Surprise!! Timed entries for WWOHP today --and BIGGG crowds

[horseshowmom]

If they wanted to keep the area that small, they should have made it an exclusive-extra $100 to enter above and beyond the park entrance kind of thing and truly limited the number of people allowed in per day. Sort of like SeaWorlds's Discovery Cove. Could have been the same kind of thing.

In some ways, I think they have. That's why I have a room booked at Hard Rock Hotel on 12/20 for $245 even though I have a house rented for that entire week! With taxes, that one night will be half what I'm paying for a 5BR house in Sunset Lakes gated community for the week (the house was such a good deal that I booked it even though there are only 4 of us)! .

The room is booked solely for the early entry hour (for both the 20th and the 21st) and for front of the line acccess. According to their calendar, that week (up until the 24th, I think) is supposed to be value season, but the hotels are booked solid for the night we'll be there (and the nights on each side) - although you can still book an onsite room on Priceline here and there.

 

[Lucky4me]

In some ways, I think they have. That's why I have a room booked at Hard Rock Hotel on 12/20 for $245 even though I have a house rented for that entire week! With taxes, that one night will be half what I'm paying for a 5BR house in Sunset Lakes gated community for the week (the house was such a good deal that I booked it even though there are only 4 of us)! .

The room is booked solely for the early entry hour (for both the 20th and the 21st) and for front of the line acccess. According to their calendar, that week (up until the 24th, I think) is supposed to be value season, but the hotels are booked solid for the night we'll be there (and the nights on each side) - although you can still book an onsite room on Priceline here and there.

Smart move. I was going to do the same thing, but we went during a slower time and we didn't need it. If we went on your dates, I'd do it for sure.

 

[SandraLee]

Well, I had a room booked for 12/26 - 12/30 for exactly the same reason. No way would I pay over $425 per night for a regular hotel room. But, the attraction was the front of the line access and the early entry.

But, frankly the Thanksgiving holiday reports have scared me away. I had a friend there on the Monday *before* Thanksgiving and she said you couldn't even walk in WWOHP.

I would have paid the amount if there was some guarantee of being about to get in and enjoy the experience, but with the current reports, the risk wasn't worth it.

I rebooked into the club level at PBH for the same amount just before Memorial Day. Hopefully, either they would have figured out the crowds or they won't be quite so bad as the week after Christmas.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

It was being held along one of the "alley" walls behind the shop. And, it looked like it wasn't moving at all.



This sounds like a really good idea. IoA has always been DH's fave park, but after our experience there on Monday, I couldn't drag him back there. It seemed as if they were totally unprepared for the large crowds & everything felt very unorganized. We were extremely disappointed & wished that we had made other plans for that day. We were talking about it on our cab ride back & DH said, "At WDW, people would be outraged if they had to wait in 2 different lines for 1-2 hours just to get into Frontierland & then wait in another line for another hour to eat at Pecos Bill, & wait another hour to get into a gift shop, & get in line for another 2 hours to ride Splash Mountain...just for it to break down once we're finally close to the front." That's pretty much how we felt. After being there for almost 5 hours, we were only able to eat lunch (which included another 5 lines: one outside to get into the restaurant, another one inside to be assigned to a cashier, a line for the cashier, a line to pick-up your food, & a line to be assigned to a table) & ride one ride.

Except Disney doesn't have a new land that people want to see that badly. And even if they did build one, it wouldn't be based on what's probably the most currently popular intellectual property in the world.

If you're going during holidays to the theme parks, you should know what to expect. If you're going in the first months an incredibly popular attraction is open, you should also know what to expect.

 

[PirateLover]

I really don't think anyone here was ever under the illusion that there would be no wait or that the park wouldn't be super crowded. When we were in line to get into WWOHP, the lady behind us kept going on and on about what she had heard about the wait times inside. I finally told her that we fully expected to wait-it's a new attraction and the latest craze.

First, you have to understand you are taking about an area the size of maybe Canada or the United Kingdom in Epcot. Now imagine everyone who is visiting Epcot heads straight to Canada for the day. That is what made it so miserable. You wait for everything-to ride, to eat (as a previous poster said in Three Broomsticks you line up to get in, you stand in line once you are in, you then go to another line to place your order and then to another line to get your food-and you are not allowed to sit down until you have your tray in your hand) and to shop. Universal also seems to have a lot of ride issues-stopping, breaking down,etc.

The other huge concern is the lack of organization and general crowd control. The employees cannot control the crowds-it is chaos. They try to form lines and keep order, but there is so much confusion and so many employees saying different things that it is hard to figure out what to do. It is a potentially dangerous situation.

I won't say that we would never go back-but it will be a few years.

 

[mama03]

Well due to traffic we didnt get a chance to actually go into the parks yesterday, but did go to Universal citywalk. Let me tell you it was a mob scene. Lots of people walking to and from IOA.

 

[Timmy Boy]

I really don't think anyone here was ever under the illusion that there would be no wait or that the park wouldn't be super crowded. When we were in line to get into WWOHP, the lady behind us kept going on and on about what she had heard about the wait times inside. I finally told her that we fully expected to wait-it's a new attraction and the latest craze.

First, you have to understand you are taking about an area the size of maybe Canada or the United Kingdom in Epcot. Now imagine everyone who is visiting Epcot heads straight to Canada for the day. That is what made it so miserable. You wait for everything-to ride, to eat (as a previous poster said in Three Broomsticks you line up to get in, you stand in line once you are in, you then go to another line to place your order and then to another line to get your food-and you are not allowed to sit down until you have your tray in your hand) and to shop. Universal also seems to have a lot of ride issues-stopping, breaking down,etc.

