The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-"Race Report"

My wife, 6yo son and I visited the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter last week as part of a visit to Universal Orlando. Here’s my race report, as it were:

First of all, the week before Labor Day Weekend is an amazing time to visit Orlando. Very sparse crowds, relatively speaking, which made for very short wait times on all of the rides. When and if we go back, we’ll be sure to go at the same time. The heat could have been a factor, but we got great weather—hot, for sure, but not oppressively humid or rainy.

I’m not a huge fanboy or anything, but I’ve read the books to my son a couple of times, so I’m pretty familiar with the stories. My wife and son are HUGE HP fans.

We got early admission to the park since we booked through Universal. This is a GREAT idea. There were about 300 or so people who also got into the park when it opened at 8am, but in a place as big as Universal Orlando, it’s hardly noticeable. We were able to ride the HP ride and visit Ollivander’s wand store both days (two of the most popular attractions) before the park even opened to the general public at 9am. I have pictures that I took of the main street of the HP section where it looks like the place is completely deserted.

The HP section of the park is spectacular. The attention to detail is amazing, and I never stopped noticing new things that I hadn’t seen before. Things in the shop windows move and change, and are likely to be doing something different each time you pass them.

The Wand Store is worth visiting, but I don’t know that it’s worth standing in line for an hour or more, since the show (a wand “chooses” a person that the wand-maker picks out of the audience) lasts only about 10 minutes. I have no idea if the person chosen is arbitrary. We went two times, and neither time did the wand maker choose a kid. Both times he chose a young (16-24) woman. We went at exactly the same time each day, so it made us wonder if there’s some kind of rotation in terms of who the wandmaker picks.

Rides: The Forbidden Journey is (and I’m not exaggerating) the most amazing ride of any kind I’ve ever been on, anywhere, ever. The technology is mind-blowing. It combines an actual moving seat, like a roller-coaster seat, with HD video so clear it looks like you’re in the scene, plus animatronic monsters and creatures, wind, heat, steam, and water effects, changes in temperature, 3-d sound, etc. There were maybe two places where, if you looked carefully, you could glimpse a wire or a lightbulb or something, but overall, it was a phenomenal ride. We went on it four times and every time, I saw something that I hadn’t noticed before. The line to get on the ride winds you through the castle, past many of the rooms and props from the books/movies. You can go through the castle tour without going on the ride, which we did once, just so we could take our time and see everything.

Ride of the Hippogriff: This is a small, tame rollercoaster mostly for kids. My son loved it. We probably went on it 20 times over the two days. Some good props and things to see there, too.
Dragon Challenge: This is the Double Dragon coaster that’s been re-branded with a TriWizard Tournament theme. It’s a good coaster and the line to and from the ride takes you through the Triwizard Champions tent, past the Goblet of Fire, and stuff.

Food/Drink/Etc: We had breakfast (which you have to reserve in advance) and lunch at the Three Broomsticks. The food was both good and reasonably priced by Theme Park standards. The three signature beverages, Pumpkin Juice (which is basically apple juice with pumpkin-pie puree and spices mixed in), Hogs head Ale (a Scottish-style ale that’s only available at the Hogs Head Pub) and Butterbeer were all really good. Butterbeer, which you can drink iced or frozen, is sort of caramel-flavored with a creamy butterscotch head. My wife found it a little too sweet, but my son and I liked it a lot. The frozen variety takes the edge of some of the sweetness. There is a somewhat hidden terrace area with picnic tables and umbrellas behind the three broomsticks which is a really nice place to hang out and take a breather. We sat back there for an hour or so, drinking beers and writing postcards, and just chilling out away from all the crowds.

Shops:
Lots of fun places to shop. Zonko’s Joke Shop and Honeydukes Candy Store were both fun. Honeydukes sells most of the candy mentioned in the books, as well as cauldron cakes and rock cakes. Zonko’s sells lots of tradional practical jokes, as well as a bunch of HP-themed ones like fanged flyers, screaming yo-yos, pigmy puffs, etc. There are a couple of other stores that sell all manner of HP merchandise from wands to clothes to broomsticks, mugs, plush toys, etc. The wand store is especially fun. You can buy any of the characters’ wands, as well as choose from a bunch of other wands that are exclusive to the store. My son and wife each got one. The presentation is really nice, although they’re a little pricey. As with all of the shops, there’s tons of cool stuff to look at (wall displays move or change, etc.) You can send postcards from the Owl Post Office and they will arrive at their destination with a Hogsmeade postmark.

I think the more familiar one is with the books/movies, the better able one is to appreciate the extraordinary level of detail in the place. There really is something remarkable to look at in every direction. But it’s still a lot of fun, even if you don’t know the stories or the characters. My best advice is to arrive early and make sure you spend some time just exploring the place. There really isn’t a square foot that hasn’t been thought through. In that sense, it’s an amazing place, even if you don’t care about HP. Make sure you look up, look all around. Explore the area, because there are parts that are off the beaten path a little that aren’t really advertised or indicated by signs that have cool stuff to look at.

I’ll try to post some pictures later.