Currently at the grand opening of wwohp

[A Mickeyfan]

Me & my 21 DD were in Orlando today. It was our last day there on our "mini trip". When we heard what time they were opening the lot for guests, we decided to go shopping before going home. Sometimes we like to head into a park for a few hours, then drive home. There was no way we were going to do Universal today. We did Disney the last 3 days since we were at Universal 2 weeks ago. I am looking at the pic's in the Orlando Sentinel and it looks just nuts. Anyone waiting on a line outside the park that long, just to get in is crazy.. I am a crazy one, one that heads out the night before on Black Friday, but this is beyond what I will do...
I do hope that everyone who went & got in here happy & enjoyed themselves. I may just stay away from Universal for a month or so. I will let the crowds die down. If I go, I will stay on the Studio's side. Maybe now the lines at R3 will drop down....

 

[Planogirl]

I would NEVER wait in such a line!!! Why do people do that?

 

[derekburgan]

For those looking for quick reports on FJ, lots of twitter comments here:

http://twitter.com/search?q=wwohp#search?q=forbidden journey

An amazing link to see what the average person considers the Harry Potter experience in general and this insane day in specific. All of these tweets talking about waiting over five hours and doing nothing but raving about the experience. If you've only been in the DisUnplugged Zone and read threads there, you would think every single person at Universal today had a miserable (or maybe I should say disappointing) experience and yet these searches on Twitter reveal the exact opposite.

 

[damo]

An amazing link to see what the average person considers the Harry Potter experience in general and this insane day in specific. All of these tweets talking about waiting over five hours and doing nothing but raving about the experience. If you've only been in the DisUnplugged Zone and read threads there, you would think every single person at Universal today had a miserable (or maybe I should say disappointing) experience and yet these searches on Twitter reveal the exact opposite.

They sure are glowing tweets aren't they! I'm so pleased because we loved it too.

 

[MaleficentandGoons]

AND that no one fits on the ride!

 

[knieriem]

Surprised to see that Dragon Challenge and the Hippogriff ride were pretty much walk ons most of the day (according to twitter people)

I can't wait to ride forbidden journey! Heading over as soon as my parents leave town..don't think I'll put them through the whole ordeal of spending 90 bucks then mom not riding it because she's motion sickness and dad not riding because he's 6'8" and over 300 pounds!

 

[dalt01]

What is the correct term for fans of Harry Potter? Potterphiles? Potterites? Potheads? Hogwartions?, Hogwarriors, Voldermorticians, anyone know?

I think it is Potterheads.

nutjobs? crazies? wackos? :

Nerds!

Wack-a-doos? Sad sacks? Virgins?

YA, not at all normal like the rest of us that frequent these boards, go to orlando every year, fight over plastic reusable cups, etc, etc.

 

[TaylorsDad]

YA, not at all normal like the rest of us that frequent these boards, go to orlando every year, fight over plastic reusable cups, etc, etc.

Lets not forget booking a room onsite for express pass, obsessing a year in advance about HHN, or as is the case at some parks have to sit up and at midnight sharp six months in advance of visit make dining reservations. Everyone here is a little on the nerdy,nutty, crazy, or geeky, side but ya know what- I wouldn't want it any other way.(okay maybe not crazy about 6 month dining ressies but love being able to share my obsessions)

 

[Mcbruns]

HOLY CRAP ON A STICK!!!!!!! asfjkasldkjaslkdjalskdjalskjlasdljskdlskd!

Mears is supposed to pick us up at 7:30 on Sunday. Might cancel and do a taxi instead. HOLY CRAP!

But good news! I'm at Magic Kingdom today and the lines have been pretty nice! 10 minute wait time for Haunted Mansion! Longest lines I've had so far is for Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and Mickey's Philharmagic (about 15-20 mins each). I have my fastpasses for Space and Thunder Mountains for later. It's open until 3 AM tonight!

But mannnnnnn, I hope I can get into HP. EEP!

Thanks for the MK update - not bad at all for June. We leave tomorrow and are probably going to push back our IoA day to later next week.

 

[dalownerx3]

Looking back at today, I think I would have done it again. While I could have gone the next day, it's the fact that today is the grand opening that makes it worth the wait. Tomorrow will just be another day at the park. There will only be one grand opening.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Surprised to see that Dragon Challenge and the Hippogriff ride were pretty much walk ons most of the day (according to twitter people)

I would think that since the rides you mentioned really aren't "new" but just renamed, many would rather check out what is new for HP.

 

[Metro West]

Looking back at today, I think I would have done it again. While I could have gone the next day, it's the fact that today is the grand opening that makes it worth the wait. Tomorrow will just be another day at the park. There will only be one grand opening.

Glad you had a good time!

 

[damo]

Looking back at today, I think I would have done it again. While I could have gone the next day, it's the fact that today is the grand opening that makes it worth the wait. Tomorrow will just be another day at the park. There will only be one grand opening.

It is something you will always remember.

 

[bubba's mom]

I think some of those people will still be waiting in line when I go in January!

Thanks for the

Storms are moving into the area...just heard a loud clap of thunder at my house...about 20 mins away.

You were at home?!?



