|
|
| Adam and I watched all the Harry Potter movies, so we were
excited to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter that is located in
the Islands of Adventure side of Universal Studios. The rest of the group went to Magic Kingdom, the only thing I know, they saw the Princess from Tangled.  Adam and I got there right at park opening and went directly to Harry Potter section, along with practically everyone else. I was told that it was going to be crazy, it was. We came out right by Hogwarts Castle which was also the Forbidden Journey ride. Hearing the line gets extremely long, we decided to get on it right away.  The line getting to the ride goes through the castle and it was very interesting inside. You started in the greenhouse, saw Dumbledore's office, the sorting hat, and a show with Harry, Ron and Hermoine talking about what to expect. The ride, well it was a lot different than what we expected. We had thought it was a casual ride through the castle, it wasn't. You get strapped into a car of four facing one direction. When Adam and I got in and the car just started to enter the ride it stopped. We could see it was going to be more of a rollercoaster ride and we both got nervous. After sitting on a angle for about 10 to 15 minutes, the ride started. It was half movie screen with movement to give you the impression of riding a broomstick behind Harry and a twisting ride through the castle, evading spitting spiders, fire-breathing dragons, and soul-sucking Dementors. When we got off the ride, even though we were very excited, we both decided we didn't need to ride it again. Of course, it drops you off in a store, but we didn't buy anything right away. Outside the ride there was a cart that sold wands and we bought two, Harry Potter's and Lord Voldemort's.   Done with the most important part, we were now able to enjoy the village. We went in most shops and just walked around taking it all in. The smokestacks were neat to look at.  Wands at Ollivanders  The Owl Post where we got our postcards stamped.  Shop that wasn't real, but had a Mandrake plant in the window.  The sad part was that the train was most blocked as they were filming a Universal commercial that day and we never got a chance to get close to it.  Here's what it should have looked like.  The big part of the Harry Potter experience was trying the Butterbeer. We got the sovenier mug and had it refilled. It was good.  Doesn't get much better than this: Florida Universal Studios Wizarding World Of Harry Potter Glass of cold Butterbeer Hanging out bu Hogwarts Castle Looking cool wearing a Harry Otter shirt.  As for the rest of the park, we were able to get all the Marvel character autographs; Spiderman, Wolverine, Captain America, Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, and even Dr. Doom.  We got all the Doctor Seuss character autographs, Grinch, Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and 2, and Sam I Am.  The rest of the park, we kind of just flew threw, literally,  We walked around the park a lot, taking in the other areas, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, The Lost Continent. Not doing much just passing through and finally ending up back in Harry Potter area to ride the Flight of the Hippogriff (which by that time had a hour-plus wait). Here's Adam, barely escaping the deadly T-Rex. Good thing they had the ropes, otherwise Adam might no have been able to get away.  He even ran into Betty Boop, that's spelled B - O - O - P, a B at the beginning and P at the end.  It was well worth the extra admission to see Harry Potter as who knows if we will get back. |