Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Advice for My Visit?

[Augusta]

No: HPFGUIDX 191344

I wrote a really long post on my facebook page about our trip last year -- I won't copy the whole thing here, but these are a few tips that I offered at the end:

    Go off-season in the middle of the week if you can.

    Buy the Express ticket if you can afford it; you'll get to go down the fast lanes to get closer to the front of the lines first. If you're short on time, it'll be well worth the extra cost.

    Eat at the Three Broomsticks either early or late; it gets crowded right at lunchtime. The entrees are hearty, somewhat healthy, and not overpriced. Butterbeer tastes like a butterscotchy root beer but the foam is added separately (we didn't try the frozen version but someone on the shuttle said it was great). The "Pumpkin Juice" was more like spiced tea, heavy on the clovesâ€"I was expecting it to be thicker, more like orange juice, but it wasn't bad.

    We didn't go into Ollivander's, but the line was ALWAYS wrapped around the building, so plan on a wait if you want a wand to choose you; however, you can buy wands in several of the other shops if you don't want to wait.

    Bring your address book and stamps if you want to mail postcards through Owl Post (I had to take mine back to the room to address them). You can buy real USPS 44¢ Hogwarts stamps at a premium ($15.95 for a set of 10), but even if you bring your own stamps, you can get them canceled with a Hogsmeade indicia and drop them into the box to mail right there.

    Listen to the people around you; we found it amusing that almost every other person there had a British accent... and many of the others were from other parts of the world.

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lhunneb" <LHunneb at ...> wrote:
>
> I have friends getting married in Orlando in three weeks.  I'll be there for the weekend, but the only time I have to visit the Harry Potter part of Universal will be Saturday morning, 10/1.
> 
> I need advice from anyone who's been there on getting the best out of a short visit.
> 
> All advice gratefully accepted.
>