Top 9 Things to Do at Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We went for four days to Universal Studios in January of 2017.  For us, it was a great time to go.  The weather was cool.  The water parks were closed, but our hotel had a lazy river and two pools.  We had not gotten to take a trip to Universal since 2006, and the park was a very different place.  Universal is not really selling entry into an amusement park anymore, but they’re selling the experience.  There are not a lot of attractions that don’t involve 3D, so if you get motion sickness or have a vision disorder where you cannot see through 3D glasses, there are a lot of rides you have to skip.  In all of Harry Potter, there are only 5 actual ride attractions.  We still spent almost a full day in the Harry Potter parts of the parks.  If you’re planning a trip, these 9 experiences are the things you can’t miss.

1. Going Through the Line Queues

It may sound ridiculous that one of my favorite things to do in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was to walk through the lines for the rides.  Waiting in line is one of the worst experiences of going to an amusement park.  It is boring while you wait, and most of the rides make you put your phone in a locker outside so you don’t have anything to play with.  (This is why I do not have any pictures of these to show you!)  When you’re on vacation for several days, you end up running out of things to talk about with the people you’re hanging with.  The queue lines for the Harry Potter rides that had the biggest wait time were really intricate.  They were great conversation starters for us.  In Islands of Adventure, at the Hogwarts ride it was awesome to see the Headmaster’s office, and through the fast pass line you get to walk up a moving staircase and interact with the moving paintings on the walls who are engaged in a lively discussion about the Muggles about the castle.  Many of the Harry Potter rides are built for small people only, but even if there is a condition that makes it so you can’t go on the ride, you really want to walk through the queue line.  The Hogwarts Castle has a walkthrough only option and I really recommend doing it.  I think my favorite queue line was for the Dragon Chase ride.  You get to see Hagrid’s hut, and the flying Ford Anglia.  My favorite part was walking into the chamber that held the Tri-Wizard cup.  The line didn’t go back that far when we went, so we got to walk into the empty room.  We entered a dark chamber with the cup on a pedestal towering above us.  It was very impressive.

 

2.  Wait for the Dragon to Breathe Fire

Feeling the flames of the dragon on Gringott’s roof was incredible.  You first start to hear some rumbling, and then the fire spurts forth from his mouth over the street full of people.  You really feel the heat of the flames.

 

3. Get an Ice Cream from Florean Fortescue

For me, Harry’s stint staying in Diagon Alley for two weeks before his third year really embodied freedom.  You’re young, and for just a little, you have no cares in the world.  No places you have to be, no expectations to get up or clean or complete obligations to family or friends.  It is true freedom.  The most memorable part of those weeks in the novel was Harry working on his summer reading as he sat outside eating sundaes.  Florean Fortuce’s had great flavors while we were there.  It was hard to choose, but I coudn’t pass up a softserve Butterbeer ice cream.  They had lots of great looking hand dipped ice cream, including an earl grey and lavender that my husband chose and was amazing.

4. Eat at one of the Harry Potter restaurants

We heard the food was awesome, so we definitely wanted to try it out while we were there.  With the way things worked out, we only ended up eating breakfast at the Three Broomsticks once while we were there, and didn’t hit the Leaky Cauldron at all.  The breakfast, honestly, was overpriced and not really great, but the experience was really cool.  I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that lunch and dinner are better.  The pub was charming.  I felt like an adventurer while I was there.

 

 

5. Ride the Hogwarts Express

I thought this was going to just be a train ride from one park to the other.  When you stay on Universal’s property, you get to enter the Harry Potter part in Islands of Adventure an hour before the rest of the park opens.  This meant we started in Hogsmeade instead of in Diagon Alley in London.  Walking into Hogsmeade was amazing.  You really felt as though you were there.  In January, it looked great with snow hanging from the buildings.  I am not sure I’d have the same opinion if it were August though.  There is a Hogwarts Express engine available for you to take pictures.  There was a lot of clamour and excitement as we walked through the train station.  I was more excited to see Platform 9 ¾ on the other side than I was to see the Hogsmaede station.  You load into one of the train cars, but the windows are not real.  They are a 3D screen.  You get to see Hagrid waving goodbye to the train, and experience the winding trip to and from the castle.  The trip is different each way.  They do a good job of making you feel like you are a Hogwarts student.

