Thoughts on waiting until the afternoon to make our way over to Harry Potter - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Thoughts on waiting until the afternoon to make our way over to Harry Potter
We are staying at an offsite hotel so no early entry for us . We are going the first week of April and I'm expecting serious crowds. Would you still recommend going to Harry Potter first thing or is there any chance we might benefit from touring the other parts of the park first hoping that the rest of of the crowds will swamp Harry Potter early and then clear out for the afternoon?
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We went during winter break this past year and found that it was mobbed in the morning, but we could walk on all of the rides by the time it got dark. The crowd at Ollivander's never seemed to wane, though.
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We stayed offsite as well, and you may want to check. If it's a hotel that affiliates with Universal, they'll offer bus service....just not continual like Disney does. We could have taken the bus for an early entry via our hotel. We chose to just park so we could come and go when we pleased.
We headed straight for Harry Potter when we got there anticipating the hours long wait for Forbidden Journey, and had purchased Express Passes to handle all the other rides. We could have saved money, because Express Passes weren't necessary.
Spring break lasts for months ....ours is over, but my friends in Michigan isn't till next week, and friends in Alabama aren't having theirs till mid April. We arrived on St. Paddy's Day and Universal Drive was packed with traffic, so we were worried about crowds at the parks the next day. But no line was longer than half an hour at the very most. And that included the Forbidden Journey. We rode that ride 3 times the day we went. The wait times posted at both Universal parks were nowhere near correct. So we quickly learned not to base the anticipated wait on what was posted. We also had little or no wait at Sea World. If I were going again this time of year, we'd do it the same again and hit Harry Potter and the other "dry" rides first, then head to the rides that get you drenched, because by afternoon that water felt great! Go! Have fun! and Enjoy the Orlando Experience!!
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We just returned from Universal (I'll do a short TR if I can get my act together
Here is our experience on March 8, 9, 10:
1) we stayed at Royal Pacific so we DID have early entry and express passes.
We only used early entry on the 8th and that allowed us to walk on HP with barely enough time to enjoy the line up. We returned to the ride at the end of the day and it was about a 40 minute wait - very enjoyable because the line is entertaining. We also went back the morning of the 10th but entered the park just as they were allowing the off-site guests in (which, by the way, they did 15 minutes early!) so we had a slightly longer wait, because some of the young ones in line at the tickets gates sprinted the whole way to Hogsmeade. Over the whole trip, we did the FJ ride 4 times and if you can't stay on site for early entry here are my suggestions based on our stay - go early and line up to get in when it opens at 9 (or 8:45 as it did on the 10th) and yes, your plan of going later in the day is also a good one because during the mid day it was posted at 70 minutes and up. I have no idea how busy the parks were as this was our first time there, but the Royal Pacific was only 60%occupied for the Thurs and Fri nights and then very full on the Saturday which would have been the start of many Canadian March Breaks.
Ollivanders was ridiculous all day so I would suggest first thing if that is important to you. Ditto for butterbeer - constant line up
Was the express pass worth it at a not quite so busy time? YOU BET!! Loved it! We went where we wanted, when we wanted and never thought twice about wait times. FJ was a very pleasant wait and the only ride at Universal without EP access (still want to call them fast passes) was Rip Ride Rock'it and since we walked on every other single ride we just sucked it up and enjoyed the 40 minute line when we passed it. It is amazingly easy to wait for one big ride when the rest of the time was walk-ons or very close to it. There were times when we went to the front of the line and passed lines over an hour - so very and so very easy to manage. I don't regret spending the money to stay on-site just for that - it made our vacation more fun, I have no doubt.
I'll try to knock off a TR but maybe not before you go, so if you have any specific questions, fire away and I'll try to pop on to check the boards over the weekend.
Enjoy your trip!
Thanks everyone! We decided to go to Harry Potter first thing today. Waited about 90mins for Forbidden Journey, 60mins for Flight of the Hippogriff and rode each side of Dragon Challenge with wait times of about 10mins each. The park was PACKED!!! We waited 2hours to get on Spiderman, the posted wait time was 75 It was a tough day to enjoy the park, after these rides we had enough of the crowds, got Butterbeers and left. Gonna try Universal in a couple days, hoping for a little less wait time for rides but not counting on it.
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Offsite May 2005, POR September 2006, POR August 2007, POFQ December 2008, POR February 2010,
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Last edited by carters_mom; 04-03-2012 at 09:48 PM..
Wow - that's crazy busy!!
Wasn't Spiderman cool? We really liked it and FJ, of course
Hope you have an easier time of it at Universal - I don't remember the lines being as long there as they were at IOA in general - with the exception of the big 'coaster. It was a Friday when we went.
We had an absolutely wonderful lunch at Lombard's in Universal - I had one of the best burgers ever and DH had a beef and boursin sandwich that he enjoyed plus fabulous, cool, restful break from the bustle of the park and lovely decor.
(FYI)
Have a great day!
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Thoughts on waiting until the afternoon to make our way over to Harry Potter
. We are going the first week of April and I'm expecting serious crowds. Would you still recommend going to Harry Potter first thing or is there any chance we might benefit from touring the other parts of the park first hoping that the rest of of the crowds will swamp Harry Potter early and then clear out for the afternoon?
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) was Rip Ride Rock'it and since we walked on every other single ride we just sucked it up and enjoyed the 40 minute line when we passed it. It is amazingly easy to wait for one big ride when the rest of the time was walk-ons or very close to it. There were times when we went to the front of the line and passed lines over an hour - so very 
and so very easy to manage. I don't regret spending the money to stay on-site just for that - it made our vacation more fun, I have no doubt.
Guess where we were headed??
It was a tough day to enjoy the park, after these rides we had enough of the crowds, got Butterbeers and left. Gonna try Universal in a couple days, hoping for a little less wait time for rides but not counting on it.
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