The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is apart of 2 parks: Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure. Diagon Alley is in Universal Studios, and Hogsmeade is in Islands of Adventure. The Hogwarts Express takes passengers with park-to-park passes between the 2 parks. We stayed at a cute condo that a family friend lent us, and my best friend's dad rented a van for us to get around. We started our adventure off by doing a few things in Universal Studios before entering Diagon Alley through a brick wall in the back of the Leaky Cauldron restaurant. You tap your wand on the wall, and as long as you are magical, the bricks will all separate and allow you to pass. No muggles allowed!
Once in Diagon Alley, there are a ton of things to do, as well as side streets to visit, including Knockturn Alley. There are shops, restaurants, street kiosks with snacks, etc. At the entrance of Diagon Alley, you'll find the magical side of the Leaky Cauldron restaurant on one side of the alley, and on the other side, you'll find Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, where you can purchase love potions and chocolate frogs, complete with a famous witch/wizard card. Mine was Helga Hufflepuff. Walk a bit farther, and you'll find Ollivander's, where you can purchase a wand, if you don't have one already. You can also go to the back of the store, and one lucky witch or wizard will be chosen to step up to the counter, where a wand will choose you. If you are not chosen for this, then you will have to choose your own wand in the store. Unfortunately, I was not chosen, but I chose a beautiful wand that matches my personality. You can choose your own wand, or you can buy a famous witch or wizard's wand. For instance, for sale were wands that belong to Harry, Hermione, Ron, Voldemort, Draco, Professor Snape (May Alan Rickman rest in peace,) Professor Dumbledore (May Richard Harris rest in peace,) etc. If you buy an interactive wand, you can use it anywhere in either Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade to cast spells. My first spell was "Lumos Maxima," by which I turned the lights on in a building! I also levitated a feather, flushed a toilet, opened a giant chocolate frog box, and made fireworks go off.
Walk a little farther, and you'll find Knockturn Alley to the left, where you can enter Borgin & Burke's, shop for horcruxes of your own, & listen to a bird tweeting inside the Vanishing Cabinet. Farther down, at the end of the alley, you'll find Gringott's Bank, the safest place to keep your hard-earned gallions. But they seem to be having a bit of trouble right now, as there is a fire-breathing dragon at the top of the bank! It seems to like to stay in one spot and breathe fire every 30 minutes or so. There is a fun ride inside the bank, so make sure to check that out. You get to walk through the bank on the way to the ride, gasping at all of the goblins doing their work quietly in gorgeous rooms lit with fancy chandeliers. Once on the ride, you ride through the bank and thwart Voldemort's plans, while he tries to steal something very precious from the bank.
There are treats and snacks on the streets, including delicious Butterbeer (non-alcoholic.) Try the frozen version. It's outstanding! Also for sale are pumpkin juice and Gilly Water, and you can buy a an elixir to sweeten up your water. The restaurants aren't too shabby, and they really do have British food, such as Banger's & Mash, which my best friend Gaby & I shared.
Make sure to ride the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade, and go early enough before Diagon Alley closes that you won't have to wait 90 minutes to ride the train. The train is one of the neatest rides at the parks. Once at Hogsmeade, you will find more shops & restaurants, as well as street kiosks. That Butterbeer is readily available everywhere. (Thank goodness!) Honeydukes is on the left at the entrance to Hogsmeade, so if you have a sweet tooth, check out the candy, fudge, & other desserts. Keep moving forward, and you'll see the Three Broomsticks on the left. They have decent food, a bar, & Butterbeer, of course! Keep moving forward, and the owlry is on the right if you'd like to send your family back home an owl. I sent my boyfriend a howler! I got to record my voice yelling at him and everything! Farther down the road, on the right, is the entrance to the Tri-Wizard Tournament, where you get to pick a dragon and become a Tri-Wizard champion.
Throughout the entirety of Hogsmeade, you will find decorations, props, and displays, and some of them are interactive. For instance, in the Honeydukes window, you'll see Chess pieces playing a game of Wizard's Chess. And in the window of another shop down the way, you'll see a box of Quidditch balls, in which the bludgers shake wildly! In other windows and shops, you will find props like Hermione's dress to the Yule Ball, the Monster Book of Monsters (sleeping, thank goodness,) & a Quidditch uniform.There is so much to see!
At the end of Hogsmeade, you will come to Hogwarts Castle, where you can fly through parts of the castle, the Quidditch Field, & the Dark Forest. On the way to take off, you find your way through the castle and get to see the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Fat Lady singing, & Professor Dumbledore's office. In the gift shop of the castle, you can buy the Sorting Hat, the Tri-Wizard Golden Egg, the cursed Opal Necklace, & the Sword of Gryffindor. You can find everything in the magical world that you could ever need or want in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley!
Since we were there for Halloween, we spent one night at Halloween Horror Nights, which is all about the Jack Show and the haunted houses. We only got to see 2 haunted houses, because we were so tired from our daytime adventures, but they were the most legitimate haunted houses I've ever been in! It makes sense, because Universal Studios has the best film producers working there. They make the magic happen in movies, so of course, they do the same with haunted houses in person. In addition to all of this, there are creepy decorations, music, and scary characters creeping around every corner, and if you want to get really scared and chased around with a chain saw, make your way to the "Scare Zones."
As far as Harry Potter World goes, we were at the park at the perfect time of year, because it was down time after the insane summer season, so there were not near as many people there as there are during the warm months. That, coupled with the fact that we rode in the single rider lines, we got to go straight through the lines and ride the rides multiple times back-to-back without taking hours out of our days. However, the lines for the haunted houses at Haunted Horror Nights were pretty bad. A couple of them weren't too terrible - 20-30 minutes or so, but the first one we went through took up all of our time, as the line was a good 1.5 hours long. If you decide to go to Haunted Horror Nights, make sure you have been sitting around on your butt all day, so your feet don't already hurt before you get in those long lines. We had been walking around Harry Potter World all day before standing in the haunted house lines at night, and that killed my feet to a point where it was hard to enjoy the night. (It was still a great experience and totally worth it, though.)
If you decide to visit other parts of the parks, I'd suggest spending more time in Islands of Adventure, where you'll find tons of different mini-parks, including but not limited to, Jurassic Park, Seuss Land, & Marvel Super Hero Island (where the famous Hulk roller coaster is!) The CityWalk is at the entrance of the Islands of Adventures & Universal Studios parks. That's where you can find tons of great restaurants and bars if you want to do grown up things after the day is over, but if you use your days well, you will be too tired for that.
We got to eat at the Hard Rock Café at the entrance of the parks, which is always a good choice, but I regret that we didn't get to eat at Bubba Gump's, which is in the CityWalk. However, we did get some awesome seafood and drinks at Joe's Crab Shack, which is about 15-20 minutes from the parks. This was a quick weekend trip, but it was awesome (and expensive!)
Diagon Alley.
Me doing magic!
The Hogwarts Express.
Hogsmeade.
Hogwarts Castle!
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