The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a land—or pair of two lands—at Universal Orlando Resort. While Universal Orlando Resort is itself worthy of a full vacation, we know some Harry Potter superfans just want to spend a day taking in Wizarding World. In this post, we’ll walk through the ins and outs of spending one day just visiting Wizarding World. Read on to learn how to plan your perfect day immersed in the Harry Potter universe!
About This Post and Related Posts
This post is focused solely on helping you plan a single day to experience both the Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley lands of Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orland Resort. If you have a longer trip at Universal Orlando, we also have:
Harry Potter World Basics
Let’s start with some basics…
What is Harry Potter World?
Harry Potter World is actually “the Wizarding World of Harry Potter”, and it comprises two themed lands in the two Universal Orlando theme parks. One land, Diagon Alley, is in Universal Studios Florida. The other land, Hogsmeade, is in Universal Islands of Adventure.
The two lands are connected by an attraction, The Hogwarts Express, and you can also get between them on foot—they’re about a mile apart that way. (You wouldn’t plan to drive between them, they are both within the Universal Orlando complex.)
I don’t want to oversell it, but even as an average—ish fan, I find Wizarding World amazing. It is a clear advantage that Universal Orlando has over Disney World, and it makes Universal Orlando a must-visit for even casual Harry Potter fans.
Where is Harry Potter World?
This post focuses specifically about the Harry Potter lands at Universal Orlando Resort. To visit any part of Wizarding World, you’ll park at the Universal Orlando complex, outside CityWalk. We also have specific tips for visiting Wizarding World as part of a Disney World vacation.
There are also nearly identical versions of the Hogsmeade land in Universal Hollywood, Universal Japan, and Universal Beijing.
What about the new Harry Potter land?
Universal Epic Universe will open in summer 2025 with a new “Ministry of Magic” land that forms a third part of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. That land will not be connected to the existing lands by a ride or walking path. Instead, you’ll have to take some sort of transit there.
We hope to update this post shortly after the new land opens, but high demand / restrictions on visiting might make visiting all three lands in a single day a big challenge in the immediate future.
Getting Tickets For Harry Potter World
Because the Wizarding World is split over two lands in two different parks, you’ll at least need to have a ticket that allows you to visit each park once, maybe on separate days. But even that’s not enough to fully experience Wizarding World.
What you need is a two-park ticket that allows you to visit both parks on the same day. Without a two-park ticket, you won’t be able to ride the Hogwarts Express, which takes you between the two lands within the two parks. This is not just a boring, empty train, it is an attraction. Well, it’s actually two attractions because it is different in both directions (meaning you’ll actually need to ride it twice for the full experience).
What To Do In Harry Potter World
Now let’s talk through some of the essentials for your visit to Wizarding World. We’ll split this section by the two lands. After this, we’ll provide an outline of a plan for how you might experience as much as you can from both lands in a single day.
Things at Both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley
Both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley are home to an Ollivander’s wand experience. About 20 guests enter at a time, and one lucky one is chosen to partake in the 5-minute wand ceremony. While the experience is generally the same at both locations, diehards often prefer the Diagon Alley version since Harry gets his wand in Diagon Alley. And to be clear, you don’t have to go through the experience if all you want is to buy a wand.
So let’s talk about wands. There used to be two kinds of wands—interactive and non-interactive. The non-interactive wands were just regular toy wands—fancy sticks that didn’t do anything. As far as I can tell, these have been totally or nearly totally phased out. Instead, nowadays you’re left to buy an interactive wand.
Interactive wands start at $65 and come in various designs, including character-themed designs. You can use these wands to create different effects (by “casting spells”) around both Wizarding World lands (all wands work in both lands). There are 16 spots in Diagon Alley and 9 in Hogsmeade.
Two notes about the interactive wands. First, if you’re having trouble with a spell there’s almost always a Universal Team Member around to help. Second, lines for the spells can get relatively long. Even waiting 5 minutes at each will take two hours of your day. If you just want to see the effects, you can do that without the wand purchase or waiting in line, they’re all in open spots.
