Potter: Early entry, what to do first?

[BensDaddy]

Heading to Universal at the end of September and staying at Portofino with our 5 year old. We are planning on taking advantage of early entry to visit HP.

Would you recommend going right to Olivanders first? Or getting in line for Forbidden Journey? Our little guy will be too short so we're going to have to do parent swap.

Open to suggestions for how to tackle this area.

 

[mesaboy2]

No question: Ollivander's first. It's queue builds fast and moves slow.

Trust me.

 

[raydurz]

Be aware if you go to Olivanders, not everyone gets to have the wand "choose" them. In fact I think there may be only one per group of pepole who go through thats gets chosen.. But I may be mistaken about this. And you might want to consider getting in the single rider line for FJ

 

[BensDaddy]

Don't you miss a lot of the castle turning / pre-show in the single rider line?

 

[RMulieri]

Ollivanders than Forbidden Journey

 

[dcherry]

Don't you miss a lot of the castle turning / pre-show in the single rider line?

Yes, you'll miss much of the theming on the single rider line. Go through the regular line during early entry. You'll have little wait (or none) before the general public is let in.

 

[mesaboy2]

Yes, you'll miss much of the theming on the single rider line. Go through the regular line during early entry. You'll have little wait (or none) before the general public is let in.

Yes.

Here's what I would do:

1. Ollivander's
2. FJ (main queue)
3. FJ (single rider queue)
4. Flight of the Hippogriff
5. Dervish & Banges
6. Honeydukes/Zonko's
7. FJ (castle tour queue)
8. Dragon Challenge
9. FJ (single rider)
10. Butterbeer/Three Broomsticks

The busiest stuff are items 1-6, except for FJ single-rider. Items 7-10 are easier to do later on. Optimized to minimize buying stuff (hence avoiding lockers) until as late as possible. Food and butterbeer last to minimize risk of ralphing.

 

[heidijanesmith]

Yes.

Here's what I would do:

1. Ollivander's
2. FJ (main queue)
3. FJ (single rider queue)
4. Flight of the Hippogriff
5. Dervish & Banges
6. Honeydukes/Zonko's
7. FJ (castle tour queue)
8. Dragon Challenge
9. FJ (single rider)
10. Butterbeer/Three Broomsticks

The busiest stuff are items 1-6, except for FJ single-rider. Items 7-10 are easier to do later on. Optimized to minimize buying stuff (hence avoiding lockers) until as late as possible. Food and butterbeer last to minimize risk of ralphing.

Great idea above. We were not interested in Ollivanders, so went to FJ instead. We rode FJx2, by the time we were done, the line for Ollivanders was 2 hours....FJ was 35 minutes.

Dervish and Banges(and Honeydukes/Zonkos) might just be a shop and so it's weird to make a touring plan for it, but it is a small shop that gets really crowded. We did all the rides 1st, then butterbeer, then the shops. Dervish and Banges had a 1hr line just to get in the shop. DD did not have more than a 5 minute wait all AM and PM when we went back.

 

[patrickpiteo]

Yes.

Here's what I would do:

1. Ollivander's
2. FJ (main queue)
3. FJ (single rider queue)
4. Flight of the Hippogriff
5. Dervish & Banges
6. Honeydukes/Zonko's
7. FJ (castle tour queue)
8. Dragon Challenge
9. FJ (single rider)
10. Butterbeer/Three Broomsticks

The busiest stuff are items 1-6, except for FJ single-rider. Items 7-10 are easier to do later on. Optimized to minimize buying stuff (hence avoiding lockers) until as late as possible. Food and butterbeer last to minimize risk of ralphing.

Get the fozen Butterbeer...

 

[angryduck71]

Not to hijack this thread, but I'm hijacking this thread. What if we're not riding FJ (motion sickness and child too young) and just doing the castle tour? Would you do this on early entry:

1. Ollivander's
2. Flight of the Hippogriff
3. Dervish & Banges
4. Honeydukes/Zonko's
5. FJ (castle tour queue)
6. Butterbeer/Three Broomsticks

OR, would you do the castle tour earlier?

 

[ilovemk76]

We did early entry last year and we waited 1 hour to get into Ollivanders. You can use the single rider line for the FJ, since your son cannot ride.

 

[mesaboy2]

Not to hijack this thread, but I'm hijacking this thread. What if we're not riding FJ (motion sickness and child too young) and just doing the castle tour? Would you do this on early entry:

1. Ollivander's
2. Flight of the Hippogriff
3. Dervish & Banges
4. Honeydukes/Zonko's
5. FJ (castle tour queue)
6. Butterbeer/Three Broomsticks

OR, would you do the castle tour earlier?

When you do castle tour doesn't matter, therefore it can wait until after the more popular attractions such as Ollivander's or the stores. (Excluding riding FJ in your case.). Once you manage navigating past the FJ locker area, there is no wait for CT and you can do it at your own pace.

 

[Broghantaylor]

quick question we are going tomorrow and we can get in a hour early and we have breakfest at 9 so shold be try to hit Ollivander's before breakfest?

 

[damo]

quick question we are going tomorrow and we can get in a hour early and we have breakfest at 9 so shold be try to hit Ollivander's before breakfest?

Yes, definitely.

 

[mesaboy2]

Yes, definitely.