new blog: Harry Potter and the Stifling Horde: Summer 2010 Review

[LeahZ]

http://www.disunplugged.com/2010/10/03/harry-potter-and-the-stifling-horde-summer-2010-review/

 

[goodfaerie]

My WORST nightmare. I truly hope it isn't like this when we're there.

 

[damo]

If they would have stayed onsite, they could have avoided that. We were there the end of August and had a wonderful time. Sounds like a little more research would have been a good idea.

 

[Timmy Boy]

Um yeah, it's the writers own fault for having a bad time. They went in August, when it's crowded, 2 months after it opened. Of course it was going to be crowded. How would he not know this? If he goes now, every ride in the Wizarding World is a walk-on, and Ollivander's is about 15 minutes.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Not all of us can afford to "just stay on-site"

However that is why I have chosen to stay for a week during November. If summer is the only time they could get away then they should have waited until next summer to give Harry Potter a try.

 

[LUVIOA]

I agree with staying onsite. I realize not everyone can afford it but if it were that important to the girls then every penny would have been worth it to make it a memorable experience. Hopefully it wasn't as horrible for the girls as the parents. A little research before your trip would have saved you a ton of headaches. At least to realize that it was crowded beyond belief.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Believe me, I do my research. Staying on site was not an option, nor was coming down now since we live in Rochester, NY and needed to go during summer vacation.

We knew it would be crowded the first summer and hot. I believe I stated that in the first paragraph of my article. I was not prepared for crowds so thick I couldn't move, and shops that were unsafely packed with people. The fact I couldn't push a wheelchair through the shops, and in some places through the main street of Hogsmeade was unbelievable. The land was nearly inaccessible for someone in a wheelchair.

 

[francie57]

We were at Universal on Aug. 12 and 13 and our experience with crowds was nothing like that. Yes we stay on-site - even one night would be worth it since it gives you two days of express lines. We went over to HP on the first night that we were there and we waited about 60 min. for the ride but you were able to walk around the shops and walkways without any trouble. We went back the next morning (yes we were there at 8:15. We rode the FJ ride in the single line and were in and out in no time. When the general public was let in well before 9 the crowds were very manageable and you were able to walk around without any problem. Thankfully we had a great time and will be going back. Maybe part of the extra crowds at that time was it coincided with free dining starting at Disney and that brings larger crowds that will affect all parks. Yes it is expensive to stay on-site but with discounts that are available even one night makes a huge difference.

 

[Lucky4me]

Oh wow, That had to be scary with all those people and the heat. I don't even like it when the parks are half full with temps over 80. My biggest fear is what you described. I would have had to turn right around and walk out without seeing any of it.

You did manage to get some fantastic photos and your girls looked like they had fun. They probably want to go again?
I'm an irresponsible parent from Rochester, NY. I'm pulling dd out of school for 4 days in November. dh and I have flexible schedules and can go any time.
dd, 15, has block scheduling and is only missing 2 days of her core subjects. If it dings her grades even the tiniest bit, we'll never do it again.
But I couldn't resist the cheap airfare, really cheap Universal tickets, the cooler weather, all of it. I felt guilty for awhile, but I'm over it now and can't wait!

Thanks for the review and the awesome pictures!

 

[PDJPrinceCharming]

First off i'm very sorry that you & your family had a bad trip Dave. But after seeing this I wanted to post my thoughts on WWOHP.

Thanks to the DIS I knew I would have to go left when at the park opening & I avoided being stopped at Suess Landing's rope telling me it was for on-site guests only. So I enjoyed a leisurely stroll through an empty Toon Lagoon & Jurassic Park & ended up at WW in about a 12-15 minute walk.

FJ was a walk-on the first time & after being VERY worried about being unable to fit or having to use the modified seats, I fit just fine with no complications. I enjoyed the queue line & as everyone is saying, make sure you experience the queue even if you're not planning to ride as it is an attraction all itself. I was able to witness Ron making it snow on two occasions as well as hear all the conversations from the talking pictures as well as the Sorting Hat.

FOTH was a decent coaster & provided great views of the entire section of the park. A walk-on & I only took time taking queue line pics of the various banners & the Weasley's vehicle or I would've been in & out.

Hungarian Horntail of DC was amazing & the first non-Disney looping coaster i've been on in a long time. No modified seats here as I fit just fine. The queue I thought needed a little work as its impossible to see where you're going so eventually I just ended up on the ride without knowing which I was going to be on. I wanted to do Chinese Fireball but I thought i'd get lost. Still it was a walk-on.

