This is just a quick update on the status of crowds at the Harry Potter park. Guests always want to know, “What are the crowds like at Harry Potter Park?” It’s a tough question to answer, because it’s always, “It depends.” Time of year, time of day, seasons, holidays all affect the crowds at the park.
However, we spent some time at the park, this weekend and have a quick update for you. For a little background, it’s considered “spring break” season here in Florida and most resorts and parks are pretty crowded, right now. Especially since the weather has been absolutely wonderful!
Universal confirmed that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has been “at capacity” at 9:30-10:00AM, every day! What does this mean? It means that the park has reached it’s safe capacity as per fire codes shortly after park opening and you will receive a ticket with a return time when you can actually visit this section of the park.
We visited the park on a Saturday (typically, one of the busiest days of the week), but we did not visit the Harry Potter park until after 4PM, as we suggested in a recent video.
We had friends in the Harry Potter section at around 3PM and indicated that it was still quite crowded, although they did not have to come back later with their return ticket. At 4PM, when we entered the “island,” it was still busy, but not crowded, at all. The Ollivanders Wand Show line was 30 minutes — absolutely unheard of!! No line for shops, 50 minutes for Dragon Challenge and 90 minutes for Forbidden Journey (shown time, but we made it through in under 30 minutes). By the time we left at around 5:15PM, the park was DEAD! Very sparse crowds, no waits for food at Three Broomsticks, lots of space in the streets and the park didn’t close until 8PM!
So, if you want to visit the Harry Potter park without the crowds, wait until later in the afternoon and evening! Many people will tell you to rush right over to the park, but this couldn’t be further from reality! Look at this example — Universal’s closing the island at 9-10AM, but it’s empty by 5PM on a SATURDAY!!
The one exception to this rule: if you’re staying at one of the ON-PROPERTY Universal resorts, you get into the parks one hour early (a huge advantage to staying in these resorts, in addition to the free Express Passes for your whole family). In this case, take advantage of that extra hour and get almost the whole Harry Potter park knocked out before anyone else gets into the park.
Book your Harry Potter and Universal Orlando package or theme park tickets today!
Want to get all our tips and tricks for visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? We wrote a travel guide for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hogsmeade! We included all our tips and tricks that we’ve learned over the last year to make your visit to the Wizarding World as magical as possible. Be sure to check it out!
Get your Harry Potter theme park souvenirs from the official Harry Potter shop, the WB Shop!