The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade (Orlando): Part 2

[Teebin]

I'm staying at the Royal Pacific like we did 2 years ago...I'm guessing we have to wait until 9. Must make sure we are the first people on the actual schedule lol.

You're talking about the WWoHP Hotel Package correct?

Correct me everyone if I am incorrect... but I believe that anyone staying at any on-site hotel is treated like a WW package holder. The package was just a box name to sell the package. So, if I am correct, you too will be allowed in at 8AM when you show your room key. This is how they were treating all onsite hotels in the past three weeks.

 

[G8rBucsgirl]

Why are you guys saying that people are in the park at 7 to 8ish when the parks don't open until 9? I'm seriously getting confused now.

They've been letting people in earlier. On Monday at 8:30am people were riding the Hulk. Don't know if they were resort guests or just regular folks.

edit: When we went on Monday, we didn't try to get on any rides, we just got in line for Potter. I saw employees checking for hotel keys and directing folks where to go. The only ones who could get into Potter early were hotel guests. I don't know if IOA let people in early before Potter. We used to go in the late afternoon/evening.

 

[WTRiker]

I really don't think there is much choice for Universal. What you don't seem to understand is that the streets are jam packed by 9 am. The lines into the stores start at that time as well. Olivanders line starts forming at 8 am. There is no room for more people in the land until other people leave. The FJ line is really not as large as many seem to think. Unless you have actually seen this in action, it's hard to imagine. I have never seen anything like it and I have spent a lot of time in theme parks here in Orlando as well as inCalifornia where I live. Sure DD has a mostly empty line, but people are there to experience the atmosphere of the entire place, especially the shops. People are just standing in the streets taking pictures with huge smiles on their faces. It's crazy, nuts, and yet fun just to soak it all in. In the afternoons it seems to lighten up and then they let you in and out of the area with no lines.

I find it odd to criticize something you have not even experienced yet.

Your points are good, and yes, I HAVE experienced it aleady. Both at softs (4 trips) and since opening. And my whole beef is that they are handling it all wrong IMO. We KNOW the area is going to be crowded, heck even if it isnt HP, go to the MK right now: its Summertime in Orlando - EVERYTHINGS crowded. You cant move in Fantasyland at times, but they dont close down the whole area and restrict access to the attractions - thats my point - thats what the individual queues are for!

My point exactly - would you rather have a smile on your face with crowds around while your taking pictures and be able to walk into the area unrestricted and soak it in, or stand in a line that stretches to Seuss Landing and wait 3-4 hours before you even have the chance?

Remember again the average day guest is (and I dont mean this disrespectfully), a LEMMING. They are going to queue up for the area, and waste 1/2 their day because they see a line. We ran tests back at WDW in the day and proved that this was the case - visible line for anything = longer line. Suck the people into a long queue with some limited visibility and put up a wait time sign, and queue lines remain (thats what they are designed for) and get people off the streets allowing for more foot traffic, while areas (Lands) start to control themselves with flow-through traffic. Its a simple, classic, well-known design in the industry.

Remember the experiment you may have done as a kid where you walk into a crowded mall and just start staring up at something, and see how many other people join you?
Well, queuing folks up outside of Potterland instead of utilizing the ride/show queues to do this does the same thing - proven fact. Thats why I am against their choice and brought up the conversation for discussion.

I would much rather even with the crowds as an individual have the freedom to mull about the area and decide for myself if I just want to enjoy the atmosphere, get in a ride queue knowing Ill be in line for quite a while, or just move along. But having to make the decision based on waiting in a multi-hour line just to get into the area to even see it just seems like bad planning.

And again, Im taking myself out of the equation and trying to look at all of this from both a park management standpoint and an average day guest standpoint: Ive been around the block long enough myself to know that it doesnt matter if its Potter or Fantasyland or Space Mountain: if theres something you want to really do, do it in the first 1.5 or last 2 hours the park is open and youll have no issues. But the average vacationer/traveller doesnt know this per se: and it creates the problems we are seeing right now out at IOA/Potter. Yeah its easy to say "poo poo on them, theyre idiots". But my point was to open this up for discussion and see what solutions some of us could come up with, since among other things we know UO staff reads this board.

 

[ralphoutloud]

People seriously just go after 5PM it's a lot less crowded and no wait to get in and besides WWOHP at night >>>

 

[Jmaff]

Can't wait to do Harry Potter in the morning and wreck(ride repetitively) Spidey, JP River Adventure, Doom, and Hulk.
I can't imagine what Universal Studios will look like...a ghost town, nah, that sounds like an overstatement.

