Is there only one ride in Harry Potter World (besides the train?)

[heart4dis]

Besides the train, is there only one ride in Harry Potter World? Then shops and restaurants?
I am a Disney-holic who would love to go to the world of Harry Potter but trying to weigh whether it is worth it to give up a day at WDW

 

[heart4dis]

...And I'm confused....Is Harry Potter at Universal or IOA?

 

[EveDallas]

Escape from Gringotts is at Universal, Forbidden Journey and Flight of the Hippogrif are at IOA. The Hogwarts Express runs in between. If you come with the mindset that only rides are worth it, you'll be disappointed. There is SO MUCH MORE to the Wizarding World (not to mention Universal as a whole).

 

[tink1957]

Hogsmeade is at IOA and Diagon Alley is at US you need a park to park ticket to ride the Hogwarts express between the two parks. Hogsmeade has Forbidden Journey and Flight of the Hippogriff and Diagon Alley has Escape from Gringott's as well as numerous shops and shows are in both areas plus you can dine at the 3 Broomsticks in Hogsmeade and the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley, it's like stepping into the movies and not to be missed for any HP fan.

 

[only hope]

If you’re a huge fan of the HP books and/or movies, it is worth it. You can easily spend four-six hours between the two lands if you take your time and appreciate all the details. It’s possible to be done with both in two hours if you just do the rides when they’re not busy and maybe briefly check out some shops.

 

[KEW]

There's also the "wand chooses the wizard" at Ollivander's (I'm assuming. I only did this in Hollywood when we went last year), interactive wands/spells around the world, the fire-breathing dragon, and other things as well.

Look out for it with the Hogwarts Express (forgot going which way)...they have a platform 9-3/4 where you can "disappear" into the brick wall. it's very cool. Only found that out because the people in front of me slowed down the line....so they could video their group 'walking' through the wall. Well...I did the same for my family. It's a neat little free souvenir from the world.

Oh...and I'm not a Harry Potter fanatic either.

There are other "londony" things...like I remember seeing a phone booth, a triple-decker bus, some shrunken head, lots of themeing from entering into HP land, the streets, the shops, and THE CASTLE! Gosh...the Gringotts ride queue was so fun...and, again...I don't even know much about Harry Potter. Oh...and the gringotts money exchange. I took photos of this but didn't actually exchange any money...kind of wish I did...although I know I would never spend it.

 

[bchbetha]

Go!!
The theming and attention to detail can impress even a Disney die hard.
Knockturn Alley alone is super cool.

 

[glocon]

Is Dragon Challenge closed now?

 

[DisBuckMan]

Is Dragon Challenge closed now?

Yes....closed back in September.

 

[glocon]

 

[Tattylou]

Ok, I'll be the first to give a mixed review instead of just positive - don't hate me HP fanatics.......
We went to Universal Studios for 1 day last year just to see some HP stuff. In order to ride the train, you have to have a ticket to both parks, which obviously costs more than a ticket to just one park. So half of HP is at IOA and half is at Universal. We did just 1 park bc we only had the 1 day. My youngest was too short to ride the Forbidden Journey so we chose Univeral over IOA. The Gringotts ride was awesome. We did the wand shop thing - my kids weren't picked, but it was fun to watch. Then we bought $50 each interactive wands that required my kids to be so precise to get the wand to work that the kids ended up frustrated and stopped using them. Interactive wands are over rated based on our experience. My friend who was there with her kids felt the same about the wands - not worth it to pay extra for interactive, too hard to get to work right, etc. (Fwiw her kids and mine aged from 5-8.) We walked in a few shops, had buttered beer, the dragon on the bank is cool to see. HP was a relatively smaller area than I expected. There is only 1 ride on the Universal side and that kind of is a bummer. Maybe the IOA side is bigger and better, I don' t know. Overall, it was good to see it and we had fun.....but I wish we just went to Disney instead.

