The Wizarding World - Hogsmeade

I can't say it enough - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a.w.e.s.o.m.e.
Hogsmeade Village is on the Islands of Adventure side of the parks. You stroll through Jurassic World, turn a corner and are met with the Hogwarts Castle and snowy village tops of Hogsmeade.

There is a ride inside Hogwarts - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It's my favorite of the Harry Potter rides. You get a bit of the story as you walk through the line in the castle (where you see the grumpy, mumbling Sorting Hat, the Pensieve, a hanging Hippogriff skeleton, and some other cool artifacts from the books and movies), pick up a little bit of backstory about skipping class with Harry, Ron and Hermoine, and then hop on the ride. It's not really a rollercoaster - they use a lot of screens and effects that make you think you are going on a lot crazier journey than you actually are. You are riding on a broom around Hogwarts - sometimes it feels like you are going so stinking fast! I had to close my eyes for quite a bit of the beginning of the ride the first time I rode it. BUT THEN I RODE IT AGAIN AND FORCED MYSELF TO POWER THROUGH AND I LOVED EVERY SECOND.

There is also the Flight of the Hippogriff ride (very quick, kid friendly rollercoaster) and when you walk through the queue for this ride you get to see Hagrid's Hut and his motorbike. The Dueling Dragons is also on the Hogsmeade side. I didn't ride either of these legit rollercoasters. I'm kind of a weenie and going upside down in big ole loopdeeloops is not my jam. My boyfriend rode both of them and had a blast. You can't take any loose items on the ride with you (no phones, cameras, keys, etc), so there aren't many photos of the cool props you see going through the line. I could only get as far as the Weasley car before there was a metal detector and no matter how much I insisted I wasn't going on the ride, they wouldn't let me through with my phone.

You also get to venture around Hogsmeade - there are a handful of actual shops to go into - you can buy an interactive wand at Ollivander's Wand Shop (and might even get picked to have your wand choose you!) and then conduct spells throughout the Wizarding World, a Honeyduke's candy shop (with a variety of baked treats including butterbeer fudge!), and quite a few souvenir shops with cloaks, brooms, stuffed animals, t-shrits, notebooks, quills, etc. We bought souvenir candy jars at Honeydukes (with the Honeydukes logo sticker), but some of the souvenirs get pretty pricey - I've heard cloaks are $80+ and again, Orlando, Florida is a warm place. I don't think I would want to tromp around in a heavy black cloak all day. There are also a couple carts with a bunch of Wizarding World/Harry Potter/Hogwarts pins and key chains.

There are also a couple food/snack stands, restaurants, and butterbeer carts. You can get butterbeer frozen (like a butterscotch slushie with sweet whipped topping), iced (a caffeinated butterscotch-cream soda with the whipped topping), or hot. It was 85 degrees when we went, to we stuck with the frozen and iced. Frozen is my favorite! It is pretty sweet though - both my boyfriend and I are soda drinkers and we decided to split one. Time to correct my first Universal Rumor on this blog! Butterbeer is not $3/glass. It's actually $6 for a disposable cup and $12 for a plastic souvenir mug. Butterbeer is not a refillable drink with your resort or soda fountain cups and I don't think you get discounted refills if you have a souvenir butterbeer mug.

We also tried a bottle of Pumpkin Juice (it's an apple cider-type drink with some pumpkin-pie type spices.) We weren't big fans - it wasn't a very refreshing drink in the warm Florida heat. And we bought a bottle of Gilly Water (literally just plain ole bottled water), refilled it at water fountains around the park, and brought it in frozen with ice the next day. I would recommend saving the $4 (I think) and bringing in a bottle of water from home. You can get cups of ice water for free at refreshment stands all over the parks.
After you mosey around Hogsmeade, you can either walk through Hogsmeade and keep going through the other Islands of Adventure or if you have the park-to-park option, you can take the Hogwarts Express to London/Diagon Alley!

(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Universal Orlando or any aspect of the company whatsoever. I have never worked there or gotten paid to write anything for them. I'm just a lady who went on a couple fun vacations who wants to share some tips about my trips.)