Hogsmeade Showdown: Comparing Universal’s Wizarding Worlds on Both Coasts
In this article, we’re heading into the snow-capped streets of Hogsmeade from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We will focus on the two versions of Hogsmeade, located at Universal Studios Hollywood in California and Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando Resort. These lands are often assumed to be identical, and while they share the same enchanted blueprint, there are some key differences in layout, spell locations, shop design, and even what’s offered inside! So whether you’re a diehard Potter fan planning your first visit or a theme park explorer curious about what sets each land apart, this article is for you!
How we got here
All right, so a little bit of context before we enter into the village: Hogsmeade was the first Wizarding World location to open at a Universal Park - debuting in 2010 at Islands of Adventure. The success of the original land laid the foundation for the Wizarding World around the globe. Hollywood's version first opened in 2016, and while it closely mirrors the original Orlando layout, there were some small changes to accommodate the park's space and audience.
In both parks, Hogsmeade is more than just a themed land. It’s a storybook village brought to life. Universal Creative worked closely with the Harry Potter film team to make sure every detail felt cinematic and immersive. Many of the props and shop signs were either lifted directly from the films or built, using the original blueprints in both locations. Hogsmeade is anchored by two things: the iconic Hogwarts castle in the background and the Hogwarts Express at the entrance, but even these two landmarks have slight differences that hint at each Park's unique take on the land.
All Aboard The Hogwarts Express... Sort of
Let’s first start at the entrance with the Hogwarts Express.
At Islands of Adventure, the Hogwarts Express isn’t just a photo-op. It is a functioning attraction that connects the two Wizarding Lands: Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. Guests can board the train and travel between parks with different experiences depending on which direction they ride. The train is positioned slightly deeper into the land and helps create that seamless transition from the Lost Continent area. There’s a second train that sits stationary just inside the entrance arching into Hogsmeade.
At Universal Studios Hollywood, there’s no Hogwarts Express attraction...there just isn't space for it. But they do have the stationary train that’s just inside the entrance. Oftentimes, at both parks, you’ll find a cheerful conductor ready to greet you in the town square. While the train doesn’t move, the theming is still spectacular, with steam rising from the engine and suitcases stacked nearby. It sets the mood for the magical village that you’re about to enter.
As you pass through the arches and enter Hogsmeade, both parks make an immediate impression. The stone buildings, crooked chimneys, thick "snow" that doesn’t melt - it all creates a lived-in village atmosphere that feels like it’s been around for centuries. Like we mentioned before, the layout of the street is nearly identical between the two parks. The buildings are around the same size, and even though the shape of the buildings is very similar, there are some differences, especially as you get to the latter part of the land.
So, first, we'll describe the main shops and façades that are in both parks or just one park. At the end, I’ll do a quick map run-through of where these locations are. Some locations are the same and others are quite different, and we don’t want your Marauder's Map to be confiscated by Mr. Filch because you got lost, okay?
Zonko's, Florean Fortescues, & Honeydukes
The first shop on the left is Zonko's Joke Shop and Honeydukes. Zonko’s used to be a fully-functioning shop – think Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes Joke Shop in Diagon Alley. In the façade window of Zonko’s, like all of the other windows and shops in Hogsmeade, you will find fun easter eggs and references in the books and movies. This one features Puking Pastilles, Extendable Ears, and a moving chess set with a piece that takes the game a little too seriously…
The actual joke shop is no longer, as it recently became just a façade to make room for the expansion of Honeydukes, which is a candy shop featuring Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott’s Beans, Exploding Bonbons, and more.
In Universal Hollywood, their Honeydukes also includes Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. Diagon Alley in Florida already has Florean’s, so it was not added to Honeydukes at Islands of Adventure.
In between the storefronts of Zonko’s and Honeydukes, you have McHavelock’s Wizarding Headgear. In Florida, this is a blue-framed 2-story façade with a metal Cornish Pixie in between the stories, floating behind a cauldron. Occasionally, this cauldron will tip over to reveal a second Cornish Pixie inside that just might spit water at you!
