Today marks the grand opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida! To celebrate, we at Magical-Menagerie are partnering with Destinations in Florida, a travel agency based in Orlando, to offer one of our readers the chance to win Hermione Granger’s wand! To enter just use the widget below.

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Are you ready to make some travel memories? Just visit Destinations in Florida to book your trip now!

A couple weeks ago, Magical-Menagerie was able to attend the Diagon Alley Media & VIP Preview event.  Let me tell you, the expansion will not disappoint. All of us in the group were wishing we had more sets of eyes (like Harry said in the first book.)  The scale is amazing, you really do not know that you’re inside a theme park while inside Diagon Alley. It is also noticeably cooler inside, which is a plus for those hot Summer days.

Alan Gilmore, the art director of the park (who also worked on the films) clued us in on a fun little tidbit while we were waiting in line to go on Escape from Gringotts. He told us that the Harry Potter theme parks have 4 different garbage cans and no other theme park does that.  There is a Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley and then 2 others so you feel fully immersed into the settings.  Sadly the ride was still not complete so we didn’t get to experience the actual ride, but the line is worth it even if you don’t partake.

View all our coverage of the event, including tons of video footage, here!