All I can say...I had NO idea what was going on all day while I was at work.

Wow.

 

[Lunchlady]

Looking back at today, I think I would have done it again. While I could have gone the next day, it's the fact that today is the grand opening that makes it worth the wait. Tomorrow will just be another day at the park. There will only be one grand opening.

Exactly!

Not to mention, there were special light up Wizarding World Grand Opening pins sold today that will never be sold again! We got to the park around 10am, were in City Walk waiting to get in to IoA by 10:30, and got into the Wizarding World line around 11:30. By 6:30pm we finally got into Hogsmeade, and I think it was completely worth it, even though we had already been to Wizarding World a few times earlier this week!

We met a lot of nice and interesting people in the line, and got to see parts of the park we'd never seen due to the huge line having to be moved OUTSIDE of the park! After getting stuck for a couple of hours in the Spiderman line, we had to be moved behind Ripsaw Falls on a back road, then re-entered at Jurassic Park.

Once we got into Hogsmeade, my husband and daughter rode Forbidden Journey again. Then we got a couple of pumpkin juices and got out of there because it was CRAZY!

 

[muffyn]

We went out there this morning just to check out the Grand Opening madness--I had no plans of actually getting to hogsmeade today, we walked to the park from home and got there around 6:30 am (Normally we would drive, but I'm not that crazy), at that time they had already started letting people into the park..

ok I am really curious
just how long did it take you to WALK there?

 

[muffyn]

It is at 120 now, according to twitter.

New picture...http://twitpic.com/1xtlke

wow

these people sure don't read disboards!!!!

no feaking way would I have been there.

I certainly hope by october it slows down!

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

so i started this thread and for all of you that got in I am glad you did. We did not the line was just not worth it. I think it is great that some of you had the fortune of being there before so you knew what to expect. However for those of us that dont get a chance to come to these places often this is my second time in 10 years you can imagine my excitement. Universal has very poor organization and communication and the people in line ruined it for me. The ones I was around were rude and mean. I guess I had a bad experience and I had I waited for 7 hours and gotten into hogsmeade I still think it would not have been magical. I want to have a fully immersive experience and get to see everything. I feel like I would have been in lines for everything. So while I am sad we decided to get out of line and I missed being able to see it I have made a deal and we will come back maybe a year from now or try to. thank you to everyone for your updates but there was a line of people getting refunds from guest relations because of their unhappiness with how universal handled the situation.

There was also a moment on the bridge from city walk that about 2,000 people stormed the barricades crashed through cutting everyone in line and even trampling kids. we saw it and it was ridiculous universal really needs to get control of the situation. I did get some pretty cool merchandise in the store on the way out though.

TD

 

[FINFAN]

so i started this thread and for all of you that got in I am glad you did. We did not the line was just not worth it. I think it is great that some of you had the fortune of being there before so you knew what to expect. However for those of us that dont get a chance to come to these places often this is my second time in 10 years you can imagine my excitement. Universal has very poor organization and communication and the people in line ruined it for me. The ones I was around were rude and mean. I guess I had a bad experience and I had I waited for 7 hours and gotten into hogsmeade I still think it would not have been magical. I want to have a fully immersive experience and get to see everything. I feel like I would have been in lines for everything. So while I am sad we decided to get out of line and I missed being able to see it I have made a deal and we will come back maybe a year from now or try to. thank you to everyone for your updates but there was a line of people getting refunds from guest relations because of their unhappiness with how universal handled the situation.

There was also a moment on the bridge from city walk that about 2,000 people stormed the barricades crashed through cutting everyone in line and even trampling kids. we saw it and it was ridiculous universal really needs to get control of the situation. I did get some pretty cool merchandise in the store on the way out though.

TD

I am sorry it did not work out for you, and I agree, you know your own comfort zone and you knew today would not provide the experience your were planning on. I felt it was too crowded and we were there the week of 6/4...just very congested in the shops, not relaxing at all. The detailing of the land and ride is amazing, I will say that, but if you can't see it or enjoy because you have people mashing you about, what's the point? I can't imagine people pictures, those trying ot get nice shots...there will be hordes of people in all of them. We encounterd some short tempers, on both TM's and guests...but we also saw some happy folks too! The area is just not large enought to handle that many people at once. perhaps if it were the size of World Showcase, and I am not exaggerating..there was 1 butterbeer cart there when we went...you can be served from both sides ans each side had a constant line of 20-25...which was getting very close to the Owlery crowds, which was the overflow of the Olivander's crowds... you get the idea and this was just on-site people and the resorts were only 1/2 full. I would stand in those lines to save my kids lives, but not to risk them. That is just awful about the barricades/citywalk crowds...really, this is a theme park, not a catastrophic emergency!

 

[atricks]

Here's a rough map of how the queue line to get into WWoHp inside the park looked like right at the Grand Opening Ceremony. This doesn't include the line outside IOA which went all the way back to the Theater/Bubba Gumps.

I may be a little wrong about how it went around Ripsaw Falls, but I did know they used some of the backstage there. It also could have been through the theater at Toon Lagoon instead. That's the only part I'm unsure of. It still went around Popeye I do know.