Follow me around Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando! This is a detailed account of my experience, including many pictures, as well as some little tips and tricks for those of you who also plan to visit WWOHP :)
For many people who – like me – grew up reading Harry Potter, the wizarding world created by author J.K. Rowling holds an unparalleled fascination, even now that most of the fans are in their mid-twenties. Like many others, I spent a large part of my childhood and adolescence fantasizing about going shopping in Diagon Alley, drinking Butterbeer and, of course, becoming a student at Hogwarts. And thanks to Universal Studios Orlando, all of these long-cherished dreams can now finally become reality.
In October, my fiancé and I went all the way from Germany to Orlando, Florida, to visit Universal‘s „The Wizarding World of Harry Potter“. The Harry Potter experience consists of two seperate parts, one located in the Islands of Adventure theme park (Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, opened in 2010) and another in the Universal Studios Florida theme park (Diagon Alley, opened in 2014), which are connected via the Hogwarts Express. Both were amazing and I highly recommend getting a park-to-park-admission ticket, that allows you to hop between both areas and enables you to take the Hogwarts Express as often as you want (the ride is a different experience in either direction!).
The first thing you will see when approaching the Wizarding World from inside the Universal Studios park is King‘s Cross station. This is where you’ll find platform 9 ¾, from which the Hogwarts Express takes you to Hogsmeade (you actually have to walk through the wall between platform 9 and 10, it’s a lot of fun). The building is made to look exactly like a muggle train station in London, it has lots of advertising panels, functioning destination boards, and a very credible soundscape. The amount of detail in the Wizarding World is amazing, and this is only the muggle part. Before taking the Hogwarts Express though, you’ll have to get your school supplies and for this, as every potterhead knows, Diagon Alley is the place to go.
You’ll find the entrance to Diagon Alley located a little bit hidden to the right of King’s Cross station. On the way, watch out for the telephone booth, it might take you to the Ministry of Magic if you dial the right number. And if you suddenly find yourself in front of Grimmauldplace no. 12, then you’ve walked a bit too far. You can get a sneak peek at Kreacher when he feels like looking out of the window, have a chat with Stan Shunpike, conductor of the infamous Knight Bus (and his shrunken head!), before entering Diagon Alley through the brick wall behind the Leaky Cauldron, just like Harry and Hagrid did all these years ago.
Entering Diagon Alley for the first time is probably one of the most unique and exciting experiences during any stay at the Wizarding World, it is truly magical, so cherish every second of it. When I first walked through the entrance, I was completely blown away – the cobblestone street, the wonky buildings, the storefronts… everything just looked so real. And then there’s the music! They play music from the soundtrack all over the park, it adds so much to the feel and instantly transports you back to when you first watched the movie. I just stood there for a few minutes, soaking in the atmosphere and admiring the masterpiece that is Diagon Alley.
One thing that will instantly catch your eye is the gigantic dragon perched on top of Gringotts Bank, which will occasionally growl and breathe fire. On the first morning I was naive enough to ask one of the employees standing in front of Ollivander’s about the intervals at which said dragon was breathing fire, which inevitably earned me some puzzled looks along with the consequential answer “How would we know? He does that whenever he feels like it”. That quickly taught me not to expose myself as a total muggle whenever I approached another witch or wizard ;) Everything in the Wizarding World is real, unpredictable magic, and you better believe it.
That was actually one of the things I enjoyed most – everyone was so in character, it really felt like you were surrounded by wizards and witches, rather than muggles working in a theme park. When we wanted to pay with credit card in the restaurants and shops, people would say things like “Oh, I see, you’re paying with muggle plastic”. These are just small details, but they contribute so much to the experience. A lot of the staff would also interact with people based on what house color or uniform they were wearing. When I wore my Slytherin uniform, many people commented on my house or wished me fun at school. My timeturner also caught a lot of attention, with some staff members even threatening to tell the ministry about it ;)
The first thing I did when we entered Diagon Alley that very first morning was, of course, to shop for a wand at Ollivander’s. We were among one of the first groups that got led into the shop that morning, since we had early admission tickets (later in the day, the waiting line is usually quite long). I was lucky to get chosen for the wand ceremony, which was a very exciting thing indeed, especially because I never expected to be chosen since there were also two smaller children among our group (sorry, kids!). The ceremony itself is based on the scene in the Sorcerer’s Stone where Harry gets chosen by his wand. (“The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter!”) Mr. Ollivander lets you try out several wands, the first few of which cause a lot of mayhem, before he then finds you your perfect wand (which you can then proceed to buy in the adjoining shop). It really was a fun experience, but even if you’re not chosen for the ceremony, I suppose it’s just as entertaining to watch.
