When to Go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

3 comments

1 Kat Ford { 12.29.10 at 12:37 pm }

Yesterday morning I called Islands of Adventure to find out whether there were any closures, problems with rides etc. before purchasing 4 tickets online which instructed me to skip the lines to purchase and go directly to the turnstile. When we arrived at the park at 1:30 pm parking entrance, we were told that Islands of Adventure had closed due to capacity reasons. To say I was not happy, is an understatement. We purchased four tickets expecting to attend the park. Having struggled through the traffic to get to the park we decided we would give Islands a try. We walked to the entrance and were directed to the waiting area counterclockwise. There staff stated that they had no idea how long we would have to wait to get into the park. I showed one staff member my ticket (purchased that morning) which instructed me to go directly to the turnstile. See the website for ticket purchase where one finds considerable puffing about avoiding lines. It was 2:15 pm so we decided we would wait an hour to see what would happen. While waiting in line we heard that one had to get a pass to see the Harry Potter Wizarding World once admitted to Islands of Adventure. We also heard from a family who unknowingly had left the park to go to their car in the parking lot. Upon returning to Islands of Adventure they were denied immediate readmittance. They were instructed to wait in line pointing out that they were missing their 2:00 pm Wizarding World time. At 2:50 pm the staff let a huge crowd of us (est 750-1000) more onto the Island. We waited in line for our Wizarding World pass- our time slot 8:20 pm. Then we decided to see the other attractions in Islands of Adventure :90 minute wait for the Hulks roller coaster; 90 minute wait for the Spiderman ride, and 75 minute wait for Posiden’s adventure tour, all of which were fantastic and probably worth the wait. We grabbed a quick bite and headed over to Harry’s Hogwarts’ entrance to stand in line 90 minutes for the Hogwarts tour and ride. What impressed me most was how nice the crowd was. Long waiting lines, crowded feeling yet almost everyone was polite patient and pleasant. I have never paid for a ticket where I had to wait 6 hours to use it. I recall one New Year’s day visit to Disney World in 1985 where the crowds were enormous and I swore I would never go to a theme park during the holidays again. Nonetheless, I thought this was worth the wait!! I just love J.K. Rowling’s story, the marvelous actors and the movies. This was a magical experience for this muggle!

2 Dave { 12.29.10 at 2:19 pm }

Wow, Kat, kudos for sticking it out–it sounds like at the end it was worth it!!

3 train horns { 04.01.11 at 2:23 pm }

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