I just wanted to jump in here and say "Thanks" to so many who contributed to this discussion for the last 3 years. It has been such a fun experience. Once people starting getting in and posting reports, I kind of dropped out because I knew I would be going too soon to spoil it. I went Sunday morning (as a hotel guest) and have my brief thoughts to share:
You know how you can just go to Epcot's World Showcase and do nothing? You could just browse and sit all day and have a great time? That is how well I feel they have done this island. I would (and will) go there just to get a butterbeer and sit in Hogsmeade. I am not a big HP fan, but the area is just amazing and immersive. It is small, both in overall footprint and the shops... but it makes it feel that much more like exactly what they tried to create. You are visiting a town you have never been to before, not a recreation of a small town in a theme park. Is that really smart for business? I don't know, but it is exactly what they were going for and they did it perfectly.
Some things are outrageous, like any theme park. $10 for a chocolate frog, really? If it was $6.95 I would have considered it overpriced but MAYBE bought one.
However, butterbeer is great and you get change back from $3.
Ollivanders Wand Shop.
For a show where only one person in the group get to do this, it works. The shopkeeper makes a big difference here. We ended up going in here 3 times and would have gone in more. It is entertaining, and the detail inside the shop (including dust on the boxes) is worth seeing alone.
Forbidden Journey.
You already know about the queue. Everything you already heard is true.
I thought to myself, "if this wasn't in a theme park they could charge admission just to walk through here".
The ride is nothing short of amazing. The detail, the effects, the movement, but most of all the smoothness. It turns quickly, whips around, tips, etc. but the movement is never scary or frightening. Nothing like a roller coaster, just a somewhat out of control flight through show scenes.
I wanted to think it would be the new top attraction anywhere (over Spiderman) and maybe overtime it will grow on me as one ride isn't enough to judge, but I still feel overall Spiderman is better because it has one consistent and easy to follow storyline. Forbidden Journey only has a somewhat forced together series of events that aren't really one story, but a bunch of scenes. (Nonetheless completely amazing scenes)
However, people in my party did disagree and say FJ topped Spiderman. I think it will come down to each experience. I also think some seats are better than others and I was in the worst one (far right).
My real complaint (if there is one to be made) is the serious downgrade to Dueling Dragons. They queue for this attraction was stripped down to almost nothing. So sad because it was once a very highly themed queue and now is a quickly thrown together mess. It looks like the Dragon Challenge had no budget whatsoever. (The coasters are still fun and I suppose that is what they cared about here).
Overall, this will be the greatest thing at Islands of Adventure for a very long time. It's location in the back center of the park is perfect for them, and I can pretty much guarantee you that I will not be hanging out in the expanded Fantasyland ever when the Wizarding World is just down the road.
A+ Universal. You did it.