Needless to say, I bought the wand. The ones they use in the ceremony are always the interactive ones, meaning they can be used to perform spells at designated spots all over the Wizarding World. Another great thing about these wands is that they are not just replicas of the character wands used in the movies, but independent designs made exclusively for the parks. This actually makes it feel like you have got your own wand, instead of a copy of Harry’s or Hermione’s. (Of course, they also sell the replicas, so be prepared to see a lot of people walking around with the elder wand.)
If you run out of galleons (because, let’s face it, everything here is expensive) you’ll want to stop at the Gringotts money exchange, where you can exchange muggle money for knuts, sickles and galleons that you can actually pay with throughout the Wizarding World. Even though we didn’t do that, we still stopped by to chat with the goblin behind the counter for a bit. He answered all of our questions, sometimes with astounding repartee. My fiancé and I actually had a bit of a disagreement about this one, because I assumed the goblin was run by a ‘Siri’ type software, while he was sure there was an actual person behind it, like the shrunken head in the Knight Bus. (I’m still sticking with my answer, though.)
But for the real Gringotts experience, you should definitely try the ‘Escape from Gringotts’ ride, which is basically Universal’s take on the famous dragon escape scene from the Deathly Hallows, with a little bit of made-up backstory—including Bill Weasley, Bellatrix Lestrange and Voldemort—mixed in. But, let’s be honest, the story is negligible in that case, because it only serves to justify the ride itself, which is truly amazing. The ride combines 3D and 4D techniques with an actual rollercoaster. It is not as wild as it sounds, though, which was a good thing for me, since I tend to get motion sick easily (there is only one minor drop at the very beginning, which is easily foreseeable, the rest is just a bit of tilting, racing and turning). Even the waiting line is fantastic, it leads all the way through the Gringott’s entrance hall (which looks exactly as in the movies, up to the huge chandeliers and grumpy goblins), into a large elevator that takes you down to the catacombs (huge dripstones!), up a spiraling staircase, and finally to one of the (really fancy looking) wagons that will take you through the actual ride.
You also definitely shouldn’t miss out on straying into Knockturn Alley and visiting the delightfully morbid ‘Borgin and Burkes’ – like all of the shops, it has incredible details and I could have spent hours in there, just looking at the many showcases and amazingly decorated interior. (Listen closely and you might discover little details, like the bird fluttering around inside the vanishing cabinet. It also took me several visits to realize there was some sort of creature rattling inside a large wooden crate in the corner.)
Since Knockturn Alley is dark and considerably cooler than the rest of Diagon Alley, it is also a great place to come and let yourself cool down for a bit when the Florida heat and humidity become too overwhelming (as a German who is not used to that sort of climate, this happened to me quite frequently).
If you have time, the best way to explore Diagon Alley is to just walk around, Butterbeer in hand, and let yourself drift wherever something catches your attention. You’ll find lots of interesting window displays, amazingly realistic backdrops, and could even stumble upon a staging of the tale of the three brothers, or a performance of Molly Weasley’s favorite singer, Celestina Warbeck.
There are so many details in Diagon Alley, you can’t take them in all at once – during our stay we came there four days in a row and still discovered something new everytime we went there. So if you really want to get the full experience, take your time to explore all of the store windows (animatronics, everywhere!), read all of the signs and advertisements, go inside every shop (don’t forget to look at the ceilings, too!), talk to the staff and definitely walk around with your wand to perform magic spells.
- There'll be quite a big chunk of pictures now before I resume my written report, so if you're interested in my review of Hogsmeade, just keep scrolling :)
From London to Hogsmeade
Now, let’s take the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade, have a pumpkin pasty (which unfortunately you can only buy at Honeydukes, not from the trolley witch on the train) and take a look at Hogwarts. As I mentioned before, you can go to King’s Cross station to take the Hogwarts Express from there, but you can also enter the Hogsmeade part of the Wizarding World directly through Islands of Adventure, and then later take the train back to Diagon Alley. However, I highly recommend riding the train in both directions, since you’ll see and hear different things on each ride. We took the train several times when the lines weren’t too long, just for the fun of being able to do it, even though walking from park to park might have been even quicker. The Hogwarts Express scenes in the movies are so iconic, just standing there on platform 9 ¾ and seeing the train arrive made me get all teary-eyed, it looked so real. (The train’s interior is also super realistic!)
