A few days ago I got to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. The reason I got to attend is because Warner Bros. Home Video was promoting the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 on Blu-ray and DVD, and they flew in reporters from all around the world to interview the cast and filmmakers. While I wasn’t sure what to expect, I was blown away by the attention to detail (credit goes to Harry Potter production designer Stuart Craig) and how walking through the park is like walking through the streets of Hogsmeade Village outside Hogwarts. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you will absolutely love it.
However, it’s very important to know one thing before you go: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is not an all day park. It’s merely one portion of Universal’s larger Island of Adventure theme park. In fact, if the lines are short, you could visit every store and go on all the rides in a few hours, though the lines are never short and you’ll want to spend a lot of time shopping in Ollivanders Wand Shop. I know I did. Hit the jump for more.
As I was saying, as long as you know what you’re getting before you go, it’s absolutely worth the money. Also, one of the things that really impressed me is Universal sells a lot of the merchandise for a fair price. Most of the candy at Honeydukes is $10, and you get a lot of it. In addition, the wands at Ollivanders are $29.99 and they’ve got almost every character in stock.
What Universal has done is make most of the items impulse buys, rather than big decisions. Since they’re only $30, almost every kid leaves with a wand, and almost every person stands in line to buy a Butterbeer. I drank a few. I strongly recommend the frozen kind.
As you enter the park, you can spot the people that are on their way out by their Wizarding World of Harry Potter bag filled with merchandise. If you could judge the economy by the people standing in line to spend money inside the park, America is in great shape.
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, I definitely recommend visiting the park. And make sure to bring a credit card.
Here’s a stand up I recorded in the park right after doing my interviews and further down are a ton of pictures. Finally, if you missed them, here’s my video interviews with director David Yates , Warwick Davis and James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley).
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In my opinion, simultaneously the best- and worst-designed theme park attraction ever. Best because, as Steve says, it’s like you were dropped into the middle of one of the movies. Worst, because in achieving that level of realism, they made almost no concessions to the enormous theme-park crowds that show up. Maneuvering through it on a busy day is virtually impossible. If you go on an off day, though, it’s truly wonderful.
You can blame that on Rowling and WB who demanded the shops remain small and “realistic.”
Excuse me but if it were not for Ms. Rowling we would not even have a Harry Potter nor a HP themed section of ANY park to revel in. I cannot wait to someday be able to see this in person. My son is dying to go but we live in CA. We are supposedly getting one of our own in Hollywood but not until 2015 or 16. Very sad it will be that long. Thank you so much for all the photographs–you just made a 9 yr old boy and a 30 some year old mother very happy. And yes I can see how going on an “off day” would be much more fun and practical. Thanks again.