Over in Hollywood, this used to be a 2-story façade as well, but with the expansion of Honeydukes, McHavelock’s is now on the second floor only, with the bottom window being converted into a storefront façade for Florean Fortescue’s. In this window, you will now find an ice cream tower that spins to reveal a person inside, which rotates between two different characters with each reveal.
The Three Broomsticks & Hog's Head Pub
Both parks have The Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head Pub right next door. The Three Broomsticks restaurants in both parks have the same British fair menu. They have shepherd's pie, fish and chips, and this is the only spot where you can get hot Butterbeer.
Butterbeer is located throughout the land in frozen or cold, but The Three Broomsticks is the only place that will have hot Butterbeer consistently. The Hog's Head Pub has alcoholic beverages and may also have hot Butterbeer, but they tend to run out quickly (speaking from personal experience). So if you are in the mood for a hot Butterbeer, then the Three Broomsticks is where you need to go for that.
Be sure to look up at The Three Broomsticks because you’ll find balconies filled with wizard artifacts, like bottles, trunks, scrolls, and lanterns. Several of these things are directly from the movies and were used in the film, so it’s a fun nod, and it really adds that personal touch of like wear and tear, people were there, and I’ve stayed at the Three Broomsticks.
Over at the Hog's Head, keep your eyes on the back wall behind the bar because there is a hog's head just like in the movie. He moves and makes sounds, and it is a joy to see!
Dogweed & Deathcap
Next up is Dogweed and Deathcap. This is a shop façade and again is in both parks, but this has some really fun elements, especially if you are into plants. This façade features both animatronic and static Mandrakes - just be sure to grab those fluffy earmuffs right next to him in case they start screaming! You'll also find other magical plants, such as the Mimbulus Mimbletonia, and others in the films and books!
Public Conveniences & J. Pippin's Potions
After the Hog's Head, there's the Public Conveniences, better known as the restrooms. Be sure to listen for Moaning Myrtle in the restrooms, whining about all kinds of things. Above the restroom, you’ll find a façade for J. Pippin’s Potions. This façade has a large window containing many potion bottles.
Madam Puddifoot's Teas & Cakes
Next, we have Madam Puddifoot's Teas & Cakes. In Universal Studios Hollywood, this façade is two stories, with four large windows. Each window contains many towering stacks of teacups and rotating dessert trays. On the door, there’s a decorative sign that says "Out of Scones. Back soon." This really makes us wish that this was an actual tea shop with small bites, and not just a façade... that would be so fun.
Ollivander's Wand Shop
Another shop that you won’t want to miss is the Ollivander's Wand Shop. This shop is in both locations, where you can experience the delight when a wand chooses the wizard, just like Harry Potter experienced! During the wand ceremony, a guest is chosen by their wand, with fun special effects that happen during the show.
After the wand performance, you exit into the wand shop, where you can purchase a replica wand or choose from various interactive ones that respond to windows around Hogsmeade. With your interactive wand purchase, you will receive a map of Hogsmeade that has all of the spell locations. As you approach each location, you'll find a medallion on the ground that matches the spell that you need to perform and the direction you need to face when you perform that spell. It really makes it a fun, interactive experience.
Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop
Next on our list is Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. This is a shop façade that has parchment, wax seals, quills, and more. This is one of the interactive wand windows at which you can cast the Arresto Momentum spell to stop the quill from writing frantically in the ledger. There is quite a bit of detail inside the shop itself, even though it is just a façade, so you can take a peek through the shop windows and see all of the great things that are in there.
Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment
Moving right along, we have Wiseacre's Wizard Equipment, which is only found in Universal Studios Hollywood. This is an actual shop that is very heavily themed in astronomy and magical instruments, such as Remembralls, Time Turners, telescopes, and different astrological things around the room. It is a very small shop with dark blue walls, and it’s just really mystical in there. At the back of Wiseacre's, there’s a ramp that takes you to the gift shop to Ollivanders.
