Hogwarts Express

[epceddie]

Have there been long waits just to ride the train? My wife doesn't like rollercoasters and we're heading to Universal in November. We just want to ride the train and visit Diagon Alley. Are the wait times we've been reading about just for Gringott's? Or do you have to wait in the Gringott's line to get into Diagon Alley? We're a little confused about all that.

[Tigerinvestigator]

The wait times for Hogwarts express have been short. We were there the second Saturday after opening in July and we only waited about 10 minutes in the morning, and about 15 minutes in the afternoon. The wait time for Gringotts is outrageous. There was a three hour wait fifteen minutes after opening and it never let up all day. The wait for Forbidden Journey was only 20 minutes throughout most of the day, but that is one line I don't mind waiting in as it is very well done. You can walk Diagon Alley with no trouble although it does get really crowded in there.:thumbsup:

[Melanie]

If opening day is any indication, we got right on Hogwarts Express from the IOA side with no wait. When we arrived in Diagon Alley, the wait to get in was 2 hours (remember, opening day!) and then the wait for Gringotts was another six hours. I just don't think the 2 park passes are extremely popular at this point. That could definitely change.

[epceddie]

Thank you for the very helpful replies.

[Mickey'sGirl]

We were there two weeks ago and rode the train between the parks 4 or 5 times. No wait in the morning and minimal wait in the afternoon. Just remember that you have to have passes for both parks in order to ride! Any hold ups we witnessed were due to people having single park tickets. We loved it BTW. My favourite part of all!!

[Bucs300]

I was there yesterday and it wasn't bad at all. Rode it from both parks and there was no wait on either side, just walked right on basically.

[epceddie]

Thanks again. My wife is not a rollercoaster person, but she loves trains and wants to check out Diagon Alley. The last time we got a look, it was still under construction.
I know that Diagon Alley is a tremendous improvement, but we still miss the Jaws ride.

[JabberJaws]

I've heard as others have said that the train has very short waits. It is a people eater (very high capacity ride). It is short (only 3 mins) but looks very cool and you get a different experience on the ride to IOA than you do on the ride to the studios.

Gringotts had some INSANE wait times over the summer. Now I've heard it has tempered some, with wait times for the regular queue as low as 30 mins. Still, I think you can expect to wait 45-60 mins on any given day. The queue is interesting though, but you can always do single rider which cuts the wait time in half.

FWIW, Gringott's is only a coaster in the most broad sense of the term (being that it runs on a roller coaster style track). From what I understand, it is more in line with Spiderman/Transformers. There is a brief coaster section that is much shorter and less intense than the section in the Mummy attraction. It is considered a family attraction. I would try to convince your wife to give it a shot, as the main focus is visual (highly detailed sets, 4k 3-D projection screens, special effects, motion effects) rather than intense thrills.

[mickeyman42]

I've heard as others have said that the train has very short waits. It is a people eater (very high capacity ride). It is short (only 3 mins) but looks very cool and you get a different experience on the ride to IOA than you do on the ride to the studios.

Gringotts had some INSANE wait times over the summer. Now I've heard it has tempered some, with wait times for the regular queue as low as 30 mins. Still, I think you can expect to wait 45-60 mins on any given day. The queue is interesting though, but you can always do single rider which cuts the wait time in half.

FWIW, Gringott's is only a coaster in the most broad sense of the term (being that it runs on a roller coaster style track). From what I understand, it is more in line with Spiderman/Transformers. There is a brief coaster section that is much shorter and less intense than the section in the Mummy attraction. It is considered a family attraction. I would try to convince your wife to give it a shot, as the main focus is visual (highly detailed sets, 4k 3-D projection screens, special effects, motion effects) rather than intense thrills.

We really enjoyed the Hogwarts express very much, nicely themed, little wait (mostly just walk through) a cool way to get from one park to the other.
We were there on Aug 19 and 20, we did the early entry for DA, we hit the turnstiles at US at 7:45 and were off Gringotts at 8:45, but the line to get into DA and then the ride were massive, quick moving, but massive. we wouldn't have done it without early entry then as later in the day the wait was over 2 hours. Overall, DA was impressive, the hogwarts express was awesome, but we found Gringotts to be just ok, certainly not better than FJ, and I would say that I enjoy Spiderman, the mummy, and hulk more than Gringotts. I mean its a great ride but I wouldn't wait more than 45 mins for it, probably only 30 mins to be honest, and yes its not really a coaster. its a ride vehicle like the mummy but after the first "drop" that felt more like the pirates of the carribean drop, its basically a dark ride that puts you in front of several virtual screens and effects, not even fast moving if you ask me. to me it felt more "virtual" where I felt that FJ had more set pieces and anamatronics to interact with you, much like the spiderman vs transformers comparions