harry potter

[maisy]

wondering what the ques are like now for this ride

[SDJ]

I was on the telephone to Universal two days ago and the lady asked me had I been to see Harry Potter yet. I haven't and will probably wait until November as apparently the queues are long most of the days and they are very much up on turnover. Surprise surprise[msnwink][msnwink] However, if you are only over the once, then you may have to bite the bullet and go for it. I would if I didn't travel to Florida frequently.

Sandra

[ShirleyD]

Having been before it officially opened, I would say if you are not going back soon, bite the bullett and stand in line [msnoo]

[gail and david roberts]

we where there for the opening in June
decided to keep away as you had to wait over 4 hours to get in ,[msnscared]
so set the alarms a couple of days later and was there has they opened the gates ,
only waited a hour ,
this isn't as bad as it sounds as you do walk around the park as you wait ,
staff came and gave us a small ticket to get in ,(like a raffle ticket) don't know if this is still the case
I did hear from my guests they only waited 45 minutes last week
but its a must,[clap] the rides is fantastic
unless you get motion sickness[msneek]

[gail and david roberts]

here are some of our photos taken in june 2010

[chrizzy100]

We did a few test rides...I've had a bit of neck trouble since..so if you do have a neck problem send a family member on first..

The first ride was great..but the second one they made a bit more rough and it was not as good hope they went with the more gentle ride ..

[Kyalami]

Went last Thursday and did the big ride in under an hour. But it reminded us of the old days when waiting was part of the ride. It gives you time to see what has been done and listen to the Harry fans giving their opinion.Guy next to me was on his 4th trip as a single rider.

It was all great... cant work out what the butterbeer is made of other than marshmellow!

[DANESKA18]

Went today!!! Got through the queue for the Forbidden Journey in about 40mins and we all loved it. The attention to detail in the castle is amazing and even our little one (age 3) enjoyed going through the big castle itself. Now for a couple of tips - the long queue outside the castle door was people waiting for lockers as you are not allowed to take anything in - so if you have someone in your party not riding then give them the bags and walk straight into the castle. We asked about doing a child swap and again, as this meant thatthere was always one person in the party not riding, we did not need to queue for a locker but walked straight into the left hand lane at the entrance to the castle. This way, our youngest still got to experience the castle (see the moving pictures, Harry, Hermione etc etc) but when we reached the ride itself we told the attendant that we wanted to child swap. They took Danny and our oldest three straight to the ride and I waited with our youngest in a side room that is showing a video of HP movies. As soon as the others had finished the ride, Danny and I swapped and I went on with the three oldest while he waited with the youngest - so our older kids got to ride TWICE (and very happy they were too)!! Well worth the wait as the ride is a great mix of simulator and actual movement.

In the rest of Hogwarts, the kids all got straight onto the Flight of the Hippogriff and the queue for Dragon Challenge (Duelling Dragons as was) was about 20 mins. There was quite a wait to go into see the wand shop and the Owl post office so we didn't bother, but if you are a big Potter fan it would probably be worth the wait.

A good addition to Islands of Adventure! [msnsmile2]

[ncmurray]

Thats a good tip about the child swap or if you have anyone not riding, as the queue for the lockers can take quite some time. If everybody wants to ride, then it is possible to use the lockers at Duelling Dragons, although there will be a small charge if you go over the alloted time for use of the locker.

We visited about four times over the past three weeks, and we always left the Harry Potter ride to the end. The first time, we went at about 4pm. The wait time said 75 minutes, but it only took 45 minutes to queue and do the ride. The queue itself was great, and the ride is fantastic. The second time we visited, we arrived at the park at about 4.30pm, and did HP land at about 7pm. The wait time again was 70 minutes, but actually took about 40 minutes, so it seems that the wait time is always longer than the actual time. My sister in law and my daughter decided to wait for Ollivanders, and they queued for about 50 minutes. The "show" was about 5 minutes long, and while they enjoyed it, neither of them would queue up again for it. They bought wands in the store, but there is also a cart selling wands just at the exit to the FJ ride, which is a much more convenient if you want to buy a wand. The evening was a much better time to visit, as the temperatures had dropped, and there were far fewer people about, also the HP land at night looks stunning. Bearing everything in mind, I would personally choose to visit in the evening.

The third time we went (last Monday), we arrived in IOA at about 3pm, and we all commented on how quiet the park was. My daughter and I were only doing the FJ ride, and were then off to the Millenia Mall, so we all went to HP land first. The reason IOA was so quiet was because EVERYBODY was in HP!! We went to FJ, and the queue was heading towards Jurassic Park, and this was just the queue for lockers!! We decided to use the lockers in Duelling Dragons, which worked well, but we had to pay $3 because we were late back. We went back to FJ (wait time reading 60 minutes), and we had to "excuse" ourselves through the queue in order to get to the single rider line. There was a lot of confusion in the line, as some people thought that they were queueing for the walkthrough only, and some people thought that the queue for the lockers was the queue for the ride! It was absolute chaos. As we passed through the queue, we had to keep explaining to everybody that we weren't trying to skip the queue, but we trying to get to the single rider queue. Some people were quite irate! Anyhow, we made it to the single rider line, and from there it took about 40 minutes to do the ride. We found out later that the queues were so busy because the ride itself didn't open until 2pm because of technical difficulties. The rest of our party waited until about 6pm to try to ride, but it had broken down again, so they didn't get to do it[msnsad]

All in all, it was well worth the wait on our first two visits, but it was mayhem on the last visit. I would expect the lines to thin out considerably over the next couple of weeks, so I would think it would be well worth your while to make the effort. The Harry Potter Land itself is worth having a look at, even if you didn't do the main ride. Butterbeer is really nice, a bit like a caramel flavoured cream soda, with a creamy topping that is not a million miles away from the flavour of Dream Topping (if you remember that!). I had both the regular and the frozen Butterbeer, and I preferred the regular one as the frozen one gave me brain freeze!

Nuala

[Jo]

When the main queue is about an hour, single rider only takes 15 mintues.

As it is very hard to talk or see your family on the ride anyway, this might be an option for those with older children who are confident to go it alone. If there are two adults put one at the start of the queue and the other at the end with the children sandwiched in between. Often 2 of you get to go together anyway and you'll all be off within a few minutes of each other. To find the single rider queue turn left and go up the stairs as you come out for the locker room. You will all queue together right up until loading.

Enjoy!