The Comprehensive Guide to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

--Welcome--

Welcome to Hogsmeade!  The Lost Continent ends, and then this lovely scenery picks up.

Here's the same sign at night; it's much prettier.  The top of the sigh reads 'Hogsmeade,' and the bottom says 'Please Respect the Spell Limits.'

Just inside and to the right of the gates to the village is the scarlet steam engine known as the Hogwarts Express.  Most of the time, the conductor is standing where I am.  He poses for photos and answers questions and hangs around in a wool suit in the sweltering heat and is charming all the while.  There is always a big crowd of people around when he's standing out there, so I never went up to talk to him.  However, I did run into him in the tunnel near the exit to the dragon roller coaster.  I dunno what he was doing in there, but we did have a lovely conversation about transfiguring squirrels (one of those little critters was running across the sidewalk at the time.  We're not completely mad.)

And another closer view... The chimney thing on top puffs out steam every few minutes, and something makes train noises.  It really sets the scene and gives visitors a huge sense of excitement.

--Views of the Village--

Here's the beautiful view of the village from just under the gate.  The Hogwarts Express is just to the right of this view (the cut off sign with the red border says 'Hogwarts Express').  This is a popular spot to stop and take a photo, as demonstrated by the hands and camera of the German man in the lower left corner.

A look at the high street.  These shops are mock-ups, unfortunately.  They are quite beautiful at night, though.  The windows light up and you can see the displays inside them.  The shop with the green sign on the right is Gladrag's Wizard Wear, the one in the center with the red sign is Scrivenshaft's, the one with the blue sign is Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, and the one on the end with the black sign is Potage's Cauldron Shop.  And Santa Claus was evidentially walking down the street as I was taking this photo.

This shop is right next door to the Three Broomsticks.  It's called Dogweed and Deathcap, and it's a mock-up of a magical plant/herbology shop.  There is a moving mimbulus mimbletonia in the right side window, and there is a display of mandrakes in the left window.  They start screaming every time someone walks by their window (which is pretty much constantly).

Here's Ollivander's.  I never went in; there's always this massive line wrapping around the building.  I did talk to one of the workers in another shop (I want to call them all 'cast members,' but that's Disney...) about how it works.  Evidently, thirty or so people can go into the shop at once.  Then, a ten-ish minute presentation starts.  One person (usually a young person, but not a person so small as to be incapable of participating) is chosen to be fitted for a wand.  He or she is asked questions and measured, then there is some sort of process of trying out wands until one produces the appropriate result.  Then all the people are ushered out of the shop and the next group comes in.  The door all of the people exit through pops them out into Dervish and Banges, so if you hang out in Dervish and Banges long enough, a very nondescript door opens and tons of people come pouring out.  If you position yourself just right, you can get a peek into Ollivander's.  I did this twice, and I got a view of a dimly lit room with dark walls, floor, and ceiling.  There are tons of shelves full wand boxes, which are deep red, purple, blue, green, and olive in color.  The wands in Ollivander's are from a collection called 'Ollivander's Originals.'  There are thirteen different wands, which are all different designs and correlate to dates on the Celtic calendar.  All the wands have 'stats' such as length, wood, and core (however, all wands are made of resin...go figure).  Additionally, there are twenty four character wands for sale at various locations throughout the park.  Most are available individually, but Fred and George's are only available as a set and Lucius Malfoy's is only available in his walking stick, which is for sale, but costs about $200.  Dumbledore's Army wand set is available, but all of those wands are also available individually.  The same is true for the Triwizard Champions, and (I think) the trio and Harry-Dumbledore-Voldemort.

Here's the Hog's Head.  Really, it's just another entrance to the Three Broomsticks.  If you go in this door, the bar is directly on the right.  There is a wide selection of alcoholic beverages, but you have to go into the main Three Broomsticks if you want to sit down.

The Three Broomsticks is probably my favorite place in the park.  Maybe.  Give me ten minutes and I'll tell you somewhere else.  Really, though, the place is always calm.  There are always open tables, even at lunch/dinner hours.  The food is okay, but the drinks are spectacular. 

Here's Honeydukes from the outside.  There's a lot of candy (obviously) in the window displays.  

This is a very pretty mock-up store called Tomes and Scrolls.  There are a lot of books and papers in the windows.

Here's a shot of me in front of the store Owl Post.  It's meant to be a stationary shop, but in addition to cards and stationary, there is also a large selection of stuffed animal owls, luggage tags, photo albums, and journals.  The window displays piles of packages wrapped in brown paper.