6. Talk to the Staff

One of the coolest experiences of the whole vacation was that when you stopped and chatted with the staff, it was like you were talking to a character in an RPG.  They gave you tips and quests!  This happened throughout the park, but there were a couple things we talked about in Harry Potter specifically that came to mind.  At the Three Broomsticks, one of the servers told us to make sure we went out their back door to see the best view of the castle in the park.  One of the ladies loading the cars for Gringotts noticed that we were going for our second time, and told us not to take our eyes off of Bellatrix during the first part of the ride because she waves goodbye to you.  Be sure you talk with people, and interact with them.  There are several actors who are around to take pictures with as well, including the conductor of the Hogwarts Express and Stanley Shunpike at the Knight Bus in the London part of Universal Studios.

 

7. Check out Borgin & Burkes

In Knockturn Alley, you can visit the Dark Wizard’s shop.  I didn’t notice the vanishing cabinet hanging around.  They sell items that are not available in the rest of the wizarding world.  It’s kind of like Hot Topic.  They have lots of memorabilia in tribute to the Dark Lord including Death Eater masks and I think I remember seeing temporary tattoos with the dark mark on them.  If you’re a Slytherin at heart, or just love the idea of being one of the bad guys, you’ve got to make a stop.  It is hidden away down the dark corridors of Knockturn Alley.  If you didn’t know it was there, it is easy to miss.

 

8. Get a Special Drink

It doesn’t matter if you choose pumpkin juice or butterbeer, you’ve got to try one of Harry’s signature drinks while you’re there.  The pumpkin juice sold on the carts comes in nifty bottles with pumpkins on them.  It has pulp in it though, so if you’re like me and can’t even drink orange juice with pulp, you may want to try a Pumpkin Fizz instead, or a butterbeer.  The butterbeer is served either as a chilled drink or a frozen drink.  We opted for the chilled butterbeer.  It came in clear hard plastic mugs that said “Butterbeer” on the side.  For the rest of the day you could get them refilled with Coke products in any other part of the park for a buck or two.

9. Watch the Wand Experience at Ollivander’s

This was one of my favorite things to do while we were in the park.  Every good Harry Potter fan has been envisioning the first moment that a young witch or wizard gets chosen by their wand.  We all wonder what it would be like, and what sort of wand would choose us.  There is a wand shop in each side of the park.  Watching the show at Ollivander’s was magical.  You all file into the dimly lit shop where Ollivander and his assistant are waiting for you.  It reminds me of walking into a bookstore, filled with old parchment and leather bound tomes that promise ancient knowledge.  They’ll choose someone from the audience, I would imagine that it’s always a child about the right age for their first wand, to come share the experience.  The girl who was chosen during our encounter was having such a good time.  She did some magic and caused some trouble trying to find the wand that was right for her.  She was the person who really made the experience worthwhile.  Ollivander was personable and ran the show, but her happiness and excitement at getting to perform magic was what left such an impression for me.

After the experience is over, you get let out into a tiny shop that needs a ton more space.  When you talk to the shopkeepers, they will help your wand find you, if you would like.  If you feel your wand does not suit you, you can just shop around as well.  They may need some information for you, such as your birthday or your favorite holiday.  They sell replica wands and Ollivander originals.  These are wands that were not in the movies at any point.  Some of the wands are interactive.  They can be used on the streets (even by underage witches and wizards) to make your own magic.  There are metal spots on the ground where you should stand to make your spell effective.  They remind you what spell to cast, the words and the motions to make something happen.  I am really glad we got magic wands, but we did not get to use them very much.  Even during one of the slowest times of the year, there were constantly lines of little ones waiting to do magic.  Some of the spells were finicky and we could not get them to work properly, but I’m not sorry we purchased our wands.  Even if you do not buy wands, you should check out the wand choosing experience in either park.

  

I hope this helps you plan your trip. Please leave your comments and tell us about your favorite part of Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter.