I really hope that when I go I get to experience the full que in FJ, not saying I would like to wait anything near 2 hours but I want to be able to get to see Dumbledore's office and hear the trio speak etc.
Mostly the wait is outside in the Greenhouse and pryor to that so once you are in the castel hold your ground and let the others pass you by so you do have the experience. No one will man handle you out of the area, you will just hear the constant call to move on. I would recommend your first time through to actually experience each room. Take pictures your first time through and really enjoy the full expeirence. There is nothing like going through for the First time. The little metal storage area behind you in the ride seat is very small. I did manage to fit my LG Shine phone and my pink Kodak digital camera but not much else would fit in there. My second time through the line my daughter's opted to sit it out while my son and I rode again. Since all 4 of us wanted to walk through the castel again we skipped the lockers and held on to our back packs. We laughed when the TMs reminded us that we couldnt fit our backpacks in the little ride compartment. We asured them time and again that only two of us were riding and two were going to wait in the Kiddy Exchange area.
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just got home from my weekend at WWOHP! i'm so tired, so this is gonna be quick. i had an AMAZING time! all three days i visited the park (fri, sat, sun) FJ was up and running very smoothly every time i rode it. it blew me away (my ride photos consisted of my mouth wide open in awe). first time i waited for it i wanted to get on with my friends and of course go through the whole beautiful castle, and that ended up only taking about an hour and a half which was perfect. every other time we rode single and were was on within 15-25 minutes each time. the crowds were of course crazy, but i spent so much time stopping, shopping, and admiring everything that they didn't even bother me at all. ollivander's was unreal, i had a blast there. be prepared to wait in that line forever but it is well worth it. and all of the shops seemed to be pretty stocked up on everything. i was so glad to finally taste butterbeer and pumpkin juice too. i had a fabulous time and i can't wait to get back there in a couple of months! i also must mention i met a ton of potter fans from all over which was a great experience, and everyone was so happy
and i spent WAY too much money haha. sorry this is so short, just thought i would share my little two cents!
Wonderful that you had such a great time!!
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Oh my god. I just got back. I'll post a full review later, but for now all I can say is OMG!!!!!! BTW frozen from HH is awesome.
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I have to agree with you about being peeved about the making of thing. It was still awesome though. I don't think I'll ever see the 3 broomstick workers dancing to Thriller again.
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I was litteraly right in front of snape.
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I was litteraly right in front of snape. The attendees were much better than the real presentation.
Sorry you were all made to watch what has already been seen and on line for that "show". I have to agree the fans really can put on a great show! The TMs in WWOHP were all so In To Character that it was like being in the movies when we went. Lovely time with the TMs of WWOHP!
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Wow have I missed a lot! I do have questions and such. Why? Because my children had such a wonderful time we are considering going back again this year. Next year wont be an option due to an overseas trip.
That's good to hear. Are they misting fans? That would be a lot better than the regular fans!
Misting fans are not for everyone. I poured the water out of my children’s portable fans and we try to lean away from the misting fans in the park. Why? We are Irish and very fair skinned. Hot sun and water = Sun burnt to a crisp which would lead to a very unpleasant day walking around a theme park. I do think they are a great idea for the majority of the public though.
I'm just now heading home from 3 amazing days at Universal. I don't know if this has been mentioned -- haven't been keeping up with this thread -- but when did they replace the awesome butterbeer mugs with crappy cups? boo. Any ways, I'll be on my laptop later tonight.
Anyone see the Mugs/Stein’s come back yet? Anyone use their Stein for a refill recently? If so what was the cost to refill?
Can't wait!
I know I've said it before but even though my ride today was perfect and the best I've ever riddden, (finally a different seat :happy
It only tied Spidey.
On the topic of Hippogriff, Great ride at night, but they added nets like the new ones on the Cat that connect from the floor to the lap bar and cover your knees.
Wonder why they added these nets? Is it because there are so many people shopping and no lockers? Need to keep your belongings with you and WWOHP merchandise lost would be scarier than the ride!
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Here are a couple of pictures from last night, sorry about the quality most of them did not turn out.
Again sorry about the quality, just wasn't working for me last night. Enjoy!
Oh my goodness! How did I not see it before?! The archway past Ollivanders towards the "stage" area for the performers had snow on it! I will have to look back at my pictures to see if it was there and I really didn't see it at all. Funny the details I missed. Is that last picture the Snow! I was sooo surprised and excited about that part when it happened!
