I’ve just been having one of my regular chats with a popular and much-loved liner, in which we talk about you all behind your backs and snigger — I can’t name her, so please don’t ask: all I can tell you is that she’s an OB Nurse from NH — and she said something so shocking that I had to share it with you all so that you can judge her as the terrible person she is.
She pointed out that the lines for the new Hagrid rollercoaster at WWOHP at UOR were said to be ten hours long. I said I wasn’t surprised because WWOHP is totally awesome, and people love Harry Potter, and the ride is said to be amazing.
But will she consider going there? No. And why not? Because it’s not in WDW. Will she go to SWGE: you betcha? Do they have ten hour lines? No. Apparently DLR SWGE isn’t even especially crowded.
What is this deliberate blinding of yourselves to things that aren’t on Disney property? WWOHP is every bit as good as anything at WDW. Indeed, I’m more looking forward to going back to Diagon Alley next month than I am anything at WDW.
If you didn’t know, you’d think WWOHP was created by Disney Imagineers. It’s totally awesome in every respect. (Except the food is ropey in the QS locations, but the snacks and drinks are great.)
Don’t you all cut your noses off to spite your faces and miss out on the opportunity to visit somewhere genuinely special and — yes — magical.
Me, too! But I’m also going in July and if you’re a little concerned, imagine how I feel! My entire happiness is predicated on my VIP tour including Hagrid’s coaster. If it doesn’t my life is over.
Did you ever get confirmation from UOR about whether Hagrids would be guaranteed? Or do they have lame wording in the contract about there being no guarantees?
It is characteristic of my personal bigness that — despite you being wrong about almost everything almost all the time — I am nonetheless willing to maintain a half-hearted friendship with you, too.
When I first asked they said it probably would be, but they weren’t sure because it hadn’t opened yet. They agreed that the whole point people book tours is to get advantages such as this.
I definitely WANT to go to Universal and do ALL the Harry Potter things…
BUT being gluten-free I am severely limited on foods at Universal (from ALL reports, they are nowhere near as allergy-friendly at Universal as they are at Disney), so I have to really consider what I want to do and how I’d do it with getting some food besides ice cream and butterbeer in me. (When fairytalefoodie.com is taking her own snacks and stuff in, it’s clearly a gluten-free food dessert overall.)
logistics. There’s still so much to do at Disney that I haven’t gotten bored yet. Fitting it in has been tough beyond a free hour here and there.
Harry Potter is only 1 part of the park on that level, by which you already branded it “as good as Disney”, where as Disney is several parts that are on that level. Why go to one where you can have 7+? By all accounts(specifically yours), it seems that really the only “magical” part is the Harry Potter stuff and everything else is kinda cookie cutter 3D thrill ride at UOR.
it’s harry Potter and I’m not a super fan. I enjoy it, but it’s not something on the level of Star Wars for me or other sci-fi.
This was definitely my impression. We took our older two kids last summer and they geeked out over HP!! As they should. It’s amazing. And my son has already watched the POV video for Hagrid’s coaster 5 times and cannot stop talking about going back.
All that to say, the rest of the park was quite underwhelming for us. All of the simulators/screens started taxing me and my DH (hello, we’re old now!!). I think, though, that once the kids are taller/braver it’ll be a fun day or two addition to our WDW trips but it’ll likely be several years before we’re able to take everyone. Universal is woefully lacking in family friendly attractions.
Hope I don’t get stoned, but I feel this way about Disney world in general. I went last year and enjoyed myself but did nothing that warranted the gate price of Disney world or the constants increases like today’s 25%+ annual pass increase. We got Florida resident rates and I felt that was a good value. At any higher price point, it is not. Don’t get me wrong it’s nice but I just didn’t do anything (I even rode FOP twice) that warrants the prices Disney charges. But as long as pole line up like lambs to the slaughter the prices will continue to rise and somehow people continue to afford it. I let me kids know that out trip in August would be the last one for a while (possible ever). We are off to new experiences and new destinations.
I’m seriously considering a Universal only trip. I’m becoming very disillusioned with the pay more for less (or pay more for the same) philosophy of the Disney corporation right now. And it’s been 10 or 12 years since I’ve been to UOR (before HP was even announced), so there are a LOT of “new” things for me to see/do there.
Last year, we did a 4 day Universal-only trip. We really enjoyed it. There is a lot to love at Universal.
While we were driving to Universal each morning, and back to our rental condo each evening, we would drive past the exit leading to WDW. We found ourselves staring at it longingly, and got this thrill in our hearts the times we “cheated on” Universal and drive on Disney property to hit up Disney Springs.
As much as I despise the rising costs and such of Disney, the truth is, Disney has my heart. Universal is “just” a cool place to see/visit. We could do everything at Universal in 2 days. Because we had 4 days there, we ended up leaving each day before 3:00 pm. 2 days at Disney is barely enough time for a SINGLE park at WDW.
For the first time in May 2020, we are doing a trip that involves both parks. But in the back of my mind, I keep wishing to steal a day from Universal to add another onto Disney!
I avoid Uni because in spite of being a HUGE Harry Potter fan, there is too much there that I cannot do because of all the screen based attractions/motion sickness issues.
