Too crowded at Harry Potter even during slow week

renee123

New Member
Original Poster
Just got back from a trip the 3rd week of Jan and the Harry Porter section was so crowded you couldn't see anything. I'm not waiting over 2 hours for a ride! To walk was even impossible. However, the rest of Universal was empty. We enjoyed both parks in one day.
 

disneydaft

Member
We were there also. Infact we go home tomorrow. I rode Harry potter a few times and never waited more than 10 minutes by using the single riders line.
One morning the single riders was a walk on until about 10am and the main line was only 20mins.

Yesterday at US rip ride rocket was pretty much a walk on at lunch time.
 

crazydaveh

Active Member
Jan has become a crowded time at the parks. A lot of schools have MLK week off now and with the Disney Marathon bringing in people to the area, it just means some places are busier than you would want them to be.

Like you said, the rest of the park was dead... That's how it will be for a while. Sorry the waits were longer than you hoped for, it happens.
 

britlightyear

Active Member
We were at WDW the last 10 days of Jan. and also visited US/IOA on Thursday 1/27. We rode HP right when we got there at opening and it was walk on then came back and it was walk on again about 30 min before closing. The whole Hogsmeade area got insanely busy during the mid-morning so we went and explored the rest of IOA and then went to US and then back to IOA. Most other rides were walk ons.
 

BoardwalkGlenn

Well-Known Member
I was there Thursday 2/3/11. Both times I went on the Forbidden Journey, the wait said 10 minutes. It was basically walk thru the queue and get right on. I think the most I saw that day was 25 minute wait.
 

jonnyc

Well-Known Member
It said 90 mins this past July when I was there and it was maybe 45 mins. The outside bit of the queue moves quite slowly but once you get inside it goes quite fast as people stop to take pictures then you get huge surges. If anything the inside portion of the queue goes too fast!
 

PartOfYourWorld

Well-Known Member
I was there in January as well the week before on the 11th, and I didn't find it bad at all, there was no waits for anything except later in the day the Forbidden Journey had a hr wait and single rider was really short! Granted, it was still the only crowded portion of IOA but I still didn't find it too bad from what I've heard about it
 

baymenxpac

Well-Known Member
anyone have any tips on avoiding (at least some) of the crowds? i seriously haven't stepped foot in universal since my one visit there in '93. but my fiancee is a huge harry potter fan and, since we're going to WDW for our honeymoon, i was thinking about dropping by the wizarding world for a morning.
 
anyone have any tips on avoiding (at least some) of the crowds? i seriously haven't stepped foot in universal since my one visit there in '93. but my fiancee is a huge harry potter fan and, since we're going to WDW for our honeymoon, i was thinking about dropping by the wizarding world for a morning.

You got it, mornings are the way to go. You could splurge on the express pass and hit pretty much everything in both parks in one day.
 

Bonemachine

New Member
This past Tuesday I got pretty much everything done at both Universal parks in one day. If it's during a slow week, the express pass probably isn't worth it.
 

draybook

Well-Known Member
It's absolutely blitzed right now. We got here at 9 and got a return time of 10:50-11:50 already. Never again will we come to Orlando for Spring Break.
 

CynBeth

Active Member
Can someone who has been on Forbidden Journey describe what it's like? My husband and I are ride wimps and won't go on any roller coasters or any rides with hills/dips although we do like some motion simulators. Thanks!
 

enchanted_belle

Active Member
It's absolutely blitzed right now. We got here at 9 and got a return time of 10:50-11:50 already. Never again will we come to Orlando for Spring Break.

I was there the week before you with a group of friends for our spring break, and we were surprised by how short our lines were. We were expecting to wait for Forbidden Journey for the two hours, and we ended up riding it 5 times, longest wait for it was 15 minutes.
 

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
Just got back from a trip the 3rd week of Jan and the Harry Porter section was so crowded you couldn't see anything. I'm not waiting over 2 hours for a ride! To walk was even impossible. However, the rest of Universal was empty. We enjoyed both parks in one day.


We were there the end of February and it was so crowded you had to sign up and wait for your time slot to be allowed in. So very crowded with long waits for all rides, shows and even to get into the shops and food carts as well. Our first trip to Universal and probably our last
 

Banksy

New Member
anyone have any tips on avoiding (at least some) of the crowds? i seriously haven't stepped foot in universal since my one visit there in '93. but my fiancee is a huge harry potter fan and, since we're going to WDW for our honeymoon, i was thinking about dropping by the wizarding world for a morning.

I went when it JUST opened this June/July and if you go early, and i mean when the park is opening, it's perfectly enjoyable :) After the first hour and thrity it gets crowded. It wasn't that bad.:king:
 

NutsForFlorida

Well-Known Member
I went on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We did Universal Studios first and then over to the Islands of Adventure in the afternoon. The wait for the Forbidden Journey ride said 60 minutes. It only took me 30 minutes to go through the queue. I was also surprised at how fast the line moves. Plus, they have a beer vendor near the beginning of the queue. Or atleast they did that day. So, buy a few beers and enjoy the scenery.

On top of that, before I went on that ride, I didn't know too much about Harry Potter. I never watched a movie or read one of the books. After I got back home, I watched the first 4 movies. I have DVR'd the 5th and 6th movie so I'll be watching those as well. I never thought I'd like these movies or anything Harry Potter. Weird what a section of a theme park will do to ya...
 

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