Throughout both lands, you’ll find Butterbeer for sale. Butterbeer itself is basically a slightly modified version of what muggles call cream soda. There are several vanities of Butterbeer flavored treats, including Hot Butterbeer, Frozen Butterbeer, Butterbeer Fudge, Butterbeer Ice Cream, and Butterbeer Potted Cream. If you want to try every option, you’ll need to spend some time on Google trying to comply the most current list, as options come, go, and move. I highly recommend trying two or three options in any case.
There’s also plenty of shopping to be done in both lands. Each land has a few unique items, but both are thoroughly packed with Hogwarts essentials. I’ll highlight particularly special locations in the land-specific posts below, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t visit every store. Even if you aren’t buying anything, all the stores are so well-detailed that they are attractions themselves.
What to do at Hogsmeade
Hogsmeade is the portion of Wizarding World inside Universal Islands of Adventure.
Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is the best ride in the land and maybe the best ride in central Florida. It’s an exciting coaster with a few great surprises and absolutely a must-ride. It has a height requirement of 48” (122 cm).
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the ride inside Hogwarts. I personally find the ride experience to be the most nauseating experience in the parks, but it’s worth giving it at least one try. It has a height requirement of 48” (122 cm).
Besides being a good ride, the queue is great and worth a 20-30 minute wait (or a slow walk if you can catch it with a shorter wait). If you don’t want to ride the ride, you can still wait in the queue and then just exit right before boarding. I’ve done this a few times.
Flight of the Hippogriff is a kiddie coaster located just next to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. If someone in your party doesn’t meet the height requirement for Hagrid’s and Forbidden Journey, this one has a requirement of just 36” (92 cm). It’s worth a ride in that case, but older guests probably won’t find it worth more than a 15-minute wait.
Hogwarts Express – Hogsmeade Station is the ride on the Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade to Kings Cross. The ride is about 4 minutes long and has no height requirement. It isn’t the most exciting of trips, but a few small effects and the novelty/usefulness of connecting the two lands makes it a must-ride.
Hogsmeade has two pieces of streetmosphere. Check the app for today’s schedule. Triwizard Spirit Rally features students from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang doing some of their pep rally performances for the Triwizard Tournament. Frog Choir is a choir of Hogwarts students supported by giant croaking frogs. Both shows are performed on the stage just between Flight of the Hippogriff and the rest of Hogsmeade.
On select nights, Hogsmeade hosts a projection show on Hogwarts castle. The specific show changes (as of this update it’s on hiatus, set to return in 2025 as “Hogwarts Always,” but it will probably return as “The Magic of Christmas” first, for the holiday season), but it’s always worth calling it a must-do since there’s no nighttime show in Diagon Alley.
While we aren’t to the itinerary part of the post yet, it’s worth noting here the overall situation at Hogsmeade. Hogsmeade has the most popular ride (Hagrid’s). It also has the nighttime show. Combined, this means you’ll probably want to both start and end at this park, visiting Diagon Alley in between. This also gets you your two rides on the Hogwarts Express, since the ride is different in both directions.
The restaurant at Hogsmeade is Three Broomsticks. It is attached to the Hog’s Head bar. You can use mobile order at the restaurant (order in the app, ask to be seated, enter the table number into your app). Here’s the menu for Three Broomsticks. I’m not enough of a foodie to tell you which meals/items to eat at which restaurants. For the sake of completeness, plan to have either lunch or dinner at Three Broomsticks and then the other meal at The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley.
What to do at Diagon Alley
Hogwarts Express – King’s Cross Station is the ride on the Hogwarts Express from King’s Cross to Hogsmeade The ride is about 4 minutes long and has no height requirement. The entrance to King’s Cross Station is actually outside Diagon Alley proper. In this area, you’ll also find the Knight Bus, complete with a chatty shrunken head and conductor.
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts is a screen-based coaster ride that takes you on a wild adventure escaping from the depths of Gringotts bank. It’s a fun, must-do ride. Like Forbidden Journey in Hogsmeade, the queue on this one makes it worth a 20-30 minute wait, or even just a slow walk in the queue if you can catch a shorter wait. It has a height requirement of 42” (107 cm).
