My 10 y/o son and I went to IOA this past Sunday, 2/13.
We left Disney propery at around 8:35 am. We took a cab from AKL-Kidani Village to US-IOA.
This was our very first time at US-Orlando, but we had been to US-California several times before. We were going mainly to experience the WWOHP (and to ride Spiderman). We got to the gates at exactly 9am. We didn't pre-buy our tickets because we were not sure if we'd have time to do WWOHP because DH and my younger DS wanted to do DTD on this Sunday, but we ended up doing separate things and decided to meet up later in the day.
Anyway, it was a short line to get our US tickets, one day one park tickets only for each of us ~ $160 for the both of us. The person behind the ticket counter laughed when he saw my Disney Visa, and said he just loved it when US took money away from Disney! ! He also tired to sell us Express Passes, but since FJ was not included in it, we decided not to get them. We entered the park at around 9:05 am and turned right thru Suess land and past Poseidon's temple to get to Hogsmeade. There were no crowds on the way to Hogsmeade. My son said he hoped WWOHP was empty too, and I said that that's probably where all the people are at. (I wanted to condition him to the crowds, if any. I didn't want him to get disappointed if the wait was very long.)
We were giddy with excitement as we approached Hogsmeade and saw Hogwarts Castle from afar We first took a photo by the Hogwarts Express train with the conductor. There were a good amount of people walking around town but very manageable. We passed by Ollivander's, and there as a short line of ~ 20 people there. DS was not much interested to see the Ollivander's show, he merely wanted to buy a wand, so we decided to pass that over.
Then we hightailed it to Hogwarts Castle. Well, there was NO LINE AT ALL! Mind you, it was about 9:20 am at this point. The sign said standby wait was 15 minutes, but the truth is, we just walked-on. But, before entering the castle, there are ride seats you can sit on to measure if you fit in before actually going on the ride itself. I am a bit on the heavy side (~200 lbs) and I fit easily with some room to spare even . I was told by a Team Member (Cast Member in Disney lingo) that the end seats on the benches were modified to fit people who need the extra room, btw. So we go thru the gates and because I had a bag, we detoured to the locker area where we got a locker for free (1st 40 mins free, after 40 mins, you get charged a couple of bucks). I thought it was cool that it used fingerprints to rent and open your locker, no key necessary.
After we stowed my bag and jacket, we went through the queue. It was AWESOME!!! I don't want to spoil it for you, so skip this paragraph if you want to be surprised. There were talking paintings, the Daily Prophet, the Phoenix that guards Dumbledore's office, hologram Dumbledore in his office, DADA classroom, Harry, Ron and Hermione in hologram, Herbology classroom, the talking Fat Lady portrait, Sorting hat, and the Candles floating on the ceiling like in the Great Hall in the movie. You can actually go through the Castle without riding, there is a Castle tour path for non-riders. I wanted to stop to look at the displays longer, but there were people behind us and I didn't want to hold up the line. And as I said earlier, we walked on through to the ride benches. there are four seats on one bench, and they load very quickly. My DS sat on one of the middle seats, and I was at the left end beside him.
Again, I don't want to spoil the ride for you, so skip this paragraph if you want to be surprised. There was the Hungarian horntail dragon that breathes steam onto your face, a bunch of giant spiders (Aragog) that spit venom on you, Whomping Willow that attempts to hit you, Dementors chasing you, and the collapsing Chamber of Secrets. At the end of the ride, the characters from the movie are hologrammed onto a wall and wave bye to you as you exit.
The ride was a little rough, but not as bad motion sickness-wise as I had imagined --and I am a chicken when it comes to rides, having done TOT only twice and EE once in my life (my sons tricked me into those, but that is another story). Never rode Space Mountain nor RnRC. My type of rides are Haunted Mansion, and Peter Pan, so you can see where I'm coming from. I say try it once, I think you won't regret it.
After we exit the ride, we go to Filch's Emporium/gift shop. We look around a few minutes, but DS and I both need to use the bathroom, so we ask where one is and we go to the one in Hogsmeade. Surprise, Moaning Myrtle is in the Ladies' Room (my DS says she was in the Men's Room too!) I didn't "see" her, but she can be heard all over the bathroom.
