Potter Predictions for late August? Manageable by then?

[andrewilley]

We'll be at WDW for the last week in August, and currently have Monday 25 Aug pencilled in as a possible Universal day (purely for the Harry Potter stuff, unless we happen to get any time to mop up any other Universal attractions too). We're staying at Disney, so won't have any Universal hotel perks, and we would drive over.

I'm getting the impression that although it's busy, it's perhaps not quite the same madness as the original Wizarding World opening, and that people are at least able to get inside Diagon Alley without too much of a wait already. We never really queue for more than about an hour for anything, and generally a lot less than that if the queue is outdoors (but we would make an exception for indoor ride queues in this case).

From current trends, do you think it might be realistic for us to hope to do both the Gringotts and the original Forbidden Journey rides, plus the Hogwarts Express in both directions, and eat in the Leaky Cauldron and see the various shops/etc in Diagon Alley in one full day by then? We don't care about roller coasters, and are not bothered about the wand-choosing ceremonies etc, but would like to try to see all of the new immersive stuff and maybe fit in Forbidden Journey too.

So, is it likely to be possible or not - and any suggestions as to a plan for non-Universal hotel guests? I know how crowds work at Disney, but Universal is more of an unknown for me.

Andre

 

[daisy87]

We are going to be there the same week as you so I'm interested in people's replies too!

We have Tuesday 26th and wed 27th as our days (staying one night at hard rock hotel for benefits)

I was in universal 2 years ago the third week of August 19-26th and found the crowds really manageable, less than 10 min waits in the mornings and no more than 20 in the afternoons other than forbidden journey which we waited about 35 mins for. I dunno how diagon alley will affect things this time,I'm expecting it to be mega busy but I hope I'm wrong!

 

[Grumpy92]

As soon as school starts things will ease off. That is what happed at IOA.

 

[goingtoorlando]

We were at Diagon Alley this morning. Got to the park via early entry at about 7 am or so and went directly to Gringott's. We waited about 45 minutes in the single rider line. It probably would have been only about 30 minutes but the ride broke down for 15-20 minutes. The sign on the regular line said 90 minutes when we went in and 4 hours when we left.

Diagon Alley itself was not too crowded. We wandered in the stores mostly without crowds after we left Gringotts.

It was more stress-free than anticipated.

 

[Cheesehead9]

We'll be at HRH 8/24 - 8/31. The lines for HE are only 10 mins now, so they should be non-existent when summer ends. FJ will have short lines also (15-45 mins).

The big question is Gringotts. It seems to be operating at around 30% capacity right now when you factor in down times. They've shown very little progress in resolving the issues throughout the past several weeks. There's no good reason to believe there will be much progress in the next 6 weeks either.

Worst case scenario, it will be fully or partially closed at that time to focus on fixing it. At this point no one knows. If it is open and problems not resolved, I'm expecting to wait 90+ mins to ride it. If problems are resolved and it operated near 100% capacity, i'd expect wait times under an hour.

 

[ptmmg]

We are thinking of a trip this time of years also so I would love to hear what others think

 

[maddiebee]

Is single rider line a good option? Has it generally been shorter wait?

 

[Metro West]

Is single rider line a good option? Has it generally been shorter wait?

Yes...single rider lines generally have a shorter wait. Its definitely a good option as long as you don't mind be split up.

 

[Cielei]

Were going the 21st- 26th of August staying at PBH - most of the people that we know down south (and I checked most of the counties in FL) and across the country have started school by then. Our district doesn't start until after labor day (and DH wouldn't let me take the kids out of school to go in Sept like I wanted - apparently they are too old for that now ); so that looked like a good compromise time when the crowds might hopefully be a little slower. I know it won't be slow, but hopefully, it won't be super crowded either.

 

[andrewilley]

Yeah, I'm hoping the schools going back will make a big difference.

I think we'll probably decide a day or two before whether it's worth splashing out on a two-park ticket and then run the risk of not being able to get on Gringotts due to the queues/ride-downtime.

Andre

 

[harbin]

We are at Disney 8/20-8/30. Going to universal 8/24& 8/25. Not staying onsite but plan on purchasing express pass... I'm really hoping we can ride grignotts! However, we will ride what we can and enjoy doing something different... Never been before!!!

 

[WDW2012]

I sure hope the crowds/lines will be a little better. We'll be there 8/20 - 22 staying at PB. I know we'll have to be up early but i don't really want to get up at 5:00 am on vacation ;-)

Does anyone have any idea what the issues are with Gringotts? I know they are working out issues but any insight as to what they are, why it keeps breaking down and is not at a higher capacity?

 

[maddiebee]

Since gringots doesn't take the express pass, will it really be necessary the last week of August?

 

[andrewilley]

Since gringots doesn't take the express pass, will it really be necessary the last week of August?

It does level the playing field a bit as everyone is in one line, but for myself I'm more concerned that I'll just be a regular guest without no early access options.

Andre

 

[maddiebee]

Our original plan, as we just really want to do DA and see Springfield, was to get there super early and then leave around 4. The more I read the more it seems like staying till close is smarter and has better ambiance? Any thoughts on that?

 

[Cielei]

I sure hope the crowds/lines will be a little better. We'll be there 8/20 - 22 staying at PB. I know we'll have to be up early but i don't really want to get up at 5:00 am on vacation ;-)

Does anyone have any idea what the issues are with Gringotts? I know they are working out issues but any insight as to what they are, why it keeps breaking down and is not at a higher capacity?

We'll be at Portifino the same days ... and a little longer. I imagine it's like when they launch a new app, game or software update, they think all the bugs are worked out, but as it's out there running longer, they discover all the little bugs and the extra little things that can go wrong that they didn't anticipate being a problem. I'm pretty sure they will have worked the majority of the kinks out and be running at full capacity by then.

 

[TimonMeeko]

As a teacher down here, could you all stop reminding me that school starts again soon!!!!

I went to Diagon yesterday around 2pm and you could walk right in. Got lucky and got on Gringotts via single rider--on and off in an hour, compared to the three and a half hour wait on the regular line.

I would ask about lines a bit closer to your visit, as a lot of it will depend on whether they'll get Gringotts up to capacity sooner than later. Yesterday, they were only running one side.

I'm not really a Twitter user, but people post updates about wait times all day. Just go to Google and search #gringotts and make sure you hit "All" so you get anything tagged with Gringotts. I've found the info to be pretty accurate, and it's how I knew to high tail it to the park when both HE and Diagon soft-opened!

The last poster asked about night time ambiance and though I haven't been to Diagon at night I would imagine it would be fantastic. Just seeing the dragon breathe fire at night is, I'm sure, incredible.

I'll be visiting as much as I can before school starts and then, hmmmm, might need a Butterbeer after work one of those days!