The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a collection of three 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
Prior to Epic Universe opening, it was pretty easy (and sensible) for Harry Potter fans to spend one day taking in the Wizarding World lands. The Epic Universe opening complicated things a little bit—adding a third land some distance away. And since we’re still in the early days/weeks/months of Epic Universe, the operational details of the park continue to change a little bit day-by-day.
While this post still seeks to help you put together a plan for seeing all three Wizarding World lands in a single day, for the next few months the idea is sort of a “whoa can you really do that?!” sort of thing more than a sensible thing. I’d recommend any Harry Potter fan wait a few months, if possible, before attempting it. That said, I think it can be done, and I think this post does a good job of setting you up for success, even today.
This post is focused solely on helping you plan a single day to experience the Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, and Ministry of Magic lands of Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort. For planning a larger trip to Universal Orlando Resort, consult our planning guide.
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 three themed lands in the three Universal Orlando theme parks:
One land, Diagon Alley, is in Universal Studios Florida.
A second land, Hogsmeade, is in Universal Islands of Adventure.
A third land, Ministry of Magic, is in Universal Epic Universe.
Two of the lands—Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley—are so close they’re connected by an attraction, The Hogwarts Express. You can also get between them on foot—they’re about a mile apart that way, but the respective park entrances are only about 1/4 mile apart.
The third land—Ministry of Magic—is a bit farther away. You’ll have to drive or take a bus between the CityWalk complex (attached to the other two parks) and Epic Universe in order to get to that land.
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 Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, you’ll park or get dropped of at CityWalk, which is connected to the two parks with those lands. To visit Ministry of Magic, you’ll park or get dropped off at Epic Universe, the park with that land.
There are also nearly identical versions of the Hogsmeade land in Universal Hollywood, Universal Japan, and Universal Beijing.
Getting Tickets For Harry Potter World
The launch of Epic Universe made the ticketing options for Universal Orlando a little more complex. As of this update, there’s no single ticket that will allow you to visit all three parks on the same day. If you want to do this, you’ll need to buy two tickets:
a single day ticket to Epic Universe AND
a single day ticket covering both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.
If you have more time, you can consider other ticket options. For two days, Universal has a ticket option that combines the above two—it gives you one day for Epic and one day to spend at both the other two parks.
If you happen to have an extra day and you’re considering alternative ticket options, I just want to be clear about one key point—you need park-to-park between Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. 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.
Hogwarts Express is not just a boring, empty train, it is an attraction, and it’s definitely worth the cost of the upgrade to park-to-park for any . 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 three lands. While I’m not going into the details of an itinerary in this section, I’ll provide some planning commentary along the way. After this, we’ll provide an outline of a plan for how you might experience as much as you can from all three lands in a single day.
Things at All Three Lands
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 all three Wizarding World lands (all wands work in all lands). There are (roughly, sources vary) 20 spots in Diagon Alley, 11 in Hogsmeade, and 13 in Ministry of Magic.
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 three 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.
Two of the three lands—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.
This experience is not available at the new Ministry of Magic land. However, you can still buy a wand, just visit Cosme Acajor Baguettes Magique.
Throughout all three 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 all 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.
Finally, during the Halloween season (usually late August through October), on select nights you’re able to encounter Death Eaters in some of the lands. You can check the app or recent social media reports to figure out which lands they’ll be in, but it can vary year-by-year.
What to Do at Ministry of Magic
Ministry of Magic is the newest of the three lands, located at Epic Universe.
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is a thrill ride with a mix of screens and practical effects. Fans have long felt like the screens at Universal parks can be overused, but I was blown away by the quality of these absolutely enormous screens. At several points on my first ride I simply marveled at how well they blended with animatronics in the foreground. It’s a must-ride with a fantastic queue. It has a height requirement of 40” (102 cm).
There are no other rides in this land, but there is a 20-minute stage show—Le Cirque Arcanus. This is a unique offering and definitely a special component of Wizarding World. I’ll stop just short of calling it “must-see”, mostly because of scheduling reasons we’ll discuss later.
