What are Harry Potter Lines like now that it is the "slow" season? - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We were the December 5th and 6th. The parks were very quiet and the weather less than stellar. Windy and cold. Our first day we went to Universal and were able to ride everything and experience all shows and parardes in about 5 hours time. The parked closed at 6, but IOA was open until 8, so we went over there and suffice to say were able to ride all the major rides in 2 hours, including the Forbidden Journey. The wait time was stated as 15 minutes, but it literally takes that long to walk through and absorb the attraction until you get to the ride loading area. Any faster walk through and you really miss out on the theme. It is a fantastic journey, but I do caution those that have trouble with simulators beware. This ride is nothing like you've ever experienced. I love coasters and simulators, but this combination did me in. Sadley, it's a one time ride for me! I see doing a future walk through, then using the chicken out exit!! Also this attaction does not have a express line for those staying at the 3 onsite hotels. The only long line seen was for Ollivanders, which groups are admitted, but only one person get's to have a wand "choose" them. Sorta letdown, but the shop was great, it empties into Dervish and Banges which is really tiny. Most of the stores are not designed to accomodate large crowds.
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We went on Dec. 2nd and the park wasn't too crowded at all, the lines for FJ were about 40 minutes but that could have been because it had been shut down for a couple of hours beforehand. The shops are definitely tiny! Butterbeer is delicious!
We're going during March so I'm really concerned about crowds but hopefully if we get there early enough we'll be ok. My kids LOVE Harry Potter, my 8 year old just finished the 3rd book, so we are going so they can at least walk through even if we don't get to the rides.
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We went on January 7th and it was horrible! The wait for Forbidden Journey was easily 3 hours, the shops all an hour, and the other rides at least an hour and a half. You couldn't walk without walking into a line! It was so crowded that we had to leave within five hours (3 of which were spent waiting in line for the ride!) There was no where to stand no where to pause and look at sights, all of it was packed with people. I hated it, it was worse than Disney has ever been, there was no ropes or chains to keep the lines in order, everyone was cutting no one knew where the lines were going but everyone wanted to be at the front. None of the workers were helpful or wanted to keep the crowds in control, and it became the worse part of our vacation. Think long and hard about the order you want to do things because if you don't do it exactly right everyone else will be in front of you.
We went on January 7th and it was horrible! The wait for Forbidden Journey was easily 3 hours, the shops all an hour, and the other rides at least an hour and a half. You couldn't walk without walking into a line! It was so crowded that we had to leave within five hours (3 of which were spent waiting in line for the ride!) There was no where to stand no where to pause and look at sights, all of it was packed with people. I hated it, it was worse than Disney has ever been, there was no ropes or chains to keep the lines in order, everyone was cutting no one knew where the lines were going but everyone wanted to be at the front. None of the workers were helpful or wanted to keep the crowds in control, and it became the worse part of our vacation. Think long and hard about the order you want to do things because if you don't do it exactly right everyone else will be in front of you.
We are going in 2 weeks. Just out of curiosity, did you go first thing I'm the morning, or were you there later in the day?
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Was 9 o'clock at park opening for that day? I think if you stay onsite you can get into WWHP an hour before park opening. I'm beginning to think that might be the only way to do it and stay sane.
Well, I guess it's time for me to give my own report since I was the one that started the thread.
Let me preface my experience with the fact that there was a nasty storm in the area the night before, lots of rain (well, for me at least) high winds and even tornado warnings. There was a light rain until about 9:30-10 the morning we went to IOA. I'm not sure if this affected the crowd levels much or not. I would think that most people visiting on a weekday on the off season are there for vacation. We had one day to go to IOA, and we had picked that day to go, so it was either go and put up with the rain or don't go. I would imagine most families on vacation would make the same choice we did. Even though it did get nicer later on in the day, the crowds were low all day.
We went Wednesday Jan 26. We were at the front gate about 40 minutes before the offical opening time at 9 and were the 3rd family in line at our turn stile. They let us in about 10 mintues early and we walked quickly through Suess land to WWOHP.
When we came upon the Hogwarts Express train there was NO ONE in site! We stopped quickly for some pics without the crowds. As we passed Olivanders I noticed that there was already quite a nice line forming there (we should have got in line then, that was the shortest we had seen it all day, we ended up not doing this). Our first stop was at the Forbidden Journey. The posted wait time was 10 minutes and it took that long to walk (quickly) through the queue area. There was no wait when we got to the ride and walked right on.