 

[schumigirl]

Ok, so I have mixed feelings on my HP experience....
We went to Universal Studios for 1 day last year just to see some HP stuff. In order to ride the train, you have to have a ticket to both parks, which obviously costs more than a ticket to just one park. We did just 1 park bc we only had the 1 day. The Gringotts ride was awesome. We did the wand shop thing - my kids weren't picked, but it was fun to watch. Then we bought $50 each interactive wands that required my kids to be so precise to get the wand to work that the kids ended up frustrated and stopped using them. Interactive wands are over rated based on our experience. My friend who was there with her kids felt the same about the wands - not worth it to pay extra for interactive, too hard to get to work right, etc. (Fwiw her kids and mine aged from 5-8.) We walked in a few shops, had buttered beer, the dragon on the bank is cool to see. Overall, it was good to see it.....but I wish we just went to Disney instead.

Shame you didn’t enjoy it.

As for costs, one day anywhere is going to cost a lot.........I suppose it’s good business sense to only have access to the HE if you have a park to park ticket.

I think you’re one of the first people I’ve heard say they didn’t love watching their kids use the interactive wands......most love them, but not for everyone. I love watching the little ones faces when they manage one of the spells........

But least you know you won’t go back........it’s not for everyone I suppose.......

 

[Tattylou]

Shame you didn’t enjoy it.

As for costs, one day anywhere is going to cost a lot.........I suppose it’s good business sense to only have access to the HE if you have a park to park ticket.

I think you’re one of the first people I’ve heard say they didn’t love watching their kids use the interactive wands......most love them, but not for everyone. I love watching the little ones faces when they manage one of the spells........

But least you know you won’t go back........it’s not for everyone I suppose.......

Yeah I wanted to love the wands, but the kids were having trouble with them. They even had a staff at each one trying to help kids make them work, which made me think it wasn't just an issue for us.

We might go back someday and do the other side. Brilliant money make for them to split it that way, I totally get that. We were just heading up for a day bc our actual vacation was down in St Pete beach so we were keeping it on a budget for the 1 day. I always splurge for hoppers when we go to Disney and will be there multiple days.

 

[schumigirl]

Yeah I wanted to love the wands, but the kids were having trouble with them. They even had a staff at each one trying to help kids make them work, which made me think it wasn't just an issue for us.

We might go back someday and do the other side. Brilliant money make for them to split it that way, I totally get that. We were just heading up for a day bc our actual vacation was down in St Pete beach so we were keeping it on a budget for the 1 day. I always splurge for hoppers when we go to Disney and will be there multiple days.

They always have staff there to help the littler ones......they can struggle if they’re too little........but it’s easy to make the spells work regularly...........

I hear you......I couldn’t imagine doing Universal without park to park..........

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Is Dragon Challenge closed now?

Not the best picture (as it was starting to get dark but this was taken in mid-September:

My husband was real sad too. It closed a few days before we got there and it was one of his favorite rides.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ok, I'll be the first to give a mixed review instead of just positive - don't hate me HP fanatics.......
We went to Universal Studios for 1 day last year just to see some HP stuff. In order to ride the train, you have to have a ticket to both parks, which obviously costs more than a ticket to just one park. So half of HP is at IOA and half is at Universal. We did just 1 park bc we only had the 1 day. My youngest was too short to ride the Forbidden Journey so we chose Univeral over IOA. The Gringotts ride was awesome. We did the wand shop thing - my kids weren't picked, but it was fun to watch. Then we bought $50 each interactive wands that required my kids to be so precise to get the wand to work that the kids ended up frustrated and stopped using them. Interactive wands are over rated based on our experience. My friend who was there with her kids felt the same about the wands - not worth it to pay extra for interactive, too hard to get to work right, etc. (Fwiw her kids and mine aged from 5-8.) We walked in a few shops, had buttered beer, the dragon on the bank is cool to see. HP was a relatively smaller area than I expected. There is only 1 ride on the Universal side and that kind of is a bummer. Maybe the IOA side is bigger and better, I don' t know. Overall, it was good to see it and we had fun.....but I wish we just went to Disney instead.

