Many readers have expressed how much they “wish they could visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park!” It’s either too far, too expensive, or just not possible for one reason or another.
Fortunately, we’ve visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter enough times and taken video of almost everything at the Harry Potter park. Now, we’re creating this page, with all our videos from the park to create a virtual Harry Potter park vacation, just for you!
While it will never take the place of the real thing, hopefully, our videos and descriptions of the park will tide you over until you can make it or maintain the memories of a recent visit until you come, again.
Harry Potter Park Grand Opening
The grand opening celebrations for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter park went on for literally weeks! Soft openings, VIP events, and the official grand opening day consumed the park for the better part of a month. We were very fortunate to have attended many of the soft opening days, one of the VIP grand opening celebrations and the actual opening day. Here’s a couple videos of these very special Harry Potter park opening events.
Hogsmeade Village
Now that the Harry Potter park is open, we must take a general tour of the area. Universal and JK Rowling created Hogsmeade Village and Hogwarts Castle in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Although technically on Diagon Alley, some places still made it to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, including Ollivanders Wand Shop and Gringotts Bank. These are just general tours. The detail comes below. 🙂
Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes
Three Broomsticks is one of the better themed building interiors in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hogsmeade. They have lots of the standard fare including rotisserie chicken, fish and chips, and turkey legs, but also include some unique dishes like shepherd’s pie, cornish pasties, and ham soup. Of course, this is where you can get your Butterbeer and pumpkin juice, too!
Honeydukes is one of the famous attractions in Hogsmeade. It is a sweet shop famous for its chocolate and many wonderfully wild sweets. In the Harry Potter books, it also houses the entrance to a secret passageway to Hogwarts. Other than the technicolor paint job in this building, you’ll find Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, and Clippy’s Clip Joint Clippings, as well as many other Harry Potter favorites.
Moaning Myrtle
Don’t be surprised on your visit to the “public conveniences” in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park if you hear voices!
I was caught completely off-guard my first time in the restrooms in the Wizarding World when a girl’s voice started speaking to me from the ether. Come to find out, it was none other than Moaning Myrtle from the Harry Potter books and movies! She’s graced the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hogsmeade with her presence, but only in the main bathrooms — both the boys and the girls.
We shot a short video to give you some idea of what it’s like. Please note: we only filmed the floor, so no dirty stuff (get your minds out of the gutter!) and because they’re fully tiled bathrooms, the sound is a bit rough. We did the best we could to single out Myrtle’s voice, but it’s still a bit difficult to hear her clearly.
Dervish & Banges and Owl Post
Dervish & Banges is of course where Hogwarts students pick up their school supplies and other sundry things. Wands, Rememberalls, Sneakoscopes, your class robes, broomsticks, t-shirts, ball caps, and more can be found in Dervish & Banges or the Owl Post.
Although officially two separate shops, at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter the shops can be found in essentially the same location and you can meander through both while indoors. Recently enlarged, you’ll find that these shops are often very crowded and most of the items can be purchased in other areas of the Wizarding World and even in other parts of the Islands of Adventure theme park.
Ollivanders Wand Shop
Easily one of my favorite parts of the park and usually the longest line, also. Many guests have complained that the show is too short for such a long wait. You can watch the video and decide for yourself. For me, it’s so much more than just the show. It’s the theming of the building, the special effects, the “feel” of the whole show! The video shows the entire show, however, be aware that I had to add some music over the top and it conceals the show audio a bit. This was necessary due to Universal copyright rules.
Flight of the Hippogriff
Want to have the most spectacular view of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park? Ride the Flight of the Hippogriff! Right at the top of the first climb, you get an amazing view of the whole park! You’ll see it briefly in the video.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Ride
Easily the most popular attraction at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Harry Potter ride sends guests on a virtual broomstick ride with Harry, Hermione, and Ron throughout the grounds of Hogwarts and even onto the Quidditch field. You’ll see dragons, Hagrid, death eaters, and some of those nasty Slytherin characters, too.
The lighting on the ride is quite dim, so taking a decent video is nearly impossible. However, I have taken video of the queue line, as it winds it’s way through Hogwarts. For me, the line is almost as much fun as the ride with Dumbledore’s office, the sorting hat, and much more.
If you want a slight hint at what the Harry Potter ride is like, the original Super Bowl commercial gave away more of the ride’s content than I knew, at the time. Check it out for a glimpse at the ride.
So, that’s your virtual tour of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hogsmeade. What did you think? Ready to visit it for real?