Diagon Alley has two pieces of streetmosphere. Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees is a musical performance, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a group of actors/puppeteers performing stories from “Tales of Beedle the Bard.”
The restaurant at Hogsmeade is The Leaky Cauldron. As noted above, you can use mobile order at this restaurant, and we recommend eating one of your meals here and one at Three Broomsticks. Here’s the menu for The Leaky Cauldron.
Diagon Alley has a few unique spots worth mentioning. First, Knockturn Alley and the store Borgin and Burkes can be a bit hard to find (and even harder to navigate). Entering the land, you can get to Knockturn Alley either by taking a left right after The Leaky Cauldron or by going down main street to the dragon, taking a left, and then taking another left when you get to the signage:
The dark (literally and figuratively) area has some great details that are easy to miss out on if you don’t take the time to let your eyes adjust. The Borgin and Burkes store is especially a fun stop for lovers of the dark arts.
You can’t visit Diagon Alley without seeing (and hearing) the fire-breathing dragon. Historically, my experience was the dragon breathed fire every ten minutes. Based on recent experience, I feel like it might be less frequent. My tip is to either (1) ask someone or (2) try and keep your ears open as you wander the land, noting the times. Then grab yourself a spot to watch when you calculate it’s ready to go.
Finally, I want to point out the Gringott’s Money Exchange. It’s a bit of a nondescript storefront, and if the land isn’t busy you might not even see anyone going in or out. You can convert your muggle money into wizard money in $10 and $20 increments. You can use that money in Wizarding World, or go to Guest Services to get it converted back to muggle money. Personally I just kept some as a souvenir.
Finally, during the Halloween season (usually late August through October), on select nights you’re able to encounter Death Eaters in Diagon Alley. These have also been found in Hogsmeade in the past, but as of this update they’re only scheduled in the app for Diagon Alley.
Reducing Waits In Wizarding World
Last things before we get to the itineraries. There are a few ways to make your day easier.
Early Park Admission
Each day, at least one of the two parks at Universal Orlando has Early Park Admission, allowing select guests (mostly Universal hotel guests) early access to the park. The ideal situation for you is either (1) you have Early Admission and it’s available at Islands of Adventure or (2) you don’t have Early Admission and it isn’t available at Islands of Adventure. In either of these two cases, you can still arrive early and be among the first people on Hagrid’s.
In case there is Early Admission at Islands of Adventure and you don’t have it, I still recommend starting your day at that park. In most cases, you’ll be able to get a short wait on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey to start the day, before settling in for the longer wait for Hagrid’s.
Early Admission crowds at Universal Studios Florida
Universal Express Pass
Then there’s Universal Express Pass, which grants you one-time access to a shorter line at most of the rides at Universal Orlando Resort, including all the Harry Potter rides except Hagrid’s. (With the Express Pass Unlimited, you’ll be able to use those shorter lines as much as you want.)
The only downside to Express Pass—besides price—is that is bypasses some of the queues, and I particularly noted Forbidden Journey and Escape from Gringott’s as having “cool” queues. Of course, you could always hope for a short wait and use Express Pass if that doesn’t work out.
But this brings us to the price of Express Pass. It starts at $105 per person for the two-park version, and that’s just not going to be worth it unless you plan to use it to ride other things at Universal Orlando. And that’s my bottom line for Express Pass when it comes to your Wizarding World day—get Express Pass if you’d like to set aside a few hours to do other things in the park without the long waits.
Single Rider
Forbidden Journey, Escape from Gringott’s, and Hagrid’s all have single rider lines (subject to availability) that allow you to wait in a shorter line if you’re willing to ride next to strangers, without your group.
Generally, the single rider lines at Forbidden Journey and Escape from Gringott’s have the same problem as the Express Pass queues—they skip some good parts of the regular queues for not much time saved. While I’m fine skipping the Hagrid’s queue for single rider, it’s often the case that single rider for that ride isn’t much shorter than the regular wait.
Outline of One Day Wizarding World Plan
Finally, it’s time for an outline of how we recommend spending a full day at Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World. Let’s start with some “ground rules” for how we came up with this outline.
