What are wait times like mid-late august?

[kugelette]

We were planning an all-disney trip August 17-23, but my son just discovered harry potter. I'm thinking of maybe doing three days at Universal. Thing is, I can't do long waits in line (I mean, I *could*, but ain't nobody got time for that...). At Disney we usually rope drop and then only ride/do what we can FP or get onto with a 20 minute or less wait. What are the waits like on most of the attractions at US and IOA that time of year? Considering staying on-site for the EP, but obviously it's an additional cost. What are the waits like for the HP attractions if you stay on-site and get in early, vs staying off-site?

 

[RMulieri]

Definitely stay onsite if you can..The 3 deluxe resorts offer early entry and express.Cabana Bay only has early entry and no express passes .wait times during early entry can be nothing to 30 mins or more.Just depends HOW fast you hoof it to the areas .They generally open the gates about 15 mins earlier since both Potter sections are way in the back.Keep in MIND...Both parks are only open for early entry till early August .After that it is rumored to only be early entry at IOA.Express passes wont help with Harry Potter Forbidden Journey, Hogwarts Express , Ollivanders, and Gringotts.But it can be used on Flight of the Hippogriff and Dragon Challenge and it will definitely help elsewhere in the parks.The other long-wait ride is Despicable ME..It has long waits ( over 60 mins) even in lower crowds .I was actually quite surprised at how busy it was compared to what was predicted when we went August 2013.More people than I was expecting and not as dead as everyone told me it was

 

[damo]

Mid-late August is always busier than I expect. I'd recommend staying onsite at one of the deluxe hotels.

 

[Cheesehead9]

We go end of August each year. If you stay at a deluxe onsite hotel, you will have very little or no waits - the complete opposite of Disney.

There's no express pass for the Potter rides, but it doesn't really matter. Go single rider if you can't handle a 15 min wait.

Wait times have been down this summer at Universal (according to touringplans). Even on peak summer days, Gringotts is averaging ~15-20 minute waits. Should be a near walk-on in late August.

 

[Darcy03231]

We've been during this time frame several times and are going again this year. We stay off-site and have found that, overall, by getting to the parks at opening (that means being in line at the gates by around 8:30 am), we've been able to see/do everything with minimal waits. We've found the parks don't get too crowded until around noon time. Wait times in the morning have been less than half an hour and for a lot of stuff, less than 15 minutes. Last time we went the parks opened earlier than the posted times.

Day 1 - We went directly to WWHOP and did FJ with no wait. We then went to Ollivander's and waited about 15 minutes. Dragon's Challenge and Flight of the Hippograff also had little to no wait times. We rode FJ several more times using the single rider line with waits of less than 5 minutes. We then went out and did the rest of IOA. I think the longest we waited in line for was Spiderman and that was about 30 minutes.

Day 2 - (Pre WWHOP) We went and did the Minion ride first (when tends to get long lines). We then continued our way around the park and again, did most everything else in US with wait time of less than 30 minutes. Longest line was the Simpsons which was about 45 minutes in the afternoon.

 

[Cuchman]

We're going the week after that....this is our first time.
We are staying at cabana bay...so we'll have early entry but no express passes.
I made that choice because our primary interest is WWOHP and we are rope drop people, so I figured this time of year, waits would be shorter enough for us to deal with it. Also got a great cabana bay price at cheap tickets.
Anyway, hope it works out crowd-wise