Wizarding World of Harry Potter

[T-ski]

our kid is just about to complete the Harry Potter series so for Christmas we surprised him with owl informing him he'd been accepted to Hogwarts.

We are heading to Orlando the first week of February to visit Harry Potter World.  Anyone with tips, reviews, do's and/or don'ts to share would be much appreciated.

[bosk1]

VERY cool gift.  I haven't been, so I cannot speak from personal experience.  But for trips like that, I like to see what bloggers who are in the know say for kind of "insider" knowledge and tips (I have a couple of Disney bloggers I follow when I am planning Disney trips, for example).  I did a quick Google search of "Harry Potter World Orlando blog" and it looks like quite a few results there should be helpful.

[pg1067]

I've not been to the one in Orlando, but I did take my daughter to the one in Hollywood, and I don't know the extent to which they're different.  You didn't mention how old your son is, and I think that makes a difference.  My daughter was 13 1/2 when we went.  She's a big Potterhead, and she enjoyed it, but she certainly wasn't blown away.  It's cool to see the buildings in the style of the movies, but it's primarily a place to drop money on officially licensed merchandise.  She spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $40-50 (of money she had saved) on a wand.  She also bought a souvenir jar of lemon drop candies (which she nursed for like two months!).  Beyond that, there's two rides.  One is a pretty decent roller coaster, but it's one of those rides that moves you around in a fairly limited area while you're "flying" through some CGI/film footage (a la Star Tours at Disneyland).  The other is made for littler kids.  We rode it once and didn't bother with a second time even though there was no line.  Butter beer is absolutely disgusting.  You'll probably need to buy a glass just because, but I suggest only buying one and sharing.  My daughter didn't want to stand in line for the interactive wand thing, so we had basically seen and done everything after about 90 minutes.  I suspect the one in Orlando has some additional stuff, though.

Hope you guys enjoy yourselves.

[Grappler]

Wikipedia says that the Orlando version has four rides:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizarding_World_of_Harry_Potter_(Universal_Orlando_Resort)

I'd think that the above assessment is correct - there are a handful of rides, but it's mostly the experience of seeing the movie buildings recreated in person, with plenty of opportunities to spend a lot of money.

[T-ski]

my son is 11, oddly enough the age you must be to enter Hogwarts.

what I've learned so far:

   the ride the Forbidden Journey is not for those prone to motion sickness, which does not bode well for me. 
   there are six different kinds of butter beer.
   lots of little easter eggs throughout the park.
   

[pg1067]

my son is 11, oddly enough the age you must be to enter Hogwarts.

what I've learned so far:

   the ride the Forbidden Journey is not for those prone to motion sickness, which does not bode well for me. 
   there are six different kinds of butter beer.
   lots of little easter eggs throughout the park.
 

Forbidden Journey is the first ride I mentioned in my prior response, and I agree.  Flight of the Hippogriff is the other one.  I know there are places where, if you buy some sort of enhanced wand, you can point and stuff will happen.  Decide for yourself whether the added cost is worth it.  I took a quick look, and it looks like there's a fair amount more at Orlando than there is at Hollywood (not surprisingly).

P.S.  While the adult in me sees this as a big money grab, the "kid" side of me thinks all the merch is pretty cool.  The problem is that, in the old days, there was stuff you could only get by visiting an attraction.  Nowadays, I assume everything is available online.

[Stadler]

My kid is super into Harry Potter; she's read the fifth book so many times, the binding fell apart.   She  has excellent reading skills, and I first found that out when watching one of the movies and she was bummed because "so-and-so had a red beard in the books, and a black one in the movie!".    Like the OP, when she finished the books, we agreed to take her to Orlando.   It was about a week or so after opening, so it was crowded, and I had ZERO f-----g interest in it at that time, and two things happened:  my kid had an experience that she STILL talks about, and I got introduced to a really cool world.  We've been back I think three times now, and in the interim I read all 7 books and saw all 8 movies, and all I can say is, if you suspend the cynism, it's a really fun time.  I've stood in line as long as two hours for the ride at the bank (I can't remember my kids' names let alone the ride names) and it was worth it.  Seeing the castle up on the hill is breathtaking.   Riding the Hogwart's Express (that wasn't there the first time) is very cool.

Honestly?  The worst thing about the whole package... the other tourists. People are just dicks, man.   Across the board.