There are two restaurants in Ministry of Magic—Café L’air De La Sirène and Le Gobelet Noir. Café L’air De La Sirène is the brighter, Parisian-cafe option, and the only one of the two that serves breakfast. Le Gobelet Noir is the dark-wizard themed option. Around the corner from Le Gobelet Noir is a walkup bar, Bar Moonshine.
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 one of the best rides 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, but is currently “Hogwarts Always.” During the holiday season, you can expect to see “The Magic of Christmas.” It’s always worth considering it a must-do since there’s no nighttime show in either of the other two lands.
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 split your breakfast, lunch, and dinner across the three lands, if possible. Check restaurant hours, as all may not be open for all meals. None of these are high-end, hard-to-get-into spots. Feel free to just place a small mobile order if you want to just briefly enjoy the restaurant.
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 main restaurant at Diagon Alley is The Leaky Cauldron. As noted above, you can use mobile order at this restaurant, and we recommend dividing your main meals across the three lands. 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. The typical schedule is for the dragon to breathe every ten minutes, but it can sometimes be less frequent. If it happens to be less frequent, you’ll often be able to deduce the schedule just by hearing it a few times while you explore the land. 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.
Reducing Waits In Wizarding World
Last thing before we get to the itineraries—there are a two ways to make your waits shorter and your day easier.
Universal Express Pass
First, there’s Universal Express Pass, a paid extra that 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 Battle at the Ministry. We have an overview of Express Pass at Universal Orlando Resort, along with a specific review of Express Pass at Epic Universe.
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 $120 per person for one-park versions, 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—consider Express Pass only 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, Hagrid’s, and Battle at the Ministry 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, Escape from Gringott’s, and Battle at the Ministry have the same problem as many 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
Note: Throughout this section, I’ll vary between referring to the parks and the specific lands. For example, it makes sense to talk about the hours of Epic Universe (the park) even though you really care about Ministry of Magic (the Wizarding World land).
Finally, it’s time for an outline of how we recommend spending a full day at Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World. The goal here is to visit all three lands in one day, so that’s what this section will mostly focus on.
If you have opted for a two-day approach, you’ll probably spend one full day at Epic Universe (plan for your full day enjoying all of Epic Universe, you won’t need a full day at Ministry of Magic) and one day split between the other two parks.
Even with two days, I recommend you keep reading to help you plan your one day split between Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. The general approach is to start at Hogsmeade (with Hagrid’s), then take the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley, do everything you want in Diagon Alley, then take the Hogwarts Express back to Hogsmeade.
Now—fitting all three lands into a single day. There are basically two key questions to answer in planning your visit to all three lands in a single day. First, you need to decide which land you’re going to start in. And, if your answer to that question isn’t Ministry of Magic, then you need to decide whether you’re going to transit roundtrip to Ministry of Magic or just end the day there.
Let’s start with the first question…
Where To Start Your Wizarding World Day
As a threshold matter, you’ll need to check out park hours. You want maximum time in the parks, so a plan that starts at the park that opens first and ends at the park that closes last is generally a better plan.
Then you’ll need to consider whether or not you have Early Admission. Each day, at least one of the parks at Universal Orlando has Early Park Admission, allowing select guests (mostly Universal hotel guests) early access to the park. If you have Early Admission, you’ve potentially got an extra hour to work with. If you don’t have Early Admission, you’ll need to be more concerned about crowds building up before you can access rides.
Let’s talk through the options for starting your day, park by park, including how Early Admission impacts the analsysis.
Starting at Diagon Alley (Universal Studios Florida) almost never makes sense. While Diagon Alley is my favorite of the lands, it only has two rides—Hogwarts Express and Gringott’s. Gringott’s has a queue that’s easily worth waiting 30 minutes in. And—because I think it’s the best land—you’ll probably want to spend the most time in this land. Save this one for later because the other two parks make much more sense in the morning.
Starting at Hogsmeade (Islands of Adventure) makes sense, particularly with Early Admission. Hogsmeade has four rides, including the very popular Hagrid’s coaster. If you can be at the head of the crowds checking off Hagrid’s then Forbidden Journey then Flight of the Hippogriff to start the day, you’re in excellent shape. After riding the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley, you might even quickly get on Gringott’s.
