Seriously I miss paper maps…
All the parks are doing the map on the app and it’s the worst…
Anyone else old enough to remember disney sending out the big giant personalize maps for trips? Oh those were great souvenir
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Not a building, it’s like a little walkway along the water. Iirc, it has some benches or little tables with chairs along the inside track of it, but then there’s also standing room along a railing. I think. I’ve never seen the Cinematic Celebration cause the timing has just never worked out, or it wasn’t showing cause of the park closing too early, so others might have better recollections of what’s in that area
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I remember those!
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Thanks! As a super fan, what is something that I just HAVE to do in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley?
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Not sure if they still offer it - but a must do for me was sending a Howler via Owl post to my goddaughter in college…
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Ok I must know about this. I love owls!
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So I know you don’t plan to ride FJ (the ride in the castle), and honestly you’re not really missing too much with the actual ride (and it, without fail, makes me queasy every time), but the queue is the best part of that ride by far to me. It’s amazing walking through the castle and seeing all they’ve done with it. So if you have time and the line isn’t absurdly long, I recommend walking the queue and then taking the chicken exit (my sister did this with us, the TM’s are definitely used to it). I guess that wasn’t really a HAVE to do though. 
In Diagon Alley, definitely go into Knockturn Alley. And into the Weasley’s joke shop. There’s so many Easter eggs and just fun stuff they did with the theming there. Make sure to look up in the joke shop! There’s lots of cool stuff above the eye line.
Butterbeer is a must try, even if you find out you aren’t a fan. I recommend getting it at the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade, the lines aren’t usually as long as the carts, and you can see the theming inside the Three Broomsticks without having to get a meal there.
Buy some candy/confections at either Honeydukes or Sugarplums (I like Honeydukes in Hogsmeade slightly better personally in terms of theming cause its more familiar to me from the books/movies). The chocolate frogs are fun and the cards are a neat souvenir.
One of my favorite things to do in Diagon Alley is get ice cream or some other snack from one of the places, and a butterbeer or other beverage from the Hopping Pot and just sit at one of the picnic benches right in front of it and people watch and take in the scenery while I enjoy.
If either of you are beer drinkers, there are 3 beers that are specific to the Wizarding World. Hogs Head (only sold at the Hogs Head I believe), Wizard’s Brew, and Dragon’s Scale.
Ok wow sorry that turned into a novel 
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Oh then definitely stop by the Owl Post in Hogsmeade! Diagon Alley has one too worth stopping by, but iirc Hogsmeade’s is a more extensive shop with lots of owls of your very own available for purchase
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Mmmm beer. I heard everything else you said, but mmm beer. I am bringing my drinking buddy on this trip so I’m sure shenanigans will ensue.
Are chocolate frogs just frog shaped chocolates or is there something more to them?
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Take my 
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Oh then definitely go by Hogs Head! It’s a full bar, and also has fire whiskey and some pear cocktail I’m blanking on and maybe an alcoholic raspberry tea? I don’t know that they have a proper menu though, so I would maybe Google some things you might want to try in advance so you don’t just stand there blankly staring at the bartender when he asks what you want and you don’t have a list of choices in front of you (may or may not be speaking from personal experience here )
Chocolate frogs themselves are just frogs made of chocolate, but they come in the iconic case thingy from the movies, and the cool (to me, the nerd) thing about them is the cards they come with. Each frog has a card of a famous Wizard or Witch. Also the honeydukes tins that some of the other candies come in to me are super cute.
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Ok I’m glad my tour at SeaWorld was canceled bc I wasn’t counting on spending much at UOR, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a very expensive day.
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I mean, to be fair, it’s entirely possible to go and spend minimal amounts of money. In theory. Assuming you don’t want to drink alcohol or buy souvenirs. The food is not cheap (I mean, it’s a theme park), but the markups on alcohol and various souvenirs tend to be what gets me. Though candy and plushies are usually cheaper than clothing ime.
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Yeah I planned on trying all the butterbeer formats and I got my wand off Mercari to save some $$. I know tp food is $$, but I didn’t think I would buy much else which I’m quickly learning is false.
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I got chosen at Olivander’s, so there was no hope for me not paying full price on a wand 
they would have had to pry it out of my cold, dead hands
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Oh yeah I would have been a sucker too.
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It was actually super cool cause it was my first visit to Diagon Alley, and my sister and BIL’s first ever visit to Universal, and the show was one of the first things we did in the Wizarding World. And all of us were expecting one of the roughly 15 children to be picked. But then it was me! We were all like 
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That sounds awesome! Maybe they were like ‘childless millennial with expendable income! Get her!’
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Probably “there’s a sucker who’s bouncing up and down with excitement and no parents to say no, we got this sale in the bag”
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OMG - there is hope! For my 20 something’s
Lol my son asked if we could stop in to universal on our way home from Ft. Lauderdale- he wants to get a wand and spend the afternoon “casting the spells” -
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