The Ultimate Guide to Visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Orlando

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If you’re visiting Universal Studios Orlando, be sure to read this ultimate guide to visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Unlock the secrets and find out how to save money on your stay and get the most out of your time in this magical place.  The Ultimate Guide to Visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Orlando

For Abbi’s 12th birthday this year, I knew I wanted to do something epic. She loves birthdays and I am not a great party planner or a fantastic celebrator of holidays. They just take SO much effort and money. I knew that I’d have to budget and plan well for this trip.

Abbi has loved Harry Potter since she was little. During our first trip to Europe, we spent hours driving through Europe listening to all the Harry Potter Books in the car. Then we would watch the movies, and when she got a little older she read the books on her own. Needless to say, we are all kind of huge nerds about Harry Potter.

She has wanted to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for a long time. So I secretly planned a trip just for her and me! And Harry Potter World turned out to be everything we hoped for and more! Here’s is everything I wish I’d known before going.

PIN THIS!Where is Harry Potter World?

There are actually two! One in California and one in Orlando, Florida, not far from Disney World.  We visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Orlando. This is the original Harry Potter land, and also the biggest. Learn more about what to do in Orlando with teens.

Flights

I bought my flights through Expedia, one of the world’s leading full-service online travel brands.  Their flight search engine was fast and efficient and I was able to find great flights from Washington DC to Orlando. I waited to book our hotels, knowing that the Expedia Add-On Advantage would be coming to me in a few days!

Hotels

The Expedia Add-On Advantage is a program that offers hotel savings on select properties that are instantly unlocked up until the start of your trip. They will be sent to your email several days after you purchase a flight or package, or book a rental car.

The hotels they sent for us were killer deals! We booked a room at the Allure resort, less than a mile from Universal Studios, for only $44/night! The hotel stay needs to occur within the travel dates of the flight, car or package purchase, but the Add-On Advantage deals are always amazing.

I love the Add-On Advantage because it takes the pressure off of having to pay for the entire trip at once. I booked my flights, then booked the hotel the following week using the Expedia Add-On Advantage.

Transportation

Honestly, if you plan on just doing the parks in Orlando, I don’t recommend renting a car. A Taxi, UBER or Lyft ride from the airport will cost about $25 as well as the ride back. Most hotels have free shuttles to the parks and if you are staying close to the parks a ride there will cost about $7 each way. By the time you pay for a rental car plus parking, it ends up being more cost effective to not rent a car.

If you do rent a car, be sure the check the Expedia Add-On Advantage for awesome deals on rental cars.

We did rent a car for one day that we weren’t doing the parks to go to Daytona Beach and take a dip in the ocean. The beach is about an hour away by car and the warm water and white sand is totally worth the drive.

Tips for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

As this was my first visit, I want to share all my Wizarding World of Harry Potter tips that I wish I’d known before we went. I don’t recommend just showing up without knowing anything. These tips will save you money and help you make the most of your time.

One World, Two Parks, Massive Headache

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter consists of two separate sections of two separate theme parks. Sound confusing? That’s because it is. Instead of creating ONE “world” contained in ONE theme park, Universal Studios Harry Potter cleverly divided their most popular attractions between TWO theme parks, requiring you to purchase a park hopper ticket to see all of it. Well played Universal, well played!

The two halves of the Wizarding World are divided between Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure and Diagon Alley in Universal Studios and are connected by the Hogwarts Express, which is not only a shortcut between parks, but a ride in itself.

If you want to ride the Hogwarts Express, you MUST buy a park hopper! I made this mistake and bought tickets to spend one day in each park, but since they weren’t park-hopper tickets, we couldn’t ride the Hogwarts Express. We ended up “downgrading” our tickets to just a one-day park hopper so that we could see both parks in one day and ride the Hogwarts Express. Totally worth it by the way!

If you are coming solely to spend time in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I suggest buying a one-day park hopper ticket, as both sections of the world can easily be thoroughly explored in one day.

Buying Tickets to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We like to buy our theme park tickets with Getaway Today. They are a trusted company and have the best deals out there. You can also book your Universal tickets and hotel together in a vacation package, which can save you a lot of money. You can purchase Universal packages here and Universal tickets here. 

Basic Tips

• Arrive at Universal Studios Harry Potter World before the park opens
• Start at Hogsmeade, go to Diagon Alley at noon, then go back to Hogsmeade in the evening.
• Buy an interactive wand. There will be fun little stops in both parks where you can do some of your own magic.
• Lockers are available for the Harry Potter and Gringott’s rides. They are free for the duration of the ride.
• Bring a fannypack if you can to avoid having to use the lockers as the space gets extremely crowded! Fawn Design makes my very favorite fannypack!

I’m dividing this guide into two sections: Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley

Hogsmeade (Islands of Adventure)

I recommend starting and ending your day in Hogsmeade. If you have early access because you are staying in a Universal property, this will only allow you early access to Universal Studios. Sure the half-hour extra is great, but what I’ve found is that it’s more crowded by the time the park opens. Sure, it’s great for those first 30 minutes, but so is Islands of Adventure. So ESPECIALLY if you don’t have early access, head to Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure first thing!