As you may have noticed, there's a lot of fake snow everywhere, so it's only fitting for there to be a snowman display.  And it's only fitting that he have a snow owl, wizard's hat, robe, scarf, etc...

Like I said earlier, the village is beautiful at night.  The lights make it feel cozy, and they make the mock-up displays easy to see and intriguing to examine.

Owl Post at night.

--Shows in the Stonehenge arena--

There is a 'show' called 'Triwizard Spirit Rally.'  It's really not a spirit rally.  It's a miniature parade of one Hogwarts, four Beauxbatons, and three Durmstrang students walking down from Hogwarts castle to the arena.  Then they line up, and the Hogwarts girl says basically that the girls are from Beauxbatons, the boys are from Durmstrang, and they were at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament.  Then she tells the people who have gathered to queue up for photos.  When I went up, the Hogwarts girl wanted to fix my hat so it was turned up like the Beauxbatons hats.

Cute girls!

Quite small shot me and all of the students.  In this shot, you can see the giant Stonehenge stone to the far left.  There are two of them, and they have lots of holes and engravings on them.  As you can probably deduce, the other stone is to the left of the one pictured, and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff flags are to the left of that.

The other show performed in the arena is actually a show.  It's called 'Frog Choir.'  Four singers (two of which hold frog puppets on pillows) and a director parade down from the castle and sing four or five songs.  The songs are mostly upbeat Celtic style acapella arrangements of songs from the Harry Potter scores (the Fireworks, the Quidditch World Cup, the Weasley Stomp, etc.).  They do sing 'This is the Night,' and the director acts all surprised as if the singers decided to do it on the spot to misbehave and ignore their setlist.  This show happens in the afternoon, so excuse the hideous sun streaks in the photos of the singers.  Sorry.  I wish they were gone as much as you do.

Oh, and the frogs really don't do anything.  The singers just carry them around.

Yeah!  Pose all cool and sexy!

Ravenclaw boy and Gryffindor girl, please put your wands away and don't curse us!

--Fancy displays and Shop interiors--

Skele-Gro display in Filch's Emporium (my favorite-favorite merchandise store.  You have to come here to look at Lucius Malfoy's walking stick--which I didn't get a photo of because I saw it on my express-ride-pass-bring-as-little-baggage-as-possible day.)  

Display of man with licorice hair (remember him from the third movie?) in Honeydukes.

The Honeydukes interior.  It's quite bright in here, and it smells vaguely of chocolate.  There are specialty sweets for sale (Bertie Bott's, Chocolate Frogs, Caramel Cobwebs, Chocolate Wands, Fudge Flies, Fizzing Wizbees, Chocolate Cauldrons), as well as the standard wall with bins of different gummies, and a fudge counter (which also features tarts and Cauldron Cakes).  The usual theme park saltwater taffy is for sale too, but it's in neat little boxes labeled 'Honeydukes Saltwater Taffy' (I swear, there must be a factory in central Florida and another in southern California that makes saltwater taffy and sells it to theme parks so they can box it up in Pooh Bear and Cinderella and Mickey and Shrek and Honeydukes packaging and sell it to tourists.  I should get into the industry...)  Oh, and about the Chocolate Frogs-- They're freaking huge.  150 grams of pure milk chocolate froggy goodness.  They're available at Honeydukes, Filch's (I think), the big merch stores in Citywalk and near the Islands of Adventure exit, and at the airport (where I got mine).  The frogs are $10 each, but the boxes are gorgeous (so don't put them in your backpack--they'll get squished), they come with cards, and the chocolate is tasty.  I really do not recommend buying the frogs at Honeydukes (unless you're really on your way out of the park or it's January and under 65 degrees outside).  They will melt.  I swear it, they will.  I also do not recommend eating more than a few bites of the chocolate.  I know it seems wasteful, but trust me, I paid the consequences for that.  I bought mine at the airport, and I ate half of the frog for lunch (around 4pm) and the other half for dinner (around 11pm).  Blame it on the actual chocolate, my stupidity, airplane germs, and the fact that my card was Salazar Slytherin, but I had a very upset tummy for 48 hours after eating said frog.  I wish I'd taken a photo of my frog box to show you.  Well, they look pretty much exactly like the Chocolate Frog boxes in the movies--pentagonal with blue and gold fancy decor.  They're a fair bit bigger than the movie props, though.

Here's the interior of the Three Broomsticks.  There's this massive fireplace with a hanging cauldron and a pile of firewood.  The whole place is extremely true to the movie representation.

