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Touring Plans - Diagon Alley

I can easily spend an entire day just on the HP stuff and I've been several times. I swear I find new details every time I go. Here is a touring plan I've made, it's by no means complete and certainly does not have to be done in this particular order.

A Perfect Day in the Wizarding World


Start by being at the gates to the park at least a half hour before opening, they frequently allow regular day guests in early.


Start on the Universal Studios side.


Proceed directly to Diagon Alley and enter through the brick wall. Pause and listen while you go through the brick wall.


Go straight to Escape from Gringott’s and ride it (BEST RIDE EVER!).


When you exit the ride, go into the Gringott’s Money Exchange. Converse with the goblin working there while you exchange some muggle money for wizard money.


Go to Olivander’s, watch the wand ceremony, then purchase an interactive wand, use your wizard money to pay for it.


Go to the Leaky Cauldron and eat breakfast (get there before they stop serving breakfast at 1030)

- Try an Otter’s Fizzy Orange Juice, a Tongue Tying Lemon Squash, or pumpkin juice with breakfast


Walk around Diagon Alley casting spells, looking through the shops, and reading all the advertisements on the walls.

Special Effects list:

- Go in Madame Malkins and stand in front of the mirror

- Knock on the door of the Daily Prophet

- Stand on the corner between the restrooms and Gringott’s and listen for the wizarding wireless network

- Go in Borgin and Burkes and stand in front of the vanishing cabinet and listen

- Open your wand map while in Knockturn Alley under the black lights


Be sure to hit all the spell spots that are listed on the map, there are two that are not listed- look for the piece of parchment paper in the window of Scribbulus’s Shop and wave your wand at it and look for the potted plants in the apothecary’s shop and wave your wand at them.


Go into Shutterbutton’s and do the acting in front of the green screens, then purchase the DVD.


Stop at Eternelle’s Elixirs and pick up some potions to take home (you can skip the “gillywater”, it is just overpriced bottled water with a label, it is cheaper to take the potions home and mix them with regular water).


Stop by the Hopping Pot OR the Fountain of Faire Fortune and get a Fishy Green Ale (just get one and ask for more straws if you have more than one person, it is to everyone's taste).


Exit Diagon Alley to the London Waterfront.


In the London Waterfront:

-Stand in front of number twelve Grimmauld Place and look at the second story windows for several minutes.

-Go in the phone booth and dial the number to the Ministry visitor’s entrance (it’s written on the phone).

- Go into the back of the Knight bus and look inside. If a conductor is out front, talk and take pictures with him.


Enter the train station and ride the Hogwart’s Express to Hogesmeade.


Enter Hogwart’s and ride Forbidden Journey. If you have express passes, use the regular line at least once to see all the details.


Ride Flight of the Hippogriff.


Go in the Owl Post and mail a letter to yourself, it is a working post office with a special Hogsmeade postmark.


Go in Dervish and Banges and look for the monster book. Stand out front of the store and listen to all the different howler messages in the outside window.


Go in the bathroom and listen for a familiar voice.


Do all the spell spots in Hogsmeade.


Eat a late lunch/early dinner in the Three Broomsticks.


Go in the Hog’s Head and get Butterbeer (for real beer - the dragonscale is better than the wizard’s brew IMO), then go outside and up the street to the stage to listen to the frog choir or the Triwizard spirit rally.


Go in Honeydukes and get some sweets to take home (in the bakery case in the store the cauldron cakes are very good, they also have pumpkin pasties).


Ride the Hogwart’s Express back to Diagon Alley (the ride is different both ways).


Go to Florean Fortescue’s for an ice cream to finish off the night.


Be sure to stay in Diagon Alley until after closing, the rides and shops close but you can still walk around and look in all the lit-up windows and it is very beautiful at night.

Wow! This is fantastic. We’ve been twice and didn’t know some of these tips (no idea about the phone booth).

I have one thing to add. If nothing happens at Grimmauld place, knock on the door. Later at night it seems like that effect works when someone knocks.

OP, I am not someone who hangs out and soaks up the atmosphere or the shops in theme parks (streetosphere? What streetosphere?). I don’t really care for WS at Epcot much because of that. But I could spend all day in the HP lands. They are really magnificent. I’m hoping Star Wars land will be as good, but we’ll see.


And I second the suggestion to stay until park close. It’s really lovely and becomes much less crowded.
 
I buy and eat a Cauldron Cake when I enter and then I buy another one when I leave the area. I spend as much time at the HP area as I think I'm going to need so that my wife doesn't look at me sideways when I buy the 2nd cake. Usually a couple hours.
 
@CPanther95 I as so mad on my last trip when I realized they had changed the cauldron cakes! I loved the ones they had before, the new ones in the silicone cauldron aren't nearly as good to me.
 
@CPanther95 I as so mad on my last trip when I realized they had changed the cauldron cakes! I loved the ones they had before, the new ones in the silicone cauldron aren't nearly as good to me.

Totally agree. Our previous trips we would always buy the chocolate 'cake' ones!! Was very disappointed in December that they were gone.

And we didn't like the butterbeer fudge, either. We did LOVE the butterbeer potted cream though.
 


Thank you ruthies for the very helpful posts! We are US first-timers, and really excited to visit WWoHP with our 8 yo next month but only for a day and a half. My question is where should we head first when we arrive at around 2pm? I'm thinking we should enter at US and head right to Diagon Alley. Will have the park-to-park tickets, so could go to IOA that same day if we have time. I'm just not sure how best to spend the half day. We will definitely head over bright and early the next day and do both DA & Hogsmeade. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
 
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@CPanther95 I as so mad on my last trip when I realized they had changed the cauldron cakes! I loved the ones they had before, the new ones in the silicone cauldron aren't nearly as good to me.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Had the silicone one once, was horrible. But at least in October, the standard one was still available in Hogsmeade. If Sherlock is correct and they are no longer available, I'm going to be crushed in April.
 
@EKGinNYC others may chime in with suggestions but I think you would be fine to head straight to Diagon Alley still at 2 pm. sometimes Gringott's can actually have a shorter wait in the afternoon than it does in the morning. Afternoon might be a good time to go ahead and hit up Olivanders and get your wand, save yourself a little time the following morning, and if the ride lines are long you can do spell spots instead. That's also a good time to grab a butterbeer and take in some shows like Celestina Warbeck. The shops are pretty much crowded all day so doing them when ride lines are also long makes a lot of sense and there is a ton of stuff to look at in the shops, you don't want to miss those, even the ceilings are neat!
 


Thanks for the reply ruthies! That sounds like a plan. We will have the Express Pass (staying at Royal Pacific) so I'm hoping our waits won't be too bad, but it's good to know there is so much to do and see other than rides.
 

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