Spintwitches Sporting Needs and Tomes & Scrolls
At both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Hollywood, there is a stand-alone building with two façades in the back corner of Hogsmeade before the road opens to a courtyard toward Hogwarts Castle. This is where you'll find Spintwitches Sporting Needs and Tomes & Scrolls. Spintwitches features a window display with Quidditch equipment, including a chest of Bludgers, Quaffles, and, of course, the Golden Snitch, which interacts with your wand as well.
Next door is Tomes & Scrolls, a bookshop with copies of Magical Me and Travels with Trolls by Gilroy Lockhart, including some moving portraits of him, with his wide grin, posing for the camera. In Florida, there is also a book of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which comes to life with your wand. Harry Potter fans will recognize that book, as it appears several times in the Harry Potter novels and films.
Gladrag's Wizardwear
A gift shop you'll want to check out is Gladrag's Wizardwear. You'll instantly recognize it by the display out front that has Hermione‘s pink Yuleball gown. This shop features items such as Hogwarts robes, matching Harry and Ron sweaters, and more.
Magic Neep Cart
The Magic Neep Cart is a bright green snack and beverage cart, where you can get Gillywater and Pumpkin Juice, a variety of ice cream cups, and assorted snacks like fruit and chips. There is also a Magic Neep façade that features a variety of foods arranged like a supermarket display window.
Ceridwen's Cauldrons & Dominic Maestros
Ceridwen's Cauldrons is a façade featuring a large stack of cauldrons. This is also a wizarding window in which you can make the noise of the bubbling cauldron stop with Silencio.
Dominic Maestros is a music shop façade. In Hollywood, it is a one-story wizarding window in which your spell sends a gust of wind to blow the sheet music everywhere, and the instruments go crazy! In Florida, this façade contains two large windows that are on the second story only, and therefore are not a wizarding window.
Owl Post and Darvish & Banges
The last set of shops is the Owl Post and Darvish & Banges. At the Owl Post, you can buy stationery, owl plushes, shoulder pet owls, and even mail postcards with a Hogsmeade postmark! You can even find a red Howler letter in the window, yelling the different letters that have been sent.
Over at Darvish & Banges, you'll find gear for your Hogwarts house, Sneakoscopes, and broomsticks. Don't miss the Monster Book of Monsters in its cage near the center of the shop. You may find him sleeping or throwing an angry fit!
Putting it All Together - Comparing the Maps
Now that we know about the different shops we can find at Hogsmeade, let's now compare the two lands at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Islands of Adventure to see how they are similar and different. Below is a map of both parks with arrows indicating the direction we will go to explore the land.
Hogsmeade at Universal Studios Hollywood
As you walk into Hogsmeade from the main entrance, the sign above you reads
Hogsmeade
Please Respect The Spell Limits
On the right past the archway, you'll find the stationary Hogwarts Express train and a gift shop.
Across the way from the train, starting on the left, there's Zonko's, Florean Fortescue's, and Honeydukes. Above the sign for Florean's is McHavelock's Wizarding Headgear on the second story.
Continuing down the street, on the left-hand side to the left, you have The Three Broomsticks, the Hog's Head Pub, and Dogweed & Deathcap. Then there is a walkway that leads to additional outdoor seating for The Three Broomsticks, the Hog's Head.
Further down on the left, we have the public restrooms, with Pippin's Potions above, followed by the four-window façade of Madame Puddifoots, Ollivander's wand shop, Scrivenshaft's, and Wizeacre's Wizard Equipment.
So by this point, we have made it from the front of Hogsmeade all the way to the back (as indicated by the leftmost arrows in the map above). We'll now turn around and walk back into town.
Directly across the street and to the left of Wiseacre's is Scrivenshaft and Tomes & Scrolls. Next to that is the green Magic Neep Cart.
Here is where the road splits off. There’s a large building in the middle where you’ll have the Owl Post, Gladrags, and Darvish & Banges. There are multiple entrances around this large building as well as connected inside, so you can go visit all three without leaving one of them and going around the other.
