Expert Says Potter Opening May Rival Disney

O

overdrive

New Member
Thats from a family member and management who was working there at the time. I had to scratch my head as well but the line extended all the way around the park. I totally think they were caught off gaurd. I think its great with the economy the way it is to see so many people turn out for this. Just proves how hungry people are for something new and that they will spend thier money if they find it. Pictures from the day and the lines are just insane. Over 5000 people packed wall to wall just waiting to get in the park.


Visitors told Reuters that by 8:30 a.m. the line to get inside wrapped around the exterior of Universal's Islands of Adventure park, of which the Wizarding World is one of six unique sections.


Evidently people were showing up as early as 3 am to get in, I don't remember anything like this happening for other attractions.
 
Captain Chaos

Captain Chaos

Well-Known Member
overdrive said:
Thats from a family member and management who was working there at the time. I had to scratch my head as well but the line extended all the way around the park. I totally think they were caught off gaurd. I think its great with the economy the way it is to see so many people turn out for this. Just proves how hungry people are for something new and that they will spend thier money if they find it. Pictures from the day and the lines are just insane. Over 5000 people packed wall to wall just waiting to get in the park.


Visitors told Reuters that by 8:30 a.m. the line to get inside wrapped around the exterior of Universal's Islands of Adventure park, of which the Wizarding World is one of six unique sections.


Evidently people were showing up as early as 3 am to get in, I don't remember anything like this happening for other attractions.
Click to expand...

Locals more than likely... And if it is true people started linign up at 3AM, then I can uderstand them saying 16 hours.. I doubt the wait was 16 hours though. 6 hours I may believe....

Of course, that was today, opening.. What happens when there is no 6 hour wait a month from now?? I'll be more than satisfied LOL... Especially if there is no wait in November.... But 6 hours?? HOLY BEJESUS!!! :eek:
 
Mr Bill

Mr Bill

Well-Known Member
I was told ten hours was the peak to get into WWOHP. The line wrapped from the entrance of Potter through Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, Marvel Island and into Seuss Landing.
 
Testtrack321

Testtrack321

Well-Known Member
overdrive said:
Looks like the guy might have been right, turn out was more than anyone expected. Looks like it even caught Universal off gaurd, I would have to bet they are already planning an expansion to the wwohp. I heard it was up to almost 16 hour wait to just get into wwohp. Thats nuts and its just the first day.
Click to expand...

Popular yes, but MK defying? Hell no.

One word: capacity
 
J

JT3000

Well-Known Member
dxer07002 said:
A 16 hour wait??? For a park that isn't even open for 16 hours?? What were they doing, lining up since last night???
Click to expand...

Actually, yes.

4713763488_148e45f49d.jpg

4713763492_9df61e180a.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXcPkBBh8UA

This is the line that never ends, my friends.
 
Figment1986

Figment1986

Well-Known Member
I applaud the Special Event team member and Security team member as well as managers from all over the resort for making the line move well and safe. By the time I got there around 7 p.m. the line was just in jurrassic park, and was half it's length around 8 p.m.

Inside there were long lines for everything from getting into stores to getting a butter beer from one of three different locations. The managers actually set up an outdoor wand location (cash only) to help with traffic outside of the owlpost in the owlery.

Tonight went well with everything, I have yet to actually read much about todays reports though.
 
Pumbas Nakasak

Pumbas Nakasak

Heading for the great escape.
Day 1 week 1 dont think anything can be read into this yet. Apart from Universal creating a good area and attraction that appears to have caught the imagination.

Have to say that the British Media are very behind this, talk about free publicity. Though TS 3 is also getting good reviews.
 
wvugeoggrad

wvugeoggrad

New Member
WOW!!!! I knew there would be a lot of ppl there for opening day but that's insane!! I'm heading over later this afternoon just to check out how crowded, if it even looks like a fraction like that I'll just head back to my car and head to Epcot! :)
 
dxwwf3

dxwwf3

Well-Known Member
Well I'm going to IOA/USF next Friday. Obviously I don't expect lines to reach outside the park by then, but I might change my plan of attack. I'll probably get to the park around 7:30/7:45 and if there is a huge line already, it looks like waiting to do Forbidden Journey at the end of your day might be best. If the line wasn't awful at 8 PM to get in on opening day, then maybe this is going to be a close the park down type of ride. I can wait to see the shops and restaurants on next year's trip, but I do have to ride FJ
 
wvugeoggrad

wvugeoggrad

New Member
I went Saturday afternoon around 2:30 and it wasn't bad at all. After hearing reports of them letting ppl in thru Jurassic Park and out through the Lost Continent I decided to walk the long way around. To my surprise there was no line to get in the area. In general Hogsmeade was busy but it wasn't unbearable. FJ had a 90 min wait so I hopped in the single rider line and was on the ride in less than 15 minutes. Flight of the Hippogriff had a 10 minute wait and Dueling Dragons (as I will always call it) said 25 min wait but it was more like 10.

