Spent New Years Day at Epcot and the crowds were great. Rode Soarin, Test Track, Mission Space in the first hour. We had a great day. Shopped on Sunday at Premium International Drive and it was busier than Epcot had been the day before.
Today I went over to the dark side for me, and went to IOA. We arrived before opening and managed to get in Harry Potter. Rode the ride by 10:15 but the lineups for the store etc. were already 60 minutes pluse. They closed admission to the area except for express pass guests by 10:30. We found Harry to be amazingly themed, but the area is chaotic with very little direction from staff and few staff to be seen. We gave up and went to the Studio side and it was better, lower crowds and more land. I guess I compared it to Disney and did not feel it met my expectations. The fact that their are three level of customers, ( I don't feel I was a guest) bothers me. If you don't stay on site or pay for express pass you wait and wait and wait. I prefer the fast pass system at Disney. It seems more fair to me.
Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom and another day of beautiful weather. We will go back to Universal before we leave and hopefully it will be quieter, though I doubt it. There were at least 5 tour groups with the flags in the area and they are loud.
Nepean