After more than a year of waiting, wizards and Muggles alike flocked to Universal Orlando Resort on Tuesday for the highly anticipated opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley.

Thousands waited for hours to be among the first to experience the new area, including its signature attraction: Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.

The gates of Universal Studios opened at 5:45 a.m. to allow guests to start lining up inside the park. That not only kept things moving, but it also kept people happy.

"I got up at 3:45," said Andrew Scardino, a Harry Potter fan visiting Orlando from Houston, Texas, just to be one of the first to experience Diagon Alley.

"4:02 a.m.," said Jessica Medina, of Miami. "I've been a really big Harry Potter fan since I was in third grade."

They came early to be among the first, and despite the heat, many came in costume, including Lauren Koontz from Minneapolis, who walked into Diagon Alley dressed in her Slytherin robe and matching green socks.

"It's hot out here, but once you get back there, it's not that bad in the shade," said Koontz, noting that much of Diagon Alley is in the shade, thanks to the wizarding world's tall, often crooked archetecture.

As thousands rushed in, the lines started to build. From above, the line to enter Diagon Alley appeared to snake through "back of house" areas of Universal Studios, where visitors could buy bottles of "Gilly Water" and watch how Diagon Alley was built on giant television sets.

Some waited hours just to get into Diagon Alley.

"They let everybody in groups," said Medina.

Folks who waited in a stand-by line were let in little by little through a side gate, while others, didn't wait at all.

After the grand opening ceremony, Universal allowed guests who showed up a little later to get a return ticket time and then enjoy other park attractions.

That's right. You can pick the time you want to come back and not have to wait in line, all for free with Universal Studios admission. The park expects to have this system in place through the summer.

However, there was still a long wait for Diagon Alley's signature ride, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. The sign outside Gringotts Bank posted wait times topping 300 minutes — that's 5 hours — with some guests reporting posted wait times closer to 6 and 7 hours.

But Potter fans like Scardino, who have waited more than a year for this moment, said they didn't mind.

"I'm not even tired yet," Scardino said Tuesday afternoon. "I have been on a high from being in there."

———————————————

Live tweets from Diagon Alley's opening

by Mike Westfall, Senior Web Content Editor

———————————————

Timeline: The Wizarding World's Growth