Top 10 Things to Do at the Wizarding World in Universal Studios
This past week, my family and I went to Universal Studios at Orlando, and I had a blast! Besides eating at Mythos and riding the Velocicoaster (highly recommend, as it’s not as scary as it looks), we spent the majority of our time at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I’ve come back with lots of tips and tricks, so let’s get into it!
1. Get an Interactive Wand
One of my favorite things about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is that you can actually cast your own spells.
All throughout Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, there are golden medallions on the cobbled streets to tell you where certain spells can be cast. When you buy an interactive wand, step up to the medallion and follow the wand movement description. Each spell does something different; some make books open, silence birds, or make it rain! It may take a few tries to get the spell to work, but it’s worth it—I even brought my old wand from three years ago, and it still worked! The key is to use small movements.
2. Go to the Ollivander’s Wand Experience
There’s no better place to get your own wand than at Ollivander’s (located in Hogsmeade). In this experience, a group of about ten individuals will enter the wand shop, and Ollivander will fit a wand for one lucky individual (complete with spells and special effects).
It’s truly a heartwarming experience, even if you’re not chosen; I loved being able to see the joy on the kids’ faces as they got to do magic firsthand.
3. Ride the Hogwarts Express
One of the coolest things in the parks is the Hogwarts Express; it’s an actual train that takes you to and from the Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios parks!
While on the train (which is impeccably designed exactly like the films), you get to overhear conversations from Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and you even experience a dementor attack. Be sure to go on the train both to and from each park—the experiences differ in both.
You will need park-to-park passes for the Hogwarts Express, though, and I fully recommend getting express passes as well.
4. Ride Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure
In my humble opinion, Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure is the best ride at Universal. It’s planned and executed so well, and I love how it’s not a virtual ride like Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
On this roller coaster, you follow Hagrid in one of his lessons, riding in his motorbike and seeing skrewts, unicorns, and the Forbidden Forest. The cars speed up like real motorbikes, and there are so many fun twists and turns (though it never actually goes upside down). My entire family loved this ride—even my mom, who hates roller coasters.
But boy, do I have some tips for you. This ride is extremely popular, making the wait time get up to two or more hours at times. Thus, there are two things I strongly recommend you do: stay at a Universal resort and buy the express passes.
As of now, express passes are not used in the Hagrid’s Motorbike Ride. However, they’re extremely useful, and you can pretty much do everything at Universal in a day with one of these cards.
Staying at a Universal hotel is really the most important thing. There are eight different Universal hotels, and by staying at one, you are offered an hour earlier admission into the park as well as a discount on the express pass.
I’d definitely recommend going to Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure first thing if you have early admission into the park; the ride is the least crowded at the beginning and end of the day. You can also set an alarm on your phone with the Universal app to notify you when the wait time has gone down.
It may seem like a hassle, but I promise you, it’s worth it! Bonus: I’d also recommend going on the ride at night; the headlights of the motorbikes turn on and it’s a really cool experience! Just be sure to get in line before the park closes at 9:00, then you’re guaranteed a spot on the ride!
5. See the Knight Bus
In front of the entrance to Diagon Alley is the Knight Bus, the iconic, triple-deckered automobile that helps wizards to their destinations. Stan Shunpike and the shrunken head are both in front of the bus, and they’re happy to have a conversation with you.
6. Use the Red Phone Booth
Right next to the Knight Bus is an unassuming red phone booth. However, if you enter the booth and dial 62442 (magic), you’ll get a special message from the Ministry of Magic!
7. Get Ice Cream from Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour
I won’t lie, Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour was a life saver in the 90 degree heat. You can find this store at the corner of Diagon Alley, right next to Gringotts and the fire-breathing dragon.
Florean Fortescue’s offers a bunch of classic and unique flavors in soft serve and hard pack ice cream, from sticky toffee pudding to salted caramel blondie. Their butterbeer soft serve is the most popular flavor, though I have to admit, I’m not a major fan of butterbeer. I went with pistachio one day and chocolate swirl the next, and it was the perfect, refreshing treat. Even though the line is long at times, I promise you won’t have to wait very long!
8. Buy Sweets from Honeydukes
Of all the themed food in Universal, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter definitely takes the cake. You can get traditional British fare from restaurants like The Three Broomsticks or The Leaky Cauldron (I would definitely recommend placing a mobile order beforehand if you do so), but my favorite foods were in Honeydukes.
Of all the Harry Potter themed sweets, here are all the ones I’ve tried ranked from best to worst.
- Peppermint Toads. I know a lot of people aren’t fans of peppermint, but I loved these. Made of dark chocolate and soft peppermint filling, these toads reminded me of a York and were super refreshing.
- Sherbet Lemons. I had to track down these lemon drops to try, but I’m glad I did! I can see why these are Dumbledore’s favorite sweets; they’re a hard candy in the shape of a lemon, but they’re bright and not too tart.
- Chocolate Frogs. I will be the first to tell you that the chocolate quality at Universal is not the best. Understandably, they sell hundreds of these a day and have got to make a profit. But I think everyone needs to get a chocolate frog regardless—the packaging and wizarding cards are priceless. The frog itself comes in either milk or dark chocolate, and it’s rock solid, so I often keep them to bake with instead of eating them alone.
- Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans. These jelly beans are basically Beanboozled, except with better packaging. The flavors range everywhere from cherry to earwax or vomit. Luckily, there’s a jelly bean guide in each box (you might need it).
- Lemon Squash. This is one of the drinks offered at the Leaky Cauldron and The Three Broomsticks, and it’s basically a lemonade. It’s pretty refreshing, though it tasted a bit watered-down and wasn’t anyone’s favorite.
- Pineapple Cubes. These pineapple cubes are reminiscent of Professor Slughorn’s crystallized pineapple, but I didn’t love them. The candy was very hard and strongly artificially flavored. I’m not a huge fan of pineapple in general, though, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
- Butterbeer. I know this might ruffle some feathers, but butterbeer is a no-go for me. I know it’s the most popular drink in Universal, but everyone in my family found it cloyingly sweet, and we didn’t even finish the cup.
9. Go Down Knockturn Alley
Knockturn Alley is a really easy spot to miss since it’s in a dark and secluded spot of Diagon Alley. I myself actually missed it my first go around! However, if you look by the Leaky Cauldron, you should see an arrow that leads you to this part of the park.
Knockturn Alley is probably the least crowded area in the entire Harry Potter area, but there’s a few things you should see. Definitely try all the spells, since there are a few cool ones hidden throughout the alley. I’d also go to Borgin and Burke’s, where you can buy some spooky merchandise and see the Vanishing Cabinet.
10. Go to the Hogwarts Castle Light Show
Every twenty minutes after dusk, Hogwarts will have a light show for the school houses. Complete with fireworks and a voiceover by the Sorting Hat, this was a really cool thing to see, especially if you’re waiting in line at Hagrid’s Motorbike!
Be sure to get into Hogsmeade early, though—Universal employees will close off parts of the street and it’ll get extremely crowded and hard to get a spot (something we found out the hard way).
And that’s it—my top ten favorite things to do in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! If you have any questions or comments about anything, let me know! What’s your favorite thing to do?
