Taking advantage of Diagon Alley during HHN night.

[chikita]

Hi, Me, my wife and 9 year old daughter are planning on going to HHN on Oct. 19. We only plan on doing 2 or 3 houses, and then plan on spending time at Diagon Alley, assuming it will be open again this year. We are thinking the area will be pretty quite and would like to take advantage of checking it out at night with lower crowds. Just curious if any of you HHN veterans spent any time in Diagon Alley last year during HHN and if crowds were low in that part of the park. Thank you for you replies in advance

 

[macraven]

I went Friday Columbus Day weekend and did some at da

Still had crowds there at 10 pm


Only was in that section less than 30 minutes

 

[chikita]

I went Friday Columbus Day weekend and did some at da

Still had crowds there at 10 pm


Only was in that section less than 30 minutes

Thank you for your reply, do you know if Diagon stays open till HHN closing. Also do you think the crowds were more managable then a typical day?

 

[macraven]

I don't remember when da closed
Don't think it stayed open until Hhn was over

With a 2:00 am closing in the morning, the place would not be cleared out until at least 3am or later

 

[nighttowll]

If you do, aim for later. Last year they kept it open to non-party guests for awhile, and it definitely wasn't less crowded then. In fact, probably the opposite. It was the only part of the park you were allowed to stay in if you didn't have a party ticket, so you either had to leave or go there. I remember it was kind of crazy with a barrier around the area, and TMs everywhere, and huge crowds. They went around checking tickets, and they wouldn't let you stay or enter Diagon unless you had a park to park ticket because they would only let you leave by the train afterwards. I'm pretty sure they gave you a band at this time to signify you were confined to that area and couldn't leave it, but my memory is a little blurry on that. Diagon didn't stay open the length of the party. It only stayed open until what I'm guessing would have been its regular non-party night closing time which was only a couple of hours later for the time of year we were there when the parks close early at like 7:00. It may have been even earlier than that. I can't remember the exact closing time, but we only got a little extra time I do remember that, 1 or 2 hours extra only. Then at that time, they swept Diagon Ally and escorted everyone to the train who hadn't left yet.

For non-party people, it was great to have the extra time in the park, but it definitely wasn't uncrowded. Not sure how it is the rest of the night.

 

[chikita]

If you do, aim for later. Last year they kept it open to non-party guests for awhile, and it definitely wasn't less crowded then. In fact, probably the opposite. It was the only part of the park you were allowed to stay in if you didn't have a party ticket, so you either had to leave or go there. I remember it was kind of crazy with a barrier around the area, and TMs everywhere, and huge crowds. They went around checking tickets, and they wouldn't let you stay or enter Diagon unless you had a park to park ticket because they would only let you leave by the train afterwards. I'm pretty sure they gave you a band at this time to signify you were confined to that area and couldn't leave it, but my memory is a little blurry on that. Diagon didn't stay open the length of the party. It only stayed open until what I'm guessing would have been its regular non-party night closing time which was only a couple of hours later for the time of year we were there when the parks close early at like 7:00. It may have been even earlier than that. I can't remember the exact closing time, but we only got a little extra time I do remember that, 1 or 2 hours extra only. Then at that time, they swept Diagon Ally and escorted everyone to the train who hadn't left yet.

For non-party people, it was great to have the extra time in the park, but it definitely wasn't uncrowded. Not sure how it is the rest of the night.

Thank you for the reply, I was hoping it would stay open till 9 or 10 pm, I have read some trip reports where people have said it was deserted during HHN. Hoping I can get a concrete answer on Diagons closing time during HHN.

 

[gatordoc]

When we went last year (a Wednesday night in October), once the party was going, Diagon Alley was deserted. We rode Gringotts three times in a row until we got tired of walking through the queue (there was no wait, but it still takes time to get through the whole thing with the photo, the elevator, etc.). Too bad they can't turn Knockturn Alley into a scare zone - that would be amazing.

 

[chikita]

Thank you

When we went last year (a Wednesday night in October), once the party was going, Diagon Alley was deserted. We rode Gringotts three times in a row until we got tired of walking through the queue (there was no wait, but it still takes time to get through the whole thing with the photo, the elevator, etc.). Too bad they can't turn Knockturn Alley into a scare zone - that would be amazing.

Thank you, did you happen to notice if it stayed open as long as the HHN party was running or did they close that section earlier.

 

[macraven]

Last year da was closed before the park/Hhn ended

 

[atricks]

If I recall Gringotts closed at 11PM so they could do nightly maintenance even though DA remained open until Midnight, Leaky Cauldron restaurant also closed around 9 or 10PM.

 

[nkereina]

We were there the Wednesday before Halloween last year and found DA to be moderately busy. More than I was expecting. Not as busy as the daytime, but busy enough were there were still some lines. On the date you're going, you may fare better in terms of crowds.

Have you all been to HHN before? Just a word of caution that it's not recommended for children under age 13. It's up to your discretion, however. Some of the houses are intense and a few of the shows can be raunchy.

 

[chikita]

We were there the Wednesday before Halloween last year and found DA to be moderately busy. More than I was expecting. Not as busy as the daytime, but busy enough were there were still some lines. On the date you're going, you may fare better in terms of crowds.

Have you all been to HHN before? Just a word of caution that it's not recommended for children under age 13. It's up to your discretion, however. Some of the houses are intense and a few of the shows can be raunchy.

Thank you for the information and the word of caution, my daughter is mature for her age, has a dark side and is a huge Harry Potter fan and we only plan on doing a few of the houses and going over to Diagon for the rest of the night.

 

[Raeven]

We did Scareactor Dining last year and they let you go a little early to see one house. We went to Diagon Alley after. (They had let everyone in by then I believe). There was a guy on one side saying you couldn't go in, but there were people there and people just going in the other way. Diagon Alley was pretty much empty and Gringotts had no wait. We didn't go back later though.

 

[macraven]

I did the first seating if the SA dining last year but they did not give us that option

Did not get to do a house early like you did

 

[Raeven]

I did the first seating if the SA dining last year but they did not give us that option

Did not get to do a house early like you did

They had already let the AP holders and a few other groups out but they let us each get into a line for one of houses (either Walking dead or freddy vs Jason) and then released us to get in the line. The wait was like 15 mins but we used our EP so we walked right in. I think we were seated at 445ish, we did SA in September on the second weekend of HHN.

 

[macraven]

i did the SA dining on the early date in october.
think they only had a few dates for it last year.

maybe they stopped the dinners from doing a house early then i went?

once i was done, i was directed to a holding area with others leaving when i did.