Wizarding World of Harry Potter: A lifelong fan makes the pilgrimage
I got my first Harry Potter book in November of 1999 when I was eight years old from a fellow neighborhood kid. It was a paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that I am now shamefully confessing I never returned. Over the next three days, I read it cover-to-cover ten times. I found out there were two more books out, begged my parents for them, and was hooked.
From then on I went to every book release party, every midnight movie premiere. All of my friends were equally obsessed. When Scene It? Harry Potter came out my first year of high school, we wore out the DVD playing it so much. What I’m saying to you is I’m definitely a Ravenclaw.
When Universal Studios opened the first part of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2010, I was absolutely dying to go. The addition of Diagon Alley (and the Hogwarts Express!) in 2014 only increased the fervor. This year, finally, I was able to make the pilgrimage with some friends to visit the theme park equivalent of our wildest dreams.
10:00 a.m. We arrive at Universal Studios. Squealing commences!
10:30 a.m. After a walk from the parking garage, we get to will call and pick up our tickets. We decide to follow in Harry Potter’s footsteps and hit Diagon Alley first (though it’s the newer of the two parks) to pick up some magical necessities before we go to Hogwarts.
11:00 a.m. We meander our way around muggle London (stopping to knock at 12 Grimmauld place) and find the Knight bus (and the conductor, who graciously agrees to pose with us)!
11:15 a.m. We slip through a particularly clever hole in the wall … and I’m immediately overwhelmed. The look of Diagon Alley is dead on – crowded, tilting buildings that look like they need magic to remain upright, advertisements for all sorts of oddities and, oh yeah, a fire-breathing dragon perched atop Gringotts bank.
11:20 a.m. We wander through the shops – robes and quills and quidditch supplies, it’s all there. At Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, I pick up Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and watch a Pygmy Puff naming ceremony. It’s all tons of fun, Universal has clearly put a lot of effort into turning even the shops into a world-building experience.
11:45 a.m. Laden down with packages, it’s finally time to go to Ollivanders Wand Shop! We decide to watch the Wand Shop show (though you can choose to skip it and just go into the shop). I get all misty thinking about Harry getting his first wand while we watch a little boy create a few minor disasters in the shop before finding his perfect fit.
12:00 a.m. Ollivanders is packed! After no minor deliberation, we each decide on a wand. I pick a replica of Luna’s, because of my house pride and because Nargles keep hiding my sunglasses and I’m hoping it’ll scare them off.
1:00 p.m. Lunch at the Leaky Cauldron! Butterbeer is every bit as delicious as you’d think it would be.
1:30 p.m. Off to find a locker since you can’t be hauling packages around as you try to escape the most secure bank in the world.
1:45 p.m. We hop in line to enter the bank. The facades are really convincing, and if it weren’t for the metal pipes keeping everyone in line you’d think you actually were at the back of an old stone building.
2:00 p.m. We get into Gringotts’ receiving hall! The goblins are amazing, almost too lifelike. I take selfies with a goblin (who won’t smile for the camera, too rude!) and we chat with people around us in line. I love that the Wizarding World can give such seemingly different people so much to talk about.
2:45 p.m. We escape from Gringotts! The ride (without giving too much away) puts you right in the middle of Harry and Hermione’s adventure in the bowels of the bank. The 4D ride involves 3D glasses, steam, and one wicked drop my nerves won’t recover from anytime soon.
3:00 p.m. We (quite literally) stumble into Knockturn Alley. The vibe is perfectly spooky and a little dangerous. After a visit to the Vanishing Cabinet Draco fixes, we each take turns waving our wands to make the creepy shrunken heads in a window sing a little tune.
3:45 p.m. Onto the Hogwarts Express! We wander out of Diagon Alley to King’s Cross Station and show our tickets. Platform 9 ¾ appears via a clever “vanishing” trick to keep your secret safe from the muggles behind you in line.
4:20 p.m. The Hogwarts Express appears, and it’s perfect. The steam engine and the large-windowed passenger cars are all precisely how you’d picture them. We enter our compartment and watch Harry Potter’s world come alive on our “window”. The scenes really keep you inside the Wizarding World, which is nice considering it could have been a far more bare-bones way of moving people from one park to the next.
4:30 p.m. Hogsmeade! If possible, the buildings here are even more perfect. The “snow”-capped roofs and crowded brick buildings have me craving hot butterbeer, even though it’s 90 degrees in Orlando.
4:35 p.m. No messing around, straight to Hogwarts! The castle is amazing; I know it’s all just messing around with scale but it really looks enormous and imposing. The line takes you from the Herbology greenhouses through Dumbledore's office, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, the Gryffindor common room and the Room of Requirement, with loads of moving portraits and other Easter eggs for Potterheads to find. I really could’ve spent all day in here, and (almost) wished the line was longer.
5:30 p.m. We’ve officially completed the Forbidden Journey! The ride has you belted into benches which I for one was thankful for, as there are some truly terrifying creatures prone to providing jump-scares in the Harry Potter universe!
5:45 p.m. Dinner at the Three Broomsticks. With our fresh mugs of Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice, we’re feeling every inch the Hogwarts students.
6:20 p.m. Time to take on the Triwizard Tournament. We scramble to grab a locker to empty our pockets of everything (even our *gasp!* cell phones) so we can ride the Dragon Challenge Roller Coaster.
6:45 p.m. They weren’t kidding about putting everything in the lockers! After going through a metal detector, we wander up the hill to the coaster entrance, marveling at the hand-painted signs cheering on different Champions. We vow to go on twice, since the Dragon Challenge is actually two high-speed roller coasters – each "dragon" is a completely different ride.
7:15 p.m. We’re done, and a bit nauseous, but it was awesome! Despite being ridiculously fast, both coasters were super smooth and tons of fun. I’d definitely recommend them for coaster-lovers, even those who don’t know what a Hungarian Horntail is.
7:30 p.m. Our last Harry Potter ride, the Flight of the Hippogriff, is lovely. The details are dead on, from Hagrid’s voice teaching you how to approach the proud animals to the design of the coaster seats, which are woven from wicker and decorated with fluttering leaves representing feathers.
8:00 p.m. Exhausted, we bid a tearful (on my part at least) farewell to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter … and then promptly head off to explore all the rest of what Universal has to offer.
Scroll through the gallery below for more magical details within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
