Universal Studios and Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Introduction

During Christmas break, it was my goal to visit all of the amusement parks in Orlando, Florida. When I was planning my trip, I decided to leave the best two parks for the last day, and I am more than glad that I did. After a day in both parks, I have to say that Universal studios Florida and Wizarding World of Harry Potter definitely deserve a spot among top three amusement parks that I have ever visited. I was there five days ago and I am still super excited whenever I think of my visit to the park. And, to be honest, I am already planning my next visit there!

And just a piece of advice - do not confuse Hollywood Studios Orlando and Universal Orlando - those are two entirely different theme parks! After all, you do not want to book a ticket to the wrong park, do you? I visited both parks and I loved both of them, so if you asked me which one I would recommend more, I would have to say both. If you love more thrilling rides, then I would suggest you go to Universal Orlando, but Hollywood studios Orlando has some iconic rides, such as the infamous Tower of Terror, that should definitely not be left out.

How to get there and when to go?

Universal Studios Florida and Wizarding World of Harry Potter are situated in Orlando, Florida, close to two major airports. It is easy to get to both parks, because there will be big signs, pointing you into the right direction, ever since you will leave the airport.

Well, when I said it is easy to get to the park, I meant easy in terms of not getting lost. Expect big crowds and traffic jams basically any day you decide to visit the park. So the best thing you can do is plan to get to the park at least one hour before the park opens. Sometimes, they will let you in a few minutes earlier than the official opening time!

You have several options on how to get to the two parks. Basically any hotel in the area offers shuttles (and most of them are free! ) to the parks, so you do not have to worry about finding your car and stressing about the traffic jams on the way back home. But the most effective way is still driving - you decide when you want to go there and leave and you are not dependent on someone else’s schedule. All you need to do is leave for the park early enough so you do not get stuck in the traffic jam.

Unlike Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and Wizarding World of Harry Potter have their own parking lot, so you do not need to take any shuttles to get to the park. If you are driving there, you, of course, have to pay for parking, which costs twenty dollars per day, or forty dollars, in case you decide to upgrade to preferred parking. When me and my friends were there, we did not upgrade to preferred parking, and we were still able to get out of the parking lot relatively fast after the park has closed.

Admission

Admission price depends on the day of the year. On less busy days, expect to pay around one hundred dollars for a day in both parks. On New Year’s day, me and my friends paid 180 dollars. That is an awful lot of money, but our reasoning to still buy that ticket was that you get to visit two parks, and the parks will most likely not be very crowded because, well, everybody is hungover on new year’s day.

When you get to the entry gate, simply scan your ticket, and do not be surprised, you will have to also scan your fingerprint!

Transport between the two parks

Even though they are usually advertised together, Universal Studios Florida and Wizarding World of Harry Potter are actually two different theme parks. And they are connected by the Hogwarts express! You can take the Hogwarts express back and forth as many times as you want, and this is the only way to travel between the two parks. And it gets even more complicated - there is a part of Universal Studios Florida and a part of Wizarding World of Harry Potter on one side of the park, and the second part of both parks is situated where Hogwarts Express will take you. But I will tell you more about the layout of both parks in the upcoming chapters.

Riding on that train is an amazing experience, even if you are not a Harry Potter fan. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you might pass out because of the excitement, because every single thing in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter world looks like it came straight out of one of the movies.

You board the train in the King’s Cross station, which is a replica of that same station in London, it is just much smaller. And everything feels very authentic. When you are walking through the station, there is a voice on the loudspeaker (with a British accent, of course! ) calling train departures to different cities in Great Britain.

Once you reach the platform 9 and 3/4 (Harry Potter fans know what I am talking about), there is a cool thing to do. You will step through a projector of some sort, and to the person behind you, it will actually seem like you just walked through that wall (again, Harry Potter fans know the story).

The Hogwarts Express train actually looks like the one in the Harry Potter movies, and as a crazy Harry Potter fan, I almost cried of joy when I saw it. Well, I almost cried multiple times through the day, simply because everything looks so authentic. The only thing missing were Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Hogwarts Express is definitely not your average train ride. Instead of regular windows, there are screens that will play a movie, making it look like you are actually travelling towards Hogwarts. And several characters from Harry Potter movies will appear, including Harry, Ron and Hermione, looking for a place to sit, the trolley witch with the infamous chocolate frogs, and, of course, the dementors. You will also see Hagrid on his flying motorcycle at some point.

The final station for the Hogwarts express is in Hogsmeade, and as soon as you exit the station, you will see the Hogwarts castle in all its might. And yes, you guessed it, this was the place where I again almost cried of joy.

If you have seen the Harry Potter movie, you will recognize this area.

