Day 4- HP World- Diagon Alley

This was definitely the most highly anticipated day of our trip- a visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios!  We've all been re-reading the books and watching the movies and brushing up on all things HP in preparation for this exciting day, which we intended to get the most out of.  All of my research showed that we could have one fantastic, long day here, so that's what we planned on. It just didn't seem like we needed to do the same level of planning and maximizing and strategizing that can feel necessary at Disney World, so we just learned a bit about the rides, experiences and restaurants, watched a ton of videos on YouTube to help us get the overall gist of what to expect from HP World, and we were ready to leave the Disney bubble for a day of wizarding fun!

 First we stopped into the phone booth to see if we could connect with the Ministry of Magic (no luck), 

had a little chat with Stan Shunpike and Dre Head at the Knight Bus, 

and then it was time to make our way over to Diagon Alley.  We saw groups of people, and one old woman dressed in wizard robes, all walking through the other parts of the park at top speed in the same general direction, and then they all just disappeared.  We expected this, and turned down a completely ordinary looking street near Kings Cross Station. 

Robes on, everyone!

Just around this corner.... 

We made it to Diagon Alley!

I had to blink my eyes and adjust to what we were really seeing- Diagon Alley!  We made it! After watching so many videos and seeing lots of pictures, it was so exciting and almost unbelievable to actually be there ourselves!  And it was smaller than I expected, in a good way.  

There were very few people (we were there as early as our tickets would get us in) and everything looked amazing.  Every store beckoned us to come inside, but we made our way straight to Ollivander's Wand Shop. 

We knew there was a wand choosing experience in the shop

but we didn't expect to be selected to participate in the choosing!

Emma and Noah took their parts very seriously- they each had to try out a wand that ended up not being the right one for them.  Emma's attempt at ringing a bell 'just once' set off a chorus of chimes, and Noah's assignment to call the ladder over to him resulted in the whole thing folding up and clapping quite noisily.  

It was pure magic when their wands selected them, 

and when they did get the right wands, they were definitely the right ones! The wandmaker described their wands as being made for someone who loves animals and to travel and have adventures, who is creative, self-disciplined and loving.  And the phoenix core means that they are for someone who is destined to make their mark. I'd say the wands definitely got them right.

Noah, Emma and I were quickly ushered out into the shop, and then Adam was chosen as well! He performed his duties well, and he actually chose this wand to be the one he bought! (A small miracle for our boy who used to be physically incapable of making decisions under pressure- he's growing up!) 

Leah, Noah and (eventually) Emma each selected their own wands from the shop, and we were ready to start doing spells around Diagon Alley.

There were all kinds of spells to cast around the park- making it rain, opening the curtains for a puppet show, blooming flowers, turning on lights, and so much more. 

Just look at that cute little wizard!

The kids had so much fun trying out the different spells, all while keeping an eye on the dragon that was perched atop Gringott's Bank.  

Every 15 minutes or so he let out a ball of fire, and it was hot and loud and awesome!  We cheered every time. 

The crowds were still pretty small, and we walked right into the most highly anticipated shop of the day to get some butterbeer!

We got hot, cold and frozen so that we could all make an educated decision about our favorite one. 

Classic!

Wow, the butterbeer was SO good, and the cream-stache is a must. 

Hot was the winner with five votes!  And Leah voted for cold, with zero votes for frozen.  Not even in Florida does a slushy frozen drink in January hit the spot quite like the hot butterbeer did. 

Let's see, after butterbeer we made our way over to Quality Quidditch Supplies, 

Weasley's Wizard Whizzes, 

past The Hopping Pot 

(props to Leah for taking so many of the detail pictures)

and the owlery

into Sugar Plum's Sweet Shop, 

where we bought a chocolate frog 

fudge flies, peppermint toads and lemon drops, 

There were so many tasty treats to chose from at HP World.  We wanted to try them all!

We laughed at Gilderoy Lockhart, 

visited The Daily Prophet, 

and even braved the dark pathway to Knockturn Alley

There were some really fun spells down there!

We also into Gringott's Money Exchange, where we swapped out our muggle money for some wizard world bank notes. 

Adam has a coin collection and was seriously considering purchasing some galleons, sickles, or knuts for his collection, but at $35 for the set of three coins we suggested that he just let us purchase some bank notes that we later used to buy our lunch at The Three Broomsticks. 

There is only one ride in Diagon Alley- Escape from Gringotts Bank- and we all loved it! 

The lobby was beautiful!

The goblins were very hard at work. 

They didn't even wave at us!

And we didn't really know what to expect from the ride. 

It was fast, surprising, and fun, and we made it out alive! We all wanted to go on it again, but we just weren't sure how much time we needed to dedicated over in Hogsmeade, so it was a one time ride for us. 

We shopped a lot in Diagon Alley, hoping to find some awesome souvenirs. And the girls definitely did- they bought embossing wax with Hogwarts and Ravenclaw seals. 

Since we are a house divided, it didn't seem fitting to get either a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw Christmas ornament, and I didn't like the Hogwarts one at all, so we opted for none. And that was okay!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip!  Happy babies, a relatively restful and magic-filled morning in a new and wonderful place (that we all have visited many times in our minds as we've read the books) that we loved exploring together!

While we consulted our map and decided what to do next, the girls especially enjoyed the performance from Celestina Warbeck. 

We all did a few more spells before leaving Diagon Alley, 

and stopped by Number 12 Grimmauld Place (we spotted Kreacher!) 

before very sadly making our way past King's Cross and the Hogwarts Express- it was closed for the entire month of January!

We were all super disappointed to not get to ride on the famous train, but it just means we'll have to make our way back there again another time! 

Overall, I think we all enjoyed our morning in Diagon Alley more than our afternoon/evening in  Hogsmeade (for a couple of obvious reasons that I'll get to in the next post) and would have liked to spend even more time there, but we didn't know exactly how long it would take to do everything in Hogsmeade, and we didn't want to miss a thing.  But wow!  Diagon Alley was such a fantastic and memorable experience for all of us!