One more question because I know I seem to be becoming annoying but I've forgotten: What's the latest they let people in at both parks, assuming they are the same time?

 

[rinacee]

People seriously just go after 5PM it's a lot less crowded and no wait to get in and besides WWOHP at night >>>

That's what my plan is for next time. The thing is, it's easy for passholders to do that, but sometimes people on a schedule have to get things done in a certain amount of time or have other plans for nighttime. So if they are stuck on seeing Potter during the day, they'll just have to wait. Which sucks. But that's how it is now until something nearly fool-proof is thought up.
I have no management experience whatsoever, so I can't really suggest anything that could be deemed useful. But it's been interesting reading everyone's posts. Lots of longer posts today!

 

[Jymmymack]

Your points are good, and yes, I HAVE experienced it aleady. Both at softs (4 trips) and since opening. And my whole beef is that they are handling it all wrong IMO. We KNOW the area is going to be crowded, heck even if it isnt HP, go to the MK right now: its Summertime in Orlando - EVERYTHINGS crowded. You cant move in Fantasyland at times, but they dont close down the whole area and restrict access to the attractions - thats my point - thats what the individual queues are for!

My point exactly - would you rather have a smile on your face with crowds around while your taking pictures and be able to walk into the area unrestricted and soak it in, or stand in a line that stretches to Seuss Landing and wait 3-4 hours before you even have the chance?

Remember again the average day guest is (and I dont mean this disrespectfully), a LEMMING. They are going to queue up for the area, and waste 1/2 their day because they see a line. We ran tests back at WDW in the day and proved that this was the case - visible line for anything = longer line. Suck the people into a long queue with some limited visibility and put up a wait time sign, and queue lines remain (thats what they are designed for) and get people off the streets allowing for more foot traffic, while areas (Lands) start to control themselves with flow-through traffic. Its a simple, classic, well-known design in the industry.

Remember the experiment you may have done as a kid where you walk into a crowded mall and just start staring up at something, and see how many other people join you?
Well, queuing folks up outside of Potterland instead of utilizing the ride/show queues to do this does the same thing - proven fact. Thats why I am against their choice and brought up the conversation for discussion.

I would much rather even with the crowds as an individual have the freedom to mull about the area and decide for myself if I just want to enjoy the atmosphere, get in a ride queue knowing Ill be in line for quite a while, or just move along. But having to make the decision based on waiting in a multi-hour line just to get into the area to even see it just seems like bad planning.

And again, Im taking myself out of the equation and trying to look at all of this from both a park management standpoint and an average day guest standpoint: Ive been around the block long enough myself to know that it doesnt matter if its Potter or Fantasyland or Space Mountain: if theres something you want to really do, do it in the first 1.5 or last 2 hours the park is open and youll have no issues. But the average vacationer/traveller doesnt know this per se: and it creates the problems we are seeing right now out at IOA/Potter. Yeah its easy to say "poo poo on them, theyre idiots". But my point was to open this up for discussion and see what solutions some of us could come up with, since among other things we know UO staff reads this board.

I really don't mean to go point-to-point with you haha, but to say people are just getting in line for the hell of it is once again RIDICULOUS. Everyone knows about this land and wants to get into it. Let's put it this way, UO doesn't have the same draw name as WDW. People DO go to WDW without knowing that there are new rides and/or areas. But the amounts of people we see flocking to IOA are crazy, and to say it's just typical summer "lemmings" is beyond crazy. Go look at those pics of people stretched all around the resort including CityWalk. The problem with your argument is that you aren't addressing anything that contradicts you. They are fully opening the land early in the afternoon. What's the big deal if they hold up the flow at the very beginning?

 

[El Erico]

I'm getting extremely worried about my family's 3-Day Weekend trip. I'm going to be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday...then its good bye till 2011/2012.

I need good advice and tips in a nutshell. Going to try to make this the best trip it could possibly be before we depart. What to do?

Considering our trip yesterday, my best advice to you is to completely avoid Potterland if at all possible, until much later in the day. They were letting people in without any trouble around 6 PM when we went in for a second go-round on FJ. The crowds were still ridiculous, but FJ got down to 120 minutes, which was more around an actual 45 minute ride time. They were doing an excellent job keeping the crowds moving.

But since it seems you're probably going to go for Potterland, I suggest getting there around 7 or so. They let us in the park at 7:30, but since we weren't hotel people, we were queued up to get in 'til 9 rolled around and the park was actually 'open'. Seemed like they were letting people staying on-site and with vacation packages cut through Seuss Landing/Lost Continent and probably get in early, 'cause the greenhouse area of the queue for FJ was quite obviously full at 8:30 but immobile. At least as far as I could tell.