First of all, you want to ride the Hogwarts Express in both directions. The ride is different in each direction, and you can’t just stay on it roundtrip—you need to get off and queue to go back. Second, you want to finish at Hogsmeade, assuming there is a Hogwarts nighttime projection show.
Working backwards this results in a pretty straightforward schedule:
Start at Hogsmeade
Take Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley
Spend time in Diagon Alley
Take Hogwarts Express back to Hogsmease
Finish at Hogsmeade
Ideally, the first part of your day starts at Hogsmeade with rope drop and a short wait for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. That’s the most popular ride in Wizarding World, and honestly good enough that if you ride it once in the morning with a short wait, you might decide to ride it again later with a longer wait.
If the Hagrid’s line is already long when you get there, a fine alternative is to quickly ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Flight of the Hippogriff. Yes, you’re left without “the big one” done, but when you return to Hogsmeade later you’ll basically only have Hagrid’s to worry about.
Your end goal for the first part of the day is to catch a short wait on the Hogwarts Express — Hogsmeade Station. You can see on Thrill Data that waits tend to start creeping up around noon. My easy approach to this is to plan to be on the Hogwarts Express well before the crowds arrive, having lunch at The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley.
The downside to rushing out in the morning (remember, you’re still coming back later), is that you might miss out on the streetmosphere. I personally won’t stress too much around catching Frog Choir or Triwizard Spirit Rally, but check their schedules if you’re concerned.
Once you’re in Diagon Alley, take your time to do whatever you need to do there. This is your one block of time here. Let’s say you’re done with lunch at 1PM. That should leave at least four hours of solid time to explore this land, visit Ollivander’s, play with a wand, get butterbeer, watch the entertainment, and ride Escape from Gringott’s.
You’re probably going to have to wait in line for the Hogwarts Express back to Hogsmeade. There’s not really anything you can do about this, just make sure you account for the wait time when planning your evening. (Okay there is one other approach—if you were able to quickly ride all three other rides in Hogsmeade, then you might take the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley, then back to Hogsmeade right away, when the wait is still short, and then either take it back again to Diagon Alley or just walk to Diagon Alley.)
Once you’re back in Hogsmeade, my advice is to not overthink the waits for rides. Just get in line, and get the rides done. If you start thinking “oh it’s only 5PM, I’ll wait an hour and then the waits will be shorter…” you might well wind up waiting too long and then wind up in line for a ride while the Hogwarts projections are ongoing.
Flipping the Script
There are a few reasons you might do the parks in the other order—starting and ending at Diagon Alley with Hogsmeade in the middle. If you have Early Admission at Universal Studios Florida, for example, you’ll be able to walk right onto Escape from Gringott’s and then, when it opens, onto the Hogwarts Express.
You also might want to finish at Diagon Alley if there’s no Hogwarts projection show in Hogsmeade. The fire-breathing dragon is especially a great treat at night, and I honestly just love Diagon Alley at night. Additionally, during the Halloween season, you might find Death Eaters in Diagon Alley at night.
I think this approach works fine, but my advice is just to get into Diagon Alley, get on Gringott’s, and get on the Hogwarts Express as quickly as possible. Hogsmeade—with its four rides—demands some of your morning. You don’t want to be in that land only from noon to 4PM, when waits are longest.
That’s all we’ve got. How will you spend your magical day in the Wizarding World?
All Your Other Universal Orlando Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Universal Orlando planning! Take a second to check out our most important content!
Just starting out? Start with our Universal Orlando Resort planning guide! If you’re considering a Universal hotel, read our Review of Universal’s Aventura Hotel!
You’ll want to know what rides the parks offer, so we’ve got a Universal Studios Florida Rides Guide and a Universal’s Islands of Adventure Rides Guide. And to know how to get on them without the long waits, read all about Express Pass at Universal Orlando Resort.
If you’d like an idea of how to plan a day at these parks, we can help there, too. Our One Day Universal Studios Florida Itinerary covers a full day at the original park, and our Universal’s Islands of Adventure One Day Plan covers that park.
Early risers always have the best theme parks days (well, we think so). Read about Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando to learn how to get an extra hour in the parks. And read about rope drop at Islands of Adventure, including getting on the brand new Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.