The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood

I was provided media tickets in order to do this review. All opinions are my own.

A couple of weeks ago I was able to visit Universal Studios Hollywood. It was my first time there since they have finished the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I couldn’t wait to explore it. There is a lot to experience (food, drinks, rides) and the whole environment is truly magical! This is a great place to spend a day (or two or three) and discover everything. We are sharing more about the rest of the part next week, so be sure to check back for that post soon! Today we are giving you a mini tour of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood. Let us know if you have any questions and we will get you an answer!

The attention to detail was one of the first things I noticed. They didn’t overlook anything when it came to this amazing addition to the Universal Studios Hollywood park. The Hogwarts Castle can be seen from just about everywhere on the Upper Lot. I felt like I was in the movie, standing there staring up at it. There are fun things like the flying car, whomping willow, spiders, and other things you will have to look for throughout the park and on the rides.

Here are some of the Rides, Attractions, Shopping and Places to Eat at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter that you can look forward to on your visit:

• Eat a meal inside Three Broomsticks™. Take a look inside the rustic tavern where visitors of Hogsmeade™ come to dine on hearty fare.
• A fun photo op on the Hogwarts™ Express! Take a picture* with the Weasleys’ flying car, Dementors™ or Hogwarts™ castle right outside your window with our special background photo op. Capture your family’s magical moment at the Hogwarts™ Express Photo station, and purchase your picture to share with family and friends.
• Enjoy Hot or Frozen Butterbeer. Sold at several different places throughout the park.
• Interactive Wands at Hogsmeade™. Look for all of the places you can cast spells with your wand around Hogsmead.
• Magical Sweets in Honeydukes™. This legendary shop in Hogsmeade™ is where you can find tasty, colorful treats inspired by the Harry Potter™ stories, including Exploding Bonbons, Sherbet Lemons, Fizzing Whizzbees and Chocolate Frogs™. You can even fill up a bag with Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans™ or enjoy favorites such as Peppermint Toads and Fudge Flies.
• Get a wand at Ollivanders Wand Shop.  Buy an Ollivanders wand or choose from a selection that includes Harry Potter™ film character wand replicas, collectible wand sets and more.
• Visit the Owl Post. Buy an Owl and send a letter from here with a Hogsmeade™ postmark and buy Harry Potter™ stationery. You also get to see the Monster Book of Monsters here (and it actually moves around – really cool!!!)
• Visit Zonko’s™ Joke Shop. Here you can buy novelty items, toys and Pygmy Puffs.
• Dervish and Banges™ offers House crest apparel, accessories and more.
• Filch’s Emporium™ of Confiscated Goods is the place to get Hogwarts™ clothing, movie prop replicas, magical creature toys, and Marauder’s Maps.
• Stop and listen to the Frog Choir. Enjoy songs by Hogwarts™ students accompanied by their croaking frogs.
• HARRY POTTER AND THE FORBIDDEN JOURNEY™ – Soar above the castle grounds on a groundbreaking ride that lets you join Harry Potter™ and his friends on an unforgettable thrilling adventure.
• FLIGHT OF THE HIPPOGRIFF™ – Take off on a family-friendly coaster that spirals and dives around the pumpkin patch, and swoops past Hagrid’s hut.

This is just a short list of some of our favorites!! There is really so much to do here.

We went into the park and it lets you choose if you want to go to Hogwarts or to Hogsmead. We went to Hogwarts first so we could ride on HARRY POTTER AND THE FORBIDDEN JOURNEY™ inside the castle. On this ride, you “Soar above the castle grounds on a groundbreaking ride that lets you join Harry Potter™ and his friends on an unforgettable thrilling adventure.” This ride was SO MUCH FUN! I felt like I was flying all over the place with Harry and the rest of the gang. You experience a lot of movement (twists, turns, etc and it is only for riders who are 48″ or taller. That being said – it was well worth it. This ride does have a single rider line and that gets you onto the rides a lot faster. The downfall is that you don’t always get to sit by your friends/family if you are with other people.

After visiting Hogwarts, we headed over to Hogsmead to go exploring and have some Butterbeer. Olivanders was a lot of fun. I wanted to buy a bunch of wands and bring them home to my kids. I decided to wait until they could be there to pick out their own. The wands look and feel like the real deal – and they have so many different varieties. They are under $50 each and there are “Wizards” there to help you choose. Don’t forget to head on over to the FLIGHT OF THE HIPPOGRIFF™. This is a really fun ride that takes off on a family-friendly coaster that spirals and dives around the pumpkin patch, and swoops past Hagrid’s hut.

I had heard so many good things about the Butterbeer and couldn’t wait any longer. I got the frozen one. It tastes amazing and I am going to try making some at home for my kids who are a little annoyed that I got to try it before they did. lol. We had so much fun just getting our drinks and sitting down and taking it all in. The environment is amazing. Slow down and really look around at everything that they have here. Around every corner is another surprise.

I love everything about the park. My kids keep asking when I can take them, so we are planning a trip soon. I know that we will have a great time there and in the rest of Universal Studios Hollywood Park. Next week we will share our adventures riding Jurassic Park, The Transformers, The Mummy, and a couple others. There is also an amazing studio tour that I highly recommend! It is well worth the wait and lasts up to 90 minutes. A great behind the scenes look at Universal Studios and the lot. The water show is another one of my favorites! You can read all about our adventures in the Universal Studios Hollywood Tour post next week.

Learn more about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter on:

WEBSITE| http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/harrypotter

FACBOOK | http://facebook.com/UniversalStudiosHollywood

TWITTER | http://twitter.com/unistudios

INSTAGRAM | http://instagram.com/unistudios