The longest line was of course Olivanders. I'm not sure what the wait was but I'd guess at least an hour. There was also a short line to get inside Honeydukes. Oh and the Butterbeer cart had two very long lines as well.

I'd over heard people saying it was pretty nuts earlier in the day so my suggestion is wait till the heat of the day if you can stand it bc most ppl are done from being there in the morning and want to take a break from the hot sun.

Also on a local news channel they've been running a story about a woman who almost had a heat stroke on opening day. Here's a link to the story.
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/...rld_visit_almost_lands_woman_in_hospital.html

I'm sure it was hot that day but the person had to know they'd be standing in a huge line for quite some time. People just need to know that it's hot and humid in FL and make sure to come prepared. I don't want to sound awful and I do feel bad for the woman bc I've been there and done that but I learned my lesson the hard way. I passed out at MGM once and ever since then I always have a bottle of water in hand and I carry one of those small battery powered fans. Not much Universal can do about the masses that day but my only suggestion is they need to install more of the large fans in the FJ queue in the lower greenhouse part.

While I was writing this a friend of mine who is working the Jurassic Park shop said it's a 10 hour wait this morning. They are letting ppl in at Jurassic park again and he said the line winds all the way around to Suess Landing!! Also as of today the Universal hotels are at 100% capacity.
 
JROK

JROK

Member
wvugeoggrad said:
I went Saturday afternoon around 2:30 and it wasn't bad at all. After hearing reports of them letting ppl in thru Jurassic Park and out through the Lost Continent I decided to walk the long way around. To my surprise there was no line to get in the area. In general Hogsmeade was busy but it wasn't unbearable. FJ had a 90 min wait so I hopped in the single rider line and was on the ride in less than 15 minutes. Flight of the Hippogriff had a 10 minute wait and Dueling Dragons (as I will always call it) said 25 min wait but it was more like 10.

The longest line was of course Olivanders. I'm not sure what the wait was but I'd guess at least an hour. There was also a short line to get inside Honeydukes. Oh and the Butterbeer cart had two very long lines as well.

I'd over heard people saying it was pretty nuts earlier in the day so my suggestion is wait till the heat of the day if you can stand it bc most ppl are done from being there in the morning and want to take a break from the hot sun.

Also on a local news channel they've been running a story about a woman who almost had a heat stroke on opening day. Here's a link to the story.
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/...rld_visit_almost_lands_woman_in_hospital.html

I'm sure it was hot that day but the person had to know they'd be standing in a huge line for quite some time. People just need to know that it's hot and humid in FL and make sure to come prepared. I don't want to sound awful and I do feel bad for the woman bc I've been there and done that but I learned my lesson the hard way. I passed out at MGM once and ever since then I always have a bottle of water in hand and I carry one of those small battery powered fans. Not much Universal can do about the masses that day but my only suggestion is they need to install more of the large fans in the FJ queue in the lower greenhouse part.

While I was writing this a friend of mine who is working the Jurassic Park shop said it's a 10 hour wait this morning. They are letting ppl in at Jurassic park again and he said the line winds all the way around to Suess Landing!! Also as of today the Universal hotels are at 100% capacity.
Click to expand...

I don't know that I'll believe a 10 hour wait today... I had a friend go to the park around 3pm and they said they walked right in and said FJ was about an hour... I was there yesterday and FJ was at 30min in the evening but was really about 20min... Like you said though, go in the later portion of the day and you'll be a lot better...

Also, Butterbeer on the cart is 12oz frozen for $3.50 where as inside Three Broom it's 16oz frozen for $4.
 
wvugeoggrad

wvugeoggrad

New Member
I think the Uni ppl tend to exaggerate their times, bc even if the line was that far back it's not a mass of people, usually two or three standing together so I'm sure it still moved pretty good. My friend texted me around 3 and said it had died down a lot by then.
 
Magenta Panther

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
wvugeoggrad said:
I went Saturday afternoon around 2:30 and it wasn't bad at all. After hearing reports of them letting ppl in thru Jurassic Park and out through the Lost Continent I decided to walk the long way around. To my surprise there was no line to get in the area. In general Hogsmeade was busy but it wasn't unbearable. FJ had a 90 min wait so I hopped in the single rider line and was on the ride in less than 15 minutes.
Click to expand...

But didn't you miss the queue inside Hogwarts then? I'd heard that if you get into the single rider line, you miss all of the cool stuff inside the castle.
 
wvugeoggrad

wvugeoggrad

New Member
Yeah you miss the majority of the queue by using the single rider line but I'd gone a few weeks earlier during soft openings and got to experience the standy line and it's amazing. I would have gotten in the standby line but didn't want to wait for 90 minutes. That's the joy of being a local passholder, if I see a line that's too long I'll just do single rider or come back the next weekend. :animwink:
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom