Review- Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando

This past weekend we visited Universal Studios in Orlando to experience Diagon Alley the new Harry Potter section at the park. This is quite the treat for our family since my husband is an avid fan who has read all the books and my daughter is now reading the second book. We visited Islands of Adventure when Hogsmead was first opened with the same excitement and ended up waiting in line for Hogwarts Challenge for 3 hours in the sun, bleh.

This time we planned to reduce our wait time at Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. We discovered that if you stay at one the Universal hotels you get in the park an hour early. We were able to do this by staying at the new Cabana Bay Resort , a charming mod retro themed hotel on the property. There was no valet parking at this hotel which seemed strange and all the restaurants serve typical park junk foods. They do really capture the retro style very well and the specialty cocktails are quite stellar.  We got the room for a mere $100 per night with our Florida Resident discount (living in FL is awesome).

Cabana Bay Resort

Retro Shampoo at the Cabana Bay Resort- so adorbs

Cabana Bay Resort Pool

Cabana Bay Resort- Retro Mania and Pink Cadillacs

I’m not a morning person but I woke up along with hubby and kid at 5:30 am to get into Universal at 7am. It took us a while to get to the shuttle stop at the hotel. Luckily it was so darn early the buses were running back to back. We entered the park at 7:30ish after picking up our yearly premier passes at the front gate. No lines there either.

We walked into the park along with dozens of other Universal hotel guests; it seemed to only have been opened for Diagon Alley attendants. They were hearding us in to Diagon through a sectioned off pathway. We speed walked towards Diagon completely passing the entrance. Yes the entrance wasn’t marked at all. So we had to go around the sectioned off walkway again to get in. My husband said it was perfect because in the books Diagon is not marked either. I just though wow now we’ll have to wait in line longer now.

As we entered Diagon in amazement we rushed towards Escape from Gingrotts to find out the line was two hours long, wa wa waaaaa. So we of course stood in line chatting and playing on our smart devices. It seemed we had gotten to the front of the line in a bit over an hour when we were stopped because the ride broke down. It was inside so it was a bit cold and the ride attendants weren’t so nice. At that point we had to use the restroom but couldn’t because we would forfeit our position in line.  It added a lot more time to our wait bringing it to passed the original 2 hours wait.

Gingotts Bank at Diagon Alley

You can ask him any question almost

Diagon Alley

Spoiler alert-the ride is quite intense. It has a small drop at the beginning that seems bigger due to the 3D visuals. Then you are swished and circled many times around. Lord Voldemort appears, you’re backed up and then it’s over. It goes by really fast! I thought it was really short but that may be because I waiting so long. It was really good though!

Diagon Alley itself is amazing and extremely realistic. At its focal point is a huge fire breathing dragon that towers over the village. It breathes out fire that can be felt by visitors below. One of the main highlights in Diagon (also in Hogsmead now) is that they’ve added real working wands you can purchase at Ollivanders. With these one can cast spells throughout marked and unmarked secret spots.

Can you say fire

Diagon Alley

So realistic!

Let you wand choose you at Ollivanders

Wands at Ollivanders

Cast a spell

The typical English food choices at the Leaky Cauldron were not bad. They offer really good brews which are only sold in Diagon for the beer drinkers. Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor features delicious flavors including a Butter Beer variety. We had a drink called the Fishy brew that included exploding candy balls at the bottom, fun and yummy.

Pub in Hogsmeade serves special brew

Pub In Hogsmeade

My very favorite part was the dark and creepy Knockturn Alley. You feel like it’s night time when you’re in it. From the singing shrunken heads to the puppet skeleton its oozes cool. The little shop in there carries the best souvenirs.

When you’re ready to leave you can hop on Hogwarts express to Hogsmeade. You will need a two park ticket for this and that folks is where Universal uses its smarts to get you to both parks. You won’t regret it though; visiting Hogsmeade just completes the adventure and really brings things full circle. Heck you don’t even have to visit the rest of the park.

Knockturn Alley

Knockturn Alley- Skulls Yipes!

Knockturn Alley

You can move this guy around

Hogwarts Express

Hogwarts Express