Things to do

There are just so many things to do in both parks that it seems impossible to do them all in one day. But it is possible, although you will be terribly exhausted at the end of the day. I will start describing the parts of both parks, starting at the main entrance. And I will not be describing all the rides, just the ones I have been on and I liked. And first of all, I will, of course, tell you about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Kings cross station is where you take the Hogwarts express train to the other side of the park. I already described it in one of the previous chapters, so I will not do it again in this chapter.

The fire - breathing dragon is situated on the top of a tall building and it is probably the coolest spot for a picture inside both parks! The dragon itself looks amazing, and to make it even better, it actually breathes fire from time to time. Since I really wanted to see it, I asked an employee how often the fire starts, and she told me that it goes off randomly, but in general, it happens every twenty minutes or so. I was lucky because I was able to see the fire after only five minutes of waiting.

The view of the fire - breathing dragon on this street is just spectacular.

The Knight Bus

There it is, and it even has the infamous shrunken head in the front. You can even meet the conductor and take a picture with him! The best part - he has a British accent! And he is cute. Do not judge me, I am a girl!

This is the 'London' area of the Harry Potter world, where you will also find the night bus.

Diagon Alley

It is a cool street to explore, with all the shops you would find in the Harry Potter movie. It is a cool place for a stroll after surviving the Harry Potter and the escape from Gringotts ride.

Knockturn Alley

It is another cool place to explore, but much darker than the Knockturn Alley. This street is built indoor, and it is really dark and hard to see, so watch your step. It even has a gift shop with rather creepy souvenirs.

Harry Potter and the escape from Gringotts

This was the first ride I went on, and I loved it. The ride is an indoor roller coaster, and you get 3D glasses. Why? Because, other than being an indoor roller coaster, the ride will also display parts of the movie, and it will feel like you are actually inside the Gringotts bank. The bad park of having the 3D glasses is how real everything looks, including the snake, jumping at you, or Voldemort, casting a spell at you. And this is not a regular roller coaster, it will also spin you around, so this ride is definitely not suitable for people with motion sickness.

Weasley brothers store

This is a place you definitely should not miss. When I watched Harry Potter movies for the first time, I wished that the funky store the Weasley brothers Fred and George opened, was actually real. And my wish was granted, because the store exists in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Well, I guess magic is real after all. Inside the store, you can, other than stuffed animals, key chains and shirts, also find sweets from the movie, such as the puking pastille or the nosebleed nougat. Well, the will not actually make your nose bleed or make you vomit, but they sure do taste good.

And now for the Universal part of this part of the park. (Can I make a more complicated sentence? I do not think so. )

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit

On the left side of the park entrance, you will notice a pretty cool roller coaster that goes straight up. And by straight up I mean at a ninety degree angle. But do not worry, the ride is not as scary as it sounds. In fact, I only got that butterfly feeling in my stomach once during the ride. Do not get me wrong, this is not a bad ride, but if you have been on many roller coasters before, you might find this one a little bit underwhelming. The ride is called Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit and I must say that this is one of the smoothest roller coasters I have been on, and the best part is that you can choose a song that will play during your ride. There is a small touch screen on your restraint, and a speaker next to your ear, and once you pick the song, you are ready to rock. And the second best part, you are recorded during the ride, so you can actually buy a video at the end!

Yes, you will go straight up! Good thing is that the drop down is not so steep.

Shrek 4D

This is a typical 4D movie theatre experience. They do not play an actual Shrek movie, but a fifteen minute long one. When me and my friends did it, the movie was out of focus, so instead of a 3D experience, we were seeing double all the time. But the movie was pretty funny.

Minion Mayhem

It is a great ride for the Despicable me fans. When I was there, this ride had one of the longest waits in the park - over an hour, comparing to other rides (even roller coasters) that had a ten minute wait at the most. So me and my friends thought that the ride must be good since the wait is so long, and we were right. This is a 3D ride and it is actually super entertaining. And a little thrilling.

This is the entrance into the Minion Mayhem building.

Transformers

is another 3D ride. Yes, there are many 3D and 4D rides in the park. So if you suffer from motion sickness, this might not be the park for you. The transformers ride is fun, but not as fun as the Minion Mayhem. It does have shorter wait times, though, so if you would like to shorten the wait, you might as well do the Transformers ride. Well, unless you love minions as much as I do.

Jimmy Fallon’s race through New York

Another fun 3D ride, which is the newest addition to the park. I loved the visuals, and it actually feels like you are in New York. The point of the ride is that the audience is ‘competing’ against Jimmy Fallon on a race through the New York City, and, spoiler alert, the audience always wins. Yay!

The revenge of the mummy

If you loved the Mummy movies as a kid as much as I did, then you will love this ride that I am about to describe. It is based on the Mummy movies, and it is basically an indoor roller coaster with a lot of fire and special effects. And a few jump scares.

