My husband and I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Islands of Adventure theme park at Universal Orlando resort on Sunday (it opened to certain vacation package holders and hotel guests starting on Friday for a couple of hours each morning) and witnessed both good and bad things. The good included the technological marvel called "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey," which ratchets theme park rides up to another level, tasty butterbeer and enthusiastic Team Members (employees), some of whom you can see with us in the photo below left. The bad included a stampede at opening time, Forbidden Journey (housed in Hogwarts Castle, which you can see behind us) opening late due to technical problems, then an hour's wait for a second ride, only to have it break down for the rest of the morning.
Amazingly, on Monday we already saw major improvements. It started with the entrance procedure, which used to consist of a 7:45 turnstyle opening and everyone gathering at a rope partway in. Team Members would then walk people behind the rope to the Wizarding World area and cut them loose, resulting in a mad dash to Forbidden Journey. Actually, the mad dash nearly began with the rope walk as people pushed and shoved madly.
On Monday the turnstyles opened about ten minutes to 8 and there was no rope. People trickled in, and there were Team members at strategic spots warning them to walk (the fastest I saw as power walking and light jogging). This was more fair, as the people who were first in line were the first to the Wizarding World instead of getting trampled in the rope herd. It was also much calmer and safer.
The second improvement was no significant downtime and minimal lines for Forbidden Journey. We rode it four times vs. only one time the previous day, and we walked right on three of those times! (The fourth was a 35 minute wait.) We did experience a brief shutdown, made more interesting by the fact that we were lying on our backs starting at the ceiling when it happened, but it only lasted about five minutes or so. I know the ride is a work in progress, especially since it uses such new techology, but I hope this bodes well for running it at capacity when its open toth e general public on June 18.
Forbidden Journey closed at 10 a.m. so we hung out till 11 as Universal once again didn't rush anyone out. I've been visiting Ollivander's Wand Shop several times to take in all the different effects that can happen when your wand is choosing you. As luck would have it, on our very last visit hubby and I were the only two in there so a phoenix tail core wand chose him. You can see him going through the process at right. Parents, don't panic if your kids get picked for the "wand chooses you" show. The prices are quite reasonable. I think my husbamd's was around $30 before our annual passholder's discount. There are pricier ones in the store if you prefer to browse.
After we were done riding Forbidden Journey, we also indulged in some sweets to go with our butterbeer (get the frozen...the taste is a sinful blend of cream soda and butterscotch). Below is our cauldron cake (with butterbeer in the background) and pumpkin tart:
Although the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has sometimes been referred to as a "theme park," it's actually relatively small. The two photos below are meant to give you some idea of the score. I stood in the center and took one pointing towards the front and one towards the back (the castle housing Forbidden Journey is around the bend in the back view):
I will be adding more to my Harry Potter trips reports, as well as interviews from Disney's Summer Nightastic over the next few days. In the meantime, check out the photo of us clowning around with the conductor below, then click here for the first day review and click here to read more of my articles. Click here to find me on Facebook.
Photos: Barb Nefer
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