The shops are way too small which is a detail I wish Universal didn't pay so much attention to. I was trying to take pics in the Owl Post but that really didn't work too well. The only shops I could happily walk around without problem was Zonko's & Honeyduke's.

I ate lunch at The Three Broomsticks & very much enjoyed the meal. The Fish & Chips were excellent & I didn't mind the ordering procedure either as a TM was happy to direct me to a good table. Again this was around 10ish & nearly no one was in the place at all leaving me to a good sit down experience. I didn't like the fact of no soda so I opted for really good lemonade instead. Tried Pumpkin Fizz & didn't like the taste.

Pete is definitely right, Butterbeer is unbelievable. If I had knew I wouldn't have spent as little as I did later in the trip, I would've bought many more cups. I got the regular in the collectible mug so I could give it as one of the many gifts for my amazing Non & just loved the flavor. A Werther's mixed with a cream soda with the foam head is the best way to describe this delicacy. I agree with Max as well as I enjoyed frozen a lot more. The 90 degree weather made walking around Hogsmead a much more enjoyable experience as I sipped on the delicious frozen butterbeer. I need to get more of it.

Shopping wasn't extremely bad as I got everything that she wanted including being apart of Zonko's Pygmy Puff experience which was a really cool thing to do when one is purchased. I was looking for Deathly Hallows merch & didn't see any which definitely suprised me.

I used the SRL on my second FJ ride & its on the left side up the steps. It cuts out a lot of the queue but its worth it if you're in a rush. The lines were really short but as the day progressed they got longer. After my third ride around 6:30, the area was a lot more crowded than it earlier was.

In short, I stayed at POP & used Mears shuttle to get there. Was there for the 9:00 opening of IOA & was let in a little before 9 to the parks. Walked through an empty park on the left side & was on FJ in 15 minutes. Drank Frozen & regular Butterbeer as well as a Pumpkin Juice,(which I didn't like but my Non loved it when I brought her a bottle home.) Rode FOTH & DC as walk-ons, ate lunch at The Three Broomsticks, shopped & was out of the area before noon. Due to crowds, I was able to do that then ride Cat in the Hat, Hulk & Spiderman & be walking into the Studios around noon.

All in all I enjoyed myself & it definitely was worth the trip over. I won't be going back for a few years so it was nice to get to experience WWOHP at the beginning after the crowds died down.

And one more thing, Universal really needs to find a way to bottle butterbeer & sell it in the parks. Make it available in the airport with coolers like they do with energy drinks(You can sell Moe's as well since its Universal) & i'm sure everyone will appreciate it.

So go over during the non-peak times & experience WWOHP, you'll be glad you did.

 

[Magpie]

Count me as another irresponsible parent!

I'm pulling my kids out of school Dec. 11th to the 18th for our trip. It's the last week before the school break starts. My 9th Grade daughter is responsible for getting all her assignments in before she leaves and making whatever other arrangements she needs to make. She'll miss one Spirit Week, but she says it's worth it. My 8th Grade son will probably have to have his Fall report mailed to him (or pick it up in January) and he'll miss a church sleepover - he says it's a fair trade!

My husband hates crowds. There is NO way we'd ever go in the summer high season, much less stay off-site, even if this wasn't the first year the attraction was opening!

And actually, staying on-site became really quite reasonable once we factored in the cost of Express Passes (or whatever they're called) for a family of four, and took advantage of the Stay More, Pay Less discounts. I also managed to grab a CAA discount, too.

I do think the blogger brought his misery upon himself. It's unfortunate he didn't plan his trip better.

 

[Bradsdadg]

We went on Sept 1st of this year. I knew the crowds would be big. But they were too big for the area to me. Almost like it was much ado about nothing. I felt the crowds definitely took away from looking over every nook, and seeing all the magical touches they put into this land. We actually only made it onto one HP ride, and into one store. We ate at 3 Broomsticks and thought it was quite good overall. Butterbeer, was ok but really just cream soda with a whipped topping. We didn't want to wait in a huge line to get into Ollivanders, as we had already seen alot of the shows on Youtube, and knew we could skip it.

Overall, I agree with the blog in that the crowds can definitely ruin your experience. But we are planning on returning next year to give it another try.

 

[damo]

Believe me, I do my research. Staying on site was not an option, nor was coming down now since we live in Rochester, NY and needed to go during summer vacation.