The other huge concern is the lack of organization and general crowd control. The employees cannot control the crowds-it is chaos. They try to form lines and keep order, but there is so much confusion and so many employees saying different things that it is hard to figure out what to do. It is a potentially dangerous situation.

I won't say that we would never go back-but it will be a few years.

I'm just letting you know,that if Disney built this the exact same way that Universal did it, it would be the exact same way. Meaning, it would be just as crowded, just as chaotic. And please don't say "Disney would have done it better". How would they have done it better? Make it so that even LESS people are in the land at once? Ok, that's fine, then the line to get INTO the land would be 2 hours instead of one.

Also, where did we say that Universal rides keep breaking down? Forbidden Journey, basically the most technologically advanced ride ever built runs very smoothly. I've been on it twice when it's stopped for about 10 minutes, then it goes again. I've never been in the park when the ride stopped and wasn't ready again for hours. Yes, it has happened, but I think they've smoothed it out some.

 

[damo]

Forbidden Journey tends to shut down for a few minutes quite often for a "cleanup in aisle 6".

 

[RainbowsMist]

Forbidden Journey tends to shut down for a few minutes quite often for a "cleanup in aisle 6".

I love rides like Spiderman, The Simpsons Ride, Jimmy Neutron..simulator rides and BTT, SM (smaller coasters) etc. but I can't do The Hulk, Manta, Kracken etc (it's the whole fear of dying thing..lol)..although I did to Rockin Roller Coaster (it was dark so I couldn't "see" it)...I wonder if I will be able to do FJ?? I REALLY want too!!

 

[Timmy Boy]

^Oh if you love motion simulators, you'll love FJ. It's one of the best around. It's a motion simulator and much more!

 

[PirateLover]

Oooh sorry Tim-I think you thought I was responding to you! I wasn't-I was responding to the original poster.

Thanks though! All good info!

 

[go2grl]

We are staying at RPR 12/17-12/22 and I already figured it would be a busy time, but it works with my work schedule and my sons' school vacation. We'll take advantage of the early entry, visit all the other rides US and IoA have to offer, hit the room or club level when we need a break and make the best of it. We may not be able to control the crowds, the "figuring out" how to deal with the crowds on Universal's part or myriad other things that may be annoying, but we can certainly decide how we deal with the situation and what we want to take away from our vacation. I'm sure Universal will figure out how to deal with the HP crowds eventually, but until then, I plan to completely enjoy the first vacation my boys and I have had in almost 2 years.

 

[dansamy]

We're planning to be at IoA on Wednesday, 12/01. Any crowd predictions? Tips? Tricks?

 

[sjrogo713]

Went Tuesday b4 Thanksgiving b/c we thought it would be less crowded than Wed, Thurs, and Fri --- arrived at approx 9 - went directly to WWoHP and got in okay but terrible lines (FJ was 90 min, Ollivander's 2 hrs) everywhere even to go in stores to buy stuff, just looked around a bit and headed to rest of IOA, figuring to come back later when crowds died down. Big mistake! We worked our way around through Jurrasic Park, the water rides and into Super Heros area with not too much of await at anything and picked up some hot dogs for lunch walked back up through Seuss area, headed back to WWoHP.
At 1PM, ran into the ticket system and waited about 1/2 hour to enter the area. Left my sis and aunt behind to see Sinbad and Posiedon attractions(they're not HP fans) Took about 10-15 mins just to get a locker to stow bag before FJ, had to wait for full lockers to become available, 140 min projected wait was only about 1 hr 45 mins it was good but would not wait that long again. as we were coming back into Hogsmeade , ran into my sis and aunt who had just entered the area with no ticket, or waitwe then waited 1/2 to buy Butterbeer from street vendor, but it was delicious. Could not get into any stores, we bought a Sirius Black wand for my son at the Store near the entrance on the way out. Will never attempt to go there again around any school vacation time, it was kind of scary, as others have noted, with the big crowds in the street and pushing to get to stores. Looked like the Dueling dragons was shut down, so we did not even attempt to get to this

 

[tink1953]

we were at Harry Potter park today...arrived around 1:30 and decided to check the time on forbidden journey...only 30 mins,,,hmmm will give it a try I think, my husband can't ride because he gets sick soooo did single rider line and walked right on...no wait what so ever.

This ride is amazing!!! I can't say how much I loved it....everything about it was soooo fun.

I told my husband there was no way he could ever do this ride...he would barf after the first turn...hah
Also told him I had to ride it again..later when it got dark, which is what we did....this time I decided to do the 20 mins in line to see everything and then hit the single rider line at the next point and again walked right on. No wait either time I rode..single rider is the way to go, you could even still sit together.

There was a short line for Ollivanders so we did that, short wait and I recorded it, very cute.
The shops were not that crowded so I got video and pics in them.

If I had not read everything here I would have been disappointed with the size of everything, but I knew what to expect.

we had a good time and was impressed with how much it looked like the movie..will do it again tuesday....will let you know how the crowds are then.

BArb

 

[Coach81]

Wow

 

[mollybeasley]

For anyone who says that people wouldn't tolerate these lines at Disney, you should check out the lines for Toy Story mania and Fantasmics. Last week the lines to get on Toy Story Mania were longer than 60 minutes all day, and often got as high a 100, 110 and 120 minutes. Many people wait 1.5-2 hours hoping to get a seat for Fantasmic. If you don't want to wait that long, you're encouraged to buy a dinner package that allows you to sit in a reserved section. But even then, if you don't get on line 30 minutes early, you might lose your reserved seat.

Even right now, when Universal is almost dead, you have to wait 83 minutes to ride TSM at WDW.