Please help with best way to see Diagon Alley

[CJK]

First a little background........we are staying offsite in early October and have 2 day, park to park tickets for Universal. We have a rental car and will drive to Universal both days (6 days apart). We are willing to get there early. We have selected mid week days which are considered slow days by several crowd prediction sites. We are quite familiar with Universal and have been several times. However, we haven't seen Diagon Alley yet.

With all of that information, I'm now looking at the best ways to tour the parks with the introduction of Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express. For IOA, we always go to WWOHP first, back track to Marvel, and then do the other lands at our leisure. That was before the Hogwarts Express though. I'm not sure how to fit the HE in, for our IOA day.

For our day at US, we will obviously not have early entry. One website suggests that we don't do Diagon Alley until late afternoon when crowds die down. I just can't fathom waiting all day and doing other US attractions, since Diagon Alley is such a priority.

Do you have any tips on the best way to do Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express when staying offsite? Since our chosen dates are considered 'slow', we're hoping not to buy Express Passes (which I know wouldn't apply to Diagon Alley anyway). Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[Karebear]

I just returned from a Universal/WDW trip. We were at Universal over the Labor Day weekend to give you an idea of crowd levels. We stayed onsite and did have EE. I did notice on both Saturday and Sunday, that the line to ride Gringotts would build to about 120 minutes by 9 am and then go down to about 75 minutes around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The cast members confirmed that late afternoon is the slowest time for people without EE to ride. Maybe take the Hogwarts Express over on your first day in the late afternoon and try to ride then? Lines for Forbidden Journey weren't bad at all--15 minutes on Saturday morning at about 10 am to give you an idea. Hope this helps!

 

[hopemax]

We went in July and August. While we saved Diagon Alley until later, we didn't wait until "late afternoon." We did Minion Mayhem and Transformers first, while there was no wait. Then hopped the train to Hogsmeade, did a few things over there, hopped back and entered DA about 11:15 ish. Doing other things in DA first, and saving Gringotts until after lunch. The first time, the ride was having some issues so our 120 min wait was an actual 120 wait. The 2nd time it was 120 posted, but actually 90. It sounds like waits now are even less.

But yeah, what the previous poster said. Do your IOA day, and then hop the train to do DA before the park closes. You'll be amazed on how easy it is to do that with the train. As nice as the whole area is, the "logistics of park hopping" before and after the Hogwarts Express is probably my favorite change of all. It is so easy you no longer have to think in terms of IOA day or Studios day. You could easily do Marvel, Jurassic Park, Hogsmeade, MIB, Simpsons, ET, Terminator one day. And then Minion Mayhem, Mummy, Transformers, Diagon Alley, Lost Continent and Seuss Landing on a 2nd day. Or whatever order you'd love to do.

 

[duranasaur]

I have an almost identical situation like the OP. Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions!

 

[CJK]

Yes, a HUGE thank you for the help! I couldn't wrap my brain around seeing Diagon Alley later in the day, but now it makes sense! Thanks so much!

 

[glocon]

Glad to hear this. I am bringing an avid HP fan to UO for her first trip here, and had hoped to make Harry's original journey with her on our first day. Since we won't be getting to the resort until afternoon, I figure we'll go to London and explore that, then into DA and explore that, then onto EFG. Go to platform 9 3/4 and take the HE to Hogsmeade, explore that then into Hogwarts. If we get to London around 12 or 1, this ambitious plan might work- depending on what time the parks close.

Since my family has been to Hogsmeade/Hogwarts a couple of times already, we are excited to do DA first anyway.

I can't wait.... only a month away!