The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

[ADP]

Okay, first of all here is the text of the letter I was handed at check-in this morning:

Welcome,

We have exciting news for you!

You will be among the first guests to experience The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort!

As on on-site hotel guest, you will be given Early Park Admission for an exclusive preview of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which is scheduled to begin at 8:00AM each day during your stay. You must arrive at Islands of Adventure by 8:45AM (clearly that's a typo on their part, it should have read 7:45AM) and proceed directly to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to ensure access to the area.

You will need a valid theme park admission ticket to Islands of Adventure, your hotel room key and photo ID that will be validated for admission. And please remember that operating hours and availability of specific attractions and entertainment are always subject to change without notice.

The water taxis will begin running at 7:45AM each morning to accommodate your departure for the theme parks.

If you have any questions or need to purchase your theme park tickets, please visit the Attraction Ticket Center in the hotel lobby.

Thank you for choosing Universal Orlando Resort for your vacation destination!

We hope you enjoy your stay with us!

​

Nowhere in this letter, or in my package confirmation documents does it say "2 hours" - the first mention of the word "preview" only appears in the letter above, which we only received when we arrived, and after we'd paid for the package. Even still, "preview" doesn't mean "limited time" - if I'm invited to preview of movie, I expect to see the full movie, not just the first 10 minutes. If I had known this was only going to be a 2 hour preview, I would not have booked the package.

When this package was released in March, there were NO stipulations made that this would be a limited opening. They did say that ATTRACTIONS are subject to availability, and I fully expected that FJ might be down as they worked out the bugs. If that was the extent of it, I'd have no problem - but to charge a premium for this, and not communicate that it would be a '2 hour' preview - allowing those who booked the package to think they would get to be there all day is a classic bait and switch. The only reason it stayed open longer than 10am today was because of the number of people who were FUMING about this.

Sorry - this is just plain WRONG on every level.

Hard to argue your points, Pete. I'd have been upset as well. I'm trying to understand why they are limiting access and the amount of time guests are spending inside HP.

I wonder when they will open it up all day to Harry Potter package guests? It may not be opened all day until the grand opening on June 18th.

 

[rjvose17]

Ok, so I posted right after the announcement was made and was really angry. Universal after several complaints sent me a letter appologizing about the misunderstanding. I used this letter to gain access to the WWOHP today. I cried like a little baby upon entry. I hugged the manager that let me in, and my husband just shook his head. I took tons of pics, and loved every minute of it. I didn't actually gain access until about 9:30 am this morning, and I was in line for about 30 mins and almost on FJ when they shut it down. It was said for tech. difficulties, and we heard rumors of them trying to get it back up and running, but it never happened. They shut down all rides at 10 am, but didnt shut down the shopping areas until much later, I didn't leave until after 11:30 am and I was one of the last to leave, but there were still some people lingering. It's very small, and even though I loved it and was so thankful that I was there, unless FJ is out of this world, I think they may have missed the mark with the possibilities that they could have tapped. I did the wand experience,and stood in the back of the room with several managers timing and whispering and taking notes. I was handed a slip of paper when I went on FJ to see how long the wait was, but never got on the ride. The que is beautiful. The shops are all very small and were extremely hard to manuver with the limited amount of people that were in there. I spoke with several workers and they all said the same thing, once this opens the streets will probably turn into giant ques and blend into one another. Once it thinned out, it was a enjoyable experience, but even with just the limited people there it was so tight in all areas. I can't even imagine what's going to happen when the park opens to the GP. I also tried some of the frozen butterbeer. It tasted like a butterscotch slushie to me. It was really sweet and because I don't really like butterscotch in that large of a amount I dumped most of it out, and kept the souvenir mug. It was good and a different experience. I was going to try pumpkin juice but there was a line. I am going to try to be there tomorrow, its my last day here on vacation so what the heck. Over all I really enjoyed my experience today, I hope that Universal gets all the kinks out and starts getting this PR nightmare taken care of. Harry Potter has such huge potential for them and I hate to see them ruin it.

 

[rjvose17]

Oh and PS, It was a 75 minute posted wait time for FJ by 9:30!

 

[Momw/aplan]

I do understand that but commonsense would be not to buy just because its offered unless you have an opening day.

The way that it happened for me is that I saw the advertisements stating that packages were now being sold for the WWoHP. I called Universal and told them I wanted to come visit WWoHP. They said, "okay, when would you like to come?" I said, "What dates do you have available?" and they helped me book a package from there.

Where in there should my common sense have kicked in telling me not to book?

And so now, after all that money (and yes there is a penalty for canceling--plus I have several other hotels booked along the way contingent on the dates I'm currently booked for WW) I not only find out that I may only get to see it for a couple of hours but also that anyone who books a room-only (no package) right now will get everything I get except for breakfast<--which also means that with a 9:30 breakfast 1/4 of the potential 2hours that the rides will be open will be spent eating. That is frustrating to say the least.

My fingers are crossed that this will all change before I get there and we'll get to stay in WW for a much longer period of time.

 

[Momw/aplan]

For those of you who experience Olivander's today how did that go?

Did they choose 1 person out of your group of 25 like in the Team Member previews, or did everyone who wanted to participate get to have a wand choose them?

 

[Disney_Lover06]

For those of you who experience Olivander's today how did that go?

Did they choose 1 person out of your group of 25 like in the Team Member previews, or did everyone who wanted to participate get to have a wand choose them?