When leaving Hogsmeade station, watch out for the carriage to your right, which—hopefully—looks to you as if nothing was pulling it. But even if you cannot see the Thestral, you can hear it huffing and pawing (Again, this is something I did not notice until the second or third time I was passing it). Did I mention I love the details? Sigh…
Hogsmeade itself, being less secluded than Diagon Alley, is located between Jurassic Park and the Lost Continent. It kind of bothered me that they made it look all wintery despite the hot Florida weather, when it would have looked just as pretty and charming without the fake snow and icicles. I felt that this took away a bit of the ‘realness’ that I loved so much about Diagon Alley, but this is just my personal opinion. Other than that, it is beautifully made. With Hogwarts castle looming over the scenery at the end of the street, Hogsmeade is quite a stunning sight, although a lot less visually overwhelming than Diagon Alley, because the houses look more uniform.
Among the most iconic places you can find in Hogsmeade are Honeydukes and Zonko’s, as well as the Three Broomsticks, where you can go for breakfast, lunch, or just to have some Butterbeer. Butterbeer is sold everywhere throughout the Wizarding World, inside the restaurants and also from a cart on the street, but if you want it to be really authentic, I suppose you’d have to have one at the Three Broomsticks. (I heard they also sell hot Butterbeer, but either it’s a seasonal thing and they didn’t have it when we were there in October, or it must have been very poorly advertised, since I didn’t know about this until after. We’ve tried the regular and the frozen version though, and I must confess that my fiancé and I both liked the frozen – the least 'authentic' one – by far the best. We had one every day during our stay, it was truly addictive. Still, it tasted nothing like I imagined Butterbeer to taste like while reading the books – my ideal Butterbeer would have to be hot after all, and a lot less sweet.)
We had lunch a few times at the Three Broomsticks, the lines aren’t too long if you try to go slightly before the general lunch time (11am-12) or shortly after (later than 2.30pm). The restaurants (we also went to have breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron twice) are very well equipped for the masses though, so even when there’s a larger crowd waiting to be fed, it will still be fairly quick. The food was quite good, it was nice to see them serve something different than burgers, hotdogs or fries, which would not fit into the Wizarding World at all. All the meals go very well with the feel of the park, as most of them are traditional English dishes. The inside of the Three Broomsticks is adjoined to the dodgy Hog's Head, another bar where they only serve drinks.
As a European, I have to say the excessive use of plastic plates and cutlery was a bit disconcerting, but I guess that’s just how it works in places like this.
Oh, and I also liked to drink Pumpkin Juice with most of my meals, another thing that I was very curious to try, since it’s featured so prominently in the books. To me, it tastes very delicious and refreshing (think spiced apple and peach juice with just a hint of pumpkin flavor), although I’ve heard plenty of people claiming the opposite. If you buy it outside of the restaurants, it even comes in a cute bottle (which I kept, it’s now sitting on my Harry Potter shelf).
Another cute detail: If you happen to need to use the restroom after lunch, you might just hear Moaning Myrtle wailing and lamenting in the bathroom next to the Three Broomsticks.
If you walk up the street towards Hogwarts castle, there is a little stage to your right, on which several performances will take place throughout the day. I really liked the a capella group that, among other songs, performs “Double Trouble”, the song the Hogwarts Choir sang in the Prisoner of Azkaban. They’re even holding these big toads that are doing the bass, it’s pretty cool.
Hogwarts itself is absolutely stunning, although a lot smaller than the real castle would be, of course. Unfortunately, you can not actually go inside and walk around, but the waiting line for the ‘Forbidden Journey’ ride leads you through some parts of the castle, like the greenhouses, the defense against the dark arts classroom, or Dumbledore’s office. I especially liked the hallway full of paintings, in which the portraits of the four founders were having very witty conversations with one another. You will also see the mirror of erised, the house point hourglasses, the Sorting Hat, the portrait of the Fat Lady, and many more details from the movies that will make waiting in line seem a lot less tiring. In fact, we didn’t even go on the actual ride, because I was too afraid that I would get motion sick (I had read a lot about the ride in advance, and some people told me that it was much wilder than the Escape from Gringotts), but we still got in line just to see all of the fun set decorations, and it was totally worth it. (Actually, the staff seemed quite used to people doing just that, so you definitely don’t have to feel awkward if you back out before going on the ride. We told them at the entrance what we were going to do, and they even let us use the express lane because we just wanted to walk through.)
Yes, the mirror of erised shows me in a Hogwarts uniform - I'd say that's pretty accurate ;)
My only other advice regarding Hogsmeade would be the same as for Diagon Alley – take your time while exploring everything, visit all the stores, and definitely try out some spells. In general, I’d have to say I liked Diagon Alley a bit better, just because it felt more real and more immersive. But both parks are definitely an amazing experience for any potterhead. And if you aren’t a potterhead already, going there might potentially turn you into one - at least it did for my fiancé ;)
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed my review and find it helpful :)
!steemitworldmap 28.480197 lat -81.470007 long The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Studios Orlando, Florida d3scr