By 
Thank God I went to Diagon Alley first.
It was the maiden voyage for The Hersey family. Walt Disney World veterans, we’ve traveled to Central Florida over thirty times and never stepped foot in a Universal theme park.
Finally, we made the decision to spend that extra money (as Disney Annual Pass holders, it’s tough to drop several thousand dollars on tickets when you can walk into WDW for “free) and book a 5-night stay at Universal Studios Florida.
It only seemed proper that we visit the original theme park on our first day: Universal Studios.
Fast forward to park open, we find ourselves behind a literal rope standing on Hollywood Boulevard. Directionally challenged, partly because there were no physical maps, we followed the crowd as they all seemed to head to Diagon Alley – the Harry Potter section of the theme park.
We did our best to try and take in the first moments in a Universal park, but there was no time to lollygag. We made it out of Hollywood and the crowd started to split. Hell, I’m not sure if followed a sign or took a lucky guess, but now we are in New York. We took a wrong turn and knew that would cost us 15-minutes of waiting in a line. Luckily, we were redirected by following the kids with robes.
And before you knew it…there was a brick wall with a nearly unnoticeable entrance.
It was much like the first time I turned the corner on Main Street USA to see that beautiful castle. We zig-zagged through the bricks and there it was…just like the movies. We were in freakin’ Diagon Alley.
Binge Watching the Harry Potter Movies
Let me first tell you that a month prior to this trip, I would have given a single damn about this land. Seriously, if you haven’t watched (and enjoyed) the Potter films, it’s just another themed land. Granted, it’s a highly immersive and wonderful themed land, but it’s no different than a themed DAK Africa or Epcot Italy. Lovely, but not much emotional attachment.
Why did I care this time around? I watched the movies. Actually, we watched the movies. The entire family. That matters.
I always told the kids we would go to Universal when they read the Potter books. They never did.
I finally caved and said we would go if they watched the movies. They never did.
I wanted to go to Universal, so I had to lay down the law. Mandatory Harry Potter movie night(s).
Okay – maybe it wasn’t that forced. After the first film, everyone was willing to give the second a try.
Oddly enough, the family ended up loving Dobby after the first few moments of movie #2. From that moment, we wanted to see how this ended.
In less than a week, we watched all of the films. We already had the Universal trip booked, but after the final moments of the last film, everyone’s excitement level went from a mild 5 to a Spinal Tap 11.
It was no longer just “Harry Potterland”.
It was freakin’ Diagon Alley.
Escape from Gringotts
Upon arrival, we were greeted by a fire breathing dragon perched on a bank. A slight difference than our usual castle – although the bank is a bit more symbolic based on the amount I would be spending on butterbeer this trip. More on butterbeer later.
We hurried to Gringotts only to find out the youngest did not want to partake in the adventure. We would try the ride out and let him know if it was up to “his standards” during our next trip. He and GoGo (muggle for grandma) went and parked the pram.
We finally slowed down. We had made it. The wait was estimated to be about 15-minutes.
As we walked through the bank, we saw the animatronic goblins. Of course, it would have been nice to queue up just for a few moments to take in the sights. Thankfully, later in the trip we would go hang out with our own personalized banker goblin.
The entire queue experience for the attraction was quite wonderful. When we did stop, we looked at the books and moving newspapers. Across the way, we would see shadows and voices walking past doors. Soon, we entered an office where we interacted with a goblin the eldest Weasley.
Again, we were in queue but there was enough motion and show elements to make us think the attraction had started. This was the same when one of the portraits started explaining how the elevator system worked. We loaded and not a single one of my kids (and wife) realized we weren’t actually going down. I avoided embarrassing my family and chose not to applaud at the end of this elevator ride – although those Imagineers (or whatever they are called at Universal) deserved a hand for that great bit illusion.
The last bit of the queue was highly themed and also a bit of a trek. We walked up some winding staircases, attempted to take some photos of the ceiling, and soon found ourselves on the attraction.