I went to the Infinitus event, and since it's semi-related to this, I'll tell you guys about it:
The event started at 10, and we were taken to the eighth Voyage of Sinbad theater. We were supposed to be getting a presentation, and while we were waiting there was a bit of an informal show going on with people dressed up as HP characters reanacting certain scenes. This turned out to be better than the actual presentation. A lady who I guess was high-up in Universal came and talked about WWoHP and showed us a video covering all the grand opening stuff. That was nice, but we were all still waiting for the good stuff. They ended up playing the NBC special, and at that point, I felt a bit cheated. It was supposed to be a presention by the 'brains of WWoHP'. I eventually left, and a good thing too, because I was in the front of the crowd to get in. The outside of the theater filled up fast, and they didn't let us in until 11:30. Everyone was pretty peeved especially since it was so hot and crowded behind the rope keeping us out. It was set to end at 1:30.
So they finally let us in, and it was pretty fun. They were handing out free butterbeer in smaller cups than usual ('cept you could just get back in line and get more). I headed straight to Ollivanders and then FJ. I rode FJ for my third time total, and it was as great as usual (only a 20 minute wait). After I got off the ride, I thought of going on it again, but it was closed. And their was still about an hour or a little less left of the event. I headed over to Dragon Challenge, but we couldn't rent lockers. It said they were all full even though we saw many people emptying their lockers. We didn't have anything to do with our wands, so we couldn't ride it. We went to ride Hippogriff (no wait) then headed off back to Dragon Challenge to see if the issue has been resolved. But, with 30 minutes still left in the event, they closed DC. So I just shopped with what little money I had left and got some butterbeer for the rest of the time.
Overall, it was fun, but I think many attendees felt a bit cheated because it was implied that we would have more time in the park, and the presentation would be exclusive and interesting, not something we can just watch on YouTube.
Wow and Thank you for the info. I was wondering what we missed by not going. You mentioned times but you didn’t mention if it was AM or PM so I was wondering if you were standing in line to enter the WWOHP in day light and suffering in the heat as we did the day before GO and the day OF. The day before GO we were standing in the same area from 11 AM until 12:30 and dying in the heat. There was no shade and no fans. I let my children go into the shops while I tried to keep our place in line. Way too many PUSHY people and too many thinking it was a soft opening and not believing you needed a special ticket to enter even though the TMs constantly said you needed a special ticket. I admire people for sticking it out in that sun drenched heat to see if they could get in but at the same time I was wondering why they went so far as the gates to be turned away when there were so many of us with tickets who were dying to get out of the direct sunlight with no fans and get something to drink or at least be first to hit the Bathrooms! Ha!
I was there Thursday night and while the shops were real low they did still seem to have almost everything in stock at Honeydukes and Zonkos including chocolate frogs. Now Dervish and Banges on the over hand...
Did they have the Pigmy Puffs?
Interesting that although many describe the entire park very detailed, I have not heard mentioned any one particular part of the park that contains a mind blowing effect; a tour de force of modern magic.
I am very intrigued! What is it?
Just got back from our trip last night. Went to WWoHP on Friday night and Sunday morning. LOVED it. Great way to spend our fifth wedding anniversary. I took lots of pictures, will try to post some one here another time. FJ is definitely the best of any ride we rode at any park we went to, including all of Universal and most of Disney. Loved just walking around looking at all the details in the windows. I'd get so excited every time I saw something new, I had to take ten pictures of it. Only a few disappointments- the first time we rode FJ there was a 60 minute wait. The ride broke down and the wait ended up being almost two hours. This would have been great if we had been inside the castle at the time, but we were trapped in one of the sunny, no-fan, no water-fountain spots. A girl a few feet down from us almost passed out while we waited. When it finally got going again they rushed us through the castle- we were yelled at any time we tried to stop so I really felt cheated on the experience. Every time we rode FJ after that we used single rider, which was quick and great. I wish UO would let people just walk through the castle though, without necessarily having to wait for the ride. The queue itself is an attraction for me! Olivander's was fantastic. We waited almost two hours both times we went in, but I felt it was worth it for the opportunity to be chosen for a wand. The first time we went in I was sure I would be chosen- I was right at the front of a line of a bunch of adults. But then this family showed up and the TM let them in right in front of us, even though they were saying things like, "What is this? What does it do?" The woman was trying to explain but they had no clue. They got in in front of us and of course the little girl was chosen immediately for the wand experience. I was hugely disappointed because I didn't understand why they were let in without waiting in the line (anyone know?) and because they didn't seem at all interested in HP. The second time I knew I wouldn't be chosen even though I was again at the front of the line because there were two cute little girls right behind us. They were of course chosen, and again they seemed completely uninterested in the experience. The little girl kept crying and trying to run back to her mom, who kept pushing her forward. I wished Olivanders would have considered choosing an adult instead of kids who weren't even born when HP first came out and don't even know or want to be involved in what's going on. Besides those two things though, everything else was fantastic. We ate at the Three Broomsticks, drank our Butterbeer, Frozen Butterbeer, and Pumpkin Juice, visited all the shops, rode all the rides. It was very crowded (my husband got sick of me saying how much I dislike those darn touring groups) and I can't wait to go back when it's cooler and the lines are shorter! (p.s. I thought it was interesting yesterday on our way out when we stopped at the souvenir shop right in the Port of Entry that they had a lot of the HP merchandise right there, including Chocolate Frogs.)
