Best Place To Stand And Watch The Nighttime Light Show at Hogwarts Castle at Universal Orlando

Click for Orlando Vacation Home Rental

Readers of this blog well know that our family has been attending Walt Disney World for years and are loyal WDW annual passholders.  This year we decided to give our kids (and us parents too) annual passes to Universal Orlando Resort as a Christmas gift.  Our kids are now into the double digit age bracket and love thrill rides.   The rides at Universal Orlando are great and I would highly recommend anybody travelling to Orlando with teenagers to spend at least one day at Universal.  I must say though, the best part of Universal Orlando for my family - by far - is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We had attended Universal in the past and had visited the Hogsmeade section located in Islands of Adventure, but this Christmas marked our first visit since they opened the Diagon Alley section in Universal Studios.  Universal has continued the Disney like theming of the book series and both Wizarding World areas are spectacular (I'm not sure even Disney could have done a better job).  While I will write more about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal Orlando in later blogs, I wanted to highlight one of the best portions for me during the Christmas holiday - the nighttime light show at Hogwarts castle.  I have seen the light show at Cinderella's Castle over many years and continue to be amazed at Disney's ability to display a high definitional light show on the castle.  Universal has not been outdone with their nighttime light and music display on Hogwarts Castle.  Fans of the book series will be delighted with the whimsical displays of their favourite characters and portions of the book.  It is well worth staying until after dark to watch the display - however - some angles are better than others to watch the show.  After watching the show a number of times, our family found that the best place to watch the display was beside the street sign in front of the castle which reads "Hogsmeade and Hogwarts" (see photo below).  This location if far enough back to see the entire show on the castle and provides just the right angle to see all the projections.  In reality, what I did was look at the promotional photos used by Universal for the show and put myself in the location that gave me the same view as was found in the photos.  The photos below are mine from that location and they look just like the promotional photos.

While the show may change throughout the year, this area will always be a great place to watch the display.  The next state-of-the-art projection mapping show is scheduled to start January 31, 2018 and continue running on select nights throughout at Hogsmeade at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.  This light show will wrap Hogwarts castle in a dazzling display of light to celebrate the four houses of Hogwarts – Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin (Universal promotional photo below). 

​If you are a fan of the Harry Potter book series, you will love attending the Wizarding World of Harry Potter located at Universal Orlando Resort.  If your plan is to visit both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, why not stay at our Encore Resort at Reunion vacation villa and get the best of all worlds.  We are located close to both parks and, on your day off from the parks, enjoy unlimited use of the resort's water park or lounge by our private courtyard pool and spa.