Day 2: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Psst. You can read all about Day 1 and the start of our adventure here. 

Before we dive in today, you should know… this is a big deal for us. We are Harry Potter fans. Big time. I cannot tell you how many times I have read through the series… at least once every time a new one came out. Plus a few more sprinkled in here and there. I love them. Mitch is a fan of the movies, through and through. I cannot, for the life of me, get him to read the books. But I think it’s safe to say, I’ve read them and loved them enough for the both of us. 🙂

I just have such fond memories of waiting each summer for the new ones to come out. Summer is the season I associate with these stories, probably because I remember always being in the middle of one while we were on a family camping trip or down at the bay for the weekend. There’s something special about a book that is just as captivating when you’re 25 as it was when you were 11.

Fun fact: Back when we were first married, we gifted ourselves with the complete set of the Ultimate Edition of all eight of the movies. These things are no joke- there are behind the scenes looks, interviews, deleted scenes, books of illustrations, and TRADING CARDS people. Could we ask for more? Although, for the life of me, I cannot figure out what one would do with said trading cards…

One of the things on our Bucket List is to watch each movie and all of the bonus features. I really wanted Mitch to read all of the books, so we decided to spread things out and watch as we read. The plan was that Mitch would read the first, then I would read it, then we would watch the first movie. And so on and so forth.

But I got annoying. Every night I would ask if he was going to read a chapter or two, where he was in the story, which page he was on, what was happening, and on and on. Which made him not want to read at all. In the interest of preserving our marriage, we scrapped that plan and have been just watching each movie as I finish the books. Secretly, I’m still waiting for the day that Christmas comes early and he decides to go for it again. 🙂 Mitch, if you’re reading this, just know- I believe in you!

The other thing on our Bucket List was to see Harry Potter World. We’ve wanted to go ever since it was built, so getting to add it to this vacation was a dream come true. I had high expectations because of rave reviews we had heard from others that had been there. I can say, without a doubt, that it was everything we had hoped and dreamed it would be. And even a little more. 🙂

Our day started early. We woke up around 6:15am and ate breakfast downstairs at around 6:45am. After breakfast, we came back to the room to pack our bag for the day, brush teeth, and clean up the room a bit before we headed out to the car.

Morning feels good in Florida. Warm and cool at the same time. And this one was full of excitement. There are not many things that make me jump up and down and wring my hands in happiness. Okay, actually I am quite excitable and it doesn’t take much, but if you could have seen how giddy Mitch was too, you’d know how thrilled we were to be FINALLY visiting the famous Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Along the drive, we kept passing billboards with advertisements for the park, announcing this ride or that attraction and it was I had in me to remain safely harnessed in my seat.

We arrived at the park around 8:15am or so and parked the car, doused ourselves in sunscreen, and began the journey to the ticket kiosk to print our tickets.

We started the day on the Universal Studios side of the park (HPW spans across two parks- Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) and hurried right to Harry Potter World. There is an entire post about how we broke down our time in each park and the things we would recommend to anyone trying to plan their own trip that is coming your way this afternoon! For now, we’ll just stick with our general experience of all things magical. 🙂

You will hear me say again and again- the attention to detail in every nook and cranny was absolutely spectacular. Jaw dropping. You could spend all day just examining the details in these parks and not catch it all. It was so true to the books and movies and so very well done.

The London street front was so cool! Just outside the entrance, you can walk right up to (and inside!) the infamous telephone booth.

We also got to see the Knight Bus and visit with Stan Shunpike and Dre Head! They were so much fun and Dre Head really talks- he asked us if we were stranded. After a quick photo with the Knight Bus crew, we headed into Diagon Alley.

Fortunately, Hagrid has already been by to open the brick wall for you, so we just headed right in. 🙂

At this point, your jaw might become unhinged and drop to the ground because the view looking down the main street is really something. Shops everywhere you look, colors galore, and all of the familiar “faces” that make up Diagon Alley from the stories come to life.

It really feels like you’ve been transported right into the settings themselves. The first time walking through was just amazing…

PS. Listen closely to the music in the background of all of these movie clips! I didn’t edit that in… they had HP music playing the whole day and it changed depending on what area of the park you were in. Talk about feeling like you’re there “in real life”!

We didn’t spend a whole lot of time looking at everything right then and there because we knew we’d be back and we wanted to jump in line for the big ride on this side of the park before the lines got too long. We walked straight through the town, right up to Gringotts Bank to ride Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts- a combination of a roller coaster and 4D experience. It was AWESOME and before the day was over, we ended up riding it three times!

Just as cool as the ride was the wait to get on the ride. Nope, not a mistype! I’m serious- the lines for the rides were amazing. They weave you in and out of buildings and scenes that are made to look just like the ones from the books and movies. I think I’ve heard that some of the things used to make the movies ended up being used at the parks as well. It’s incredible. For the Gringotts ride, we got a tour through Gringotts.

This room was magnificent. The chandeliers were like nothing I’ve ever seen before and it was so fun to get to see the goblins hard at work. The one right up front even talks to people as they pass by, encouraging them to open their own account at Gringotts!

After that ride, we decided to make our way to the other park to hop on some of the big rides over there. Again, we knew we’d be back to look at all of the shops and take our time walking through the town later in the day. Now, to get to the other park, you can either walk… or… ride the Hogwarts Express!! I’ll give you one guess at our preferred mode of transportation.