Men in Black: The alien attack

Then, there is the ride. It is basically a shooting game, where you shoot aliens with a laser gun. But is also feels like a roller coaster, because it has a few spins and drops. You can see that this ride is older - the aliens look beat up, and the seats are not the most comfortable either, but in general, the building and the ride both look pretty futuristic. The funny part of the ride is that there is a red button on the control panel, and the voice at the beginning of the ride tells you not to push that button under any circumstances. So of course I had to push it several times during the ride, and nothing happened. At least not until the very last part of the ride. When I pushed the button there, the car was sent into a crazy spin that made me dizzy, and it only happened if you pushed that button.

The Simpsons area

Then, there is a part of the park, dedicated to The Simpsons cartoon, and it is called Springfield. And there are three cool things in this part of the park. The first one is (but you have to be twenty one years old or older) a brewery that serves the Duff beer. Well, I tried it and it tastes like a regular beer. The second thing is a bakery with giant pink donuts. Please do not attempt to finish a whole donut by yourself - they are enormous. Me and my five friends barely finished one! And the third thing is a cool simulator ride, which is based around a theme park in Springfield. The ride goes horribly wrong and it will destroy (well, virtually destroy) most of the Springfield, and it is super fun.

Other places

And those are all the rides in the first part of both parks that I have visited. As you can see, there are quite a few, and I did not even do all of them - there is more. At this point, I will virtually ride the Hogwarts Express train to the other part of both parks and tell you more about it.

Like I already mentioned, the train station on the other end of the park is in Hogsmeade. Once you exit the station, you will notice (fake) snow covered roofs, which are the Hogsmeade shops. The coolest one of them is the Olivander wand shop. When you enter (there will always be a group af about twenty people), the owner of the shop Olivander will randomly pick two people from the audience to test out wands. The show is pretty funny, and after it is done, you can buy a wand (or two) for yourself. There are different kinds of wands, regular wands and the interactive wands. The interactive wands cost almost eighty dollars, but they have a special power, which I will describe at the end of this chapter. There is also a gift shop that sells other souvenirs than wands inside the Olivander’s store.

On the right side of the Olivander wand shop, you will see Hagrid’s cottage. You cannot go inside and it is only there for the decoration, but it is a great place to take a picture. Next to it, there is a (small) roller coaster, called The Flight of the Hipogriff, and it is targeted towards little kids, but it is a fun ride even if you are an adult. Well, you might have some trouble fitting into the seat if you are tall, but as a short person, I had no problems with that.

And the best part of this part of the park - the Hogwarts castle. Not only the Hogwarts castle is visually breathtaking, it is also a home of the best ride in this part of the park, called Harry Potter and the forbidden journey. You will be seated and strapped into seats, situated at the end of a big metal arm, which will move you around in all directions. This ride is basically a tour of Hogwarts with Harry, Ron and Hermione on a broom and it is actually pretty thrilling.

What about the Universal part of this part of the park? (Complicated sentence again, I know. ) The part where most of the thrill rides are situated, is called Marvel Superhero Island. And the best ride there is called Incredible Hulk. This ride is hard to miss - it is a bright green roller coaster, and it feels awesome! It has a lot of loops, steep drops and you will feel butterflies in your stomach almost all the time during the ride.

Right next to the Incredible Hulk, there is a spinning ride, called the Accelatron. It looks pretty innocent from the distance, but after riding it, I was not able to walk in a straight line for a while.

Then, there is another indoor simulator ride, called the The Amazing Adventures Of Spiderman. You will get 3D glasses and jump and fly with Spiderman through the city. It sounds pretty thrilling, but I did not really like this ride.

Then, there is Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. This is a reverse drop tower, or, as some people call it, the space shot, meaning it will shoot you straight up, you will free fall, and be shot up again. I love this kind of rides more than regular drop towers, simply because you do not have to suffer on the way up. Also, from this ride, you will have the best views of both parks.

If you would like to experience what they call the world’s largest 3D ride, you should run to the ride, called Skull Island: The reign of Kong. This is definitely the best 3D ride in the park, simply because it is so well made that you believe you are actually a part of the action, even if it is unlikely that you will ever encounter a fight between a giant gorilla and a T - rex in real life.

The Jurassic World part of the park is also pretty cool, even though it is targeted towards younger audience. The best ride is definitely the Jurassic Park river adventure. And since this is Florida, all water rides are open throughout the year. You will not get soaking wet, but expect some drops of water on you.

The last part of the park is meant for walking around, and the theming is The Lost Continent. There are cool shops and buildings, and a funniest thing in the park - The Mystic Fountain. This looks like a regular fountain, but if you talk to it, it will talk back, and it is hilarious. It reminded me of the Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant.

And a bonus - in the kiddie area of the park, there is a ride, called The cat in the hat. I am sure you know that book by Dr. Seuss, and this ride is based on a book. It is disturbing, creepy and awesome. Well, if you are a kid, you might have nightmares. But do yourself a favour and try out this ride. You can thank me later.

