The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

[SnakeDoctor]

I definitely want to check this out, but I'll definitely be going in the off season. I had a blast at WDW last year with my wife (went the first week of November) the weather was mild and the lines on a Tuesday were non-existent.

I have no interest in going to things like this during peak season.

Yeah, my wife and I went in the middle of December of 2002 for our honeymoon. The weather was cool. No crowds. Parks closed early. It was a very leisurely relaxing vacation.

But ... we've got kids. So we won't be able to do the off-season Disney trip for another decade-and-a-half. So, until then ... July it is.

SnakeDoc

 

[galactiboy]

Yeah, my wife and I went in the middle of December of 2002 for our honeymoon. The weather was cool. No crowds. Parks closed early. It was a very leisurely relaxing vacation.

But ... we've got kids. So we won't be able to do the off-season Disney trip for another decade-and-a-half. So, until then ... July it is.

SnakeDoc

Yeah, we're about to have our first which means those kind of trips are likely off the table for a long while

 

[Bamboota]

Yeah, we're about to have our first which means those kind of trips are likely off the table for a long while

Oh Snap!! I didn't know that!!! CONGRATZ!!!!

 

[The Mike]

That pic apparently is showing the 5000 people who showed up on day one. Reports indicate that IOA wasn't prepared for that kind of reaction the whole day was mishandled from the entrance to rides to the amount of stuff to buy. I guarantee you that within a month it'll be back to normal summer crowdage.

 

[agen_kolar]

We're headed to Orlando on July 9th to take the kids for a Disney/Universal trip. My kids are too small for some of the Universal stuff ... but my 2 y.o. son is a Jurassic Park fanatic ("Daddy ... I wanna vatch dinosaur!!) ... so he should enjoy that part of Universal.

SnakeDoc

July 9th is my birthday. I think you should treat me to a day at Universal!

 

[galactiboy]

Oh Snap!! I didn't know that!!! CONGRATZ!!!!

Thanks Bam... not really broadcasting it. But, likely conceived around (or during) the time we were in Florida

 

[Bamboota]

Thanks Bam... not really broadcasting it. But, likely conceived around (or during) the time we were in Florida

Ewww......

That means shes ready to blow any minute now!

 

[Darth Waller]

Yeah, we're about to have our first which means those kind of trips are likely off the table for a long while

When I lived in Oklahoma, Bartlesville schools had a week off in October for Fall break. Hopefully the schools in your area do the same.

No Fall break down here in Houston, so it could be awhile before we can go off season again.

 

[Agent0028]

Yeah, my wife and I went in the middle of December of 2002 for our honeymoon. The weather was cool. No crowds. Parks closed early. It was a very leisurely relaxing vacation.

But ... we've got kids. So we won't be able to do the off-season Disney trip for another decade-and-a-half. So, until then ... July it is.

SnakeDoc

Yeah, we're about to have our first which means those kind of trips are likely off the table for a long while

I don't care if it makes me a bad parent, I'd totally take my kids out of school to go to theme parks for vacation during off seasons. But since I live her I likely won't need to.

 

[galactiboy]

Ewww......

That means shes ready to blow any minute now!

We're about 6 weeks out

When I lived in Oklahoma, Bartlesville schools had a week off in October for Fall break. Hopefully the schools in your area do the same.

No Fall break down here in Houston, so it could be awhile before we can go off season again.

I know the University has a long weekend in October, not sure if the schools do or not. Good to know though

 

[SnakeDoctor]

July 9th is my birthday. I think you should treat me to a day at Universal!

Haha. Not sure I can afford to take on stragglers. We're already hemorrhaging money ... new house, moving expenses (we move on Saturday), Disney vacation (13 days after a move). Cashflow seems to be one direction these days. Haha.

Ewww......

That means shes ready to blow any minute now!

I was going to make a joke with an alternate definition of blow ... but I couldn't come up with one that was appropriate for publication. Haha.

SnakeDoc

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Just got back from an Orlando vacation. Went to Universal and IOA on Tuesday and Friday of last week (with Disney occupying the other days from Sunday to Sunday). Just got back to Houston last night.

The Harry Potter area was really well done. I've never seen the movies, but they really did a great job with the theming of the area surrounding the ride ... snow-capped roofs, a wand store (with a 2-hour wait for wand customization), butterbeer carts, and the workers all spoke with British accents. The snow-capped roofs almost made you feel a little bit cooler ... almost (it was 90+). The castle was spectacular to see, and the forced perspective worked really well (made it look huge).

It was crowded as Hell on Tuesday (a little better on Friday). There was a 45-minute wait just to get into the Harry Potter area, with another hour or two to get on the ride (unless you went that way early, which we did). People were packed into the area. I heard there was a Harry Potter convention in Orlando last week, so that may have skewed the crowds a bit ... there were seriously oddball obsessed fans all over the place (including a 40-something year old woman that was weeping while taking pictures of the castle ... no lie).

For those that have been to Islands of Adventure ... the line to get into Harry Potter land stretched all the way through Jurassic Park and into Comic Strip Land, almost to the Marvel area.

The line to the ride was one of the best queue areas I've seen. There were mementos, trinkets and statues throughout the line area that I'm sure would've meant more to me if I had seen any of the movies. The line was dark and looked a bit like a dungeon. There was a remarkable special effect used throughout the line where the portraits on the wall would have conversations. It was a very effective display. They also had the talking hat, and a pre-show with Harry, the red-headed kid, and the girl ... they projected their images on something that looked like a bug-screen on a balcony ... pretty good effect, made it look like they were standing there talking to the crowd.

