Universal hasn't cut access to Diagon Alley in weeks. The machines Universal installed to assign return wait time cards have sat unused as the new land's higher capacity than the original Wizarding World in Islands of Adventure so far has handled the current level of demand. Hourly capacity on Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts has improved, too, as operations crews now run seven trains on a somewhat regular basis, up from the two or three trains that ran when the ride first opened to the public last month. That's helped raised the effective hourly capacity of the ride to around 1,400 visitors, according to what we've heard from insiders. Most reports we've heard put the typical wait for Gringotts now around one to three hours, depending on downtimes. Yes, downtimes still are happening, but they're more brief delays these days than afternoon-killers. Still, Universal's been closing the ride around 7pm most nights for extended maintenance time, so don't count on enjoying a shorter wait time late in the evening as the park clears out, as you can typically on most other theme park rides.
You might still encounter brief waits to enter other Diagon Alley establishments, including the shops and dining areas. But the additional theaters in the Ollivander's wand shop in Diagon Alley mean that visitors to the new land will wait a fraction of the time for the "wand chooses the wizard" show over here than in the Islands of Adventure original.
Still, it appears that crowd levels in Diagon Alley are not up to the "worst case scenario" for which Universal Orlando planned. Everyone learned from the opening of the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2010. Universal learned to build a land with higher capacity and to create a standby return system that would be ready to go from day one. Yet the public learned, too. Many theme park fans, including Theme Park Insider readers, decided to delay their visit to Diagon Alley to later in the summer, or beyond, in order to avoid the anticipated crush of early visitors as well as anticipated reliability problems, given what plagued Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in its first weeks. Universal probably helped encourage delayed visits by its reticence in announcing an official opening date for Diagon Alley — not declaring that date until mid-June, just three weeks before the official opening on July 8. In contrast, Universal announced the June 18, 2010 opening of Hogsmeade in March of that year.
Which brings us to our Vote of the Week. When will you be visiting Diagon Alley? Were you among the "early adopters" who've already been, or did you decide to visit later? Or are you not planning to visit Diagon Alley at all?
If you have visited Diagon Alley, please share your observations and advice to other visitors, in the comments. And, as always, thank you for being a part of the Theme Park Insider community!
Previously
Also, the dragon wasn't reliably breathing fire. It didn't work at all Tuesday, and Wednesday it was only working until about 1 in the afternoon. It came back around 4:30. I don't know if it worked after that because I headed over to IOA for some coasters...
Busch Gardens Tampa is a great park(in albeit an interesting locale of Tampa) and definitely worth the short drive. Believe me, the drive is short. If anyone tells you differently, they're lying.
Not to brag either, but I did Universal, WDW, SeaWorld, and Busch Gardens in five days last October, plus HHN on top of that. It can be done.
I can't wait to return in 1-2 years. My 8-year old was very expressive in that she preferred Universal over any of the Disney parks we visited the days before.
You'll want to get an interactive wand. Next time I'm going to sew a wand pocket in my shirt to carry it.
The Cabana Bay Beach Resort was awesome, too.
REALLY looking forward to the Harry Potter experience. My oldest loves the books and movies - and I haven't been to Universal in ten years.
And that brings me to my only complaint about Universal: I won't be able to show my kids Jaws, or King Kong, or Back to the Future.
I understand that New York is a more populated airport, but $600 per person seems a huge difference to fly to two cities on the east coast if purchased on the one ticket.
My wife and I have been to Florida three times for no more than 14 days and managed all 9 theme parks in that time without any problems, (4 Disney Parks, 2 Universal, Sea World, Busch Gardens Tampa and Legoland!). We even had time to relax, revisit some parks and experience everything we wanted to. So don't let anyone tell you it's not possible in two weeks or that it's too ambitious.
I would recommend carefully checking the predicted crowd calendars and trying to plan your days at the respective parks accordingly since you're likely to get just one day at most non-Disney parks so will want to maximise your chances there.
But go for it!
I will say this... we decided to steer clear of Diagon Alley on arrival day until a couple minutes after sunset. If you are a huge fan of the movies, which is the only visual representation of Diagon Alley to compare it to, you will be in complete awe when you walk through that jagged brick wall.
A non-Potter fan would still be impressed, but I saw grown people stop dead in their tracks, cover their mouths and well up with tears. All of them were female, and you could tell they were die hard fans.
It's an amazing site as you can imagine. The detail in Diagon Alley would be incredibly hard to one up, even for Universal.
I want to write a direct comparison between Escape From Gringotts and Forbidden Journey because they are so different from each other. Gringotts is exactly as Robert described it, a combination of the Mummy "cart" on a coaster track, but with a Spider-Man / Transformers multi-axis system added.
Universal didn't explain how early entry for on-site guests and Diagon Alley worked, so we had to find out from the concierge on the day we arrived.
I will explain it all and the best way to experience this for everyone when I return home in a couple days. There is also a huge loophole in the system that would allow anyone with a park ticket to get in early (not just on-site guests), which I noticed every time.