I think it can be really difficult for die-hard-Disney-don't-go-to-Universal-ever people to go over to Universal. There usually (at least based on a lot of comments) a constant comparison to Disney.

For me the park-to-park isn't a problem as we get them no matter what. It's just like getting park hoppers at Disney-we get those too. Universal isn't doing something there that Disney isn't aside from the Hogwarts Express needing park to park but that honestly makes sense (and it's nice for people who do park to park not having to go up to the front of the park and then enter the other park from the front and walk a bunch). Diagon Alley is meant to be cozier as it's based on an alley-type shopping area from the movies but I thought it was really cool all the different parts of it you could explore plus watching the small show they had-the tales of beedle the bard.

As far as the wands..yeah they are pricey but they are just like banshees over at WDW in the sense that it's the desired item to buy and it's pricey it's just they've been around for longer than the banshees. If I remember correctly WDW raised their prices on the banshees and the stand for them.

As far as 1 ride well a lot of people complain about WDW's new additions for Pandora and what will be Star Wars and Toy Story in how there is only 2 or so rides (I can't exactly remember how many for toy story off the bat).

I guess in a nutshell what I'm trying to convey is that Universal isn't really all that different than WDW when you really look at it.

 

[bchbetha]

Orlando Informer has HP itineraries that will tell you all sorts of cool nook and cranny details that’ll really add depth and interest to your visit.

 

[Tattylou]

@Mackenzie Click-Mickelson I have not been since they opened Pandora - going in April. My kids haven't seen Avatar so they would not have the expectations of a Banshee the way they did about the wands. We know theme park merch will be pricey and I was happy to buy them the wands - we were just disappointed in the interactive part compared to what we expected (Maybe we had too high expectations?).
I understand what you are saying about new lands at WDW only having only 1 or 2 rides too. This may become more apparent in a year or so when ppl start to ask if going to Star Wars Land for the day is worth it the way ppl ask about HP land. OP asked as a self proclaimed Disney-aholic and I answered as another self proclaimed Disney-aholic. You are 100% correct and I agree that it can be hard for the "always go to Disney and never go to Universal" people to not compare Universal to Disney. That's true. We did enjoy HP land and we were glad we saw it. I just gave my honest opinion about our day there - what we liked, what was just ok. Although in all fairness, I am sure my opinion is biased bc I am a Disney girl.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

@Mackenzie Click-Mickelson I have not been since they opened Pandora - going in April. My kids haven't seen Avatar so they would not have the expectations of a Banshee the way they did about the wands. We know theme park merch will be pricey and I was happy to buy them the wands - we were just disappointed in the interactive part compared to what we expected (Maybe we had too high expectations?).
I understand what you are saying about new lands at WDW only having only 1 or 2 rides too. This may become more apparent in a year or so when ppl start to ask if going to Star Wars Land for the day is worth it the way ppl ask about HP land. OP asked as a self proclaimed Disney-aholic and I answered as another self proclaimed Disney-aholic. You are 100% correct and I agree that it can be hard for the "always go to Disney and never go to Universal" people to not compare Universal to Disney. That's true. That's totally how I felt- so in all fairness my opinion is biased bc I am a Disney girl.

I think it sucks that the wands weren't working for you; I know some people have gone back to talk with the employees regarding them not working but I understand that moment has passed plus not everyone (including myself) would necessarily think to go talk to someone about it not working. The people I saw using them it seemed to work fairly well (I know the fountain though took a few people a few tries to get it to work).

Pandora is great honestly at least in my opinion-I was really was amazed at all the detail and if you have the time I would see it during the day and the night. Hope you guys like it!

I agree on Star Wars..I feel like there will be two sets of people--one for those going for just the immersive detail and one for going for the rides. Hopefully the rides live up to people's expectations if that's the main reason they are going.