We recently visited Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in Orlando, FL, primarily to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I haven’t been since they added Diagon Alley, and two of my kiddos are into Harry Potter (yay!) so I was psyched to go.
While there are a ton of blogs and forums detailing tips, I took notes of tips and tricks that really helped make our packing and day in the parks go smoother.
If you’re planning to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in the near future, I hope these tips will help you too! Honestly, many of these tips could really work for most amusement parks since we visited DisneyWorld on this trip too.
- Lanyard with badge holder. These hold your park ticket and our Universal Express tickets so they’re easily accessible without getting lost. I had two badges on my lanyard, one for my tickets and one for my littlest. We bought Harry Potter-themed lanyards ahead of time, but they sell them throughout the park too.
- Food Delivery. We had Amazon Grocery Delivery to the hotel, which was such a huge time and money saver in the long run. For example, every morning, we ate cereal or instant oatmeal and fruit in our hotel room.
- Cooler bag! Every day, we brought a backpack cooler bag with water bottles, clementines, uncrustables, baby carrots, cheese sticks and more. We refilled the bottles and packed them with ice whenever we could. It was 95-100 degrees there — cold water was a necessity!
- Snack bag! To avoid getting hangry, we packed a clear stadium bag of Ziploc bags and lidded containers full of snacks for all of us to share— Apple sauce pouches, goldfish, trail mix, pirates booty, granola bars and more.
Whenever we were in line, we’d get out a snack for someone, kids and adults. The clear bag made it easy to see the options.
- Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen! Bring it with you so you don’t have to buy crazy expensive sunscreen there.
- Portable neck fan. We didn’t have one but I saw these everywhere. Of course, you can buy them in the park at a higher cost or plan ahead and bring your own.
- My wide brim roll-up hat felt silly big at first, but it was CRUCIAL! It kept me cool, traveled well and I didn’t get sunburn on my face or neck! It was noticeably cooler than wearing a baseball hat.
My kids wore their Sunday Afternoon play hats in the parks and at the pool. The hats are foldable, lightweight and provide good coverage too.
- Lightweight tank tops or shirts. Florida is HOT! I was grateful to find shirts that were long enough on, made me feel cute, loved the colors and were not hot. These shirts are staple for me this summer. Avoid black or dark colors.
- Motion nightlights for the hotel rooms so you don’t wake each other up turning on the bathroom light, etc. We brought these nightlights from home. The adjustable light helped I needed to see around the hotel room while the kids slept.
- Mini portable phone charger. If you plan to take a lot of pictures or show your little one videos while in the child swap room, then your battery will die halfway through the day too. I used this mini charger every day!
- If you plan to stick around for fireworks or past sunset, then save yourself some money and bring your own glow sticks, necklaces, headbands, etc.
- Hand sanitizer. You’re going in and out of a lot of places, touching rides, etc. We went through A LOT of hand sanitizer in an attempt to keep us all healthy.
- Buy anything else Harry Potter ahead of time that you can. Wands, shirts, stuffed animals, etc. so you won’t feel the need to buy as much when you’re there (see below for specific examples).
And then about visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter specifically:
- If one of your kids is too small to ride the rides, there are child swap areas for almost every ride. Get in line with the whole family, and right before you get on the ride, one parent takes the youngest to the child swap room. When the group gets off the ride, go to the room, swap the parent and the second parent gets to go on the ride. Your bigger kids get to go on twice. It’s awesome!
- Unlike DisneyWorld, most Universal Studios rides (and lines) are indoors or shaded. The air conditioning is on full blast. It’s glorious!
- Ollivander’s sells wands for each of the notable Harry Potter characters. While fairly expensive (~$90), the wands can do “magic” around Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley.
- In Diagon Alley, every 30 minutes, the dragon on top of Gringotts growls and blows fire. My littlest child FREAKED every time, even if we couldn’t see it. You really feel the heat.
- Unfortunately for us, the Hogwarts Express was closed for repair while we visited, but I imagine that’s a really cool experience.
- While there are some shows you can see, there aren’t really experiences for character signatures or photos. No need for autograph books!
- Get the butterbeer! It’s delicious! Frozen butterbeer is especially amazing on the 90-100 degree days!
- Although they have plenty of candy stores and junk food available, they also have fruit carts and other opportunities for you to eat healthily.
- If you’re done with Harry Potter World, my kids really enjoyed the Dr. Seuss world and a few other rides too. Most of Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure were more for older teens to adults. My kids didn’t care about ET, the Simpsons, Men in Black, Fast and the Furious, etc. but did enjoy the rides.
- There are some water rides, and even a Curious George splash park for little ones. Bring a bathing suit and towel if you want to give them a chance to cool off.
- DreamWorks Destination was great because the kids got to see some of their favorite characters like Shrek, Princess Poppy, Kung Fu Panda and more. And again, it was indoors — air conditioning!
- Between the two parks, there are a lot of virtual, mind-trick sort of rides. Sit in a seat and let the motion and giant screen make you feel like you’re falling, etc. After a few of those, I gladly sat in the child swap room instead.
I sincerely hope these tips and lists make your Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal Studios visit easier. We were happy we bought tickets to both parks to experience Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.
Wizarding World of Harry Potter Amazon Shopping List
Need these items in a pinch? Everything linked to above is posted here for your quick reference. Don’t forget about Amazon Fresh for your grocery delivery, too!
And, if you’re in the market for some Harry Potter shirts before you get to the Wizarding World, below are a few of my favorites I spotted on Amazon. (Note: Many of these shirts come in various colors and fits.)
Personally, I liked light colored shirts to keep cooler in the Florida heat. They sell plenty of shirts in Harry Potter World too, but obviously with an upcharge.
Did any tips stand out to you as particularly helpful? Do you have any other tips to share? Please comment below!
Thanks for reading!
Leave a Reply