Just a quick update after reading all of the comments... early entry is the only way to experience Gringotts with very little trouble. You have to be pretty ambitious though. The one day, USF opened at 7 for early entry, we were at the gates by 6. There were about 25 people in front of us in our line, and there are something like 10-12 lines wide. Doing some quick math, I would say we were about 300 people inside by the time we got through.
The first day, the ride shut down several times, and the wait was about an hour and a half, even though we were a short distance from the turn where you enter the bank lobby to start with.
The second day, we were in almost exactly the same place in line at the gates, and ended up in the same place in the Gringotts queue, but it moved very quickly and we were off the ride shortly after park opened to everyone else. The wait time was already over 200 minutes by park opening. We were checking on our Universal app while in the queue, watching the number jump every minute.
I know Gringotts can operate very efficiently if all is working perfectly as we had two completely different experiences from the exact same starting point.
And this loophole you mention.... I sure hope it closes soon - as folks pay a premium for that early entry privilege. It would be yet another slam on Universal Orlando's already suspect park operations if things continue as is (did you all see that picture of all the trash lining the Gringotts queue Mr. Niles retweeted yesterday? Come on Universal, get it together!).
The only time I almost pulled a Clark Griswold and cried at a theme park was when I first entered Disneyland with my whole family in tow last September. It was quite a moment as a lifelong dream was realized. I do not have anywhere near the same level of attachment to Harry Potter or even Universal, but come next May, it will certainly be a true joy to experience the Spider-Man attraction once again. Is it okay for a grown man to ball over a ride based on a guy dressed in red and blue spandex? ;)
I've never really been one for comic books, so Spiderman and the rest kind of leave me cold, even though I enjoy the rides. Equally I am not a fan of Harry Potter, so whilst I appreciate the work that goes into the Wizarding Worlds I don't get excited or teary at the thought of them.
My childhood was very much based around Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and all the rest of the Disney characters which maybe accounts for the fact that the only time I have ever come close to welling up was at the Magic Kingdom as we stood outside waiting for the park to open and the train pulled into the station with all the characters on board, waving at it. Pathetically it was magical, but probably because of my own particular background and history.
We each of us bring our own history to bear on our theme park experiences which is why different attractions resonate so strongly for different people. Maybe we need to remember that when we are either being critical of an attraction or praising it to the ultimate. It's just our personal view and it's probably all down to our upbringing!
I was at the soft-open for Hogwarts Express July 1 & 2, and the soft-open for Diagon Alley July 3. On August 1, I returned and rode Escape from Gringott's twice. I arrived in the afternoon and my first ride had a posted 120 min wait but it took only 95 min. I rerode EFG through the single rider line and it took about 45 min whereas the standby posted 75 min. The SRL probably went slower than the standby line because I saw very little waiting at the end on the standby line (each line has its own stairway to the load area and you can see everything). My hint would be to take the standby when it is posted at less than 90 min since it seemed to move much faster. The SRL was an almost complete standstill the whole time.
The Hogwarts Express is a great ride with great story telling but it is at its core just a way to go from one park to another. It loads 180 per train and is less than 9 min between trains. That is a lot of capacity so don't expect massive waits, maybe 2 or 3 trains full which is still less than 30 minutes. Walking between WWoHP areas would take as long. The story doesn't change so you don't feel the need to re-ride it after your initial couple of times.
Carkitt Market has 2 shows alternating, Celestina and the Banshees music show and the Story of the 3 Brothers play. They alternate at the half hour. A new play is in the works so maybe 3 different shows alternating soon.
I'm not a Harry Potter fanatic, saw all the movies but haven't read any of the books. I would say that Diagon Alley is a wonderful theme park accomplishment but Harry Potter fans just react more emotionally about it than I did. Also, I think Harry Potter fans are less interested in theme parks in general. It almost seems like 2 different crowds of people inhabiting the same place. Each drawing what they consider enjoyable from the experience.
Knockturn Alley is dark, even in the daytime and it is air conditioned. The interactive wand plaques are everywhere and all of them worked except for the chimney sweep.
If anyone is interested, I will scan and post the two sided map that comes with the new wands. It shows every plaque location and the spell used to activate it.
At first, I though just pointing the wand at the hidden sensors would activate them, but you do have to waive your wand in the correct pattern, which is really cool.
There is a dedicated store for Butterbeer and all of the new drinks, it is very efficient since there are a half dozen registers. Virtually no wait at all no matter the time of day.
The Hogwarts Express was much easier than I expected in both directions. People know that it more than just a "ride" since most of them are committing to visit the other park and not just hop on to ride it in both directions.
Wait times were always less than that 20 minutes, we had a walk on from Diagon to Hogsmeade at 10AM and about a 10 minute wait going from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley at 6PM.
Those who are delaying their trip to hopefully avoid the crowds are doing the right thing. The long waits and extreme heat spoiled it for us. To the point that I won't go back for at least another 10 years. Maybe Universal will spend more money then and make the newer rides longer than 60 seconds. So disappointed.
The only others I can think of are Top Thrill Dragster and clones, maybe the Giant Drop.
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