Orlando - Fri, Sat or Sun: least horrid day for Harry Potter?

We will be in Orlando the weekend of August 14. The Universal Orlando/Harry Potter is a must-do, but we will have to go on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Which day has the smallest crowds, and is it better to go first thing in the morning, or to wait until late afternoon/evening?

I can't say definitively, but I would guess that Friday would be the best day given that locals may be at work then, but at the parks on Saturday/Sunday.

As for the best time of the day, I would say that if you are staying at an onsite hotel and can get into the park early, then go then. You should have an extra hour before the general crowds are let in. But if you aren't staying onsite, I would think your best bet is later in the afternoon/evening. This wouild be due to all the onsite guests getting into lines before you can even get into the park.

Thanks for the quick response!

But if you aren't staying onsite, I would think your best bet is later in the afternoon/evening. This wouild be due to all the onsite guests getting into lines before you can even get into the park.

One of my daughter's friends works at Universal, and she said that *lots* of people rush straight to HP land when the park gates open, and that it dies down (relatively speaking) later in the day, so this is probably the best plan. Hopefully by August it might have eased off some too.

Insider info is great... Thanks!

Saturday will be the worst day to visit any theme parks, since you'll have the local crowd along with all the tourists. Sunday evenings aren't too bad (relatively speaking) since many tourists start or end their trips on that day, and so thus are busy trying to get in or out of town as oppose to playing in the park. Plus, the local crowd isn't going to be staying out late on a work night.

For sure, avoid saturday.
I would try friday

Apologies, but I whole heartedly disagree with the poster above. On July 5th-6th the lines at Harry Potter only got progressively worse throughout the day, to the point where Universal staff had to hand out numbers for the people in line as they were simply gridlocked in that area of the park.

My advice:

1 - Stay at one of the three on site hotels (Hard Rock or one of the two Loews properties). They are not cheap, but include two key features, a "fast pass" type option (which will not be valid for Harry, but most everything else at the parks), and allow for early entrance to the park.

2 - Get to the park early early early. If you do stay on site, they will let you into the park at least an hour before official opening time, others have reported even earlier than that.

3 - Go directly to the Harry Potter world and ride the rides. When we first got there at approximately 9am, our wait time was +/-15 minutes. The wait wasn't bad as most of it was inside (read A/C) and had lots of interesting 'wizard looking' things to see. We got off the ride and immediately went back on and had a similar wait time. By 10a the lines were literally double what they were before, and by noon the line had to be three hours, minimum.

I have no idea if the lines got better towards the end of the day, but the park as a whole slows down between 5 and 7p and picks back up depending on what time they close.

Also note they allow no bags or backpacks on the Harry Potter ride. There are free lockers you can keep them in while you ride, and they are fairly strict about no bags, including womens' purses. This could easily add 10 minutes to your wait time. Fanny packs (sorry Brits!) appear to be allowed without too much grumbling.

There are also incredible lines (30-45 minutes) to get into the souvenier shops in Harry Potter land. I have no idea why, as there is no way I would stand in line to get the chance to look at things to buy.

If you want to try the "Butter Beer" look for a waitress near the big barrel cart, it will be faster than standing in line. The folks standing in line are either getting a refill (cheaper, and the waitresses won't bring refills) or ordering something else.

The "Express Pass" option is not in place for the Harry Potter rides, but does work for most of the other rides in the park. This pass is free (included in your hotel rate for up to 5 people in your room) if staying on site, and can be purchased in the park for (I think) $30 per person. It made a huge difference during the day, not so much during the early hours. Also, the Express Pass is valid on your day of check in and out. Thus, one night hotel = two days of Express Pass. If you have an American Express Platinum card, the Loews Portofino is a FHR property and their rates include cold breakfast buffet and a $100 food/beverage credit. Not bad if you can get a rate +/-240/night.

I currently live about a 3 hour drive from Orlando, and I am taking the family on a Monday/Tuesday trip.

But to directly answer your question, my advice as to the best times would be:

1-Early early Friday AM
2-Early early Sunday AM
3-Early early Saturday AM
4-Rest of Friday
5-Rest of Sunday
6-Rest of Saturday

Hope this helps and have fun!

A bit late, but this may help others, we just returned and found that this really helped to choose a park (http://www.undercovertourist.com/planning/which-park-today.html) for a given day. We found that Harry Potter Forbidden Journey was best on the Sunday morning at approx 1000 (we made a late decision and ordinarily I would like to have got there at 0900) and although it advertised a 30 min wait it was actually 15 - including getting the locker for your backpack.

Butter beer is well worth it !

Queuing for an hour and a half for the Oleanders shop and the wand show is an absolute waste of time unless your sprog is picked to take part in the show. Other than that, give it a miss imo.

I was there 2 fridays ago and almost no lines in the attraction. I think it's the best option...

I was there 2 fridays ago and almost no lines in the attraction. I think it's the best option...

Slowing down a bit I suppose finally.. all of the diehards have had their fill. Maybe a good opportunity to go down on weekdays.

My family and I went yesterday. Forbidden journey was a 10 minute wait at 1000am, by the time we got out it was 20, and was 20-30 the rest of the day when I checked. This was the first time I have gone to a theme park on a weekday in years, and compared to how it typically is on weekends made it worth taking a vacation day. We hit both parks and walked right into most rides and shows. The only line we saw over 30 minutes was Olevander's wand shop show. I didn't see a time posted, but I would guess close to an hour.

I've got a 5 year old and 10 month old.. debating if its worth it to visit Universal this time around. Is Harry Potter worth the ticket for a young family?

Is Harry Potter worth it for a 10 month and a 5 year old?