I avoid all POV videos prior to actually riding, so I had no idea what to expect. I just hoped there weren’t any sudden drops. There weren’t.
The ride looked like a coaster, but there weren’t any significant launches or drops. It was a motion-based vehicle, but positioned on a track like a rollercoaster. There were 3D projection and also practical effects. There were enough thrills to make it enjoyable and unpredictable. We would also “highly recommend” to our youngest and he would try later in the trip.
With my limited knowledge, I wasn’t sure if this was the “breakthrough technology” that I’ve always heard of using the KUKA Arm. It wasn’t. We would witness that later in the trip in a different “land”.
Ollivanders Wand Experience
I did research enough to know that I was going to drop some money on wands. Knowing that the Olivanders Wand Experience can get a nice wait, we grabbed the youngest and queued up. After a very short wait, we were taken into a small(ish) room with several other families. We had three children, so there was a good chance one of ours would be chosen for the wand ceremony. Not this time.
As an annoying tourist parent, I (of course) started filming the presentation upon arrival into the room. It’s funny to look around at the other parents doing the same. As soon as they realized their kids weren’t selected, all of the phones dropped and went back into the pockets. It was a simultaneous – “let’s get out of this room and go on with our day”.
To be honest, even if my kid was selected, it was a bit of a letdown. There were a few tricks, but nothing overly special. I think I would have been upset if I had to wait longer than 20-minutes for this.
We were escorted to the wand shop. I loved the vibe with wand boxes from floor to ceiling. Granted, I had no idea what was I supposed to be doing. Thankfully I wore that confusion on my face and we had a little help from the shopkeeper.
The children reviewed their options, reading from the cheat sheets listed on the wall. We ended up with three interactive wands – all hand selected by my newfound wizards.
Wand Activities
Listen, if it wasn’t 90+ degrees every day, there’s a good chance I would have trotted the kids over to a shop and purchased robes and scarves. Instead, we pulled out our maps and took a stab at some spells. Soon we realized that there were gold circles on the ground throughout the area with the motion and spell name. The maps were no longer needed for the rest of the trip.
As we struggled to cast our spells, a random helper would magically appear and help us with our movement. Seriously, she would come out of nowhere and often on opposite sides of the land. She was incredibly nice and also a pretty powerful wizard.
The spells were fun – but maybe a bit overrated. There were a lot of areas that were down. Our wizard friend had a fancy name – maybe a protection spell or something. Even the great Albus Dumbledore couldn’t get these effects working.
Maybe as an adult they were underwhelming, the kids enjoyed casting spells throughout the streets. For that reason, worth the money.
Shops – Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Gringotts Money Exchange, and Knockturn Alley
We entered nearly all of the shops, but a few stood out.
Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes
Fred and George were some of our favorites in the movies. Seeing the full-sized shop was one of those things that would have been totally missed if we didn’t watch the films. There were plenty of easter eggs in this shop, but most importantly, they sold chocolate frogs.
As I fan-boy’d with my daughter, another grown adult that likely never saw the movie, started to chuckle about the chocolate frog. I then had a pretty adult conversation about chocolate frogs and the cost was slightly more than I expected, but yet, I had to do it. Indeed, we bought a chocolate frog. It was rock solid and would soon be a hump of melted chocolate in a few hours. But we did get a pretty sweet card as a first in our collection.
Gringotts Money Exchange
I heard the tales that you could get wizarding money in exchange for our muggle money. This was even before I knew how much money I would be spending on Butterbeer (sorry, this is an ongoing theme). We made it in and found ourselves having a conversation with the goblin working the station. He was very matter of fact, but answered quite a few of our questions.
Knockturn Alley
Although not an official shop, this dark alley was off of the beaten path and we completely missed it the first two times visiting. There is a shop in Knockturn Alley called Borgin and Burkes and is quite impressive. Most of the time spent in the alley was trying to get one of the broken spells to work.