This is a view behind the bar of the Hog's Head.  The head on the wall moves and grunts occasionally. You can see the nice array of beers on tap.  The silver one on the right hand side is a special Hog's Head brew, which I've heard is a strong sort of mead...

This is the inside of Zonkos.  It's very bright and crazy in there.  Most of what is sold are goofy joke items from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  I'm assuming that the Weasley twins followed through on their statement "We wanted to buy Zonkos" from book six and now have a Hogsmeade branch (but they kept the store's original name).

This is the fascinating view of the upper level of Dervish and Banges.  As far as I know, there is not a staircase to the upper level, or at least not one that store patrons are allowed to access.  There really isn't merchandise up there, just really cool displays.  There are lots of books, colorful boxes, and shelves.  Notice the cool chandelier, broomstick, and purple flags with the Hogwarts crest on them.

Another display in Dervish and Banges creatures the Monster Book of Monsters locked up in a cage.  The book snaps and wiggles and makes flapping noises if people get too close.

This quidditch trophy is on display in Dervish and Banges as well.  I'm not sure what it's meant to be for, as it says Quaffle Masters on it.

Here's a view of the upper level of Owl Post.  There are lots of brown paper packages tied up with strings (these are a few of my favorite things!).  The smaller, thinner boxes on the right side are wand boxes.

This is a display in the window of Tomes and Scrolls.  It's a stack of Lockhart books.  The picture of Gilderoy on the cover of each book moves like a wizarding photograph.

Here's a quidditch set in the window of the mock-up shop next door to Tomes and Scrolls.

Hermione's Yule Ball dress on display in the window of Gladrag's.

--Merchandise-- 

A note on merchandise:  Every store has between zero and two items that are unique to that store (with the exception of Zonkos).  The vast majority of items are available at multiple locations.  There are the six specialty stores in Wizarding World (Filch's Emporium, Ollivander's, Owl Post, Dervish and Banges, Zonko's, and Honeydukes), but there are also two HUGE merchandise stores located elsewhere in Universal that (in my opinion) are better places to buy things.  Sure it's fun to put on your robes or wave your wand in Wizarding world, but it's far more convenient to buy bulky or easily lost items in stores closer to the park exit (one very near the exit of Islands of Adventure and another in Citywalk).  Zonko's has quite a bit of stuff that is unique to that store, but it's kind of crap.  To be honest, who wants to buy a rubber chicken, plastic slinky, or inflatable tongue?  Lots of stuff like that.  Filch's has the Lucius Malfoy walking stick that you can't get anywhere else in Universal.  Dervish and Banges has some small metal cauldrons and hatching dragon paperweights that I didn't see anywhere else.  Honeydukes has the fudge counter, but you can get fudge at several other candy shops in other areas of Islands of Adventure, so the only really unique thing there is the cauldron cake.  Oh, and FYI, every single thing in every single store in Wizarding World is available online through WB shop, the Noble Collection, or Universal Islands of Adventure websites.

Pygmy Puffs at Zonkos.  When someone buys a Puff there, the cashier rings this massive bell, makes the customer name the Puff on the spot, and then shouts out "(Name) has been adopted!!!!"  Puffs are available at both of the big souvenir shops mentioned above (as well as at the Orlando Airport, which is where I got mine), but there are no adoption ceremonies there.

From the Three Broomsticks:  Strawberry Peanut Butter Ice Cream!  I got a huge kick out of the fact that it's Florean Fortiscue brand (other super fans will understand).

Pumpkin Juice at the Three Broomsticks.  It's extremely tasty.  The main ingredients are apple juice, pumpkin puree, and apricot puree.  It tastes like fall.

Obligatory Butterbeer foam mustache photo.  Butterbeer is sort of like extremely sweet and slightly butterscotch flavored cream soda with yummy vanilla whipped cream on top.  It's very, very sweet, like a dessert.  I recommend eating it with chips or something else light and salty.  I don't think it would work out well as a quick thirst quencher.  It's definitely a sit down and enjoy it type of experience.

In Dervish and Banges (and many other places): rememberalls.  Press a button on the side and it glows red!

Also at Dervish and Banges: sneakoscopes!

More at Dervish and Banges: The Quibbler!

With pop-out specter specs.

At Filch's (and Dervish and Banges): Omnioculars!

At Filch's (and many other places): the Quaffle.

At Filch's (and all over): The Golden Snitch.

At Dervish and Banges: Bludger and Bat set.

At Dervish and Banges: A Hungarian Horntail snuggly (or rather pokey) stuffed animal.

Exclusively at Dervish and Banges: Hatching Norbert paperweights.

