HP 2.0 entrance/exit

[rufio]

My mom and I are planning to visit WWoHP for a (half) day in December and I want to go to both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. We want to enter through Universal. I've heard that we will be able to buy a ticket for Uni only but take the Hogwarts Express to both sides of WWoHP. My question is about exiting the park. According to Touring Plans, the wait to get on the train to go back to Uni will be an hour long. Does anyone know if we'll be able to exit directly from IoA? Honestly, our exit will decide which side we visit because I don't have any desire to waste an entire hour just waiting to get back out. We only have half a day (we won't be doing all the rides, mostly just wandering around). Thanks in advance!

 

[GLaDOS]

My mom and I are planning to visit WWoHP for a (half) day in December and I want to go to both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. We want to enter through Universal. I've heard that we will be able to buy a ticket for Uni only but take the Hogwarts Express to both sides of WWoHP. My question is about exiting the park. According to Touring Plans, the wait to get on the train to go back to Uni will be an hour long. Does anyone know if we'll be able to exit directly from IoA? Honestly, our exit will decide which side we visit because I don't have any desire to waste an entire hour just waiting to get back out. We only have half a day (we won't be doing all the rides, mostly just wandering around). Thanks in advance!

The Hogwarts Express requires a 2 park ticket.

 

[rufio]

The Hogwarts Express requires a 2 park ticket.

Well, isn't that nice. I don't even know if I'll be going since that's the case. My mom has never seen either side, so it would all be new to her. I really want her to see the castle, though we won't do the ride. And I really want to go to Ollivander's. But we're only going for half a day. I've (obviously) never seen Diagon Alley, so I really was looking forward to that, but I'm not paying for a 2 park ticket for a few hours at each park.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

Well, isn't that nice. I don't even know if I'll be going since that's the case. My mom has never seen either side, so it would all be new to her. I really want her to see the castle, though we won't do the ride. And I really want to go to Ollivander's. But we're only going for half a day. I've (obviously) never seen Diagon Alley, so I really was looking forward to that, but I'm not paying for a 2 park ticket for a few hours at each park.

Of course you would need to purchase admission to both parks in order to enter both. It would have been nice if they had somehow set up a way for those with "one park" tickets to do a U turn within the confines of the HE ride area to queue up to return to their originating park without entering the second park, but I can see where that would have opened up some complications. But even if they allowed you to ride HE without having "park to park", you still wouldn't have been able to exit the ride area to see any of Hogsmeade or the rest of IOA. If you only purchased admission for one park, you only have access to one park. As far as Ollivander's, there will be one in Diagon Alley.

 

[rufio]

Of course you would need to purchase admission to both parks in order to enter both. It would have been nice if they had somehow set up a way for those with "one park" tickets to do a U turn within the confines of the HE ride area to queue up to return to their originating park without entering the second park, but I can see where that would have opened up some complications. But even if they allowed you to ride HE without having "park to park", you still wouldn't have been able to exit the ride area to see any of Hogsmeade or the rest of IOA. If you only purchased admission for one park, you only have access to one park. As far as Ollivander's, there will be one in Diagon Alley.

Good to know about Ollivander's. Back when 2.0 was announced people were talking about only having to buy a one park ticket to visit the entire WWoHP, but that's obviously changed. Thanks for clearing it up!

 

[lazyboy97o]

Good to know about Ollivander's. Back when 2.0 was announced people were talking about only having to buy a one park ticket to visit the entire WWoHP, but that's obviously changed. Thanks for clearing it up!

I never saw anything like that from anybody of repute, just overly hopeful statements. Universal's public statements have always been that the Hogwarts Express would require a park-to-park ticket.

 

[rufio]

I never saw anything like that from anybody of repute, just overly hopeful statements. Universal's public statements have always been that the Hogwarts Express would require a park-to-park ticket.

I'm just telling you what I saw. Now I know and expectations have been adjusted.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

I totally get it being a bit disappointing finding out you have to purchase park-to-park in order to experience HE. It's a little pricey... especially if you only have a half day. And considering that onsite resort guests get access to Hogsmeade (and I assume Diagon Alley also) one hour before park opening, by the time offsite guests enter the parks, no doubt the lines will be long already.

Personally, I wouldn't spend that much for only a half day, but it's a value-based thing I guess, so to each his own. We usually purchase the park-to-park anyway so we're free to roam back and forth at will, but I wouldn't purchase it for a half day, especially a half day without early entry or Express Pass.

But with all that said, dang... doesn't this promise to be absolutely stellar? I'm not a Potter fan. I've never read a single one of the books or seen any of the movies, but I was very impressed by the richness of environment and level of detail accomplished with Hogsmeade and FJ and from what I've seen so far, they've raised the bar considerably with Diagon Alley, HE and Gringott's, so I'm really looking forward to experiencing it all in person.