Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
characters (Fred and George Weasley, Hagrid) and threats en route (bone-chilling De-
mentors, licorice spiders), augmented by temperature and sound effects in the cars.
One-way passengers will need a valid two-park ticket. Disembarking passengers
must enter the second park and, if desired, queue again for their return trip. You'll be
allowed (nay, encouraged) to upgrade your 1-Park Base Ticket at the station entrance.
Universal Express is unavailable, at least for the time being.
In addition, you are permitted only one ride per day. If you wish to take a same-
day return trip, you'll be relegated to a secondary queue that is slower than the
standby queue.
Park-to-park ticket-purchasing Potterphiles should make the train their second
stop of the day after Escape from Gringotts if going from Diagon Alley to Hogs-
meade. Or, if Diagon Alley is your top priority of the day, enter Islands of Adventure
as early as possible and line up at the Hogsmeade Station for the train to London
King's Cross.
Ollivanders
What it is
Combination wizarding demonstration and shopping op.
Scope and scale
Ma-
jor attraction.
Fright potential
Special effects may startle 6-and-unders.
Bottleneck rat-
ing
10.
When to go
After riding Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.
Special
comment
Audience stands.
Authors' rating
Enchanting; .
Duration of presentation
6 minutes.
Average waiting time in line per 100 people ahead of you
7 minutes.
Ollivanders, located in Diagon Alley in the books and films, somehow sprouted a
branch location in Hogsmeade at
IOA
. Potter purists pointed out this misplacement,
but the wand shop stayed and became one of the most popular features of The Wiz-
arding World. It also became a horrendous bottleneck, with long lines where guests
roasted in an unshaded queue. In The Wizarding World: Diagon Alley, Ollivanders
will assume its rightful place, and with much larger digs. At IOA, only 24 guests at
a time can experience the little drama where wands choose a wizard (rather than the
other way around). At the Studios, the shop will have three separate choosing cham-
bers, turning it from a popular curiosity into an actual attraction. As for the IOA loc-
ation, there's no indication that it will close.
