The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

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The scoop Universal Studios’ new Wizarding World of Harry Potter

By Teresa Pitman

If you have a Harry Potter fan in your home, you’ve probably already heard about Universal Studios’ new Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWoHP) addition to the Orlando theme park.  I was able to head down to Orlando just a week after the opening in mid-June, 2010, and here’s the scoop:

What to expect

WWoHP is part of the Islands of Adventure theme park, and consists of three rides. Two of these, The Dragon Challenge and the Flight of the Hippogriff, are actually pre-existing rides that were “re-themed” to fit the Harry Potter story. The third ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, takes you into Hogwarts. The other newly created part of the “World” is the village of Hogsmeade.

As you approach, you can see the snow-topped roofs of the Hogsmeade buildings and the Hogwarts castle sitting up above it all. It’s a sight guaranteed to send chills down the spine of all Harry Potter fans, and very true to the setting in the movies. You’ll see the Hogswart Express train on your right as you walk into Hogsmeade village where the street is lined with stores with familiar names. Not all the stores are real, but even those that are just facades are worth looking into (in the window of the “music store,” for example, you can see a flurry of sheet music swirling around the store every few minutes.)

But you’ll want to check out Zonko’s Joke Shop for magic tricks, and Honeydukes where you can buy Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans and other treats well-known to Potter fans. The stores are all fairly small and were very crowded.

Every wizard needs a wand, but at Ollivanders, the wand chooses you. Here’s how it works: the next 30 people from the line-up are allowed into the store, and Ollivander himself selects one person from the group to be chosen by a wand. There’s a little ceremony where the person is measured and given a want to try out. The first couple of wands don’t work properly when the person attempts to cast a spell (with comical results), but when the right wand is handed over, music blares and a breeze from nowhere blows the person’s hair around. It’s very magical. Then the entire group is ushered into the main wand shop where they can purchase their own wands.  (You might want to prepare your child for this if he’s interested in buying a wand; some children were quite disappointed to find that only one in the entire group gets the “chosen-by-a-wand experience.”)

The Three Broomsticks Inn, with a large Butterbeer cart outside, is also in the village. Not only is the food pretty good, but the setting looks very authentic, with shadows of owls fluttering overhead. Speaking of owls – you can mail a letter at the Owl Post (postcards and stationery are also for sale) and it will be stamped with a Hogsmeade postmark.

The rides

Ready to ride? The only ride for younger children (must be at least 36” tall) is Flight of the Hippogriff, a small roller-coaster that’s had some fun Harry Potter additions. The Dragon Challenge (must be at least 54” tall) is a fairly intense experience, with two separate coasters, each designed to look like a dragon, that approach and cross each other (and go upside down).

The new ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, is both intense and very well done. Riders must be at least 48” tall (and there have been some problems with larger-sized adults fitting into the seat – do try the sample seat outside the ride if you are in doubt).  One of the best parts of the ride is the queue, which takes you through Hogwarts castle. You’ll walk past paintings that move and speak to you and go into Dumbledore’s office, where you’re told you’ll be attending a three-hour lecture on the history of Hogwarts. Fortunately, Harry, Hermione and Ron sneak in under the invisibility cloak and take you instead on an adventure. (If you’d rather not ride, here’s where you can exit.)

The ride itself is bouncy and scary in places (especially if, like me, you have a phobia about spiders – or Dementors.) I think it would be too intense for many children. These kids may be happy just to do the pre-ride walk-through.

There’s a lot to see, but this is just a small section of a bigger park, so you’ll have time to check out the rest of the Islands of Adventure as well. Waits are currently very long but should improve over time. One more tip – bring lots of money (or plenty of willpower). Harry Potter enthusiasts are going to be eager to purchase many of the unique souvenirs and they tend to be quite pricey (the wands, for example, are about $30 Cdn.)