which first: hogsmeade or diagon alley

[friendoffigment]

going to universal/ioa in sept. basically the group wants to do harry potter. what's the consensus on where to start. hogsmeade/forbidden then to diagon or vice versa. we will be there for rope drop. TIA

 

[Bluer101]

DA, re-live the books and movies in order.

 

[saskdw]

This is a good question.

So we are very casual HP people. We've seen the movies, but were the kind of people who see the movies a couple years after they come out. Usually when there on one the free movie channels on the dish. So HP isn't priority one for us, we will get around to it. We head straight for Spiderman and then go where the mood takes us after that. Possible we won't even hit HP until the 2nd day.

We have seen the original HP section in 2010 and 2012.

So would you recomend we enter for the IOA side or US side to enjoy it the most this time?

 

[Bluer101]

As above, US to DA then train to IOA.

 

[Lewdannie]

Just a quick clarification along the same lines. We are there staying at the HRH on 26 and 27 Sept. On both days:
US opens at 8am
IoA has EE at 8am with regular opening at 9am

Is it a sensible strategy to do rope drop at US, go straight to Gringotts, and then hop on Hogwarts Express and do Forbidden and Dragon challenge?

 

[macraven]

since you are going on the weekend, leave hrh in plenty of time to be at the gate for the early entry.
the line for the hotel guests is marked, show your hotel room key to enter that line.

have your park ticket or ap scanned at the turnstile and then go staight to the ride.
HE will usually start to operate 30 minutes before the official park entry to those waiting at the outside gate.

you can always return to the studios DA and complete that portion of the park once you have ridden FJ.

studios will close at 5:00 due to hhn that night.
ioa will stay open past that time.

 

[Lewdannie]

since you are going on the weekend, leave hrh in plenty of time to be at the gate for the early entry.
.

Thanks