This article is your guide to the best time to visit Harry Potter World! As a general rule of thumb, the best time to go to Harry Potter World based on the lowest crowds will be September, May, November, or January, based on the last two years of historical data. The best days of the week to go to Harry Potter Orlando within those months would be Wednesday, Tuesday, or Thursday, in that order.
We hope you find this post helpful! Our goal at The Park Prodigy has always been to help you save time and money on your next Universal Orlando vacation! If you are planning a trip to Universal Orlando, be sure to check out the latest deals on Universal Orlando vacation packages and our discounted Universal Orlando tickets, which include EARLY PARK ADMISSION to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
SPECIAL NOTE: If you need help picking the best time to visit Universal Orlando for your next vacation, check out our Universal Crowd calendar!
Universal Orlando Crowd Calendar
As discussed above, we find the best month to visit Harry Potter World based on the lowest crowds, is always going to be September, May, November, or January, based on the last two years of historical data. The best days of the week to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter within those months, or really any month, would be Wednesday, Tuesday, or Thursday, in that order. It’s also important to note that we do find Hosgmeade Village, located in Islands of Adventure Park, to be the busier of the two Harry Potter lands when compared to Diagon Alley in Universal Studios Florida. It’s also important to determine which park has early park admission open during your visit, as this can be a huge time saver and one of our top tips when trying to avoid the crowds at Universal Orlando Resort.
However, as you will see below, some families might have different goals when it comes to visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This might include the best time to visit based on weather, typically January, or seeing the death eaters, which is something every Harry Potter fan should experience; however, as you will see, they are only available during the special event Halloween Horror Nights!
Related Page: How many days do you need at Universal Orlando?
The perfect times to visit Harry Potter Orlando for good weather will always be January, followed by November, December, and February. These are known as the shoulder months, and as a general rule, you always want to avoid the summer if the weather is important to you. However, it’s important to note that if visiting outside of January, you want to be mindful of any school holidays and avoid those weeks if low crowds are still a driving factor. We would also always suggest taking a look at opening times and arriving at Universal for early park admission if visiting during one of these months because Universal typically only has the parks open until 7 or 8 o’clock at night.
The cheapest times to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will typically be September, January, and November, with 2-day Universal Orlando base tickets ranging from $270.00 to $285.00 depending on the day. That can be compared to the same ticket costing $320.00 during spring break. As a general rule of thumb, we also find hotel prices to follow this trend, with September or January being the best months to book the Harry Potter vacation package. Just don’t forget that you do need the Park-to-Park ticket to ride the very popular Harry Potter ride the Hogwarts Express.
In our opinion, the best way to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for added magic is during Halloween or Christmas season at Universal Orlando. Now, it’s important to note that during Halloween Horror Nights, Universal only has Diagon Alley open for extra hours as it’s located in Universal Studios Florida, where the event takes place. However, guests can enjoy seeing the Death Eaters, which are only available during this event, and riding Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts with very little wait. On the flip side, guests can enjoy both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley decorated for the holidays, and for smaller crowds, we always recommend visiting as early in December as possible!
@theparkprodigy Only two more days until the first Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando 👿 #universalorlando #halloweenhorrornightsorlando #HHN #Halloweenhorrornights
In recent years, we have typically seen Universal Orlando Resort release its best theme park deals right after the new year. This has included ticket promotions, which include buying three days and getting two days free in the theme parks, as well as up to 30% off your official Universal Orlando vacation package. The best part is that we typically see these deals available for bookings throughout the year so that you can visit Universal Orlando during one of the slower months noted above for an even more enjoyable experience.
In our opinion, we always recommend visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter during early park admission, especially when it’s taking place at Islands of Adventure Park. We typically tell our clients to arrive in the early morning, one hour before the early admission even starts, to experience Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure with as little wait time as possible. As a general rule of thumb, following this tip, we have seen our clients get on the three Harry Potter rides in Hogsmeade Village before 10 AM, in which case they can hop on the Hogwarts Express over to King’s Cross Station and enjoy Diagon Alley. This is also going to be one of the best times to take advantage of your interactive wand with very low crowds.
On the flip side, if you didn’t buy your multi-day Universal Orlando entry tickets or book a vacation package from The Park Prodigy and don’t have early park admission, we always recommend trying to visit the most popular rides later in the evening.
Based on historical wait time data it is almost always a good time to visit the theme parks on a weekday in the order of Wednesday, Tuesday or Thursday. However, if you decide to spend one day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we would almost always recommend visiting on a Sunday. Our last tip to have the most magical experience possible would always be to have a game plan going into your day with everything you would like to do mapped out. You can use our Universal Orlando park plan tool for free right here if you’re not sure where to start!
The worst time to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter based on crowds is typically the peak seasons of Spring Break, which is March through April, the Summer, and the last two weeks of December during Christmas time. The only caveat here is that during the busier times of year, Universal will sometimes have earlier opening hours and possibly even have both main parks open for early park admission. On the flip side, the worst time of the year to visit the parks based on weather will always be the Summer months from June through August.
Our Universal Orlando Crowd Calendar is the best tool to help you get the most out of your time in the parks. We break down the park crowds, park hours of operation, ticket prices by day, and average temperature.
If you are planning a trip to Universal Orlando, be sure to check out our discounted multi-day Universal Orlando tickets and Universal Orlando vacation package deals, which include EARLY PARK ADMISSION to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
And to stay up to date on everything going on inside the theme parks be sure to check out our partners at Themeparktoday.com!