Harry Potter Hotspot Caused Crowd Problems at Universal’s Islands of Adventure!

Recently, the themed area at Universal’s Islands of Adventure at the Universal Orlando Resort, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened its doors to the public. The signature attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, draws very long lines.

Speaking of long lines, park officials recently had to control them with drastic measures, besides setting up a single-rider queue alongside the stand-by one.

The signature ride of Universal’s Islands of Adventure’s themed land, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, spells out long waits at the main stand-by queues.

For example, on one morning several weeks after opening in summer 2010, a Universal employee shouted through the bullhorn as patrons walked through the Port of Entry shouted through the bullhorn, “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! If you would like to experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you must head to your left! It is the only entrance, to your left!”

There’s a clear reason for his warning – a lot of areas likely to be dense in the mornings (especially if they harbor very popular rides) are those on the right. They placed barriers to keep lines at bay as they extended beginning at one point in Toon Lagoon and handed patrons raffle tickets they must present to enter. Other crowd-control items they distributed are slips similar to those of the Disney’s FASTPASS system, where guests can go to the cornerstone ride between the printed return times. Also, all liquor sales stopped to make room for more sales of Butterbeer, a very popular beverage in the area.

But popularity is not just the case of Harry Potter-land drawing throngs of eager theme park crowds. That one fateful summer of summers was just like any other – the peak season for parks in the nation. At that time, kids are out of school, families travel out of town, and of course, Florida residents like me head to the parks. Summer is also winter in South America, and most children are just out of school as those in America. That means that many turismos in the likes of Brazilian tour groups and Argentinean youth herds (respectively Samba Muggles and Tango Muggles) visit the parks.