We knew it would be crowded the first summer and hot. I believe I stated that in the first paragraph of my article. I was not prepared for crowds so thick I couldn't move, and shops that were unsafely packed with people. The fact I couldn't push a wheelchair through the shops, and in some places through the main street of Hogsmeade was unbelievable. The land was nearly inaccessible for someone in a wheelchair.

Too bad you couldn't have dropped in when you were down at Disney this weekend with your girls. It would have been a much different experience.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Too bad you couldn't have dropped in when you were down at Disney this weekend with your girls. It would have been a much different experience.

It is too bad, I'm sure it would have been a much different experience. Unfortunately, going to Universal was not an option this weekend, and we weren't going to pay for a theme park ticket just to drop in at WWoHP for the couple of hours we might of had free in our schedule.

Look, I'm not trying to be high and mighty saying I don't pull my girls out of school to go to the parks. I do, and in fact, I did this weekend for the Wine&Dine Half Marathon. I'm reporting our family's experience on our summer vacation. That's why I titled the blog summer 2010. My review is a snapshot in time, and the snapshot we had was not a good experience.

Staying on Universal property would have helped, but that didn't work for our family situation this summer. So we made due with the best we had.

I will be back to the WWoHP, I was able to see the land before it opened to theme park guests and know what potential it has when it's not so crowded. However, this summer it was too crowded.

I stand by my review. I think it was ridiculous how many people were crammed into the Owl Post, and think it is unforgivable that the stores could not accomodate a wheelchair.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

If DIS bloggers aren't researching and following the tips and advice for the best way to experience WWOHP, who is?

I've heard a lot of complaints about WWOHP this summer but Universal didn't create the land just for opening day/week/months capacity. If they did, Ollivander's would be in a Sinbad-style theater and guests could do cartwheels in the shops. Believe me, it'll be quite a different experience when you're not going the first August following its June opening. (Your problems with wheelchair access, however, are extremely valid and hope you do forward them to Universal.)

It's difficult to compare because there's so few attraction openings at the scale of WWOHP, but it goes for EVERYTHING. You can waltz into HHN on a peak night and probably only get 2 houses done, or you can go with a plan and get them all done.

It's such a difference when you use these boards to their advantage.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

If DIS bloggers aren't researching and following the tips and advice for the best way to experience WWOHP, who is?

I've heard a lot of complaints about WWOHP this summer but Universal didn't create the land just for opening day/week/months capacity. If they did, Ollivander's would be in a Sinbad-style theater and guests could do cartwheels in the shops. Believe me, it'll be quite a different experience when you're not going the first August following its June opening. (Your problems with wheelchair access, however, are extremely valid and hope you do forward them to Universal.)

It's difficult to compare because there's so few attraction openings at the scale of WWOHP, but it goes for EVERYTHING. You can waltz into HHN on a peak night and probably only get 2 houses done, or you can go with a plan and get them all done.

It's such a difference when you use these boards to their advantage.

I agree with some of your comments in here. Any theme park has to be designed for the long haul, and not necessarily the crush of guests the opening summer. Nobody wants an empty land 2 years from now.

I do take exception to the fact that you say I didn't research and follow tips. So there is only one way to experience things? You can only go to WWoHP if you take your kids out of school and stay onsite? That seems rather limiting.

I remember reading on the DIS (on this board) that the crowds less in the land if you go back after 3pm. When we went back after lunch it was nearly 4pm. I went back at 4pm precisely due to the tip I read here. It didn't work.

Again, as I said in the blog, we were prepared for crowds, we were prepared for heat. Those were part of the reasons we needed to get a wheelchair in the first place.

We prepared our girls for the fact that only 1 child gets picked out of the 25 for the wand experience. That was because of tips we read on the board, and different from the impression I got when I talked to Alan Gilmore in May. I say we were plenty prepared for our visit given the fact that this summer vacation trip was in August. We didn't expect to do cartwheels or pirouettes in the land.

 

[damo]

Another suggestion that we made over and over here on the boards was to purchase the Harry Potter Package at one of the value priced hotels offsite. This gave visitors early entry for every day of their stay and included one day of breakfast at the Three Broomsticks. Packages were available with hotel prices well under $100/night.

Although I think the review had many very valid points, many of those issues could have been avoided with more planning. Visiting in the incredible heat of the summer with immense opening crowds are can easily make for a poor experience. Add in maneuvering a wheelchair and it is a recipe for disaster.