I suspect the 10 month won't get much from any amusement park quite yet. I guess how much your 5 year old would get out of that section depends on how much into Harry Potter s/he is. S/he will probably be too small to ride the Forbidden Journey and the Dragon Challenge rides, but might be able to get something from the rest of the park area. Getting some butter-beer, walking around the stores, etc, may be fun for a 5 year old.

Is Harry Potter worth it for a 10 month and a 5 year old?

I suspect the 10 month won't get much from any amusement park quite yet. I guess how much your 5 year old would get out of that section depends on how much into Harry Potter s/he is. S/he will probably be too small to ride the Forbidden Journey and the Dragon Challenge rides, but might be able to get something from the rest of the park area. Getting some butter-beer, walking around the stores, etc, may be fun for a 5 year old.

Butter-Beer? For a five year old? Must be an appropriate beer product for a 5 year old.:D

Butter-Beer? For a five year old? Must be an appropriate beer product for a 5 year old.:DYou can get them frozen like an Icee or non-frozen. They tasted similar to a cream soda to me.

You can get them frozen like an Icee or non-frozen. They tasted similar to a cream soda to me.

Sounds like fun.. but with a 21 day ticket to Disney World.. gotta be stellar, if I'm spending an extra $600 to get the family in.. Sounds like lines are going to be a disaster for Christmas break.:eek:

If you do go, then I would say do not bother queueing for Olivanders to see the little display they give to select a wand (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xus-SHp-nLo&feature=channel), unless you know for certain your child will be picked. He picks one kid out of the audience and that is it. If you can get straight in, then fine, but if I had queued for 10 minutes I would have been as disappointed as I was for queuing for over an hour - imho you are better just going straight into the shop and buying the obligatory wand. The Dragon Challenge is a great ride as is the Forbidden Journey ride - note that you cannot take backpacks in and have to get a locker if you have one for the Forbidden Journey.

Why line up for a wand, if your child is unlikely to be picked? Do they conduct a show worth seeing? What exactly is the draw for Olivanders?

Why line up for a wand, if your child is unlikely to be picked? Do they conduct a show worth seeing? What exactly is the draw for Olivanders?

Agree (as per my post). No. Dunno.

The wand/souvenir shop is worth visiting for kids to browse imo.

Discussion was that Olivanders had a line entering the shop.. so the line is just for the wand demo, not the actual shop?

Discussion was that Olivanders had a line entering the shop.. so the line is just for the wand demo, not the actual shop?

Once you have finished the wand shop demo/show, you are shepherded into the actual shop. But you can also enter the actual shop without having to watch the demo, there was a line too but nowhere near the length of the line for the demo.

How long are the line ups for each ride on a typical weekday and weekend day?

OP here - forgot to post my results. Of course, since we went in August, it may be totally different now.

We (two adults) actually only wanted to see Harry Potter, so we went late (6:00 PM) on a Friday. The lines were much shorter by 7:00 pm, so I would recommend going to the short lines first and waiting for the long wait lines to dwindle at this time of night, which they do.

Ollivander's wand show was about 7 minutes long. An old wizard in robes chooses a young child (like 1st or second grade age) and they go through a routine where the child has to point his wand at various 'targets' in the shop and say magic words. The result is a couple of things go wrong (animatronic shelves/drawers, lights and noises) with the incorrect wand, and the old wizards fixes them with his own magic wand. When the child has the 'correct wand' the magic works, lights fill the room, and the child is escorted through the exit to the main gift shop where he can buy his new wand. It was cute and well-done, but hardly worth the wait for any but the most die-hard fan (like my husband :rolleyes:)

Needless to say, any child can go directly into the gift shop and buy the same wand for the same price. Unfortunately, when we were there, the line to get into the store through the main entrance was almost as long as the line to get into the wand show. (Note this was a month or two after it opened.)

The butter beer was like cream soda (or a cream soda slurpee) with double the sugar and marshmallow fluff on top. Yuck! If I had a kid, I would buy them an empty souvenir mug - maybe fill it with the 'pumpkin juice' they sell (10% fruit juice with corn syrup and water added).

You can get beer - a Scottish Ale - in a Souvenir mug at the Three Broomsticks Restaurant (I think you can actually skip the restaurant if you don't want to eat, more beer choices at the bar in back). The food at the restaurant was OK - the fish & chips looked good, but the Shepherd's Pie and Cornish Pasties were waaaay too salty (and I LOVE salt). The roasted ear of corn was good.

Lines were long for the main attraction ride (~60-90 minutes) but by the time we got out, people were practically walking right on to all the rides. The other rides had much shorter lines. Also, you can declare yourself a 'single rider' (i.e. willing to split up from your group) and you can go to a much shorter line, where they use people to fill out partially empty cars (e.g. a group of three gets on, so they pull a single rider fill the car). For the main ride, the line filters through Hogwarts Castle and has interesting props and vignettes to see. Harry, Hermione, and Ron appear in various settings and beckon you to join them, setting up the 'plot' which culminates in the rollercoaster-style broomstick ride. The single rider line misses seeing the castle, which is probably worth a viewing for big Potter fans.

^. thanks.. My friends from California was considering Universal Studios as well as Disney World.. we'll have to see how things pan out.. I imagine walking into Costco Orlando, they've still got the Universal Passes?.. will have to snoop around when we get there..

I imagine walking into Costco Orlando, they've still got the Universal Passes?.. will have to snoop around when we get there..

I haven't seen the Universal tickets at Costco since early this year, I would suggest calling them, but I think you are out of luck there.

I haven't seen the Universal tickets at Costco since early this year, I would suggest calling them, but I think you are out of luck there.

I figured with the new Harry Potter attraction, every will pay the going rate probably.. Is it still busy? Has the novelty worn off yet?