What a special treat this was- we got to walk through Platform 9 3/4! Here goes Mitch:

And then me:

We loved getting to ride in one of the cabins on the Hogwarts Express and there is even a “show” to watch once you get inside as you take the ride from one park to the other. After the train ride, we made our way through the gates and straight into Hogsmeade!

Again, this would be one of those times you’d be scraping your jaw off the ground. I’m telling you what- the first time walking into each of these “worlds” was something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It’s just incredible. I can’t say it enough. Growing up reading the books and then getting to walk right into what you always imagined it would look like was really special. Here’s the video walking through Hogsmeade and up to the Hogwarts Castle:

Shops everywhere you look. Snow covered roofs and quirky, moving signs and store front displays. It was so magical! And fun! I don’t think there was a straight line in the whole place- the chimneys were crooked, and buildings slanted. Exactly as you’d imagine a wizarding town to look.

The first thing we did upon entering was head straight to the big ride- the Forbidden Journey. Buuuuut not before stopping to get the world famous Butterbeer!

It was yummy! The best way I can describe it is some sort of butterscotch soda with a marshmallow foam. I could only drink so much of it because I am not a soda person, but the few sips I had were very tasty.

The Forbidden Journey was a great ride- a lot of stimulation to make you feel like you’re flying mixed with awesome life-size scenes that have been created to take you through some of the spookier moments of the stories. One of the greatest parts, again, was waiting in line… this one snaked all throughout the castle!

We saw the greenhouses…

the House Points…

got to stand in front of Dumbledore’s office…

and watch the portraits talk to each other…

It was so cool!

After that ride, we enjoyed walking around town, eating lunch, and going in the shops. They were all so well designed and you could buy a lot of the things mentioned in the books and shown in the movies.

Everything was pretty pricey, so we picked out a few postcards and got the official Owl Post crest stamped on them. That was one of my favorite parts. And although we didn’t buy any Hogwarts school robes, you better believe we tried on a set of Gryffindor ones!

After our “robe fitting”, we jumped in line to see the Wand Show in Ollivander’s Wand Shop. The shop itself was great and just like you would imagine it to be- boxes of wands everywhere you look!

Lunch was at the Three Broomsticks where we enjoyed (my first ever) fish and chips!

Right after lunch, we made a point to see both of the street shows that the cast puts on. The first was the Frog Choir and they were really good- and fun to watch. They sang songs like “Something Wicked This Way Comes” and the Harry Potter theme song.

Up next was the Triwizard Tournament teams- Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. They put on a show that reflected each of their schools- what a treat!

All of the cast members do such a great job and it was fun to watch some “live action” tributes to the books and movies…

We spent some more time looking around and riding a few more rides before heading back to Diagon Alley. One of the rides we did was the Flight of the Hippogriff… it was so cute and we got to see Hagrid’s hut and Buckbeak!

Before coming to the parks, we read a lot of articles recommending that we take the Hogwarts Express both ways because it is a different show each direction, so we opted to ride back to Diagon Alley. Once there, we took our time riding the Gringotts ride again (we had a much longer wait time this go around, as it was about 4pm at this point) and then walking through all of the shops. The details– we couldn’t get over how beautiful everything was!

We stopped in all of the shops… including Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes!

And of course, no trip would be complete without a scary walk down Knockturn Alley…

As we had been told of a yummy dinner option (the Chicken and Ribs meal was out of this world!) back on the other side of the park, so we ended up deciding to ride back to have dinner in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade and re-ride some final rides before that side of the park closed (that night, Islands of Adventure closed 2 hours earlier than Universal Studios). We soaked up the evening atmosphere of Hogsmeade before it was time to leave as the park closed. To exit, we opted to walk back to Universal Studios instead of taking the Hogwarts Express again so that we could walk through some of the other parts of Islands of Adventure.

We got to see Seussville which was so fun and colorful and imaginative… definitely a fun place to take kids! Heck, I couldn’t help myself but to get a picture in front of the Truffula Trees. 🙂

Goodbye Islands of Adventure!

We walked back to Universal and decided to try and hit a few rides outside of Harry Potter stuff so we chose the Shrek 4D show and Revenge of the Mummy. They were so much fun! By that point, we only had about a half an hour left in the park, so we headed back to Diagon Alley to end the night with some ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor.

Oh, and one more ride on Gringotts. As a bonus, we got to see the dragon breath real fire (it happens every 15 minutes)!

We took our ice cream and left Harry Potter World, taking it all in one last time as we exited. After asking a park employee about good spots to watch the night time fireworks, we settled in and enjoyed the evening show.

By that point, we were exhausted, but completely satisfied with the day we had. We really drank it all in and enjoyed every minute of it. The care and creativity that went into making the world of Harry Potter come to life was truly commendable and we felt blessed to have been able to enjoy it. What a fun day!

Needless to say, after that much magic… we were asleep as soon as we hit the sheets that night. Dreaming magical dreams of course. 🙂

Day 3 coming tomorrow! Oh, and be sure to check back later today for tips and tricks we learned and things we wished we had known about planning a day at HPW… if you’re thinking of visiting, that will be the post for you! If not, I won’t be offended if you ignore every single word of it. 🙂

To be continued…

Update: You can read the “tips and tricks” post HERE!