I was one of those who went early Friday morning and I went again today. When we got there today at 8:20am, we got in line in front of the Falls Ride in Toon Lagoon, not too far from the entrance to Jurassic Park. I saw a lot of employees talking to guests in the line, answering questions. My Mom asked one TM (hope that means team member, very new to this board) how long the wait was from where we were. She said she couldn't say for sure, could be a couple of hours, could be as long as 4-5 but this time of day was a good time and it shouldn't be long before we get in. (I don't get why my Mom even asked that....its like asking her to whip out a crystal ball and tell the future). Then my Mom decided to complain about how she's a passholder and thinks its not right that there was no perks for passholders for Potter. At that point, I stepped in and told Mom to chill out. I look at it like this, the perk for seeing Potter with annual pass was I didn't have to wait in line to buy a ticket to get in. The other perk, I get to come back whenever I want and believe me I get my money's worth with the pass. Also told Mom its not her fault there's a line to get in and its not like we didn't know there would be a line. We anticipated a line, just didn't expect for it to be back so far.
Another TM came by handing out little green tickets. I asked what they were for and she said it was to prevent line jumping, you have to have that green ticket to get into Potter. Excellent! Once we got past the big Jurassic Park sign, the line really started moving. 1 1/2 hours is how long we waited before we got into Hogsmeade. Another improvement was the stores. Yes, the lines were still long outside the stores. However, I took a peek inside Dervish and Banges and it wasn't crowded like it was Friday. People had room to move around and look at things. Dragon's Challenge at that time had no wait. Two of my kids wanted to ride it again so we walked through and looked at all the Potter stuff (I missed this on Friday being stuck in D&B and Owl Post just trying to buy postcards). Next we went over to Hogwarts and the wait was 2 hours. We got in line and it moved along ok. Once we got to the actual ride, they let my kids go ahead but stopped me and my Mom so we could try their seats. I told them I wasn't riding since I was the backpack holder. My Mom got in the test seat and all I heard was 2 clicks. They said it was to make sure we'd be comfortable in the seat and that the harness wasn't too tight. They gave my Mom the green light and they rode FJ with no problem. The only thing I didn't like was I really wanted to go to the child swap area and wait. I was so looking forward to watching a little Potter and having a seat after standing for hours. But they told me I had to go downstairs. Lots of people in Filches but I caught the register with no waiting so I was able to buy the things the kids wanted.
There was a cart outside Hogwarts where you could buy wands and the line for that was very long. Hippogriff's was 20 minute wait. Line for butterbeer was very long as well as Three Broomsticks and Hogs Head. Ollivanders was also about 2 hours to wait. By this time, I had had enough of lines for one day and so had my Mom and kids.
So my advice is for awhile if you're going in the morning, go very early. Be there when they open the parking garage. And wear very comfortable shoes, bring bottled water and snacks. Sunscreen too. And your patience.
--- Update ---
I'm gonna say no, D Howard is tall but not big in width like Shaq.
I'm betting he gets in. He's Shaq, they're not going to turn him away.