Harry Potter Crowd Report Thread...

[doclegler]

I was there thurs and fri. It didn't feel like the slow season to me at all! The parks were very crowded with fj at 75 minutes most of the day. It was so much more crowded than when we were there early June.

I totally agree. We were there on Thursday Oct. 20 and it was extremely crowded! I really didn't enjoy much of the park due to the shoulder to shouler crowds, but we did have EE to HP since we stayed at a partner hotel. Thank goodness for EE or we wouldn't have seen ANYTHING! We waited over 45 minutes for Cat in the Hat, a ride we used to walk onto over and over a few years ago. Just isn't as much fun anymore... We were just at WDW in June, and the crowds weren't even that bad! The only time I've ever seen anything like the crowds at IoA was at the parties at WDW (Halloween and X-mas).

 

[Rags]

What do you think the crowds will be like Friday Jan 27th thru Sunday morning? Any special planning required? Oh and we are staying at the Hard Rock. TIA and woo hoo

 

[disney-akj]

So since Sunday seems to be so popular it is making me rethink my plans. What would your vote be- Sunday, March 18 or Wednesday March 21st to visit WWoHP. I was thinking mid-week would be better but if Sunday is more likely to be slower?? I know it will busy either day, but....

 

[mesaboy2]

What do you think the crowds will be like Friday Jan 27th thru Sunday morning? Any special planning required? Oh and we are staying at the Hard Rock. TIA and woo hoo

Late January with on-site privileges? You should have a blast....

 

[mesaboy2]

So since Sunday seems to be so popular it is making me rethink my plans. What would your vote be- Sunday, March 18 or Wednesday March 21st to visit WWoHP. I was thinking mid-week would be better but if Sunday is more likely to be slower?? I know it will busy either day, but....

Spring break should be getting started up around then so you're right, it'll probably be busy either day. In your case, I'd just do what fits your plans best.

 

[disney-akj]

Spring break should be getting started up around then so you're right, it'll probably be busy either day. In your case, I'd just do what fits your plans best.

Thanks! Now I am leaning towards Sunday- hoping that maybe it will get busier with spring breakers as the week unfolds?? Hmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[LMO429]

We will be there tomorrow! Yes Can't Wait! Based on what I am reading from this thread it seems crowded down there. MIght not do WWOHP till tues morning.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

We will be there tomorrow! Yes Can't Wait! Based on what I am reading from this thread it seems crowded down there. MIght not do WWOHP till tues morning.

Forbidden Journey was only a 10-30 minute from opening to 3PM today. Not sure if it'll get busier tomorrow but I don't see a reason for that happening

 

[LMO429]

Forbidden Journey was only a 10-30 minute from opening to 3PM today. Not sure if it'll get busier tomorrow but I don't see a reason for that happening

last year we were at universal on a tuesday i think it was oct 3 or 4th and it was very quiet at WWOHP..we walked right on at around 9am and we were not staying on site.

Preparing for crowds but will be pleasantly surprised if there are none.

 

[Armadillo4]

Here again today and what a difference! FJ is just 30 minutes. Still a lot of people around, but wait times are much shorter than a couple of days ago.

I was there today (Sunday) too! I loved the low crowds. Rode FJ with a 20 min. wait twice before 11am. Park hopped to the Studios, then returned at 5pm and saw it at 30 min. Then rode it one last time just before closing with a 15 min. standby. Both Universal parks were fairly light.

Sundays are funny that way.

Perhaps you meant, Sundays are AWESOME that way.

 

[christophfam]

I was there today (Sunday) too! I loved the low crowds. Rode FJ with a 20 min. wait twice before 11am. Park hopped to the Studios, then returned at 5pm and saw it at 30 min. Then rode it one last time just before closing with a 15 min. standby. Both Universal parks were fairly light.


Perhaps you meant, Sundays are AWESOME that way.

I couldn't believe the difference between Thurs/Fri and Sunday. Thurs and Fri waits were 75+ for FJ with the single rider line backed up all the way down the stairs. Sunday we walked right on using the single rider line. We didn't orginally intend on going back on Sunday, but because we didn't get everything done that we wanted to on Thurs/Fri we did. I think it was Universal's mad plan to get me to renew my annual passes that expired on that Saturday.

 

[gometros]

We were at IOA on Sunday, the 16th. We got there shortly before 9:00 and went right in and directly to Potter World. The wait for FJ was 20 minutes, although it didn't seem that long. Olivander's however, was 45 minutes by the time we got off of FJ. Flight of the Hippogriff was 5 minutes. I thought about riding FJ again, but by late morning, the wait climbed up to 40 minutes.

