Life Unadorned

Family Lifestyle Blog

  • Crafts & DIY
    • DIY
    • Free Printables
  • Lifestyle
    • At Home
    • Kids
    • Mental Health
    • Motherhood
    • Self Care
    • Style
  • Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Technology
  • Travel
  • Entertaining
    • Recipes
    • Parties & Holidays
  • About
    • About Life Unadorned
    • Contact Me
    • Services
    • Stats
    • Privacy Policy – Life Unadorned

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Filed Under: Travel

Summer travel is on it’s way and one of the spots that, as my kids say, I “super duper cooper more than googolplex” want to return to is  Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I am a HUGE Harry Potter Geek, so last year when we had a chance to briefly visit Universal Orlando to check out the theme park for the very first time, I was thrilled. I soaked in every second, which sadly ended much too soon due to a horrible-even to Florida standards–rain storm. We were there just a few hours and it was not enough, but I did get a chance to check out several of my favorite Wizarding hot spots. 

Diagon Alley

What a marvel to see this fantastical district come to life. We ate lunch at the Leaky Cauldron for some traditional English Wizarding World grub and even wandered off into Knockturn Alley (which was a bit scary for the kids.) Inside the shops were just as perfect to please my inner child’s imagination. 

Diagon Alley

Gringott’s Bank

The animatronic dragon on top of Gringotts was truly awesome, with roars and the heat of fire bursting forth at regular intervals. 

Gringotts Bank

But this scared the beejezus out of Ellie as you can see from her sad face below. We didn’t spend too much time outside in the alley itself because of it but preferred to stay inside and check out the fun shops like Madame Malkins dress shop. I would love to spend more time in Diagon Alley on my next visit!

mom and kids in diagon alley

Olivander’s Wand Shop

We had a blast inside of Olivander’s. A Fun Family Tip is to definitely wait for the short show where a wand chooses a young wizard in the audience. 

Olivander's Wand shop

olivander

We spent a good amount of time checking out all of the wands and in the end purchased a few interactive wands for even more fun family excitement. Using the provided map, we waved our wands to see some magical happenings around both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

buying Harry Potter Wands

Waving wands around Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour

We absolutely had to enjoy some ice cream and pumpkin juice from Florean’s during the hot afternoon. 

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Shop

pumpkin

The Knight Bus

Just outside Diagon Alley is the Knight Bus. Wouldn’t it be fun to take a ride?! Sadly, this is not an attraction but it’s certainly a cool photo opp.

The Knight Bus

King’s Cross Station: Platform 9 3/4

Next stop, King’s Cross Station to Platform 9 3/4 to hop on the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade. 

King's Cross Station

platform 9 3/4

Hogwarts Express

To actually take the trip on the Hogwarts Express, you must purchase passes to both parks, Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure. Diagon Alley is in Unverisal, while Hogsmeade is in Islands. This makes the full Harry Potter experience in Orlando pretty expensive. I hear that the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal in California (which just opened in April) is not split like this. 

Hogwart's Express

Hedwig waited with us, Ellie being a future Gryffindor herself. 

hedwig waiting for hogwarts express

Future Gryffindor

Hogsmeade

After a fun interactive ride (we did purchase passes to both parks!) it was off to “snow covered” Hogsmeade. We enjoyed some Butterbeer and a visit to Honeyduke’s Candy Shop!

Exit to Hogsmead

hogsmead

Honeyduke’s Candy Shop

We had to pick up some Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans and a few other treats to share with family back home. A must stop when energy is waning on a hot summer day. Yes that snow is fake. The candy however is not. Sweet.  

Honeydukes Candy Shop

candy display at honeydukes

Ronin in Honeydukes

Hogwarts Castle

Hogwarts Castle features a ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which we decided not to do knowing the kids might be scared. BUT Family Fun Tip! We asked for a tour of the castle and were led through the castle past those in line for the ride just to see what was inside. 

hogwarts castle

Inside Hogwarts

An Early Finish

Way before our day should have ended, the skies opened and we ended up trapped under cover. After waiting for quite some time, we purchased a Gryffindor umbrella and Harry Potter ponchos and booked it out of there.

Sadly. Oh so sadly. 

We can’t wait to go back! Or at least John and I can’t. I think the kids might need to be a little older to fully enjoy all that Wizarding World of Harry Potter has to offer. 

rainstorm at wizarding world of harry potter

Have you been to Wizarding World of Harry Potter? What did you think?


Related posts:

  1. First Visit to Walt Disney World Favorites: Part 1
  2. First Time Favorites Part 2: Walt Disney World Princesses
  3. Escape Into Outlander
  4. Will You Dress Up for Halloween?

About Cristi Comes

Warrior Mom. Wife. Writer. Passionate advocate for motherhood and mental health, self care and positive self image. Lover of tech, travel, books and entertainment.

Comments

  1. Hope says

    at 8:02 PM

    So much fun! The Harry Potter ride was the best I’ve EVER been on. But I can see it might scare the little ones. Just so you know there is a reserved spot for those to sit with little ones while other family members are on the ride. So I stayed with my little ones while my husband went on with my oldest, then we switched and I went on the ride with him.

  2. Stacy says

    at 3:39 PM

    Next time you go, be sure to bring a postcard and some postage so that you can mail it to yourself from Hogsmeade (complete with an Owl stamp!). When you return to Knockturn Alley, use the UV lights to find some hidden treasure on the map. Take the time to watch the shows, especially in Diagon Alley, because they are phenomenal (especially when they do tales from Beetle the Bard with puppets).

Search

Find Support

Mental Health Resources

Popular Posts: Motherhood

  • Get Kids to Listen Without Yelling or Reminding
  • Help for Anxiety and Night Terrors
  • I’m Not a Bad Mom Because My Kid isn’t Potty Trained
  • Mental Health after Infant Loss & Miscarriage
  • Talking to Kids about Emotions {Inside Out Feelings Flash Cards}

Popular Posts: Parties

  • Happy Birthday Isla! Princess Pampering Party
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Night {Rocket Raccoon Veggie Tray, Baby Groot Cupcakes}
  • Inspired by Big Hero 6: Baymax Rice Ball and Party Ideas
  • green minecraft birthday cake with fondant toppers and ovation sticks
    Happy 8th Birthday Ronin! {Minecraft Party Ideas}
  • Festive Rainbow Cake
Copyright © 2021 Cristi Comes · Log in