Top 10 things you have to do at the new Harry Potter theme park (in order)

There’s a new castle in town, and unlike the traditional Orlando landmark, this one isn’t inhabited by a mouse or a fairytale princess.

More likely to be crawling with giants, ghosts and house elves, Hogwarts Castle at Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens in a matter of weeks, along with loads more attractions that promise to be some of the most advanced theme park experiences anywhere.

After a look at the media preview presentation and few additional details from a one-on-one with NBC Universal staff, here are our picks for the first things you’ll want to do, fresh off the Hogwarts Express:

10. Send a postcard from Hogsmeade via the Owlery – A cute idea (when was the last time you actually sent a postcard on vacation?) Imagine sending a friend mail from Hogwarts, with an official Hogsmeade postmark. (Watch out for the owls…some of them bite…)

9. Candy shopping at Honeydukes – The Wizarding park within the larger Universal umbrella doesn’t shy away from opportunities to levitate your wallet out of your pocket, but if you do go shopping, why not start with a few harmless chocolate frogs and an every flavour bean or two (steer clear of the booger and ear wax variety.) Nearby Zonko’s joke shop is the closest the park gets to featuring the clever Weasley brother’s products, after Fred and George open their own joke shop in The Order of the Phoenix.

8. Flight of the Hippogriff – Even though you’d think the rides would automatically go to the top of any highlight list, we’ve held this one back on account of the fact that this is clearly a “kiddie” coaster, albeit one that looks to whisk riders through iconic vistas from Care of Magical Creatures class in The Prisoner of Azkaban. A must-see, but likely the “It’s A Small World” of The Wizarding World.

7. Walking around in Hogsmeade – Much like the experience of taking the Universal Hollywood backlot tour or just standing and staring around Disney’s Main Street U.S.A., the sheer giddy-factor of being “in” Hogsmeade and looking up at Hogwarts demands mention. Universal has pulled-out all the stops here, employing the many of the artists and model building staff who brought Harry Potter to the screen for Warner Brothers.

6. Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods – Far more interesting than Quidditch gear shopping at nearby Dervish and Banges (tip: you’ll get to try your skill on a broom on the Forbidden Challenge anyway), this shop of magical contraband ranges from sneak-o-scopes to remote-controlled snitches to the sorting hat himself.

5. Snow! – According to park communications staff, as rumoured on the Half Blood Prince DVD extras, it will indeed “snow” in this newly spellbound corner of Orlando (a-la the mid-meal thunder showers made famous in the Rainforest Café) provided you’re in the right place at the right time…

4. Wand selection at Ollivanders – As per the drawer-flinging fiasco in The Philosopher’s Stone, visitors to this authentic-down-to-the-last-millimetre attraction will be guided through the process of selecting their own wand (or, more likely, having their wand select them) with the option to purchase it at the end.

3. Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks or British fare at the Hogs Head – According to an interview early in the planning of the park, tops on actor Michael “Dumbledore” Gambon’s list of things to try here is a sampling of this famous non-alcoholic drink of wizards and witches across Great Britain. (Of course, at 70, who could blame him for running for a glass of butterbeer instead of the rollercoasters.) Apparently, J.K. Rowling herself supervised the final butterbeer taste-tests. Both the restaurants will also serve traditional British fare, with many of the magical and non-magical food featured in Potter lore.

2. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey – Many would put this as #1 on their to-do list…rumoured to include elements such as the OMNIMAX screen-and-motion-simulator technology from Disney’s Soarin’ and Universal’s Simpsons The Ride plus the painstaking attention-to-detail of classics like Pirates of the Caribbean. Universal’s people say they can safely claim there will be no contest once this state-of-the-art attraction opens. We wonder if this experience will be similar in significance to Epcot’s Mission Space, which signalled the first truly new theme park experience in 20 years.

1. Dragon challenge – A world-first for two reasons: This twin rollercoaster will rocket visitors through the most intense portions of The Goblet of Fire’s Triwizard tournament, including – duh – the infamous and hair-raising dragon challenge. It is also thought to be the world’s first twin rollercoaster where each rollercoaster takes a different course…Reason-alone to get right back in line.

With Rowling and nearly every one of the principal film cast members involved and even appearing in recorded elements of some of the rides, the towers of Hogwarts Castle seem well set-up to become the latest Orlando landmark poking out from the foggy swampland…even if it is 7,000 km from Little Whinging…

All images copyright and used with permission of NBC Universal/Universal Orlando Resort

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