I found that when you enter the rooms the story line does not start when you enter. You see what is going on when you enter. With TMs actually shouting to move the line along, so all can hear, you feel pressured to move along. My children and I did not move along but did encourage people behind us to go forward so we wouldn't hold up the line ourselves. When there is no real wait time I can see the TMs wanting to fill the ride seats and move people along so the ride has a constant even flow of people. When there is a line of people in the greenhouse I see no reason at all to encourage people to move along as there are people willing to just rush through the rooms in the castle. Yes, I agree that they are only doing their jobs and not shouting at just us but letting the whole room know they can keep moving on.
With a family showing up at Olivander’s without being in the Queue I wonder if UO is trying out a Front of the pass (FOTP) or ticketing of some sort. If I were going to a theme park I would want ALL the perks but would also want an explanation of what they are. IF this is a paid for FOTP or if they followed some of our advise for prepaying for a wand then I would make sure I KNEW ahead of time what I was paying for and wouldn't pay for it unless my children or myself actually wanted it. As the WWOHP has had some experience with a whole family/group not knowing what it is I would hope it is not part of the regular hotel package yet. There are too many die hard fans who would pay for the experience or should at least be given the chance to get in line ahead of people who have no clue about HP.
I do have a question about Ollivander’s. When we went it was the weekend of the Grand Opening. I understand how VERY busy they were but thought there would be TMs in the Owlery who would ask you questions and then recommend a wand. They were SOOO busy that weekend they would have needed about 80 of these TMs but I didn't even see one TM helping out in this fashion. My eldest daughter (20 yrs old) couldn't even get help to reach a wand which was only available on a very high shelf. The shop was extremely crowded with very excited shoppers like ourselves. Thank goodness there were so many customers happy and ready to help each other. Two other young shoppers saw my very shy girl attempting to work a wand off the shelf with her empty Meal Deal "cup". They very happily jumped right in to help her giggling with her about how odd it is that Ollivander would put her wand where she couldn't reach it.
We were fortunate that my youngest was chosen in Ollivander’s but it was complete surprise and we were lead in with a small group of parents and children the day before GO. My youngest is only 11 yrs old but there were younger and older children within a few years of her there. When we booked our trip the advertisements lead us to believe All will have the experience. I also have two older children who grew up with the HP series who are 22 and 20 yrs old. They would have been THRILLED to have been chosen but before we arrived at the park I explained the process of Ollivander’s to them. Each said if they were picked they wanted to push their little sister to the Wandkeeper. Due to my older children's love of the HP series my youngest has read the books and watched the movies then re-read the book of each movie after seeing it. She did understand the Ollivander's experience and she was absolutely mesmerized! Her only hesitation was looking around to make sure the Wandkeeper was actually talking to her because she couldn't believe it!
I do not understand parents forcing Children who do not want the experience unless their child is very shy and would be very disappointed later on if they didn't do it. Sad to say but in all my years as a parent that seems to only be about 5-10% of children pushed by parents. The other percentage is usually pushy parents who are not really doing it for the child but themselves. I have gone through the sports, instruments, debate teams and even pageants. I have seen my share of pushy parents. I like this resolve best so far
I'm not trying to knock younger fans, because I began reading them when I was 7 or 8--but I think it should be more diversified...and if a child is showing resistance, they should have some kind of scripted line for that situation...like "I guess it is not your time for a wand to choose you. But do not worry, when your wand does choose you...."etc.
About Dragon Challenge--when I was there they were not running Fireball and Horntail at the same time.