Just Back from US/IOA ... a Few Impressions About This Page:

[TinkRocks]

My family (DH, DD 10, DD 8) and I just returned from a long weekend at US and IOA. We stayed off site at the Mariott Cypress Harbour (LOVED this place), and spent one day in each park. We enjoyed our time a US and IOA and are very glad we went.

I wanted to share a few things/opinions on what we saw and experienced. I am sure there will be nothing earth-shattering here, but I do enjoy reading about fellow PP'ers experiences and such as I think it helps so much. So here goes:

* WWHOP is crowded - really crowded. Even (or maybe especially) first thing in the morning.

* We waited 60 minutes for the Forbidden Journey. It was an incredible ride though! Very intense ... I actually closed my eyes through half of it! Then I regretted it. But as it turned out, we ventured back later in the day and rode again - this time I kept my eyes open ... for the most part. Posted wait time: 45 minutes which was really only about 1/2 an hour. This was somewhere around 5 p.m.

* FJ seating ... I am a larger size. I read a lot about fitting into these seats and that if you are "front loaded" (for lack of a better description) you might not fit. I didn't try the seat out front (forgot to) and was slightly worried. However, in line, a cast member asked me to step into the test seat. I did, it fit, and he told me I could ask for an end seat to be more comfortable, which I did.

* FJ lockers. This place is a train wreck! Honestly. I cannot figure out why this park can engineer a ride as sophisticated as FJ, but can't figure out a more efficient way to get people in and out of this locker area. It was so overwhelming to literally fight your way into this area twice - to drop off your stuff and then pick up. And there weren't enough employees around to help if there was an issue.

* More WWHOP: Flight of the Hippogriff is a surprisingly fast coaster. It was waaay more fun and exhilerating than I thought it would be. Olivander's was interesting and the "Olivander" we had was excellent - very good character. But I am not sure it is worth a long wait. We were melting into the sidewalk waiting for this, not sure it was worth the payoff.

* Butterbeer = Delicious! Definitely worth it, especially on a hot day. (In comparison, the Flaming Moe = Tasty, but not worth the $8.99 price tag IMHO).

* Hogsmeade with all the shops and scenery is really great and we enjoyed our time here. We made a few purchases at Honeydukes - don't miss this place.

* Height Requirements: these regulations seem to vary across the entire 2 parks based on who is working at the attraction. My youngest DD (who is barely 48 inches) walked onto FJ w/out a person even giving her a second glance let alone trying to measure her ... the first time. The second time, she was measured, and probably about a 1/4 inch under the bar, but they let her on. At the other park, she tried to get onto Twirl and Hurl in the Simpsons area with her older sister, she was slightly under, and they refused to let her ride with her and I had to get on. No big deal at all. Just that all the rules seemed fairly variable.

* The Express lines and the General lines are generally a giant cluster. I can't tell you how many times we went to an attraction and there was a crowd of people gathering at the entrance. We'd try to get by to get into the general line and couldn't. Nobody seemed to know where to go, what line to be in, etc. We found that typically what was happening is that there was only 1 employee at the entrance, supervising both lines and trying to scan or look at those express line tickets or whatever, and just couldn't do both at once. (And sometimes it was just rude people arguing about one thing or another and wouldn't let anyone past).

* Which brings me to my next two points: these parks could use a few more employees around in general and the park-goers here seemed a bit ruder. Granted, there is nothing at all that can be done about my second point. Just an observation.

* For the exception of WWHOP, we preferred the US park to IOA. We really loved all the attractions/rides we experienced at US and we seemed to be able to do a lot more of them as the lines weren't as long. The only exception being Despicable Me Minion Mayhem which was also a 60 minute wait, like FJ in IOA. This attraction was also amazing!

*FJ and Minion Mayhem were our favorite attractions. But we didn't NOT like anything we tried. Transformers, The Simpsons Ride and MIB were also great. And my girls loved ET ... that to me had a very whimsical feel (like Peter Pan in MK). And the wait was like 10 minutes for that! So that a "win!"

So ... just some random thoughts.