Slowest Time of YEAR for Harry Potter?

[winkytink]

Hi all, DH and I are planning a birthday trip for our DD and DS in October 2017. Their birthdays are both in early October and we are definitely going to WDW for a week but are now wanting to add a day at WWoHP. Is early October a good time for Harry Potter crowds-wise? We are hoping to avoid them as much as possible (keeping in mind that this is of course a theme park). I will be checking back and planning this trip in accordance with any changes, but in my experience park crowds by the season don't change very drastically as the years go on.

ETA we are considering the week of October 9-16 at WDW and just one day (either October 8 or October 17) at WWoHP. I'm aware they will have at least expanded WWoHP to include Diagon Alley, Hogwarts Express, and Gringotts by that time, so is one day enough to take in that park or should we try to split it into two days?

TIA!

 

[macraven]

oct 8, 2017 is a sunday.
the 17th of that year, is a tuesday.


planning on hhn still going on over 4 years from now, stay away from sundays at the park would be my suggestion.



other than that, i have no idea about crowds in the park or touring plans for 4 years in the future.
so much can change by that time, not possible for me to predict or give advice.

things change a lot at the darkside parks.

what necessarily has been a low crowd park time, could change in the future.

the slowest time in the parks would be september.
first week, not including weekends, in october is also a good time in the parks for now.

 

[RMulieri]

Kind of hard to predict that many years away..Lots of new things will be opening, some things might not still be there.No way to know how things might change at all this far out

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

4 years ahead?! Wow. October is generally pretty slow, although HHN draws some crowds. Early to Mid November is probably my favorite month to visit, though. Second week in January to early Mid/Late February is pretty slow as well.

 

[Senator Tressel]

One day will be more than enough to see Harry Potter four years from now. You should do two days at Universal though.

 

[hydrotony]

2017? Maybe by then you would realize that you are planning on too many days at WDW and too few at Universal. Hopefully. Really. Far too much Disney.

 

[Metro West]

2017? Maybe by then you would realize that you are planning on too many days at WDW and too few at Universal. Hopefully. Really. Far too much Disney.

Yeah I agree. By that year, there will be WAY too much to do at Universal for just one day and ticket prices will make one day visits prohibitive for many people...both at Universal and WDW.

 

[winkytink]

2017? Maybe by then you would realize that you are planning on too many days at WDW and too few at Universal. Hopefully. Really. Far too much Disney.

No need to be snarky. We aren't really "Universal" people, we are definitely more "Disney" people, but love Harry Potter. I don't appreciate your tone. Please respect that we have different tastes on the matter.

To everyone else, thank you for being as helpful as possible.

 

[Metro West]

No need to be snarky. We aren't really "Universal" people, we are definitely more "Disney" people, but love Harry Potter. I don't appreciate your tone. Please respect that we have different tastes on the matter.

To everyone else, thank you for being as helpful as possible.

I don't think the poster was being snarky. He was just trying to convey that one day is not enough time at Universal to do everything. Just like you wouldn't try to do two parks at Disney in a single day. For the money you're going to be spending, you should plan on two days at least. Universal is going to have a new attraction at one of their parks for the next few years and with the crowds that will be coming, you'll never get your money's worth in a single day.

 

[puakinikini]

We planned our trip way in advance too, which allowed us to pay cash for the entire trip. We are now planning 18 months out. We are going to both wdw and universal in December 2014. 3 days universal and wdw for 7 days. The universal resorts are very fun and lots to do if you stay on site.

 

[hydrotony]

I understand the monetary allure of a long WDW vacation. After paying for a 5-day ticket, each additional day is only $11 per day (up to 10 days total). However, IMO Universal Orlando Resort has an even better ticket, the 14-day 3-park unlimited visit ticket. After paying the equivalent of two 1-day tickets, you get unlimited "park-hopping" admission to both Islands of Adventure (with WWoHP) and Universal Studios theme parks and Wet 'N Wild water park for 14 days as well as no cover charges at City Walk clubs. Quite a good deal.

As for which resort complex was more appealing, here is a short summary of a recent trip. I just spent 6 days/5 nights in Orlando (came home Wednesday) with a friend and his family (wife and 8 & 10 yr old girls) who were doing their 1st Orlando trip (14 days). I live in FL and go often. Here are some observations. Three days at Disney, 3 days at Universal. They did 2 WDW parks before I joined them and did WDW and UOR after I left.

They found Universal much more fun and engaging. They were big readers that loved Harry Potter and were completely taken by WWoHP. The girls also loved roller coasters and loved Dragon Challenge (did both), Hippogriff, The Hulk and Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. Loved Transformers, Spiderman and Forbidden Journey too. Parents were not thrill ride fans so I was 'forced' to go on those rides with them. They found the Disney parks rides tame and so-so except for Rock n' Roller Coaster and Space Mountain. They liked the Disney shows but were not Disney-centric girls so princesses did not interest them. It was nice being around young kids that were more literary stimulated and less visually stimulated. The girls enjoyed the KidCot stuff though and we needed to prod them to move on. Didn't do Tower of Terror or Revenge of the Mummy, parent decision, too scary. The parents differentiated between "scary" and "thrilling" so the coasters were OK with them even if they declined to ride most of them their selves. Overall, they were pleased the most with the 2 Universal parks and were happy they got the UOR 14-day 3-park pass in addition to the 7-day 1-park per day WDW Magic Your Way ticket.

As for what these parks will offer in 2017, UOR will have many new and exciting attractions and themed lands. Along with the new Transformers ride and the Simpson's Springfield land, there will be a new London area of WWoHP, Hogwarts Express connecting the 2 theme parks, revamped Jurassic Park area and probably an expanded Hogsmead section of WWoHP. WDW will have a completed New Fantasyland at MK and maybe an Avatar land at DAK (no ground-breaking yet). Star Wars land at DHS will probably be under construction. Because of this, I said you may have far too much Disney planned and far too little Universal planned.

 

[DCTooTall]

Others have already covered it... especially since 2017 is a LONG way off and it's really difficult to predict how the crowd situation at the Universal parks will evolve over the next couple years as the Economy continues to flux and Universal continues their rapid investment and evolution of the parks.

One thing I'm not sure if you realize though based off your comment about visiting the "Harry Potter Park".... While the Original Harry Potter section was located in the Islands of Adventure park at Universal, the Expansion (diagon alley/London) is being placed in the Universal Studios park, with a train attraction acting as a link between the two parks. This means that in order t experience all of the Harry Potter stuff, You will already be looking at needing to visit both parks without even considering anything else the parks currently have or are going to add between now and your trip that will interest you. [To give you an idea, Transformers when from initial site prep to grand opening in just around 1yr]


With the way the Orlando resorts work to front-load the ticket costs, and quite honestly the way the Universal parks are constantly upping their game, I'd seriously consider looking into the possibility of expanding your trip so that you can spend at least 2 days visiting the Universal resort so you can have a better chance at seeing everything and getting a better value for your $$.

 

[atricks]

Considering there will likely be new attractions at both parks every year up to (and including) 2017 it'll be very difficult to impossible to predict

One day will likely seem incredibly rushed (like trying to do AK, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios in one day), and the rumors really don't go beyond 2015 other than "one more more major new additions" every year.