We wanted to stay as long as possible, but we wound up getting really worn down by 7:30, so we weren't able to stay for the last few hours to see the crowds, but it seemed like a fifteen/twenty minute wait just to shop and Butterbeer's line was still colossal.

EDIT: Oh, and I wanted to mention. They were handing out tickets to the first two/three hundred guests in the regular line. Little blue tickets that they checked and took from us before we entered Potterland. So hopefully that fuels some speculation.

 

[Teebin]

Just did the math. one hotel at UOR has 750 rooms. So, I multiplied that by three hotels and then an average of three people per room. That is 6750 guests. Doubt they filled all rooms and also doubt that all are there to see the WW. Many are there to drink at the pool... all day. So, I would say they are getting hit with 2-4K of guests in the morning at the WW and most will not partake of the breakfast at all. That somewhat means that at 9AM they probably trickle 250-500 people into the park every 15 minutes or so for the first two hours... then that number is cut a bit... until the mega line is satisfied and disbanded at 1-3pm. After that... it is just hell on wheels.

I usually arrive between 11am and 1pm and first order is spidy.... second is JP just cause I love the feel of it... then maybe hulk... so, maybe I will go sooner than I thought. If there is still a line I might hop over to US and do mummy and then go back to IOA and if there is still a line on the bridge, I will begin throwing people off the bridge (quietly) until chaos ensues and I can sneak past everyone and gain entry. Then after a fun time on FJ, I will walk out of Filches and be immediately arrested. Now that is one special day at a theme park!

 

[Frogki]

Alright, well I'm hoping to go in late October/ early November. Do you guys think it'll be a bit less crowded by then (I know I would be crazy to think it wouldn't have any crowds, I'm just wondering if the crowds will let up enough that I can get in the land and do what I want...)?

 

[WTRiker]

I just don't get why you aren't reacting to EVERYONE who has been there saying that the lines outside are the only thing preventing the land from utter anarchy in the morning. These people have all been there and are all saying the same thing. What's the deal?

Simple: the ones who arent complaining (not all but most on this board) ARE the Potter faithful - the ones going for this purpose only right now. For the most part they know they will have to be patient, and theres no worries. And once they are in, they are staying in.
My look at the problem and discussions of solutions is more big-picture.

Example: I have two friends in Guest Services out there: the biggest complaint they are getting on a daily basis? "DC is showing a 30 min wait, WHY do I have to wait 3 hours just to get to it?" The biggest beef of the average guest right now? The handling of access to the area. Why build a queue (and a virtual extention if you use the Trike Encounter area that was cleaned up) if youre going to post 120 wait for a queue (FJ) that can hold 240 wait, and also restrict access to two other attractions with a 10-30 min posted wait so they cant get to those queues?
People see the line. People see the wait time posted on the Tip boards. People DONT see the enterance to the attraction, and its hard to put 2 and 2 together. Hence - peeved guests.

I have been out there myself, and have seen it first hand also. Just stand in the area for 10 or 20 minutes (the line of people) and listen: biggest complaints? Why is this line so rediculous. Why is there no shade.Why arent they telling us anything. If I get out of line Ill never be able to get in, etc.

And yes, by 3-4PM, no or small line. What does this also tell us? Well, MOST day guests (esp those on property - true both at UO and Disney as well as other places) get to the parks early, spend their day, and then move onto their next destination or their hotel to relax and go to dinner, etc. Also explains why the line disappears in the afternoons/evenings. So again, I firmly believe from experience that they are artificially creating the problem. Everything would space itself out just fine if they did away with the Virtual Queue to get into the area itself.

Again, Im not speaking as someone who is just full of s%(#, we ran quite a few tests years ago at different locations in WDW to this very problem and determined exactly what Im stating here. The solution they are attempting just doesnt work.(Of course even at WDW they have all these new managers who have come from outside the company and are full of their own stubborn ideas and its funny as all get out to see them run the same experiments that we ran years ago because they wont listen to the fact that its been done before and think the outcome will be different this time and of course it never is, but I digress......)

Total anarchy in the morning? I do have to laugh that one off a bit: no matter how popular this area is, you open it up, utilize your ride queues to their design and fill them up, even let the early birds "walk, not run, lol" to their destination, utilize your door greeters, I garantee there will not be fighting taking place in the streets of Hogsmeade.

All I can picture now is Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs sporting their "colors" and rumbling....LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But youve got a LOT of disgruntled guests both in line for hours (and not for a single destination - read: RIDE but for an entire area read: MULTIPLE ATTRACTIONS) and theyre none too much happier once they actually get into the area either. Now they are hot, tired, and peeved, and have to wait again! Again, average day guest, not a Potterhead.

