
Last month, my family and I found ourselves with an excuse to travel to Orlando, Florida and could not withstand the temptation of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. We only had a day and a half but it was plenty of time to see everything on our list and let me tell you, it was fantastic!
Mom and I are Potterheads to the core. I remember going to the midnight movie premiers (when they were still at midnight!) for each movie and continue to watch the movies/reread the books once a month (if not more…). My sister is less enthralled in the wizarding world so carefully crafted by J.K. Rowling, but she’s seen the movies and was up for the fun. I’m still wishing I was back in Diagon Alley, enjoying a scoop or two of Florean Fortescue’s ice cream, so I decided to outline some of our favorite parts of the trip and a few things you can’t miss.
No one is paying me to write this, I just really love Harry Potter.
Before you get to Diagon Alley, you find the Knight Busand we could not pass it by without taking a picture with the driver and Dre Head. Dre Head will talk to you and if you walk around back, you can see inside the bus too.
Our first stop in Diagon Alley was Ollivander’s Wand Shop. We got really lucky and there was no line so we did the wand experience and even though none of us were chosen it as still fun to watch. We had help from one of the witches in the store to select a wand and ended up with a wand made of reed, a wood “associated with scholarship and knowledge.” Since the character wands can be found anywhere but the Ollivander wands can only be bought in the parks, we trusted Ollivander’s craftsmanship and it served us well.

I’ve always been a huge Fred and George fan, so Weasley’s Wizard Wheezeswas also at the top of my list for places to see. Inside the shop is just as fantastic as you would expect and all the best Weasley products were there – our favorite was the Skiving Snackboxes! The adorable Pygmy puffs came in a close second though.
The Gringott’s Dragonwas fun for pictures and great for the experience. Every 15 minutes or so he breathes fire! We could feel the heat of it all the way from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. I knew ahead of time that he breathed fire every once in a while, but the first time it happened we all about jumped out of our skin, it caught us so by surprise! The inside of the bank (which you see when in line for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts) was incredible and looks just like it did in the movie, even all the goblins looked real.

The Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journeyride in Hogsmead was my favorite ride. While standing in line, you go all throughout the castle and get to see things like Dumbledore and the statue guarding his office, talking portraits of the four Hogwarts founders, the defense against dark arts classroom, and Just before you get to the ride, you pass the portrait of The Fat Lady. The ride itself was a great rollercoaster. Since it’s all indoors, it’s not your classic rollercoaster but it was so good we rode it more than once.
Speaking of the Hogwarts Castle, I can’t believe how much Universal went through to create the castle and the whole wizarding world. The castle REALLY does look like the castle from the movies and being able to go inside was so cool. The picture we got in front of the castle is probably my favorite one from the whole trip. We also got very lucky and were there for the first night of The Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castlelights and fireworks show of the summer! The whole show was a projection of special effects and lights against the castle followed by fireworks and it was spectacular.
The Owl Postin Hogsmead was a fun place to stop in and even better because you can get actual an Hogsmead post stamp on postcards from the shop! We of course bought one of the post card sets and had every single one stamped. How could we not?

And when you’re in Hogsmead, you absolutely cannot miss Honeydukes. Every time we passed it the shop was full of people, so we decided to brave the crowd and had a great time looking at all the different candy lining the shelves. Despite wanting to leave with one of everything, we narrowed it down to a chocolate frog, some gummy candy, and butterbeer fudge.
Last but not least, everyone knows you just cannot visit the Wizarding World without trying some Butterbeer. We favored the frozen butterbeer and it was just what we needed to fight the intense Florida heat. It was probably the unhealthiest thing I ate/drank the whole trip (calories don’t count on vacation, right?) but it was totally worth it. In fact, I’d give anything for a big glass of it right now…maybe if I try “accio butterbeer”?
For a complete guide to visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter check out this post.

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