The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios

What can I say about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios?!..A lot actually. This is the new exhibit to beat. Even the Disney Employees were raving about it.

Couple things you need to know about me first…1) I do not like most Theme Parks...I find them noisy and crowded and I don’t like coaster rides. I am prone to motion sickness. With that in mind I’m sure you are wondering why I spent the day at a Theme Park. The biggest reason is that I am huge Harry Potter Fan!!! The 2^nd reason was that I wanted to see if the exhibit lived up to all the hype. Believe me when I tell you it did not disappoint.

We headed to the park first thing because we figured it would be crowded but there was no one around. On the way to the Harry Potter exhibit, we stopped at the Spiderman ride and there was no one there at all. We just walked right in! If you’ve been to Universal you know the Spiderman ride is one of the simulations not a coaster. They can be tough on the motion sickness but I can usually tolerate them. This ride gets a thumbs up from me. It was fun, fast moving and had a sense of humor.

From there we headed into Jurassic Park Territory. Another great movie. I am not a movie buff but I did like Jurassic Park a lot especially the first movie. We skipped the ride but did stop in the Gift shop which is laid out like the reception area in the movie where the dinos have their big fight . Took the time to grab some shots to post for a friend’s son who is a big dino fan. And then it was on to Harry Potter.
We’d seen our first glimpse of the Hogwarts Castle as we walked down the City Walk but up close the detail was amazing. As we came over the bridge we entered a replica of the town of Hogsmeade which in the exhibit includes many of the shops from Diagon Alley. This is also where we found all the people! There was a 45 minute wait to get into Olivander’s to see the wand choosing enacted so we walked around a bit first. Honeydukes had a huge crowd but we did tackle it and I picked up a “caldron cake” & a “chocolate Frog”. I know I shouldn’t be eating stuff like that but it’s part of the experience. I rented a locker and stuck the sweets in there to try to protect them from the heat. It wasn’t even 11:00 am yet and it was really hot and getting more humid by the minute. We’d just be standing in line not even walking around and the sweat was pouring off in rivulets. But everyone else was sweating just as bad! Not a dry body in sight!

We spotted the Hogwarts Express but that wasn’t a ride or anything, still it was kind of cool to see. There was a huge loop coaster called the Dragon Challenge but neither JR nor I chose to try that. A bit out of my league. We spotted the Three Broomsticks and decided we had to come back for lunch there.

 There was also a more tame coaster that was the ride of the Hippogrift. We skipped that too.


So having “scoped out” the place we headed for the main attraction, Hogwarts Castle. You enter the castle grounds through an entrance guarded by 2 winged warthogs. Cast members dressed as Hogwarts Students direct you to the lockers where you are instructed to stow you belongings, including the 35mm cameras. Small point & shoot cameras seemed to be exempt from that restriction because we saw a lot of them dangling from other peoples wrists. I only brought the DSLR even though I do have P&S cameras because I was using the small cameral bag and didn’t have room for them. As a result, I don’t have any pictures of the inside of the Castle which is really too bad. They have the talking portraits, mandrake plants, the Great Hall, Dumbledore addressing the guests, all the key elements are there! There’s the Mirror of Eristad and the Sorting Hat and then there is Harry, Ron and Hermione enticing us to skip the boring lecture and come to the quidditch field and then we are at the ride.

We were told that there was at least a 45 minute wait for the ride but since the whole time you are on line, you are winding through the castle and seeing and hearing all the familiar things from the books and  movies, it doesn’t feel like you are waiting at all. And the ride is spectacular! Oh there are Dementors and giant spiders in the ride but the best part is when we break free onto the Quidditch field where we are chased by a horntail dragon and a holographic Harry is just in front of us shouting encouragement and leading the way. During that part of the ride I could forget I was strapped in a padded seat and imagine I was really flying at top speed on a magical broom. Oh how I hated when the ride came to an end! If I, as an adult, could come off that ride so pumped up, I can only imagine how the younger folks were feeling. I can tell you this, there were no negative comments to be heard!

As we left the Castle we watched a procession of “students” that were at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament. Anyone familiar with the books would recognize them right off. We followed them down and watched a demonstration all true to character.

From there we joined the line into Olivander’s. It was about a 30 minute wait but it passed quickly as everone chatted like we'd known each other for years. Finally  we were escorted into a fairly small, or so it seemed, dark shop. The actor playing Olivander chose two very cute little kids to have “try” with a  wand. It was a very brief skit but it followed true to the book about the wands choosing it’s owner and I am sure those kids were suitably impressed.

By this time it was lunchtime so we headed to the Three Broomsticks. Both JR & I ordered the Fish & Chips . The portions were huge. We could have bought 1 and split it and probably would still have had some leftovers. We also had to try the Butter beer, it is, after all, a staple beverage at the Three Broomsticks. I ordered mine “frozen” and in a souvenir mug. The first taste and there was no doubt that it was made with butterscotch. What an awesome drink but so sweet. One was more than enough. Plus on a hot day like we had today, my first deep drink gave me one of the worst ice cream headaches I’ve had in a long time! But oh, so worth it.

After lunch I retrieved my sweets from the locker and we headed back into the park to try some of the other rides and exhibits. We went to Jimmy Neutron, The Simpsons, Dr. Seuss and ended up with the ride from Jaws. By then I was worn out. I could feel a blister growing on each foot and I’d sweated myself into exhaustion. I thought about one last trip through the Hogwarts castle but it was getting late and I just couldn’t take any more crowds. But I will go on record here and say that next time I’m in Orlando, I will be back for more Harry Potter!