For all you Potter-Heads out there, if you take a trip to Orlando, you will not be disappointed. For once you arrive, you will enter into the world of Muggle-Borns, Witches and Wizards, Delicious treats, Daring Adventures and Amazing Friendships.
Disney World is labeled "The Happiest Place On Earth," but if you are a Harry Potter fan, you have a great argument against that statement. Disney World is still an amazing place to go visit and go experience, but once you enter Harry Potter World, whether it be walking through Platform 9 & 3/4 or entering Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, your whole surroundings become pure magic.
Just walking into the atmosphere makes you feel like you have been transported into the books/films themselves. You see everything just like how it is in the films and just how you imagined them to be in the books.
You are able to walk into the Three Broomsticks with your friends or family and order a butter beer just like Ron, Hermione and Harry get to. You walk around Diagon Alley and purchase a wand from Ollivander's, house robes and everything else you need to survive at Hogwarts. It is the type of place that makes you feel welcome. It reels you in and you are 100% okay with that.
Walking around you get to see all the major attractions, like the Castle, Gringott's Bank, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, Honeydukes Candy Store and much more.
Another cool thing is Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley are split into two parts of Harry Potter World. Hogsmeade is in Islands Of Adventure and then Diagon Alley is in Universal. They way that you can transport yourself from in between the two Harry Potter parks without having to walk out of the park and into the other is with the Hogwarts Express. You have to get to it by walking through the platforms between 9 and 10, then you wait in line and get ready for the experience of a lifetime. While you are riding in your own cabin, Harry, Hermione, Ron, The Trolley Witch pushing the Honeydukes Express, Dementors, Hagrid and a few more characters talk to each other about different situations. You get to see how they interact just like they are there talking to you.
There are two main rides in both parts of Harry Potter World. One in the Castle ride which is in Hogsmeade and on that ride you get to walk through the castle, talk to the talking paintings, walk past all of the classrooms, see Dumbledore's office and finally make your way to the ride. While you're on the ride you get to fly and play Quidditch with Harry and Ginny, get into mischief and win the House Cup! You move around a lot during the ride. The seat lifts you up, spins you around. It is a very fun and interactive ride.
The next ride is the Gringott's ride in Diagon Alley. When you walk up to it, you enter through the "front door" of the bank and on top of the bank is the Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon. About every 10-15 minutes, the dragon breathes fire too, so it is very cool to watch! Anyway's you go inside the bank, walk past goblins, go down a flight of stairs and enter a hallway where you can get your picture taken or just wait in line. Then when you get up to the front you go into an elevator that brings you down to all the volts. There you see Bill Weasley interact with goblins and show you the volts. During the ride, it is the same as the Castle ride where it moves you all around and it is very interactive.
More about what you get to see and or do inside Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley:
In Hogsmeade you get to see all of the other shops besides Honeydukes. You get to see a performance from the ladies of The Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and from the men of the Durmstrang Institute. Three Broomsticks in then a great place to stop by for a butter beer and some grub.
In Diagon Alley you get to walk down Knockturn Alley and you get to see Borgin And Burkes. The vanishing cabinet is in the store as well as the wanted posters for different Death Eaters and other knick knacks. You get to eat in The Leaky Cauldron, get ice cream at Florean Fortescue, take a picture with Hagrid's motorcycle and even with a mermaid from the Black Lake.
Outside of Diagon Alley before you enter in there are a few clues that let you believe you are about to enter Harry Potter World. You walk past a sign that says King's Cross Station with a normal Muggle Telephone Booth outside of it. Then you have the Night Bus that Stan Shunpike works on and there is even Headquarters. Kreacher is standing in the window of the apartment with it being a different color to show that it is Headquarters and not a Muggle's apartment.
So pretty much this place is filled with so much magic and happiness that even if you are not a Harry Potter fan you will absolutely love it. There is so many things to do and see that will just blow your mind. I myself cried when I entered into this beautiful place and I know the next time I go I will be sure to get lost in the magic and probably cry again.