Air Conditioning Outside and Cover from Rain
This was mid-July in Orlando. It was brutal.
But for some reason, when we entered Diagon Alley, it seemed slightly cooler than the rest of the park. It’s possible that there was just more shade or maybe the shops blasted out air. Either way, we found this part of the park to be the most pleasant during the summer heat.
Even better, the one time it rained, we hurried back to Diagon Alley and found ourselves completely dry without ponchos or umbrellas. Across from the performance stage, the land is covered – with only a few gaps of opening. We didn’t want to wait out the rain and we actually jumped in Quality Quidditch Supplies and bought two Gryffindor umbrellas – that weren’t quite marked up as much as one would expect.
Shows
There are several shows that are performed in the street at Diagon Alley. We were passing as they performed “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”. We were seating and watched “Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees” from a distance. Meh.
Potions and Elixirs
Although the dragon on the top of Gringotts was highly impressive, he scared the living snot out of my seven-year-old. Each moment before the dragon would let out a huge puff of flame, Miles would run off into a corner and hide. I’m not sure how much of this was real, but luckily we stopped by Eternelle’s Elixar of Refreshment.
The kind woman working the stand helped Miles pick out an elixir that would take away his fear for the dragon. Mixed with some gillywater, we had ourselves a nice red punch. From that moment on, Miles was able to withstand the heat from the dragon.
The Leaky Cauldron
We made sure we mustered up an appetite and were ready to feast at The Leaky Cauldron. Much like the film, it was filled with flickering lanterns, stone walls, and low wooden beams. Unlike quick service dining at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, we didn’t have to wander around looking for seats with food trays in hand. You found a seat first and then ordered using a QR code.
The food was fine. I mean, it was very British. Most of us went with the classic Fish and Chips and were satisfied.
We also ordered a Butterbeer to wash it all down.
Butterbeer
I must admit – butterbeer had high expectations. Even before I found myself interested in Universal Studios, I’ve heard tales of Butterbeer. The name made it sound tasty, but I had no idea if it would live up to the hype.
Yes – butterbeer lived up to the hype. So much so that I ordered one each day, from nearly every location in the land. We even tried the frozen butterbeer – which was a favorite of my daughter.
We will never know if butterbeer just hit me at the right time and place. Mind you, it was extremely hot during the majority of our trip. The first butterbeer was before we purchased any refillable Coca-cola mugs. Going several hours on just a small swig of water, the first drink of this cream soda and butterscotch blend instantly cooled my entire body by several degrees. I will forever remember Butterbeer for that moment – creating a nostalgic moment that elevates the quality by a few points.
There were several times during this trip that I bounced back to Diagon Alley just for the butterbeer.
Lasting Impressions
As I mentioned at the top, I’m very happy that we went to Diagon Alley first.
We have high expectations. Disney has been engrained in me since I was a young kid. Even before I visited the parks, clips of Disney parks have rotated before movies and television shows. I feel like I have been going there my entire life. Over the last ten years, we’ve been in the most immersive lands, featuring characters we’ve grown up with. There are several tribal Disney-folk that tried to convince us that Universal was less-than and we wouldn’t like it.
If our first ride was Fast and Furious or Transformers, I probably would have agreed. There is nothing overly special about these lands or attractions. They are better than my local amusement park, but not quite Disney standards. My first impression and lasting impression would have likely been that Universal was fine – but not worth the same money as a Disney vacation.
Starting off with, what I dare say is, the best land in the park(s) made it clear that Universal has something going on. It was more than just an attraction or show. The environment was the attraction.
The Orlando theme parks are fighting tooth and nail for market share and reasons for visitors to spend money at their parks. Universal and Diagon Alley has secured a return visit from The Hersey family. It will be very difficult to make a trip central Florida without being tempted by Elixirs, Chocolate Frogs, and Butterbeer.
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