 

[MissMagnolia]

Sundays vs. Mondays in January (1/7 vs. 1/8)....does it matter? We had a flight change and now are flying in on Saturday instead (initially we were to arrive Sunday). Now we can go part of the day to Universal/IOA on Saturday and then go to MK at WDW for evening EMH or go to Universal/IOA on Monday and go to DHS at WDW for evening EMH. Any thoughts?

 

[Armadillo4]

Went back to both parks today, Wednesday Oct. 26. Both parks were fairly light again! Spent the morning at the Studios, then went to IOA after lunch. FJ was 10 min. at 2pm. The ride did go down around 2:30pm, so we left to go play in Seuss Landing -- High in the Sky Trolley was only 5 min. Went back to WWOHP at 3:30 and noticed that FJ was back up, but the downtime did cause the wait time to climb to 45 min. Single rider was the way to go. Good luck to everyone visiting soon!

 

[Toot Sweet]

Was there on Tuesday, Oct 25. Got to WWOHP at about 9:15. Went to FJ first and there was a 45 min wait. Then got in line for Olivander's and the line took well over an hour. My kids were disappointed that they waited in that long line for such a teensy end result. I thought it was cute, but had I known it was so brief, I would not have waited in line for it either.

Hogsmeade was very crowded, but when we ate at Three Broomsticks at noon, there wasn't much of a line at all. (Very tasty food, BTW, and I loved that they had seaters to help people find a seat. )

The rest of the park had five to ten minute waits for the rides. We had Express Pass for both parks but didn't need it.

I LOVED WWOHP and spent several hours there.

 

[cpascci]

We will be at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge beginning Saturday 1/7/12 through Saturday 1/14/12. There will be 4 of us, 2 parents and 2 young adults. We were thinking of taking a cab on Wednesday 1/11/12 to Islands of Adventure. We will not have early admission, but we will be there before 9 am opening with tickets already purchased. I am hoping for small lines at Harry Potter. Is this wishful thinking, or do we have a chance for low crowds? Would another day be better?

 

[mesaboy2]

We will be at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge beginning Saturday 1/7/12 through Saturday 1/14/12. There will be 4 of us, 2 parents and 2 young adults. We were thinking of taking a cab on Wednesday 1/11/12 to Islands of Adventure. We will not have early admission, but we will be there before 9 am opening with tickets already purchased. I am hoping for small lines at Harry Potter. Is this wishful thinking, or do we have a chance for low crowds? Would another day be better?

I think Wednesday would be a great day to go and have minimal crowds. WWoHP is small so it pretty much always seems busy, but I don't think you can do much better by your day.

 

[KigerKat]

We're planning on visiting for the day from Ocala on Friday. We went to DHS several years ago on the day after Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful, but after reading the crowd predictions we're starting to get worried. Has anyone been the day after Thanksgiving in recent years?

 

[kohlby]

We were there Tues, Nov 15th. We stayed off-site and were there at RD. Crowds were very, very managable. We went to Ollivander's first and waited about 8 minutes for that. Then headed over to FJ which had a 10 minute line posted - though I'm not sure how long it really was since it took us a while to get through the castle, at which point, it seemed like we waited a lot less than 10 minutes. We then did Flight of the Hippogriff several times since the 2 year old loved that. That was a walk-on. We skipped Dragon Challenge since the oldest didn't want to do it and the other two weren't tall enough. (And my husband and I have likely ridden Dueling Dragons well over 100 times so we were fine with skipping it). The stores were a bit crowded. We could move as long as we stayed with the traffic pattern. We ate lunch at Three Broomsticks and were VERY impressed with how they control traffic there - much better than any other theme park counter service restaurant I've ever eaten at, even without crowds. We came back to the WWoHP stores at around 4:30 pm, since I was buying chocolate I didn't want to melt. The stores were now almost empty. The park closed at 6pm and we were gone by 5:30.

*The crowd calendar had our day as very low but then changed it to moderate, likely due to the film release party the weekend before. However, I think it should have been kept very low. I did not see the FJ line go up past 10 minutes at any point, though we weren't at WWoHP at mid-day - though it was 10 minutes from 9am-11am and from 4pm-5pm. We were off-site so no Express pass and we didn't need it.

 

[saintstickets]

We are going to Orlando from Sunday 5/20/12 - Friday 5/25/12. This is the week BEFORE the Memorial Day holiday. We will arrive late Sunday and leave early Friday so we only have Monday-Thursday to do everything. One day is for Discovery Cove; one day for Seaworld; one day for WWoHP and the final day for a return trip to Universal/IoA or Seaworld or a day trip to Cape Kennedy. I want to go ahead and reserve my day at Discovery so does anyone have suggestions for the least crowded day to visit WWoHP? We are staying at VWL on DVC points so early entry to WWoHP via a hotel connection is not available. TIA for any comments or suggestions.