Comments on: Review: Harry Potter World, Universal Islands of Adventure (Soft Preview)

By: First Mate Keira

First Mate Keira — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:27:28 +0000

Yeah it’s not very good for crowds and days that have a lot of draw (think blackout dates when most people vacation) are worse. You have to queue before you can enter the area of the park where Harry Potter is and then queue elsewhere.

I would suggest waiting in line at Dervish and Banges (where you can also buy a wand plus many other things like a Time Turner keychain or necklace, scarves, wizard robes, and stationary supplies) instead of getting in line for Ollivander’s because of how the shops work. For Ollivander’s each group gets to go in by themselves… this makes the queue a very long wait whereas usually you can get in line for Dervish and Banges and get into the shop in a much shorter time. It has more shade too because the queue for that shop is by the divide for the Dragon Challenge and the wall will casts shadows during the day.

I’m sorry to hear you missed out on the castle. I’ve seen people walkthrough the wait line and then get out right before the actual ride. I think people leave through the area where people wait with kids who can’t get on the ride. I agree too completely about Universal’s version of Fastpasses – they are a rip off – I don’t understand why anybody buys them. I am glad to hear that the supervisor for the parks was nice to you and that you liked Gatorland (never been myself).

I wish they had dedicated an entire park not just a section of the park for Harry Potter, because really it would be so much cooler if they had.

By: Mark Astle

Mark Astle — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:36:57 +0000

Just got back. The Harry Potter experience was a nightmare from start to finish. A line right round the park just to get into the area, then lines for EVERYTHING, even the sweet shop. My little one wanted a wand, so we had to queue for two hours in the open sun (not even an awning) to get into the tiny shop to buy one. It’s the only shop in the whole place that sells them. It was packed inside, and guess what – they were out of Harry wands. The organisation of the lines was terrible – did they not think the attractions would be this popular? There’s no room to queue anywhere, no provision for those that are, and all the lines move incredibly slowly. The scenery is nice, but you can’t get into anything to see what it’s like inside. My little one was too young to ride the Forbidden journey, so there was no way to see inside the extemely impressive and exciting hogwarts replica they’ve built. It was the last park we visited, having been to all the Disney Parks, and Universal really need to take a look at how Disney handle volumes of people and completely revamp the entire thing. One positive note – on reaching the front of a queue for another ride and finding we couldn’t all go on, my temper finally cracked, we called a supervisor, and he was excellent, very apologetic, (I don’t think it was the first time he’d been ranted at about the shortcomings of Potterland) and he gave us free express passes for the rest of the day, which brightened things up considerably.

I thought the Universal’s way of doing fastpasses was incredibly mean too – it’s more than Disney to get in, then they want $50 per person to do their version of Disney’s completely FREE Fastpass. We left feeling a little bit ripped off.

Went to Gatorland the next day – loved it.

By: Captain Yarr

Captain Yarr — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:41:49 +0000

I’m all about Harry Potter World now. It is so freaking AWESOME!

I agree with Cook Cutlery, we need to go and get more Butterbeer and try the pumpkin juice the next time we go.

I was scared at first about going on the Dragon Challenge, but I couldn’t wait to go back on it again and ride the other side. The second time we rode the Chinese Fireball and I thought it was thrill-ifying (part terrifying) because of the angle of the near misses with the other coaster. But then we rode the Hungarian Horntail again and I agree with Cook Cutlery – it was way more shriek worthy.

At first I had no idea what Hogwarts Forbidden Journey was – coaster, show, etc. It was like Spiderman, but 100 TIMES COOLER! I loved flying in and around Hogwarts and the handlebars which made you feel like you were gripping the edge of a broomstick. Going single rider is the best!!!! We rode it twice during our free locker rental time when others could only go once.

The worst part? We had to leave!!! We’re so going back ASAP!

By: Cook Cutlery

Cook Cutlery — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:33:45 +0000

I especially liked the Forbidden Journey. I too thought it was amazing. I didn’t realise that we were in the Chamber of Secrets (duh! Now I get why there was that snake skeleton). If we’d gone together, instead of in separate brooms, I would have figured it out because you would have said something directly the first time.

The Hungarian Horntail side of the the Dragon Challenge is a bit scarier in my opinion because we have a near run in with a castle wall.

The Butterbeer was YUMMY! We got to go back and get some more and this time bring more galleons.