After that we went to the Dragon Rollercoasters. The posted wait time was 10 minutes, but it takes that long to walk to the front of the line. Again, we pretty much walked on this ride (we only had to wait for the next coaster). When were were finished we of course had to try the other one, I think this time we had to wait on 2 coasters.
After the rides we stopped into Hogs Head for some frozen butter beer (YUM) and relaxed in there for a while. After finishing our beverages we explored the shops and just took everything in. Before heading to the next land we stopped into the bathrooms so we could hear Moaning Mertle. DH wasn't even going to go in the bathroom, but when DS came out and said you could hear Moaning Mertle he all the sudden "needed" to go.
We decided to explore the rest of the park and found really low crowd levels all day. All the rides we went on had no wait times at all. We had finished making the circut doing everything on our "must do" list by 12:30 and were walking through WWOHP again to make our way to lunch. I noticed that both the Dragon Challenge and the Forbidden Journey had 30 minute wait times. So we agreed we would come back after lunch. The kids had spied a hot dog stand in the Jurasic part that they wanted, so we got them that then went over to the dig site to get burgers and chicken nuggets for us. We were both very happy with our meals. I guess we just weren't in the mood for anything at WWOHP that day.
On our way back from lunch we happened upon the show with the ladies from Bauxbaton Academy and the guys from Durmstrang. We got front and center for the show. It is not very long and very entertaining. I don't know that I would recommend seeking it out, but if you happen to be in the right place at the right time take the few mintues to watch it!
At this time the Forbidden Journey was still only 30 minutes long. We decided to ride again thinking this would be a good excuse to look at all the cool stuff in the queue line. Luckily the people in front of us were walking slowly too and there were a few places where one or two people had stepped aside to watch the show (like Dumbledore or Harry, Ron and Hermione, but the wait was not 30 minutes. Once again we walked right on.
Overall I would say that this was a great day to visit the WWOHP. The crowd were very low. My only advice would be if Olivanders is something you would like to do, do it first thing! The waiting queue is outside and kinda tucked back in a corner, so not much to look at. If we were to plan a visit to Universal Studios again, we would definatly go in the middle of the week in the off season.
I hope this helps someone with their planning!
__________________
Stacey
Last edited by home4us123; 02-01-2011 at 06:33 AM..
Reason: fp473
We were also there on Wed, Jan 26. There was essentially no wait for anything except Ollivander's, and we did that about 4pm and it took about 20 minutes in line. We were absolutely amazed at the fact that we could walk around, stop, shop, do whatever we liked and there were not mobs of people. The longest line I saw in a store was about 10 people in line at Honeydukes. I was very happy about this, and think if you can go midweek it's better :-)
Thank you for the update! We're going to be there the last couple of days of November. I scheduled things so we would hit IOA on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Thank you for confirming for me that midweek is the right plan.
I'm really glad you had no crowds Stacey and Ronni! It sounds like your experience was very similar to mine. Olivanders was the only thing with a line and we did it right after FJ first thing in the morning. It was about a 20 minute booooooring wait.
And isn't butterbeer good? I wish you could get it somewhere besides WWoHP!
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We were there Jan 18th and we had about an hour wait for the Harry Potter Ride. The lines were pretty long for the other rides in that area.
Very Very Unorganized area at Universal. The lockers are set up Stupid and TAKE money with you because you'll have to pay At Least $3.00 to get your stuff back out if the line is long.
Our 18 year old daughter loved the Harry Potter Ride, I thought with all the hype that it would be better. I liked the other rides at Universal better, but I'm 44. I'm glad we waited in line just to say we were there. Only rode it once due to the large crowds.
We were also there on Wed, Jan 26. There was essentially no wait for anything except Ollivander's, and we did that about 4pm and it took about 20 minutes in line. We were absolutely amazed at the fact that we could walk around, stop, shop, do whatever we liked and there were not mobs of people. The longest line I saw in a store was about 10 people in line at Honeydukes. I was very happy about this, and think if you can go midweek it's better :-)
Can you please tell me what the line at Olivander's is waiting for. My parents are season pass holders and have been faithfully going to WWOHP weekly since Nov and they have NEVER been there with out a huge line at Olivander's; so they just never go in. They are so curious to know what everyone is waiting for (b/c you can purchase all the merchandise at any other store at the park, so what's the deal??)
What they are waiting for is the show of picking the wand for a kid. They get the gathered crowd in the room and one kid is picked out to choose his wand. They have a whole show with Ollivander finding the right wand for the kid and him waving it and making things to happen. I haven't seen it myself but I'm guessing it is similar to the scene in the movie when Harry buys his wand from Ollivander.
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I wish you could get it somewhere besides WWoHP! 
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