Anyways, after that, we decided we were hungry and want to eat at the Three Broomsticks. It was about 10:20AM. We ordered Fish and Chips (we shared) and a glass of Pumpkin Juice and a glass of Butterbeer ~ $ 20 for all. We liked the Butterbeer, it was like watered down Rootbeer float! But the Pumpkin Juice was so-so IMHO, it tasted like liquified Pumpkin pie! We sat by a nice young lady at Three Broomsticks, and she is a US AP holder who lives in Orlando. She said the day before, Saturday, she was at WWOHP at around noon-ish, and the standby wait to get into FJ was 4 HOURS! Whoa! So it seems to me that Sunday early AM is still the best time to go to WWoHP to avoid the crowds.
We took plenty of photos at the Three Broomsticks, and when we were done, I asked DS if he wanted to ride Dueling Dragons or FOTH, but he wanted to examine all the shops closely and explore the village instead. We entered Dervish and Banges and bought some wands and a quill. We went back to the entrance of Hogsmeade where the train was and took photos with another conductor. Hogsmeade was getting very busy and more people were arriving. We went into Honeydukes and bought chocolate frogs and a chocolate wand. Entered Zonko's joke shop which connects with Honeydukes, but didn't buy anything from there. They did have plenty of cool stuff like sneakoscopes, screaming yoyos and extendable ears. We saw plenty of folks with Gryffindor scarves so we decided we would get us those too! They had the scarves just like what they wore in the movies at Dervish for $39. We got the Gryffindor one. We also wanted the Gryffindor scarf with the crest and the word "Gryffindor" written on it, but we were told by a Team member that only Filch's sold that kind. We wanted to tour the castle again anyway, so up we walked to Hogwarts again.
This time, the line for FJ said 45 mins, still not bad. We walked through the Castle tour line, and there was only one other family who was touring the castle. We then walked over to Filch's and bought the other gryffindor scarf, WWOHP cap for DH, 2 awesome harry Potter pins (we are pin collectors, Disney only, but Harry Potter too now!), and a Gryffindor keychain. The gift shops in general are very tiny and crowded, and darkly lit for ambience. If you have claustrophobia, this is not a good idea, I overheard one person panicking, "I gotta get outta here". We took plenty of photos in and around the castle but decided we didn't want to ride FJ again. One a day was enough. DS "dueled" with a team Member selling wands at a cart by the Hogwarts gate, and we took photos with other wizard-costumed Team Members. We examined the shop windows closely and saw self-writing quills, and a box of shaking, restrained quidditch balls.
Btw, I forgot to add that there were carts around WWOHP that sell Butterbeer in case you didn't want to go to Three Broomsticks. The butterbeer is served either in disposable plastic cups with "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" printed in front, or you could get a plastic mug with an emblem on it, but I think that one was more expensive. No drink covers for either Butterbeer mugs/cups. Too bad because I wanted to bring butterbeer to DH and younger DS. They did have bottled and sealed Pumpkin Juice if you wanted to take it home.
Also, about wands, they are sold everywhere there. You could get them from the places I mentioned above, or even at the main US-IOA gift shop in front, by the IOA entrance. At WWOHP that day, there was an abundance of all the wands, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Voldy, Sirius, Ginny, Lupin, McGonagal, etc. They also had generic wands, which appealed to my son more. Of course, he has 2 Harry Potter wands at home already . Younger DS got the Ron Weasley wand as a present from me. He likes Ron better than Harry.
By 12:30 PM, we just about saw and experienced everything we wanted in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. The village was really very congested by that time. So we decided to say farewell to WWOHP.
We rode Spiderman once, then left US at around 215 pm, took a cab to DTD and met up with DH and other DS and baby DD at the World of
Disney store in DTD. The cab ride from US to DTD (exit #68) was much cheaper (~$25) than from AKL-Kidani to US (~$35). We then took the Disney bus from DTD to our Disney resort. (This was a tip from the cab driver that brought us there).
Sorry this post was detailed and long, but it seems to me we were in the same boat as you are, being Disney veterans but US-IOA rookies. Hope this helps. In any case, enjoy your trip! P.S. I also posted this in the Harry Potter crowd report thread, but reposting it here in case you didn't see the sticky above.
We do not do fast rides or roller coaters.
Harry Potter movies.
Does Harry Potter have it's own tickets ?
