Comments on: This year’s WWoHP holiday crowds and Universal’s new rules have changed the game https://orlandoinformer.com/2012/holiday-crowds-at-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/ #1 Universal Orlando vacation planning website Thu, 26 Jul 2018 05:23:46 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 By: tigger https://orlandoinformer.com/2012/holiday-crowds-at-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/#comment-1234 Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:24:10 +0000 https://orlandoinformer.com/wpold/?p=29118#comment-1234 We were in IOA on the 2nd January got there for 8am early opening having checked into RPR hotel early!! We expected crowds but didn’t actually think they were that bad having said that we went straight to FJ on entry as Ollivanders Queue was already about 1 hour long  and exited FJ ride 40 mins later and due to a failure of the lockers finger scanning system there (couldn’t use dragon challenge ones as they were all full!!) had to get a employee to open them and wasn’t charged the $3 for going over the 30 mins free time 🙂 Our girls then rode Dragon challenge twice with hardly a queue and then we all rode Flight of the Hippogriff We left The area at around 9.15 as the crowds were streaming in. We returned to the WWoHP in the evening FJ q was long (90 min) and they said due to the crowds no Tour Only was being offered. We queued less than 30 mins for Ollivanders at 9pm (10pm closing time) and both my son and daughter were choosing for the wand ceremony. We found it quieter at that time of night generally in the area except FJ (although it was only 90 min q)

We also entered WWoHP on the 3rd before hopping over to Universal (weather was decidedly colder on the 3rd so we had swapped our days around- thanks for the heads up on that Dan:-)) We exited by 9am so missed Dan and by the looks of it a nightmare of crowds. They were offering Tour only first thing as hubby rode FJ with Son in around 40 mins (including a breakdown of the ride) and me and the girls did the Tour. Universal was very quiet until after lunch.

We returned to IOA without early entry on 10th January and having got lost  between the I4 and the parking lot!!!!!- that’s a story for another time and yes satnav was loaded with 6000 address!!  WE finally got into WWoHP at gone 10am!!! the Q was at 90 mins and they said NO tours only. Hubby decided he would ask if there was a single rider line operating while I took son on Hippogriff 5 min q and girls went on dragon challenge. We exited hippogriff to see hubby there I assumed there was no single rider line and he had decided not to q for 90 mins. Imagine my surprise when he said he had already ridden FJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Less than 10 mins from entering line to exiting. I think getting in early and getting out early works

]]> By: Care-bear https://orlandoinformer.com/2012/holiday-crowds-at-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/#comment-1233 Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:35:34 +0000 https://orlandoinformer.com/wpold/?p=29118#comment-1233 Phew, we were definitely lucky to hit a few quieter (relatively speaking) “pockets” (Dec. 31st starting 9:30 am) when FJ was “only” 75 minutes in line (80 minutes from the time we first got in line to the time we finished the ride, though the wait time was posted at 120 mins and we didn’t have bags so could bypass the lockers) … though Ollivanders was 60 minutes of waiting – and again on Jan. 2nd (starting at 7:30 pm) when the wait was about the same for FJ – no return ticket system in place either of those times –  but we had friends trying to get there in the daytime on Jan. 2nd and they said it was totally unbelievably incredibly way-too-busy, they couldn’t even get near Hogwarts so had to leave Universal without even trying FJ.  Curious, indeed. Schools were I live didn’t start back until January 9th, though, perhaps there were lots of tourists coming from regions with late school start dates like ours.

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