What’s that, up there, on the hill? That magical gray stone edifice from whence come the owls all of us wish we’d gotten on our 11th birthdays.

It’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and you want desperately to see what’s inside.

Alas, there’s no way you’re riding Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey because you do not like suspended rides and your neck is all jacked and you get motion sickness. Or the kid is too short and your partner has disappeared with the other kid so you can’t use the parent handoff line (a genius invention though) and they are super strict about height. Perhaps the wait is 88 minutes. (Also, 88? What the hell? 88 specifically? 88 exactly? Who came up with an 88-minute line, I mean, honestly?)

But you really, really want to see what the inside of that castle looks like.

Have no fear, fellow magic makers. You can do a walk-through.

Oh, you didn’t know that? Neither did I until this past trip to Universal Studios Hollywood when we 12 of the weak inner ears and ancient joints and diminutive statures happened to inquire if there was any way to peek at the interior without losing the rest of the day to various ailments and agonies even Madame Pomfrey herself couldn’t remedy.

Let the “you shall not pass” human guarding the end of the line know that you don’t want to ride and are only there for gawking purposes, and they will, in fact, let you pass into the express line. Do the same with the next few sentries of the queue and they’ll point you in the right direction. It is very dark once you’re inside the castle so make sure you keep littles close and if your night vision is sort of crappy, like mine, you may want to keep one hand on the guard rail or rope.

Of course, you won’t get to see everything – allowing you to walk under the tracks would be a very, very bad idea and surely violates a variety of legal statutes. However, you will get to see everything folks waiting in line get to see while they do so.

Some highlights follow (apologies for the photo quality, no flashes allowed obviously):

Interactive paintings: they move, they talk, they insult you!

A wise, old wizard: he delivers unto you a quest because how else are you going to get one?

Your idiot friends: because who else is going to go on a quest with you?

And magical creatures: skeletons are cool!

In all, the walk-through takes about 10-15 minutes. It’s out of the sun, it’s air conditioned, the effects are rad, and you get to experience the best parts of Hogwarts without needing anti-inflammatories or a barf bag afterwards. Which would be nice all on its own but is especially so because Honeydukes is just down Diagon Alley.