 

[Glen K123]

Hi Guys Im New And I Only Joined Today !
I've Been A Long Time Lurker And LOVE Harry Potter !
I'm Goin 2 Be There On The 29th Of July - 9th Of August, Do Ye Think It Would Have Calmed Down A Small Bit Or Would I Have 2 Go In Really Early.
I'm From Ireland So I Will Probally Wake Up Early Anyway Because Of Time Difference !
Thnx

 

[IzzyB]

I read your entire prior post. I am sure UOR is toying around with their options, one of which was the tickets they are passing out so that everyone in a group doesn't have to stand in line. That is a reasonable solution. While some of your other ideas sounded good at first glance, they could easily cause other more serious problems; cause and effect.

I completely disagree with your thought of letting everyone in would be a good solution. It would cause a serious disappointment for EVERYONE and the reviews would be caustic in every blog and forum around the world. The whole WW would be nicknamed "The Forbidden Journey" and people would be warned to just forget going as it was a huge disappointment and too crowded.

EDIT: I do think we will be seeing a restaurant in The Magic Neep building sooner rather than later. Perhaps just serving fish and chips as happens at the UK in EPCOT.

I agree with you. The green tickets are helping, I do think fastpass like pass for the area would help a lot more, but might take more time to implement. I do think opening the flood gates would be a mistake. I have a major in operations and a minor in logistics and there is a couple issues Uni is dealing with.

1. Uni never imagined Butterbeer would be so popular and having three places to get it would not be enough
2. They never expected the stores to be THIS busy
3. They expected Olivanders to be popular, but with shows every 5 minutes, I think they did not expect the lines to be this long.
4. They DID expect a large amount of people riding FJ and this is happening.
5. They expected more people to ride DC and FOTH

So what we have is the queues they do have (three rides) only one of them is really being used with the crowds. Where did they not expect queues, the stores. Or at least this long of a queue. if they let more people in, it won't make the ride lines longer (well it slightly will), but it will make the store lines HUGE which will in turn make Hogsmeade impossible to move around. This would then cause the Fire Marshall to come in an shut the area down. I think they are stopping people from entering when the store lines get out of hand and they are letting people in when the lines are more manageable only for them to build back up. They expected more people to be in the queues, but that is not happening. Which in the end is a good thing for Uni, because more people are spending money.

I think in the next week or two a fastpass system will be put into place over the summer. Where you will be able to enter after a certain time. This will allow guests to enjoy the rest of IOA while still controlling crowds. It really is the only solution I see.

 

[Jmaff]

I am a very patient person and I would wait for hours and hours if it was necessary. But sometimes when we are with family, like me, it's hard to just wait. My family has other priorities and while very excited for the WW, they could be doing something else like chilling by the pool or walking around the Citywalk.

Where are you trying to get at? That the whole" You have to be there in the morning or its madness" theory is senseless? Condense your thoughts lol.

Welcome to the site Glen! I think it would have calmed down a tad by then but take tad with a grain of salt. The whole summer is going to be crowded. But there will certainly be less of a majority crowding up the WW by then.

 

[Frogki]

Alright, well I'm hoping to go in late October/ early November. Do you guys think it'll be a bit less crowded by then (I know I would be crazy to think it wouldn't have any crowds, I'm just wondering if the crowds will let up enough that I can get in the land and do what I want...)?

Hello? anyone here? lol...

 

[Jymmymack]

OK, we're going to have to agree to disagree. I would personally rather have to wait in a line outside than wait in a 4 hour line inside to buy a chocolate frog or a wand, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Tbad556]

Total anarchy in the morning? I do have to laugh that one off a bit: no matter how popular this area is, you open it up, utilize your ride queues to their design and fill them up, even let the early birds "walk, not run, lol" to their destination, utilize your door greeters, I garantee there will not be fighting taking place in the streets of Hogsmeade.

A couple of issues with your theory though.

First off, even with the island being packed right now, no one is riding DC and Hippogriff. There's no way that you can force guests to queue up for the ride. They may be designed for long lines but it doesn't mean guests want to fill them up.

Secondly, there have been fights in the line to get into WWoHP so who is to say that it can't happen from mass crowds in Hogsmeade?

Finally, if they did get rid of the line into WWoHP, can you imagine the insanity. Even without Universal creating the organized line, there will be a line/crowd to get into WWoHP just due to the fact that the crowds are that large. Honestly, I think Universal is handling the situation just fine.