If Early Admission is offered at Islands of Adventure and you don’t have it, you’ll probably do better starting over at Ministry of Magic.
Starting at Ministry of Magic (Epic Universe) is sensible but slightly unpredictable. As I update this, Epic Universe has been open barely a month. While Battle at the Ministry has become a pretty reliable ride, procedures in the park in the morning are more complex. The park has Early Admission daily….but it doesn’t include Battle at the Ministry…but Battle at the Ministry usually opens early for all guests…but it isn’t officially scheduled to open until 10AM most days…even though it’s been opening closer to 9AM and maybe park hours will soon be modified to a 9AM opening.
I don’t mean for that paragraph to come off as snarky or obfuscating, but the situation at Epic is a bit blurry. If you arrive early and head straight to Battle at the Ministry, there’s a chance you’ll be off by 9:15AM even without Early Admission—a perfect start to your day. Take some time to enjoy the land—maybe breakfast at Café L’air De La Sirène, and move on with your day.
But there’s a chance the ride doesn’t open until 10AM (the standard park opening time at the moment) and you’re not off until sometime way later if you’re behind the crowds. In a worst case scenario if you don’t have Early Admission, Battle at the Ministry unexpectedly joins Early Admission, so you arrive and then have to wait hours in line behind Early Admission crowds, maybe not riding until after noon.
With that in mind let’s pivot and talk about the alternative approach. If you don’t start at Ministry of Magic, how do you fit it into your day?
Fitting Ministry of Magic Into Your Single Day
It takes real time to get between Ministry of Magic and the other two lands. I haven’t timed this journey, but by car I’d plan for about an hour—20 minutes between land and car on both ends, plus 20 minutes driving between the two parking lots. By bus, I’d plan for the same.
Ideally, you only want to make that trip once, which means you’ll probably either be starting or ending your day in Ministry of Magic. We covered some of the problems with starting at Ministry of Magic above, so it really comes down to are you going to go to Ministry of Magic and then come back to the other two lands, or are you going to end at Ministry of Magic?
The problems with ending at Ministry of Magic are twofold:
The Battle at the Ministry queue can reach capacity well before the park closes
Hogsmeade is the only Wizarding World land with a nighttime show
Park hours will play into your decision somewhat, too. If one of the older parks is open late, you’ll have more time there after Epic. If one or both of the older parks closes early, you might favor just finishing at Epic.
Otherwise, This is definitely a day-by-day sort of decision.
The ideal situation is that you speed through several rides in the morning in Hogsmeade—a short wait on Hagrid’s being particularly important—allowing you to get to Ministry of Magic feeling like even 3 hours waiting for Battle at the Ministry is no problem—you’ll be able to get back to the older two parks with plenty of time.
On the flip side, if you wind up in a situation where, say, Epic Universe closes at 9PM and it’s 4PM by the time you’re ready to head there, you’ll probably do best just to hang out until about 6PM, arrive at Epic around 7PM, and get in line for Battle of the Ministry (this is under the presumption that the queue for that ride can close early—if crowds are low enough when you visit, you might “risk” getting in the queue later).
If the uncertainty bothers you, then you might also just decide you definitely want to go to Ministry of Magic and come back. If you really want to “lock in” the late afternoon and evening at Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, then your best option is to focus mostly on Hagrid’s and the Hogwarts Express to start the day. If things move quickly, maybe you also fit in some other rides to your morning. If not, your plan is to come back later anyways.
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
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Just starting out? Start with our Universal Orlando Resort planning guide! If you’re considering a Universal hotel, read our Guide to the Hotels of Universal Orlando Resort!
You’ll want to know what rides the parks offer, so we’ve got a Universal Studios Florida Rides Guide, a Universal Islands of Adventure Rides Guide, and a Universal Epic Universe Rides Guide.
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, our Universal Islands of Adventure One Day Plan covers Hagrid's, Velocicoaster, and more, and we even have a One Day Guide to Epic Universe covering Universal's newest park.
Want to know how to get on rides without the long waits? Read all about Express Pass at Universal Orlando Resort. Plus, 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.