Major Drops in Wizarding World Lines, Wait Times



LINES AND WAITS GO DOWN AT THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER

Now that the peak of the summer season is over, lines and waiting times at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter have dropped quite a bit.

Last week, I checked the lines multiple times.

For example, on Tuesday morning, at 9.05a guests were lined up to get in to the Wizarding World through the Thunder Falls Terrace in Jurassic Park.

This was about 250 paces shorter–or ~1000 people fewer–than the line was at similar times during my visit to the Wizarding World in late June.

On Thursday morning, at 9.50a there was no line to get in to the Wizarding World at all, and wait times for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey were listed as 50 minutes.  The wait for Dragon Challenge was just 5 minutes.

THE AFTERNOONS MAY BE EVEN BETTER

On Tuesday afternoon at 4.30p, there was no line to get in to the Wizarding World, and the listed wait for Forbidden Journey was 60 minutes.

On Thursday at 3.40p there was also no line to get in, and the wait for Forbidden Journey was 30 minutes.

Both days, the Dragon Challenge wait was ten minutes, and Hogsmeade was packed.

WILL WAITS AND LINES AT THE WIZARDING WORLD STAY THIS LOW THE REST OF THE YEAR?

The less crowded period in the parks will last from now until Presidents Day weekend–with the major exceptions of Thanksgiving week and the Christmas-New Years periods, which will be very busy. 

So just on this basis crowds and wait should be much better than they were over the summer.

I do expect, however, for Harry Potter crowds to creep up, especially on weekends. 

This is partly because savvy travelers timed their Harry Potter visits to avoid the summer, and partly because as the word gets out that the crowds are down, locals and people within an easy drive will return to the Wizarding World.

For example, see this Orlando Sentinel advice from DeWayne Bevil that “it could be time for the locals to descend.”

WHAT’S THE ADVICE FOR VISITORS TO HARRY POTTER?

I’ve slightly modified my advice here and am now suggesting off-season visitors intending to spend just a morning seeing the Wizarding World get to Islands of Adventure 60 minutes before opening.  This may be over-kill, but better safe than sorry.

The advice for multi-day visitors to Universal Orlando remains the same:  try the lines at Harry Potter in the later afternoon of your first day, and if too long, come back early the next morning.

LINKS FOR THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER

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2 comments

1 Michelle { 09.14.10 at 2:33 pm }

I can’t wait to go from Oct. 15th to the 20th. Hopefully it won’t be that bad.

I went last year from Nov 27th to Dec. 3rd. Talk about deserted.

Everyone was lined up at Studios waiting for Rip Ride Rockit and the rest of the park was so empty the only people we saw all the way from Twister to MIB were the employees. Islands has a few longer lines on rides for kids and tweens but the Hulk said 5 minute wait. We did front line and we went right on through. For Dr. Doom’s we decided to wait in the middle of the queue because we had just bought a drink and ice cream and we stood there for 15 minutes. Not a soul. For Dragon Challenge, there were about 25 people and we just kept bouncing from ice to fire back and forth without doing the line until we were too dizzy to stand. We went to Animal Kingdom on Sunday (29th). It was opening so it seemed like a lot of people. Wrong as well. Pretty short lines between 15-45 minutes.

If it weren’t for my Mom’s birthday and promising to take her to Epcot for Food & Wine I would be going then. Best time to visit.

2 Dave { 09.14.10 at 3:01 pm }

Have a great trip Michelle. WDW will be great (low crowds) during this period. Wizarding World likely will be as well!

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