 

[WTRiker]

I really don't mean to go point-to-point with you haha, but to say people are just getting in line for the hell of it is once again RIDICULOUS. Everyone knows about this land and wants to get into it. Let's put it this way, UO doesn't have the same draw name as WDW. People DO go to WDW without knowing that there are new rides and/or areas. But the amounts of people we see flocking to IOA are crazy, and to say it's just typical summer "lemmings" is beyond crazy. Go look at those pics of people stretched all around the resort including CityWalk. The problem with your argument is that you aren't addressing anything that contradicts you. They are fully opening the land early in the afternoon. What's the big deal if they hold up the flow at the very beginning?

Actually I am trying to address the contradictory statements, Im trying to look at both sides.Note last post specifically addressing the "EVERYONE" statement. Yes this is utterly crazy for IOA this year, UO adding the summer concert series and some real name draws is adding to the insanty. But, you STILL have to take into account the non-potter faithful, your bread-and-butter per se, and also consider that for the first time in 2 or 3 years, attenance so far is way up across the board - not just the insanity at IOA because of Potter. I have seen more Brazillian tour groups so far this summer than in any of the last 5 summers. Travel TO America is getting cheap again Travel to Orlando is up. We are hosting Celebration V in just a few weeks - more insanity. (we got it because it has outgrown the convention centers in both Ca AND Chicago - and that was even in a recession!)
Again Im not trying to diss IOA, Potter, or any of it...I love it all. Im just trying to get a dialogue going based on what I have seen, what I have heard, what I have experienced, and the experiences of both people I know who are visiting and working in this madness. BTW: MK cast has been on mandatrory 6 and 7 days for MONTHS now, so no, its not just Potter thats doing this nonsense.
My WHOLE discussion was simply in how I believe there are better solutions to manage this - and seeing what other solutions other people out there had. Not to bitch and moan about potter!

--- Update ---

Just did the math. one hotel at UOR has 750 rooms. So, I multiplied that by three hotels and then an average of three people per room. That is 6750 guests. Doubt they filled all rooms and also doubt that all are there to see the WW. Many are there to drink at the pool... all day. So, I would say they are getting hit with 2-4K of guests in the morning at the WW and most will not partake of the breakfast at all. That somewhat means that at 9AM they probably trickle 250-500 people into the park every 15 minutes or so for the first two hours... then that number is cut a bit... until the mega line is satisfied and disbanded at 1-3pm. After that... it is just hell on wheels.

I usually arrive between 11am and 1pm and first order is spidy.... second is JP just cause I love the feel of it... then maybe hulk... so, maybe I will go sooner than I thought. If there is still a line I might hop over to US and do mummy and then go back to IOA and if there is still a line on the bridge, I will begin throwing people off the bridge (quietly) until chaos ensues and I can sneak past everyone and gain entry. Then after a fun time on FJ, I will walk out of Filches and be immediately arrested. Now that is one special day at a theme park!

Actually we need to just utilize the backstage gate between Seuss and RRR area to jump between parks based on ride wait times: if we dont get caught that is! Saves all that walking past HRC!!!

 

[Jymmymack]

Hello? anyone here? lol...

I wouldn't worry about the lines in October or November. According to all the scientific research done at Disney, people are only getting in line because there is a line to get in. Nothing to do with the Wizarding World. If they through that line into Seuss Landing or in front of the Tric encounter it would have the same effect.

In all seriousness though, from what I understand November is more or less dead, but October can get a little Harry (see what I did there?) with HHN.

 

[Tbad556]

Alright, well I'm hoping to go in late October/ early November. Do you guys think it'll be a bit less crowded by then (I know I would be crazy to think it wouldn't have any crowds, I'm just wondering if the crowds will let up enough that I can get in the land and do what I want...)?

Crowds will definitely be smaller during that time. One thing everyone has to remember is that this is busy for three main reasons:

1.) It is summer, the busiest time of the year.
2.) It is still Grand Opening week/month.
3.) It is a new attraction built to an extremely popular franchise.

With 2 of the 3 reasons being eliminated while you are gone, I would expect it to be much calmer.

Hi Guys Im New And I Only Joined Today !
I've Been A Long Time Lurker And LOVE Harry Potter !
I'm Goin 2 Be There On The 29th Of July - 9th Of August, Do Ye Think It Would Have Calmed Down A Small Bit Or Would I Have 2 Go In Really Early.
I'm From Ireland So I Will Probally Wake Up Early Anyway Because Of Time Difference !
Thnx

First off, welcome to the site! :wave:

You're trip is during the end of the Summer time which means it is still going to be pretty busy. Will it be calmer than now? Most likely, yes. Either way, make the best out of your trip and enjoy it!