John and I spent such a magnificent evening at the DIS Unplugged Disapalooza event at Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We had both finished the book and watched the movie just the week before so the timing could not have been more perfect!!
The event happened in London and Diagon Alley. It was like stepping into your favorite book! John and I both were in complete awe of every little detail.
The Knight Bus even had the chandeliers inside and an talking head! John was even a little too timid to go up to it.
We headed in King’s Cross station in search of platform 9 3/4.
And our first glimpse of the Hogwarts Express in a puff of smoke was just jaw dropping.
We were so excited to board the train in our very own car. The ride between London and Hogsmeade was really cool. The “window” showed us leaving London, crossing the countryside and arriving at Hogwarts. Since the party was exclusive to Diagon Alley, the train just went back and forth so we got to see the reverse ride through the windows too. Another part we loved was “seeing” Harry, Hermonie and Ron pass by the doors on the opposite side. SO well done!
Diagon Alley was also incredible. We could hardly believe we were there!!!
We stopped in Ollivander’s for John to be chosen by a wand. Would you believe he was chosen by the very same wand that Harry carries?! :-) I splurged on the interactive wand and he had a wonderful time casting spells in the window around Diagon Alley. Again, it was just SO cool!!
Since this was a relatively small party compared to capacity at Diagon Alley, Gringotts was a walk on ride the whole night!!! We did the entire queue twice and rode the actual ride three times. Again, such a neat experience. I couldn’t believe the goblins in the first part – it was seriously like being in the movie.
We were the only two people in Gringotts Money Exchange for quite some time. John was enthralled with asking the goblin questions and his replies. He asked him what his favorite house was… none. If he knows Harry Potter… of course. If he’s scared of Voldemort… no. And so much more! You can exchange muggle money in here for wizarding money to be used all throughout Universal Orlando and at some places in City Walk.
Unlimited butterbeer was included in our visit, so we made many trips to the Fountain of Fair Fortune to fill our bellies! It came in different varieties, I preferred it chilled and John liked it frozen. And while the butterbeer was my favorite, John fell in love with the Pumpkin Juice!
We had so much fun exploring all of the shops on Diagon Alley AND on Knockturn Alley.
Ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s was also included in our visit so we were thrilled to try some new varieties. We got double scoops of different things and tried them all. The winner was Chocolate Chili!!
I just cannot say enough wonderful things about our magical little date night at Diagon Alley. Thank you to the DIS team for this incredible night (and all of your boards and podcasts) and thank you to John for being such a cool kid!!!! Here’s a little GoPro recap of our night…
If you’re curious, Honey and Whit went night swimming at our resort (Pop Century at Disney), ordered a pizza and watched Disney movies while we were gone. While Honey was nearly devastated to miss the fun and wanted to hear every.single.detail, Whit was happy as a clam to have a night with Daddy all to himself and not one scary thing.
I can’t wait to go back with the whole family in a couple of years. It is absolutely, positively worth a visit for any Harry Potter fan!! Since this was more of an event than a regular tour, I don’t have a whole lot of insight to tips and tricks but am happy to help answer anything I can!!
xoxo
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Wow looks like you had the park to yourselves!
What a fun mother son outing.
I love this!! So cool for your fellas to have such amazing memories of time spent with you and Honey. And I love getting to live vicariously through y’all!!
My 6 year old got Harry’s wand too and managed to crack it on a wall the very next week. Totally amazing how there were no waits! I was so amazed at the detail in every little nook and cranny. We went in Oct and the crowds were totally manageable. I did single rider for Gringotts and I waited maybe 5 mins. We waited probably 15 for the castle. I want to go back again so badly!
Looks like y’all had an awesome time!!!! Time to plan a trip for our family with my “college kids”. My daughter is a big Harry Potter fan. She is spending her spring master program in France and is planning a trip to London to see the HP play.
Question for you – which GoPro do y’all have? Do you have a touch screen on back – standard or added-on?
Thanks!!! Kimberly