Not only have we entered 2012 this week, but it's also the last few days of winter break for schoolchildren. If we're talking about college-age kids, then they've got a little longer. Regardless, this is the last dash time for family vacations at the theme parks in Orlando, FL...specifically at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

We've been a few times now since it opened 1.5 years ago, and each time we return with photo galleries and tips aplenty. If you're about to jet down to hit the park or are contemplating a last-minute mini-vacay, here's everything you need to know:

· Changes to ticket prices & ride seating
· Our complete, first-hand survival guide to the Potter park
· Photos from November 2011
· Photos of the all the FOOD
· Inside the Forbidden Journey castle & ride
· The souvenirs! Oh man, the souvenirs.
· Photos & video of the Hippogriff and Dragons roller coasters
· Even more photos (from the night before opening)

[Photo: Jaunted] ]]> JetSetCD 2012-01-02T16:22:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/12/1/1212/20120

Not gonna lie—our June 2010 visit to the opening of Universal Studios Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter is definitely a highlight of our travels from the last few years. To some that might sound perfectly stupid since we're adults and can just as easily jet off to Phuket as to Orlando, but to those who've been and also found themselves similarly taken in, the sentiment is shared.

That's why today's news that Universal Studios Hollywood will get a Wizarding World of its own in 2014 or 2015 is so thrilling. That means, if all goes according to plan, that in a span of five years the United States will have become home to two Harry Potterlands selling chocolate frogs, running roller coasters and otherwise thumbing their nose at the UK, which doesn't even have one to call its own.

]]> JetSetCD 2011-12-01T15:32:31-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/11/11/122450/24

As the final Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 makes its way to the DVD today, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando is hosting “A Celebration of the Harry Potter Films” this weekend.

Special vacation packages (which were sold out an hour after going on sale this summer) will give fans a chance to attend Q&A sessions and autograph signing events with Harry Potter cast members, including everyone's favorite ginger Rupert Grint. There will also be red carpet arrivals, galas and screenings of all eight movies at the AMC Universal Cineplex 20 at Universal CityWalk.]]> cmb 2011-11-11T12:24:50-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/8/23/72129/6083

We know that the The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is awesome, but if you need a little something extra to get your Harry Potter fix you might just need to cross the pond. We’d heard that Warner Brothers was working on some sort of Harry Potter museum, and it looks like there’s finally a tentative opening date—Spring 2012.

There’s no rides or attractions here, so it’s hardly a theme park; however, unlike the Potter fun in Florida this is where the movies were filmed—so it’s like the real deal. ]]> kjb 2011-08-23T10:07:04-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/7/15/123614/375

The last Harry Potter film may be hitting the big screen today but there will still be plenty of ways for fans to get their fix. Harry Potter tourism is booming. Here in the U.S. we're lucky enough to have The Wizardly World of Harry Potter, which just celebrated it's one one year anniversary in Orlando.

In the UK, a huge Harry Potter Museum is in the works at the studio where the movies were made, along with an on site Harry Potter-themed hotel.]]> cmb 2011-07-15T16:20:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/6/19/235347/270

Has it already been a year then? Universal Studios' The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park just celebrated its first anniversary, after opening last June to much fan fare and continuting right through the winter and spring with crazy crowds. We were there on opening day, and although we're adults who travel around the world all year, being in the midst of that excitement still counts as one of the coolest things we did in 2010. The Wizarding World absolutely has the Jaunted seal of approval.

So, if you're heading down this summer for an icey mug of Butterbeer, a ride on the Chinese Fireball Dragon and maybe even a chocolate frog, there's a few things you need to know one year in: ]]> JetSetCD 2011-06-20T17:27:50-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/1/6/122938/2563

Who would've guessed that, prior to the Harry Potter phenomenon, so many people would be willing to shell out $13 each for a frothy souvenir mug full of a sweet swill that tastes like a cross between butterscotch and shortbread cookies? Butterbeer, a favorite warming drink taken straight from the Harry Potter books, has been adapted as a cold and frozen drink at Universal Studios' The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and today they announced that they've now sold over 1 million Butterbeers to visitors since the theme park-within-a-theme park opened back in mid-June, 2010.

According to our friends at MuggleNet, the occasion is being celebrated today as the park staff hand out vouchers for free Butterbeer to Wizarding World visitors. ]]> JetSetCD 2011-01-06T12:29:38-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/