Through videos I have seen on youtube, it looks like only one person get to experience the wand selection. It's about a five to six minute show.

 

[FINFAN]

Dark Marauder was chosen today...he would have first wand knowledge of the experience!

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

i don't feel like going thru almost 200 pages, so i'm gonna ask my here lol


anyway, i was wondering, did they totally get rid of The Lost Continent area of IOA to make way for the Harry Potter Park??

i mean, is Mythos gone? Posideon's Fury? things like that??

honestly, out of the 5 "lands" that was my favorite, even tho i love Harry Potter, i'd be kind of sad to see that area completely gone.

 

[Caribbeanprincess]

Hey guys, so where can I read spoilers for FJ? I wanna be spoiled and I wanna know in all the ways this baby moves, hehe

 

[LilyWDW]

I think we need to breathe until the weekend is over. This was the FIRST day of this. We don't know what caused the decision to shut down at 10am. It could have been something very specific to this day. As of now we just don't have enough information to come up with a conclusion that this is normal...

If this trend continues through the weekend, then I think something funky is going on. At that point I think questions need to be asked.

 

[DisneyGerry]

That being said
Here is my question: When/how often does US get filled to capacity and do on-site guest get better chances of getting in because they are on-site?

And as Universal Resort Guest--Express Pass

 

[FINFAN]

i don't feel like going thru almost 200 pages, so i'm gonna ask my here lol


anyway, i was wondering, did they totally get rid of The Lost Continent area of IOA to make way for the Harry Potter Park??

i mean, is Mythos gone? Posideon's Fury? things like that??

honestly, out of the 5 "lands" that was my favorite, even tho i love Harry Potter, i'd be kind of sad to see that area completely gone.

from what I understand, Mythos is still there but that is about it. I am far from knowledgeable tho...DS was inquiring about the blue icees that were sold there, lol...I think they are available on Marvel Island now tho, I hope so!

 

[lildamo]

i don't feel like going thru almost 200 pages, so i'm gonna ask my here lol


anyway, i was wondering, did they totally get rid of The Lost Continent area of IOA to make way for the Harry Potter Park??

i mean, is Mythos gone? Posideon's Fury? things like that??

honestly, out of the 5 "lands" that was my favorite, even tho i love Harry Potter, i'd be kind of sad to see that area completely gone.

They haven't gotten rid of it completely.

Lost Continent still exists, including Poseidon's Fury, Mythos, and the Sinbad show. Dueling Dragons and Flying Unicorn have been re-themed into Dragon Challenge and Flight of the Hippogriff, and everything from that point to Jurassic Park was taken down and re-built in Potter theming.

Your favourites should still be there!

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

from what I understand, Mythos is still there but that is about it. I am far from knowledgeable tho...DS was inquiring about the blue icees that were sold there, lol...I think they are available on Marvel Island now tho, I hope so!

thanks. man i really loved Posideon's Fury tho! sad that that's gone!

they should have gotten rid of the Jurassic Park area, or maybe Toon Lagoon since there's already Seuss' landing.

 

[Planogirl]

i don't feel like going thru almost 200 pages, so i'm gonna ask my here lol


anyway, i was wondering, did they totally get rid of The Lost Continent area of IOA to make way for the Harry Potter Park??

i mean, is Mythos gone? Posideon's Fury? things like that??

honestly, out of the 5 "lands" that was my favorite, even tho i love Harry Potter, i'd be kind of sad to see that area completely gone.

I think that Mythos and Poseidon's Fury and the shops right by them are still there. I agree, I loved Lost Continent as it was too.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

They haven't gotten rid of it completely.

Lost Continent still exists, including Poseidon's Fury, Mythos, and the Sinbad show. Dueling Dragons and Flying Unicorn have been re-themed into Dragon Challenge and Flight of the Hippogriff, and everything from that point to Jurassic Park was taken down and re-built in Potter theming.

Your favourites should still be there!

oh thank god!! that makes me REALLY happy!! plus the two areas that i'd wanna visit the most are right next to each other!!

 

[Planogirl]

Oops I posted too slowly.

I wasn't sure about Sinbad but considering where it is, that makes sense. The talking well should still be there too.

 

[DisneyGerry]

Hard to argue your points, Pete. I'd have been upset as well. I'm trying to understand why they are limiting access and the amount of time guests are spending inside HP.

I wonder when they will open it up all day to Harry Potter package guests? It may not be opened all day until the grand opening on June 18th.

if exclusive preview opening for Virgin and Universal package deal folks--why add in as well Universal Resort guests? I think that creates a problem there. Seems I can book one of the resorts this weekend and get same entry as those package deal folks who made reservations months ago.

I guess 10a kick out will continue until they open the area to all day guests with a 'soft opening?'

 

[DisneyGerry]

from what I understand, Mythos is still there but that is about it. I am far from knowledgeable tho...DS was inquiring about the blue icees that were sold there, lol...I think they are available on Marvel Island now tho, I hope so!

LC is still there: Poseidon/ Mythos/ Sinbad/ Fire eaters/ games of chance/ etc

 

[lildamo]

if exclusive preview opening for Virgin and Universal package deal folks--why add in as well Universal Resort guests? I think that creates a problem there. Seems I can book one of the resorts this weekend and get same entry as those package deal folks who made reservations months ago.

I guess 10a kick out will continue until they open the area to all day guests with a 'soft opening?'

My guess is there simply weren't enough people with package people only to justify having staff working and test the area with enough people. The only thing you can't get booking a room-only reservation is the breakfast.