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Vacation in Florida - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I saved the best for last!!!


The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was by far the best attraction realm to visit in my opinion. I bout died on sight. I was just overwhelmed by the wave of nostalgia that overcame me. Which is funny because I hadn’t picked up a Harry Potter book in years. Granted I’d read the whole lot of them and was devoted to watching every movie that came out. It was literally my childhood right in front of me. Where I first discovered my love for magic, witches, warlocks and the likes.


So if you’re asking yourselves did I cry in those first few moments…. The answer is no lol. I was close to crying but nah. I had to keep my composure since I was in front of family. If Harry Potter isn’t your thing then I’ll stop you from reading any further because this entire post is all about that realm. NOTHING ELSE.


What exactly is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter?


Before I go any further, in case you might have missed it in previous posts, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is separated into two parts. There’s Hogsmeade which is inside of the Islands of Adventure theme park and then there’s Diagon Alley which is inside of the Universal Studios theme park. Both parts are connected by the Hogwarts Express train which is a cool ride in and of itself. It goes back and forth between Hogsmeade Station and King's Cross Station, but it’s only available to people who have Park-to-Park passes. Also, there are major spoiler alerts throughout this post but I tried not to give you too much.


My last day in Harry Potter World standing in front of the Hogwarts Castle

Back to business!


My first encounter with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was on Day One - Monday. We were walking out of Jurassic Park over the bridge and straight into Hogsmeade. Now Hogsmeade is made up of some major components such as:

  • Ollivanders for wands

  • Honeydukes for candy

  • The Owl Post

  • Three Broomsticks for food and much more in the shopping department.


It also has Hogwarts Castle which is used for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction ride, alongside Flight of the Hippogriff directly across from it.


On the first day I simply walked around in amazement, bought a t-shirt from the gift shop (P.S. just buy a shirt from the local walmart they’re cheaper lol.) Then I took some photos in my new t-shirt and moved on. We had already explored so much of Islands of Adventure that we were simply passing through, and I wanted to make sure I thoroughly enjoyed it instead of being rushed.


Our goal for the time being was to catch a ride on the Hogwarts Express to at least check out the Universal Studios park before leaving, and heading back to the hotel. We got checked in at the gate to make sure we had a Park-to-Park pass. Then we waited in line until we got to the train. Following that we were given a line to stand in and then ushered onto the train into a specific cabin number. Since there were nine of us we filled up our entire cabin. Now you can’t see outside of the train, instead there’s a movie like window with scenic pictures and Ron, Hermione, and Harry talking throughout the train ride. Either it looks like they’re outside or it looks like they’re walking the halls outside of your cabin. Within 10 minutes you find yourselves on the other side and the ride is over.


 

Day Two - Tuesday


The next time I went into Hogsmeade was on Day Two - Tuesday. We had just gotten done with Skull Island: Reign of Kong, and with an hour left I wanted to get on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. So it’s my two younger cousins, my oldest little brother (middle child), and I who sprint off to the ride. My mom and eldest cousin to follow. We get a little sidetracked by the Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle playing, but we make our way inside the castle. As we’re walking along the path to get to the actual ride it was legit like walking through the castle. The dinning hall, the entrance to Gryffindor commons, Dumbledore's office and more.


We get to the top just to find out that we’ve got to put all our bags in lockers so we’re told to take a shortcut and come right back up. We do just that and now it's our turn to get on the ride. Y’all, the platform moves! You legit have to kind of scurry to your seat and sit in it while the floor is moving beneath you. It was adrenaline filled. After that we enjoyed the ride, and waited it out for my mom and eldest cousin to get off.


 

Day Four - Thursday


Fast forward to Day Four - Thursday. We spent all of that day in Universal Studios but we also went into Diagon Alley. Here I got to enjoy:

  • Borgin and Burkes

  • Ollivanders

  • Sugarplum's Sweetshop

  • Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

  • Knight Bus

  • Leaky Cauldron and again so much more than what I’ll write here

The only attraction inside of Diagon Alley is Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. If you remember correctly Gringotts is the bank in their world; where all of Harry’s inherited money was kept there along with other important things from the book.


This time it’s myself, my eldest little brother, and all three of my cousins. The five of us make it to the ride, get on, and were disappointed. There was a slight malfunction where our part of the car didn’t swing back to the front so we told the attendings and they let us ride again. We just had to go to the child swap line to get back on. With the second go around it was much better and I got my experiences worth. This is also where I decided to spend my money and get an 8x10 photo + digital copy as a memento.

Photo op before riding Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

By the way: from what I’ve noticed a lot, if not all, of the rides have a child swap holding center at the top. One parent can get on the ride while the other watches the kids, and then when they’re done they get off and essentially swap places. I think that that is one of the greatest conveniences possible so parents can enjoy themselves too.


 

Day Five - Friday


We’re going to speed it up one last time and wrap up my adventure!


We had just finished watching the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad as a family, and marched off into Hogsmeade for one last hurrah. I changed into my Platform 9 ¾ shirt and proudly purchased my first cup of butterbeer! Slushie style at that. The way I’ll describe the butterbeer was that it tasted like cream soda with vanilla custard on top. I personally loved it. It made my experience that much more wonderful. We also stopped inside Honeydukes so the younger kids could get some candy. After that we parted ways with my youngest cousin and this time my youngest brother joining me on the Flight of the Hippogriff - basically a childrens ride. It literally went in a loop. The rest of my family went to Seuss Landing.

Drinking butterbeer in front of the serving cart
My first taste of butterbeer!

Once we finished up with the Hippogriff ride and our short stop in Seuss landing we went back to the Hogsmeade Station because there was no way I was leaving Florida without a picture next to the Knight Bus! We got on the Hogwarts Express train one final time, came out on the other side, and to my surprise the bus driver was outside taking photos with guests! I hopped in line for my turn because it wasn’t just a photo op.


You get to chat it up with the shrunken head himself! It wasn’t automated either. The bus driver asked my name and then the shrunken head started talking to me and making jokes and references to my Platform 9 ¾ shirt. I don’t know what could have been a better ending to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for me than that right there.

Me with the Knight Bus driver and shrunken head

Well guys, thank you for reading along. I hope you guys enjoyed my adventure and I hope it inspires you to plan a trip to Universal Orlando Resorts as well. In my opinion it’s waaaaaayyyyyyy better than Disney World. Below are some other photos from my time with Harry Potter! Thanks for reading.

What have you done to go #BeyondYourWindow recently? Share on social media with the hashtag, comment below, or send me a private message!

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