On the backside of Darvish & Banges, you'll enter a back alleyway to find three different shop façades, two of which have those magical wand elements. From the back of the alleyway to the front is Ceridwen's Cauldrons, Brews & Stews, and Dominic Maestros.
You'll then find a small courtyard with other wand other elements like a large door that has a monster behind it, or a chimney that sends fire into the air.
You are now back on the train, and the gift shop is right up front. So we’ve done a full circle around the left side of Hogsmeade, and then gone all the way around the back alleyway.
Hogsmeade at Universal Islands of Adventure
We’re now going to make our way over to Islands of Adventure and do that same trek.
As you enter the main entrance (not coming from Jurassic Park but coming from the Lost Continent), again on the right, you'll find the stationary Hogwarts Express train. But instead of a gift shop like in Hollywood, you'll find lockers, and that’s because the Hagrid‘s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is right there. There are also additional lockers on the other side of the attraction entrance.
Making our way over to the left-hand side, in the same spot as Hollywood, we have Zonko's, McHavelock's, Honeydukes, The Three Broomsticks, the Hog's Head Pub, Dogweed & Deathcap, and the walkway for seating, followed by the restrooms with Pippin’s Potions directly above. So again, all of that is the same location as in Hollywood.
Now here’s where it gets different: so instead of Madame Puddifoot being right after the restrooms like in USH, you'll find Gladrags.
Remember from Hollywood that Dominic Maestro's was a one-story window along the back alley that was a wizarding window. That is not the case here! It is on the second story along the main walkway above three façades, that being Scrivenshaft's, then Madame Puddifoot's and Ceridwen's Cauldrons.
After that you have the Magic Neep, which has more permanent spot on the building, but also has a cart in front of it.
Across the way from the Magic Neep, in the same location as Hollywood, you have Spintwitches and Tomes & Scrolls.
Again, you have that large building in the middle of the town, which is home to Darvish and Banges, the Owl Post, and Ollivanders (not Gladrags like in Hollywood). The back alleyway that housed the Magic Neep Cart at USH is the line for Ollivanders at IOA. There is no back alleyway at IOA because this walkway serves as the exit to Hagrid‘s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, taking you back to the lockers at the front of the land.
So as you can see, there are many similarities, but there’s also a ton of differences, particularly in the back half of the land.
Harry Potter Attractions - A Quick Note
Of course, I would be remiss if we didn’t talk about the other attractions that both Park’s:
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (located inside Hogwarts castle), and Flight of the Hippogriff (across from the castle) are both outside of Hogsmeade, after you pass Spintwitches and continue deeper into the land.
Hagrid‘s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is just at Islands of Adventure, located at the beginning of the land, just beyond the stationary train.
Each of these lines for these attractions has amazing storytelling. There is so much to explore, especially if you are a fan of the books and the films. You will definitely find some hidden Easter eggs and details everywhere you look!
Which version of Hogsmeade has cast its spell over you?
Which Hogsmeade is better? Well, they both stand out in their own right.
Orlando is larger and connects to Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida by way of the Hogwarts Express. It also has that additional attraction in the Motorbike Adventure.
California's version packs in the details of Hogsmeade itself, providing more Wizarding Wand elements and larger storefronts to bring the land to life. The back alleyway is a fun use of space, especially at night, and definitely during Halloween Horror Nights, as this serves as a fun place for the Death Eaters.
At the end of the day, it’s not about which one is better. It’s about appreciating those details that make each version magical in its own way. But we want to hear from you! Which version of Hogsmeade do you prefer? Was there anything new you discovered by exploring these lands side-by-side, or have a deeper appreciation for the craftsmanship and details? Share your thoughts with us at our Where In The Park Explorers Facebook Group!
Until next time, Mischief Managed. We’ll see you somewhere in the park.
✨Articles referenced in this blog ✨
- Architectural Digest - Behind the Scenes of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
- Universal Islands of Adventure - Map
- Universal Studios Hollywood - Map