The ride itself was very good, if a little motion-sickness inducing (I was pretty ready for it to end when it did).

All-in-all, it was very well done.

SnakeDoc

 

[BadMoon]

Just got back from an Orlando vacation. Went to Universal and IOA on Tuesday and Friday of last week (with Disney occupying the other days from Sunday to Sunday). Just got back to Houston last night.

The Harry Potter area was really well done. I've never seen the movies, but they really did a great job with the theming of the area surrounding the ride ... snow-capped roofs, a wand store (with a 2-hour wait for wand customization), butterbeer carts, and the workers all spoke with British accents. The snow-capped roofs almost made you feel a little bit cooler ... almost (it was 90+). The castle was spectacular to see, and the forced perspective worked really well (made it look huge).

It was crowded as Hell on Tuesday (a little better on Friday). There was a 45-minute wait just to get into the Harry Potter area, with another hour or two to get on the ride (unless you went that way early, which we did). People were packed into the area. I heard there was a Harry Potter convention in Orlando last week, so that may have skewed the crowds a bit ... there were seriously oddball obsessed fans all over the place (including a 40-something year old woman that was weeping while taking pictures of the castle ... no lie).

For those that have been to Islands of Adventure ... the line to get into Harry Potter land stretched all the way through Jurassic Park and into Comic Strip Land, almost to the Marvel area.

The line to the ride was one of the best queue areas I've seen. There were mementos, trinkets and statues throughout the line area that I'm sure would've meant more to me if I had seen any of the movies. The line was dark and looked a bit like a dungeon. There was a remarkable special effect used throughout the line where the portraits on the wall would have conversations. It was a very effective display. They also had the talking hat, and a pre-show with Harry, the red-headed kid, and the girl ... they projected their images on something that looked like a bug-screen on a balcony ... pretty good effect, made it look like they were standing there talking to the crowd.

The ride itself was very good, if a little motion-sickness inducing (I was pretty ready for it to end when it did).

All-in-all, it was very well done.

SnakeDoc

I cannot wait to check this out!

 

[Darth Waller]

Thanks for the report, SnakeDoctor. Sounds awesome!

 

[Agent0028]

Oh dear, after a report that was almost the exact opposite for Friday afternoon I decided to bump my visit up to two weeks. Sounds like it is a toss up on how crowded it will be. Oh well, it'll be worth the wait. I'm dying to go on the ride. Thanks for the info!

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Oh dear, after a report that was almost the exact opposite for Friday afternoon I decided to bump my visit up to two weeks. Sounds like it is a toss up on how crowded it will be. Oh well, it'll be worth the wait. I'm dying to go on the ride. Thanks for the info!

Get to IOA early, and walk fast immediately toward Harry Potter (via Jurassic Park, NOT Dr. Suess-land ... the long way around the park) and you should be fine.

IOA personnel (bouncers) will hand out green tickets to those in the queue that goes through Jurassic. These tickets will allow you into the Harry Potter area. When I was there, they booted people who didn't have green tickets to the back of the line (which was oddly satisfying at the time), and they only handed tickets out to people that went through Jurassic. Once you're into the Potter-land it becomes a free-for-all again, so head quickly to the ride queue (you can look at stuff once you're off the ride).

If you're there early enough, you're probably looking at a 45-minute wait total for the area and the ride. But, the line builds quickly. If you wait until later in the day (late afternoon to evening) they're usually not doing the green-ticket thing anymore, so you can just walk directly into the Potter-land area. At that point, its just the ride line itself ... which was typically between 75 and 120 minutes.

SnakeDoc

 

[Agent0028]

Thanks for the tip about going to Jurassic park. We definitely plan on getting there early. Do you happen to recall when they start the shows at Ollivander's? We were thinking of getting in line for that first since it sounds like a longer line than the ride itself. Plus as Potterheads I know we'll be entranced by the queue so we don't mind a long wait there.

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Thanks for the tip about going to Jurassic park. We definitely plan on getting there early. Do you happen to recall when they start the shows at Ollivander's? We were thinking of getting in line for that first since it sounds like a longer line than the ride itself. Plus as Potterheads I know we'll be entranced by the queue so we don't mind a long wait there.

There are IOA personnel lining the pathway holding signs and shouting pointing everyone toward Jurassic ... so my information isn't as insider as it sounded. Haha. Its just the "clever" chaps that go the other way to try to skip the crowd ... and they get sent back when they get to the entrance without a green ticket.

The Potter queue area was really nice. But, the part that was really nice was also really fast. Basically, you're waiting in line for an hour to walk through the internal gussied-up queue area in about 10-minutes or so. You'll spend most of the ride-waiting outside in the heat with nothing much to look at ... the nice part of the queue didn't have many stops.

I'm not familiar with the Ollivander's show (sorry, I didn't see the movies). Is that the wand shop? If so, the line for the wand shop was worse than the ride ... it was pretty much 2-hours the whole time we were there. If you want to do the wand shop show, you'll be in line for a while ... but, there is a way into the actual wand store (without the show) that was only about a 10-minute wait. We did that instead. My understanding is that the wand store show thing opened right when the park did, though.

SnakeDoc

 

[Agent0028]

Well...that stinks about the queue. We were really looking forward to that. Thanks for all the tips. They'll come in handy.