Now for the really cool expensive stuff in the back room of Dervish and Banges (which is where all the Ollivander's people come out when their demonstration is over) (and all of this stuff is available in the big merch store near the exit to Islands of Adventure):  Miniatures of The Nimbus 2000, Nimbus 2001, and Firebolt Brooms.

Luna's Radish earrings.

Hermione's beaded bag.

Xenophilius's Deathly Hallows necklace.

The Time-Turner.

Some owls at Owl Post.

--What you've all been waiting for:  Hogwarts Castle--

(These photos are in a bit of the wrong order--sorry.  I put too many photos in this post and Blogger is telling me I'm running low on space and can't move things around.  Again, sorry)

Nice stone pillar reading 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'  Note the Hogwarts Crest as well.

How many times does the phrase "...Gates topped with winged boars..." appear throughout the series?

HOGWARTS!

This is the one I wanted to put first.  The edge of Hogsmeade village, quite near the castle.  Note the sign pointing right that says 'Hogwarts.'

A closer view.

My pretty sunset pic.  Random fact: That little triple tower coming off the huge tower on the left side is supposed to be Dumbledore's Office.

--Rides--

I went on all of the rides in Wizarding World, but I didn't get photos of any of them (sorry).  There are three rides: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, and Dragon Challenge.  I went on Forbidden Journey and Dragon Challenge twice each, and I went on Hippogriff once.

There are signs everywhere around the rides that say 'By order of the Ministry of Magic: people with (every medical condition imaginable, including motion sickness and fear of heights) should not ride this ride.'  Don't let these signs psyche you out.  I was a little disconcerted when these signs started popping up all over the walls in the tunnel leading to Forbidden Journey (because there is one about every ten feet), but I was really prepared with lots of dramamine tablets and sea bands and saltine crackers and pressure equalizing ear plugs and all that stuff, so everything turned out just fine.  I was more concerned that I would fall on my butt when I was getting off the ride than anything else.  I don't think I could walk in a straight line for about ten minutes after the Dragon Challenge.

  The first ride I went on was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (the big one!).  It is located inside Hogwarts castle.  The line is usually quite long and it can take up to two hours to make it all the way through the line and into the castle.  The first time I went on was fairly early in the morning, and the line was about one hour.  The second time was about an hour before closing, and the line was about twenty minutes.  The way the line goes, though, you get to pass some pretty cool stuff.  There's a herbology area with plant displays.  You see mandrakes (they don't yell on this one) and some other odd looking specimens.  There's a hallway with lots of statues, including the one-eyed witch statue which, in the books, disguises the secret passage way into Honeyduke's basement.  There's a large portrait room where the pictures move and talk to each other.  Paintings of the Hogwarts founders argue with each other about having muggle guests (the people who are in line to ride the ride) in the castle.  There is a beautiful display of Dumbledore's office, complete with cabinets of strange magical artifacts and the pensive.  While you're waiting in this area, a sort of hologram of Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) appears behind the desk in the office and starts talking to the people assembled.  He says a basic welcome, then explains that he is sorry that Hogwarts currently doesn't have a defense agains the dark arts teacher, so the "lecture" we're all there to attend will be done by Professor Binns instead.  Then he says that unfortunately, there is a dragon on the loose in the Hogwarts grounds, and if you happen to see it you should run for your life and alert a member of staff immediately.  The line then moves into another room where Harry, Ron, and Hermione holograms come through a doorway and start saying how boring Professor Binns is.  They suggest that we (the guests) come watch a quidditch match instead.  Hermione has done this spell where if we go to the room of requirement, she can magic us out of the castle and into the quidditch pitch.  There's some bantering among the trio where Ron accidentally makes it snow (bubble foam starts falling from the ceiling) and Harry and Ron make fun of Hermione for reading too many history books.  When the line moves out of this room, it moves down a hall of stained glass windows, then the people can start getting in the car/bench vehicle things that are part of the ride.  The car things move through a variety of environments, some of which are real/robotic and some of which are simulated on projection screens.  The basic premise of the ride is we're in the room of requirement and Hermione magics us to the Quidditch pitch.  The dragon is out there, and we follow Harry on his broom to safety.  Then, lo and behold, there are dementors. We have to fly away from them, avoiding the whomping willow in the process.  The dementors catch up to us, though, and we are terribly affected, reliving our worst memories (which happen to be of Tom Riddle and the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets).  Harry fights away the dementors, and we get to follow him on a nice scenic flight around the Hogwarts grounds.  We then end up back in the castle, where it seems the entire movie cast is waving at us, telling us we were brilliant, and inviting us back anytime.  All in all, fun, but weird.  

