Here now castle show question:)

[Rags]

we are heading to IOA later today for the castle show. I know it goes every 20 mins but what time does it start?
Tia you are all so helpful!

 

[David Kohn]

The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle

Dec 8 – Dec 17: Ongoing from 6:30 pm to Park Close
Dec 18 – Jan 6: Ongoing from 7pm to Park Close

 

[schumigirl]

The first show started at 6pm last week, started soon as it was dark......

Then every 20 minutes after that. Well worth seeing, very pretty........and very impressive!

 

[Rags]

So excited! The park closes at 7pm so there should be 3 shows

 

[sherlockmiles]

Go to a later show - park closed at 7:00 every night we were there and they ran the last show at 7:15.

After you've seen it, if you want another perspective, watch from the bridge between jurassic park and the aladdin\mythos area.

 

[Rags]

Thanks for the tip! Super excited

 

[agame2323]

Wait, where is this located?

 

[sherlockmiles]

projection show on Hogwarts Castle - Hogsmeade/Islands of Adventure

You know - it might also be kinda neat to watch it from across the bay - walk straight to the water from the park entrance......

 

[FlipHipster]

Last nigh the first show hit capacity pretty quick Hogsmeade was packed to the gills.

Fwiw they rope off the bridge from JP so u have to cross over to Lost continent and enter from that side. Cool thing is, I don't think I even knew that route before going to be useful in the future.

You know - it might also be kinda neat to watch it from across the bay - walk straight to the water from the park entrance......

Might have to try that tonight!

 

[FlipHipster]

Ah nm just realized they keep that path closed normally that's why I never noticed it. dang it

 

[Rags]

Wow what a fantastic show We went to the first show go to Hogsmede around 5:30and stood right by the frog choir stage. Great view thanks for all the advice.

 

[sherlockmiles]

We stood by frog choir stage first 2x we watched. Next time we stood by the hippogriff entrance. Got great zoomed in photos. Will post as soon as I can (recovering from minor surgery) in separate thread so ttjose who don't want to see won't see spoilers.

 

[Alicefan]

Wait until the end of the night for sure. You'll have your pick of spots to stand. The first couple of shows you couldn't even get around the corner to see the castle at all. Very minimal viewing spots for sure. You can't see it from any other area other than the bridge (and that view is NOT good) and directly in front. At the last show we were able to sit on the stage and watch. Very pretty, but I was really disappointed in the cheesy computer animations of the characters. Why not just show the actual scene from the movie? It would have been WAY more impactful with movie footage, but still beautiful.

 

[koeta]

Every show when we were there two weeks ago was an absolute zoo but it was organized chaos. I have never felt so squashed as we were when waiting in Hogsmeade for our show but most people were pretty good about not pushing, shoving or being completely rude. There was the occasional idiot but I think at least some of that came from the fact that people didn't necessarily realize why this giant mass of people was stationary at first.

I really enjoyed the show, we had a half-decent view although we were behind a light standard but we could see 95% of it very clearly. I also appreciated that no parents had kids on shoulders for this, not like every Disney fireworks show/ parade I caught some or all of. But that's a different story.

 

[FlipHipster]

We thought the show was really well done but Hogsmeade is small and ill configured for this type of event. It's really tight and the site lines make it difficult to see everything unless you get the perfect angle. I really appreciate they are stepping up their game though. I think they should do some type of projection show year round though even if it's not super elaborate. Just having the snow on the rocks and outlines/lights on the castle at night would be pretty cool.

I also really wish they would keep the parks open an extra hour during the holidays now that they have more nighttime stuff. Thursday we watched the parade @ 5:30 in front of Macy's and couldn't make it to IOA before park closing at 7. As soon as the parade was over everyone swarmed Kings Cross. We were in the EP line (which wasn't moving) and by 6:30ish we still hadn't made it to the elevator so we bailed. Maybe if you watched at the very end of the route closest to the train station and haul boogie as soon as it's over you can make it. Earlier in the week it wasn't too bad, expect it to get more and more crowded through end of the year though.

9/10 would do again.

 

[Louie7080]

We went to the last show Friday night and watched very near the castle - a little past the entrance for the ride. It wasn't crowded. We also watched Saturday night. I think we saw the 8:15 show and I think they said they were going to do another after that which I was surprised about. We watched near the snowman/butterbeer cart and I liked that spot much better. You could see more of the castle from there and it was definitely close enough. Really nice show. I would have watched more times but my kids didn't want to.

 

[cschaaf]

The first night, we watched from right in front of the show stage.

I wasn't feeling good our last night, so I didn't go, but the family watched from the bridge and said that was a much nicer spot.