The coolest thing in both parts of Wizarding World of Harry Potter are definitely the interactive wands and things you can do with them. Almost every store display will allow you to do something with the interactive wand. You will notice a bronze sign on the floor, showing you where to point your wand and what movement should you do with it. If you do it the right way, something in the display will happen, such as the curtains will open or close, something will fall over and so on. It feels amazing when you hold the wand and something actually happens!

Must - try foods

Universal Orlando has quite a few restaurants with typical theme park food. The food is pretty good for a theme park, and it is not too overpriced, but the drinks are. I mean, five dollars for a bottle of water?

The park with a ton of foods to try is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Luckily, I visited the park with my friends, so we could try a lot of things by sharing them all. If you go to the park by yourself, it is hard to try everything, because you will not be able to eat all the portions by yourself. So here are the foods that we loved:

• First thing to try is, of course, the butterbeer. It will cost you around eight dollars, and you have three options - to drink it cold, warm or frozen. The cold version was our favourite, because it had this vanilla layer on top and it was delicious. It is terribly sweet, but in a good way. If you are not a Harry Potter fan - butterbeer in not an actual beer, it is a cream soda, so you will not get drunk!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is filled with butterbeer stands. You can also get butterbeer at any restaurant on the premises.

• The pumpkin juice is another must - try drink in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This is not an actual pumpkin juice, but two fruit juices, blended together. Just like the butterbeer, pumpkin juice is incredibly sweet, and you might want to consider ordering some water with it, because it will make you thirsty.
• Butterbeer ice cream. Please try it, even if you already tried the butterbeer drink. Butterbeer ice cream tastes like butterbeer drink, but at the same time, it does not. It is sweet and it has a butterbeer drizzle on top. And it is definitely worth six dollars.
• Butterbeer fudge. Best fudge ever. Period. It is not as sweet as butterbeer, but it still has that distinct butterbeer taste that I love. And just like the butterbeer ice cream, the butterbeer fudge is totally worth five dollars for that small cube.
• Pumpkin cake. A piece of cake with pumpkin icing on top, which is, by the way, delicious. The cake itself does not really taste like pumpkin, but if you it the cake and the icing together, the flavour is just perfect. The icing is also just too sweet to eat it by itself.
• Cauldron cake is also delicious. It basically consists of a ton of icing on top and chocolate dough on the bottom. If I could pick just one sweet thing to eat for the rest of my life, I would definitely pick a cauldron cake. Enough said. And, as a bonus, the cauldron cake comes in a ribber cauldron mold, which you can keep and use for making your own cauldron cakes at home. It even comes with instructions!

A few tips for surviving the day

Plan your visit in advance. If you know what rides you would like to ride, you can plan your visit and know where to go before you even get to the park. Because there is nothing worse than wasting time by riding Hogwarts Express to the other park of both parks, just to realize that you forgot about a ride at the other part.

Buy a ticket online. It will be much much cheaper than buying it at the gate. Well, even if you buy a ticket online, it will be expensive, comparing to most other amusement parks, but by buying a ticket online, you will save about forty dollars!

If you can, visit both parks during the week, possibly on a rainy day. The lines will be short, and they will not shut down the roller coasters if it rains, like most other parks do (looking at you, Cedar Point! ). The experience on a rainy day will be more unpleasant because you will get wet, but this way, you will avoid the crowds.

If you can, use the single rider lane. Even if the regular line for the ride has, for example, half an hour wait, the single rider lane wait will not be longer than five minutes. It can be inconvenient if you are there with friends, but if you stay together in the single rider lane, you will get to ride one after each other and not wait for everyone for too long. Sometimes, the ride operators will even put more than one person from the single rider lane on the same train.

Prepare to empty your pockets. And you are not allowed to bring money belts on roller coasters. This is the first time I heard of this, and you have to actually go through a body scanner before going on a ride. So please remember if you have anything in your pockets, you will have to take it back to the locker and wait in line again. You have been warned.

I, of course, had to bring the money belt back to the locker, but fortunately, I did not lose much time, because the wait for that ride was only five minutes, but just imagine waiting in line for an hour, having to go back to the locker, and then waiting again. Lockers are provided for free for up to an hour, and you will use your fingerprint to lock and unlock it. I was a little worried about that approach, but it worked out just fine.

Use the park’s mobile app. It will allow you to check wait times for all the rides, it has a virtual map, you can check restaurant menus and even order food in advance so when you get to a restaurant, you can simply pick it up without waiting in line.

A short conclusion

I love amusement parks, and I always enjoy visiting new ones. But I also love returning to the amusement parks I loved, and I must say that I will return to the Universal Studios Florida and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter many times in the near future. Despite the crowds, both parks are just amazing, and yes, all the rides are worth waiting in line for.