The park opens at 9 AM, but they let us in around 8:30. The fastest route to Harry Potter is to go to the right once you enter the park and take a sharp left when you hit Seuss Landing.

Islands of Adventure is home to Hogsmeade where you’ll find the quaint town with snow-covered pitched roofs, Hogwarts Castle and lots and lots of butterbeer!

Rides

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey: This ride inside of Hogwarts Castle is an interactive ride that will bring you on a journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and on a forbidden journey as you ride along on your very own broomstick with your favorite characters. The line for this ride can get crazy. I recommend going straight here first thing in the morning. Your wait will only be the time it takes you to walk to the ride entrance.

Flight of the Hippogriff: Don’t blink, this brief ride lasts approximately 1 minute and 6 seconds. I recommend doing this ride first thing in the morning right after Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Be sure to spot Hagrid’s cottage and Buckbeak’s nest while you’re in line.

The Hogwarts Express Orlando pulling into Hogsmeade Station

The Hogwarts Express: Used as an amazing shortcut between Hogsmeade (Islands of Adventure) and Diagon Alley (Universal Studios), the Hogwarts Express is a ride in itself. Note: you MUST have a park-hopper ticket to ride the Hogwarts Express!  

This quick train ride will take you on a journey from Hogsmeade to King’s Cross Station, London, where you’ll make your way through Platform 9 3/4, into London, and through the brick wall to Diagon Alley. You’ll ride in your very own carriage car with several others. The cars look just like the movie. I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s worth a ride!

Shops

The best part of Hogsmeade, for me at least, is all the adorable shops! Not necessarily what’s IN the shops, but just the detail that has been put into each shop. In Hogsmeade you will find:

• Honeydukes: This adorable harry potter candy store is full of all the goodies from the Harry Potter books and films including Sugar Quills, Exploding Bon Bons, Fudge Flies, Candy Floss, U-No-Poo, Chocolate Frogs, Pepper Imps, Bertie Bots Every Flavor Bean, Fizzing Whizbees, Peppermint Toads and more.

All the goodies from Honeydukes

• Olivander’s: This wand shop, owned by Olivander is where Harry Potter receives his wand (well the wand chose him really). Although the original Olivander’s was in Diagon Alley, there is one located in Hogsmeade as well. At Olivander’s you can participate in your own wand choosing ceremy, where a wand can choose you if you’re lucky enough to be picked. I recommend going right after you ride the two rides first thing in the morning to avoid a long wait. The less people in your group, the better chance you have of being chosen.Abbi was lucky enough to be chosen in the ceremony and we purchased her $55 Interactive Wand which we used all over Hogsemeade and Diagon Alley.
• Abbi’s Interactive Wand and Map from Olivander’s. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter wands are totally worth investing in.
• Zonko’s Joke Shop: Full of fun novelty gifts and other souvenirs.
• Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods: A souvenir shop
• Dervish & Bangs: Souvenir Shop
• Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment: Come here for your Hogwarts robes and other uniform attire.
  
• Owl Post: Look out for the nesting owls and the Howler! Send your own postcards to be sent by owl to friends and family with an official Hogsmeade postal stamp!
• Food

  I’ll be honest, after my experience at Disneyland Paris, I was slightly worried about starving to death while at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I am not generally a fan of overpriced theme park food, but the food here was actually incredible and consisted of a legitimately British menu with items like Fish & Chips, Full English Breakfast, Bangers & Mash, Meat pies, Pasties, and Sticky Toffee Pudding. It was such a happy surprise for me and I wish I could have gone back an extra day just to try all the menu items.

  The Entrance to the Three Broomsticks (see the three broomsticks?)
  • The Three Broomsticks: This is the main restaurant in Hogsmeade and offers a fantastic variety of British food. The cozy snow-capped in is decorated to look like an old tavern and it’s so well done. We came here for breakfast after doing the two rides and Olivander’s. By this time it was around 9:30 AM.
  Full English Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks

  The portions are large. The two of us split the full English Breakfast which consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, blood pudding, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and a croissant. We couldn’t even finish it. We also ordered pumpkin juice which is my new favorite thing.  SO GOOD (I actually liked it better than butterbeer)!

  Yummy yummy Pumpkin Juice! Tastes sort of like Apple Cider with more spices and a taste of pumpkin. Amazing!
• Hog’s Head: At this bar, you can get classic Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice, and other grown-up drinks.
• Neeps: These little stands in Hogsmeade will offer bottled drinks and snacks. There was a wide variety of fresh fruit, which I was so grateful for after all that Butterbeer!
• Butterbeer: There are several Butterbeer stalls in Hogsmeade where you can get cold Butterbeer or (my favorite) Frozen Butterbeer, which is like a Butterbeer Slushie. I’m still dreaming about it!
• Frozen Butterbeer…so good!

* This article was originally published here