We went the week before Labour Day. The crowds were great even without using early entry. Early entry had so few people, the regular crowds were let in. However, in the heat in the middle of the day, there was no way I wanted to be anywhere in the park. It was back to the hotel for a break and a swim and then back to the parks later on when the heat had dropped. I would not have enjoyed being anywhere in the parks during that heat.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Another suggestion that we made over and over here on the boards was to purchase the Harry Potter Package at one of the value priced hotels offsite. This gave visitors early entry for every day of their stay and included one day of breakfast at the Three Broomsticks. Packages were available with hotel prices well under $100/night.

Although I think the review had many very valid points, most of those issues could have been avoided with more planning. Visiting in the incredible heat of the summer with immense opening crowds are definitely going to make for a poor experience.

I really find it interesting that the focus of the comments are about what I and my family did wrong in our planning. We got to the park as early as we could. We were at the gate 15 minutes after opening. Yes, we could have been there a little earlier, but it didn't work out. It doesn't always work out for us to get to rope drop at a Disney Park either.

The wait for FJ was 60 min, and I believe I stated in my review that I did not think that was bad for the signature attraction of a new land.

The park was gorgeous and well themed, but it was too crowded, it only had 3 attractions, the "shows" were short "streetmosphere" type shows, and my kids (and us) didn't think the wand experience was worth it. That was our experience on our trip.

I have stated repeatedly that we were prepared for heat and crowds. We were quite happy with our hotel accomodations, and why do you assume we did not do research? Going to see WWoHP was one part of a long vacation, and maybe after researching for the entire overall vacation it did not make sense for us to stay on property, or at one of the hotels with the HP package.

 

[fairyprincess88]

I went to WWoHP 2nd week of July right in the middle of summer opening madness. I did not stay onsite(stayed at the Poly) so I did not have early admission. However, I did get up and over to Universal by 7 AM and was one of the first people waiting in line in Jurassic Park for reg admission to start. They let us into Potter around 8:30 AM and it was great, went straight to FJ and was through and out in under 20 minutes tops. Besides FJ my biggest priority was shopping so I was able to hit up Honeydukes, Zonkos, D&B and Owl Post all before 11 AM. Yes the stores are tiny, which as a fan of the books I wanted for authenticity purposes, but it was not very crazy that early in the day so I was able to burn a hole in my credit card quite easily. Around noon the Wizarding World was a mad house, wall to wall people, lines on top of lines, and it took us a good 30 minutes to get to order at Three Broomsticks. But I expected as much so that's when I headed off to the rest of the park.

We came back to WWoHP after dinner and yup still packed but it was cooler and I loved watching it all light up for night. Right before park closing is when I found the place the most relaxing. No waits for the stores, room to shop, Owlery with lots of empty tables, FoH with no line, FJ with a 30 minute line and the best part, they didn't kick us out once 10 PM hit. I asked the TM in Honeydukes if we had to leave and she said, "nope, take your time and enjoy." It was a great end to the day.

So yeah, I agree with the blog that it was hot, it was crazy and it was crowded. I knew it would be though so I went in with that in my head and planned as best I could for it.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

I went to WWoHP 2nd week of July right in the middle of summer opening madness. I did not stay onsite(stayed at the Poly) so I did not have early admission. However, I did get up and over to Universal by 7 AM and was one of the first people waiting in line in Jurassic Park for reg admission to start. They let us into Potter around 8:30 AM and it was great, went straight to FJ and was through and out in under 20 minutes tops. Besides FJ my biggest priority was shopping so I was able to hit up Honeydukes, Zonkos, D&B and Owl Post all before 11 AM. Yes the stores are tiny, which as a fan of the books I wanted for authenticity purposes, but it was not very crazy that early in the day so I was able to burn a hole in my credit card quite easily. Around noon the Wizarding World was a mad house, wall to wall people, lines on top of lines, and it took us a good 30 minutes to get to order at Three Broomsticks. But I expected as much so that's when I headed off to the rest of the park.

We came back to WWoHP after dinner and yup still packed but it was cooler and I loved watching it all light up for night. Right before park closing is when I found the place the most relaxing. No waits for the stores, room to shop, Owlery with lots of empty tables, FoH with no line, FJ with a 30 minute line and the best part, they didn't kick us out once 10 PM hit. I asked the TM in Honeydukes if we had to leave and she said, "nope, take your time and enjoy." It was a great end to the day.

So yeah, I agree with the blog that it was hot, it was crazy and it was crowded. I knew it would be though so I went in with that in my head and planned as best I could for it.

Now, I thought this was helpful. I didn't know you could queue up at Jurassic Park prior to park opening.

Maybe some of these comments could be added to the comments of the blog to help other people out.