Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the attraction department, Universal once again came out swinging for the
fences. As before with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the headliner attrac-
tion for the expansion is high-tech and cutting-edge—and once again a dark ride, but
this time of the roller-coaster genre. The labyrinthine passages and caverns of Grin-
gotts Wizarding Bank, the financial institution of choice for the wizarding set, are the
setting of this plot-driven 3-D dark ride-coaster.
Though the Gringotts attraction is Diagon Alley's headliner, the most creative
element in the two-park Potter domain is the Hogwarts Express, which re-creates the
train trip from London to Hogwarts and vice versa. Serving as both an attraction and
transportation between USF and IOA, the Express unifies the two disparately located
Wizarding Worlds into a continuous whole.
Diagon Alley in Detail
Diagon Alley and its London Waterfront are sandwiched between the San Francisco
and World Expo areas of the park, about as far from Universal Studios Florida's main
entrance as you can get. From the park entrance, turn right on Rodeo Drive to Mel's
Diner; from here, circumnavigate the lagoon counterclockwise, keeping it to your left
until you reach the entrance to the London Waterfront, where wrought-iron fencing
surrounds a parklike promenade. You can also access the London Waterfront from
the San Francisco area by walking clockwise around the lagoon and then taking a
shoreline bypass along the embankment to the World Expo side of the Potter themed
area. Here you can access London through the gateway closest to the
Fear Factor
Live
stadium. A third option is to take the Hogwarts Express from Islands of Adven-
ture—exit the London Waterfront-Diagon Alley area into San Francisco.
Having arrived at the London area, take a moment to spot Kreacher (the house
elf regularly peers from a second-story window above 12 Grimmauld Place) and chat
with the Knight Bus conductor and his Caribbean-accented shrunken head. Also not-
able are snack and souvenir stands and a towering statue-topped fountain.
Now enter Diagon Alley next to the Leicester Square marquee in the approximate
center of the building facades. As in the books and films, the unmarked portal is con-
cealed within a magical brick wall that is ordinarily reserved for wizards and the like.
(Unfortunately, the wall doesn't actually move, due to safety concerns.) However, the
