friends visiting for 3 days and they want to do everything related to HP in one day... Aug 1-4 first of all, Sat, sun, mon. Which day is best?
Anyone who can recommend a touring plan, please help! I'm a Disney girl and know nothing about touring Universal.

saturdays tend to be crowded in the summer.
so that wouldn't be my first choice if i was going.

with HP2 opening, it is too soon to tell how the lines will be in august for your dates.

it used to be that sundays were a good time to do the parks as many vacationers leave on a sunday to return home.
but since you are going during summer high time, i might consider monday could work out.
less locals going during the week and less people making monday the first day of their vacation.

since you want to concentrate only on Hp features, check out www.universalorlando.com and see the locations for HP in both parks.
memorize the layout of the parks so you have options on how to reach those sections in the parks.

figure that the new HP section will be very crowded so try to hit that first to lessen the wait that will come before noon time.

be at the park gate way before the official opening time.
onsite guests will probably be in the parks before you are let in, so there will be a wait for the HP rides.
give yourself extra time if you are driving as you will be parking in the garage at the end of citywalk.

have a park to park pass so you can ride the HE and then enter into the other park HP section.
this will cut down time of leaving the one park thru the main entrance to hit the other park.
you can buy your park ticket on line and pick them up at the outside of guest service kiosks.
this will also cut out waiting time.


do all the HP in one park prior to catching the HE ride.

if you make any purchases, have them sent to the front of the park to be held for you until you are ready to leave for the night.

this way you can avoid using the lockers.
locker areas are always crowded.

be sure to pick up the park maps when you enter after going thru the ticket gate.
times of shows for HP should be listed in the park guide.


i'm sure there are other suggestions and hopefully another homie will come along and add their thoughts to help you.

 

[grifta67]

Thanks for the tips macraven. Next week my gal and I are headed from California to Orlando to hit all the Disney parks and both US/IOA. We're pretty good planners but I'm still awfully nervous about Diagon Alley and WW so I'm trying to sponge up any and all tips.

With the heat, the crowds and Diagon only being a week old, it's probably going to be miserable at times, but the life of a teacher limits when we can take big vacations like this!

 

[godders]

I was at Universal a week after Hogsmeade opened (was supposed to open the January before). It was very, very busy, especially in the shops as they are all tiny (although apparently this has been remedied at Diagon Alley.

I was lucky enough to stay at a Universal hotel so got in an hour early but there were people coming in to start queuing at that time as well. I'd just get there as early as you can because nobody wants to wait in a queue for over 6 hours (which is what they were at yesterday and today)

 

[DisneyFreak06]

I am so excited! I don't know what's going to happen as I'm travelling with my sister, her hubby and my niece. I am (terrible I know) almost hoping that they will get tired and leave early so I can just hang out in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade!!! I am not sure how early I will be able to get them there as well. The park opens at 8 or 9 depending on when we go. (We are at Disney from July 21-Aug 5 and are taking 2 days to go to Universal. ) I hope I can get them there by 7:30 if we can get in at 8. I know even that is pushing it, I'd rather be there even earlier.

 

[TwinMom202]

We'll be at IOA and US next week, staying at the Hard Rock Hotel. How early should we line up for early admission to Diagon Alley? And do we line up at US or IOA for Diagon Alley? How are the lines for the Hogwarts Express?

 

[casnider]

You want to get there about 6:30. Park opens at 8:00am, early admission is one hour before so 7:00am. To beat the folks lining up for the 8:00, I plan on arriving at 6:30.
I will be there the last week of July at the RP.

 

[Dashzap]

We're doing HP now.
I wish I had sewn a wand pocket in my shirt for the interactive wand.

 

[greenkai3000]

Hello everyone,

We are looking at visiting Universal for just one day during our Labor Day Weekend holiday. We won't be staying on site, but will be very close by.
We were wondering what the best plan of attack would be to do both Diagon Alley and Hogsmead, since we won't be getting Early Entry privileges to either one. Sorry if these questions have been answered somewhere else.

When is Universal generally less crowded...Saturday, Sunday, or (Labor Day) Monday?

How early should we line up for park Opening? Do they open the gates right on time , or earlier? Is running (in a civilized way, of course) allowed in the park?

With Gringotts being the new attraction at Universal, would it make more sense to try to ride that first, then take the Hogwarts Express over to Forbidden Journey? Or, would it be better to go to FJ first, and ride the HE over to Gringotts instead?

 

[macraven]

Hello everyone,

We are looking at visiting Universal for just one day during our Labor Day Weekend holiday. We won't be staying on site, but will be very close by.
We were wondering what the best plan of attack would be to do both Diagon Alley and Hogsmead, since we won't be getting Early Entry privileges to either one. Sorry if these questions have been answered somewhere else.

When is Universal generally less crowded...Saturday, Sunday, or (Labor Day) Monday?

How early should we line up for park Opening? Do they open the gates right on time , or earlier? Is running (in a civilized way, of course) allowed in the park?

With Gringotts being the new attraction at Universal, would it make more sense to try to ride that first, then take the Hogwarts Express over to Forbidden Journey? Or, would it be better to go to FJ first, and ride the HE over to Gringotts instead?

civilized or not, running is not allowed in the parks.