When I first heard about WWOHP opening in "Spring 2010" I booked an offsite stay at the Doubletree Universal through Universal's website for May 26-31. When I told my kids they wanted to stay onsite at HRH so I booked a room only stay for May 19-24 and told them that whatever date the grand opening was closest to was where we would stay. When the HP packages came out with a date of May 28, I thought I was safe and even considered getting an AP and keeping both reservations with a stay May 24-26 at AKV. I rented DVC points for May 24-26 and waited for the grand opening announcement to make a final decision. I also figured that I could change my dates for our onsite reservations if needed to get access to WWOHP... then came the June 18 announcement and news that only people that booked HP packages or onsite before March 25 would be allowed access. I decided to e-mail Universal and ask about access for those of us who booked offsite through Universal as I thought this might be an exception to the rule and this is what I received from Universal:
Hello
Thank you for contacting Universal Parks and Resorts Vacations. At the moment, only people who have purchased the Orlando Exclusive Vacation offer featuring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be accommodated within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter before the June 18, 2010 grand opening date.
If youre flexible with your travel dates, you can check for availability for a later time. Or if you would rather cancel your booking, please contact a Representative via phone at 1 800 407 4275.
I'm not that angry at Universal, just myself for jumping the gun. I do think they were deceptive in their advertising of Spring 2010 as an opening date. We are probably going to keep our HRH reservations and cancel the Doubletree hoping still for a soft opening during our stay.