Spring Break 2012 crowds inside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Spring Break crowds inside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - April 2, 2012.

Yesterday began what most consider to be the busiest Spring Break week of 2012. And, when I stopped by the Wizarding World of Harry Potter around noon, I was not disappointed.

The whole place was packed. Wait times for Forbidden Journey and Ollivander’s exceeded two hours. There was even a queue for Dervish & Banges, which only happens when the place is really busy.

Surprisingly, the WWoHP reservation system was not in use, although they did have the machines uncovered and ready to go.

A lot of first-time visitors to Universal are starting to think that the crowds at the Wizarding World must be dwindling because the last book and movie came out over a year ago. This simply is not the case. The holiday 2011 crowds were unbelievable, and what I saw yesterday is just more proof that the boy wizard is as popular as ever (dare we say more popular?). In any case, if you are planning a visit to Universal, you really owe it to yourself to read our How to ensure your trip to WWoHP is a success! page and have our World Famous WWoHP Touring Plan in hand.

But enough chatter from me. Here are my video, photo highlights, and complete photo gallery. Enjoy!

WWoHP Spring Break 2012 crowds – HD video

Click the play button to start the video. Note: Our videos do not stream in HD by default to ensure fast performance. If you would like to view the video in HD, start the clip and then adjust the bitstream to 720p or 1080p.

By the way, this video looks a little Matrix-y because of YouTube’s new anti-shaking edit tool. The tool works extremely well at removing all the shakiness that happens when you record and walk at the same time — but it also creates some wraped views.

WWoHP Spring Break 2012 crowds – photo highlights

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Spring Break crowds inside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - April 2, 2012: Reservation machines ready for use.

WWoHP reservation machines ready for use.

Crowd control gates up.

120 minutes queue time - would you wait that long?

Queue for Dervish & Banges.

Love at first butterbeer.

WWoHP Spring Break 2012 crowds – photo gallery

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: Crowd control gates up.

: Spring Break crowds inside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – April 2, 2012.

: For the love of butterbeer.

: 120 minutes queue time – would you wait that long?

: Queue for Dervish & Banges.

: WWoHP reservation machines ready for use.

Reminder of the holiday 2011 crowds – HD video

After you watch the video, you can click here to learn more.

7 comments

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bardogg

Is the tour-only line open for the castle?

OrlandoInformer

Nope. The current policy seems to be that if there is over a 30 minute wait for Forbidden Journey, then they close it. Which, interestingly enough, is exactly when it became so incredibly useful to have the tour-only line as an option -- especially for families with young kids or guests using wheelchairs who just want to peek inside Hogwarts.

:-(

JimH

Do you think that Universal closes the tour only line to use that space for more people that are waiting in line for FJ? That would keep them inside the building and out of the mass of people outside.

A lot of people have this theory but it doesn't pan out. The tour-only line is a completely separate line that is only used for tour-only guests -- no matter how busy the attraction is. When they close access, the line just sits empty. It really makes no sense. The only possible thing I can think of is either (a) they just don't want to deal with extra people in the castle, even though those people aren't taking up additional space, or (b) they'd had issues with people jumping the line.