The Dragon Challenge roller coaster is very nice.  It consists of two coaster tracks (green and red) that intertwine across the ride area.  I went on both and greatly prefer the green.  It has fewer twists and spins, but more steep drops than the red.  The really spectacular thing about this ride is the line.  I went on this ride early in the morning when there was pretty much no line, so I could run back and forth through the different rooms and ooh and aah over the props without anyone telling me to get a move on.  The whole thing is supposed to be the first task of the Triwizard tournament from the fourth book/movie.  The beginning of the line has tons of flags and banners that say things like 'Go Cedric' and 'I support Potter' and 'Fleur's the best' and stuff like that.  Then there's a room with the goblet of fire, and it really looks like it's on fire.  The whole room is cast in this eerie light blue light.  There is a tunnel from there that leads to a place where the Triwizard cup is displayed, and then from there is a really cool room set up like the tent the champions hang out in before they go meet their dragons.  I really liked that room--it seemed very realistic with a tent ceiling and everything.  From there, the line breaks into two, one for the green coaster, the other for the red.  These lines are pretty standard for any theme park, just hang until the coaster pulls up, then sit on your hat and go for a spin.  The exit line from this ride is another long tunnel.  This is where I met the Hogwarts Express conductor.  I still don't know what he was doing in there.  

The Flight of the Hippogriff is more cute than really fun.  The line weaves through the pumpkin patch and close to a mock-up of Hagrid's hut.  Then you just hang out in the switchbacks until it's your turn to ride.  While you hang here, Hagrid's voice is piped over an intercom.  He tells you all the instructions about how to handle a hippogriff.  The mini coaster is made up of several cars that look to be made of wicker.  The front one has a hippogriff head, and the back one has a tail.  The ride is short and sort of bumpy (the cars have no head rests or restraints--just a lap bar-- so you really have to hold yourself up).  The cars climb up a short hill, from where you can see Hagrid's hut and a robotic Buckbeak in a nest below.  Then the coaster goes down a hill and makes a lot of turns and then you're back at the beginning and it's the next people's turn.  Worth going on once, but not worth the wait to go on a second time (the wait time is always pretty long for this one for two reasons:  1--little kids can go on it, and they can't go on Forbidden Journey or Dragon Challenge, and 2--It's really near the entrance to Forbidden Journey, so people think they can pop dad or grandma in line for Forbidden Journey then go on Hippogriff and come back and claim their spot in line for Forbidden Journey).

--My Experience and Recommendations--

As you know, I visited Wizarding world in August.  I think it would be better to visit in December/January Winter Break time.  Then visitors wouldn't sweat standing still like I did.  Actually, it would be really preferable to visit in mid-October, but that would only really be possible if you live in Florida or are capable of shelling out the dough to fly out for a weekend.   

Butterbeer is good, but pumpkin fizz is better.

Hang out in Dervish and Banges back room so you can see into Ollivander's.

Do try to see the Frog Chior and Triwizard Spirit Rally.

Moaning Myrtle is in the public bathroom outside the Three Broomsticks, but the place is so echo-y that you can't really hear her.

Buy postcards at Owl Post, then get them stamped with the Hogsmeade postmark at the mailbox kiosk outside Dervish and Banges.

Ask the cast members questions (especially the ones at Dervish and Banges and the Three Broomsticks).  They know the answers.

Things I bought: Fawkes tee shirt, Quidditch jersey tee shirt, Quidditch boxer shorts, prefect badge pin, Gryffindor lanyard (for my ride express pass), Pygmy Puff and Chocolate Frog(at the airport) (plus munchies: butter beer, pumpkin juice, pumpkin fizz, ice cream, chips, fruit cup--very nice and fresh, Honeydukes fudge)

Things I wish I could buy: just about everything (except the crap at Zonko's), but especially the beautiful expensive prop replicas from Dervish and Banges back room.  It's now my life's ambition to become an extreme Harry Potter collector.  (But ask me again tomorrow when the Hunger Games DVD comes out, and I may have changed my mind...no, just kidding.  Nothing can replace Potter in my heart.)

Oh, and guess what??  Wizarding World is expanding!  They're adding a London area with Gringotts  and some other stores!  I dunno when it's opening, but then the place will be even more fantastic.  I already want to go back!  (Maybe in five or so years... when I'm all graduated from college and stuff... Or maybe for my 21st birthday, and I can go drink Hogshead Ale...)