Today was a much anticipated day. We were going to leave Disney World to go to Universal's Islands of Adventure to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
My dad really isn't a Harry Potter fan so he opted to stay back at the room.
We drove to Islands of Adventure. It took about ten or fifteen minutes. When we got there we decided to do valet parking which is unusual for us but we are so glad we did. It really wasn't that much and we still had a little bit of a walk so it would have been much worse if we had parked in a parking lot.
Normally the walk wouldn't matter but it was freezing today. It was one of those days where you just can't seem to get warm. I felt like we were back in the midwest rather than Florida.
But, even in the cold weather, we were so excited to be there.
We arrived about twenty minutes before opening and got in line.
Pretty soon the gates were opened and we were on our way to the back of the park to get to Harry Potter's world as fast as we could.
Our first glimpse of Hogsmeade...
The minute you walked through the gate into Hogsmeade you are transported into the books/ movies. It was amazing. They did a beautiful job of re creating this.
I felt a little giddy inside.
As much as we wanted to stop and look at everything I knew we should get back to the castle first to try and beat the crowds.
It was so good we did. The castle is home to the ride The Forbidden Journey. Abi wasn't tall enough to ride so my mom stayed with the girls while Doug and I went on. The sign said five minutes wait and that was about right.
As you walk up to the castle and begin going through the very long line area (I cannot imagine waiting for this ride if the entire thing was full) it is so surreal. You really feel like you are at Hogwarts.
You go through an area with lockers and things and then go back out and through the greenhouse.
As you enter the castle you begin to see all the really cool stuff. We were walking through the line area so fast I didn't want to stop but I had to a few times to get some pictures along the way.
Looks like Gryffindor is ahead....
Got any memories to deposit?
On the balcony in the next picture you can kind of make out Dumbledore. There was a projection of him up there talking to us as we walked through his office. It looked so real.
Walking past the Fat Lady's door... it was too bad that the pictures on the walls and this didn't turn out in my pictures but they really did have the moving people in them.
Toward the end of the line area we saw the Sorting Hat. It did talk too.
Soon Doug and I were on the ride. You sit four people to a thing and these huge harnesses come down over you. Then you are lifted off and whisked away. You travel through the castle and every once in a while come to rest in a little nook that has a screen around you like Soarin'. It is so hard to explain but at the first one you feel like you are flying out the castle window with Harry on a broom. It really feels like it!
Then it kind of pulls back and you go through the castle again while this dragon is tearing up the ceiling trying to get to you. The dragon breaks through and roars (so loud) at you.
Basically you go back and forth between flying around inside the castle and being at the screens with the virtual movement. There were spiders that spit (the first time I got that right in the eye!) and the whomping willow (you almost go upside down in your chair to avoid those flying branches).
It was AMAZING!
As soon as the ride stopped I looked at Doug and said, "Best Ride Ever."
We ran through the crowded gift shop and found my mom outside. Doug switched with her to stay with the girls and my mom and I ran back to the line. It was still only 5 minutes although it did take a little longer than before.
My mom loved it too and I was so glad I got to ride it again.
It is seriously the coolest ride I've ever been on.
When we had all ridden the ride, we skipped the other two rides in favor of getting to the wand shop. We ended up waiting in line for about twenty minutes to get in. By the time we got in we were at the front of the line so I was pretty excited but then when they took us in we accidently all went to the back of the room and then realized the show was on the other side so we could barely see it. Still fun though.
Here are some pictures in the area...
The Hogwarts Express
the village was getting more crowded...
and even more crowded...
This picture is inside the wand shop on the side where they do the little show ,looking up...
Abi checking out the Monster book...
We grabbed some wands and then decided we should go to lunch right away before it got too crazy.
For lunch we were headed to The Three Broomsticks!
It was kind of weird paying for our meal! The 3 Broomsticks was very cool. It looked old and run down and very much how I pictured it.
I got the chicken with fries and corn. It looks kind of gross but it was really good.
Doug got fish and chips. He said it was real good as well.
I believe my mom got the fish and chips too. Abi got chicken fingers and fries with grapes.
And of course we all got BUTTERBEER!
It was so good and Abi says it was her favorite treat of the entire trip. It is hard to explain what it tastes like but it has kind of a vanilla/cream soda feel to it (although I don't like vanilla or cream soda)with some whipped cream and butterscotch flavor in the mix. It was really good.
Here Abi is showing off her butterbeer 'stache.
The 3 Broomsticks is connected with the Hogs Head so we got a good look at that too.
It was ridiculouslly crowded by this point so we decided to forgo the rides we had missed and just stick to the shops.
Most of the buildings are false shops. There were only a few true shops in them.
Honeydukes sweet shop...
Zonkos ... you can check out the shop crowds here. This wasn't a line, this was just people packed in trying to get around. Now imagine me trying to get through that with a huge double stroller. Not fun.
We were looking for Gryffindor scarves and finally went back up to the gift shop at Hogwarts. We were able to find them there but I was almost stuck there for life. They were in a corner. I got in there and grabbed two- one for my mom and one for me. Then when I turned around I was completely surrounded by people just reaching over my shoulder and head to get to the things behind me. For a moment I thought, "This is how people get trampled." It was crazy. Finally I pushed my way out. Unfortunately saying "Excuse me" did no good so I had to force a way. I tried to look around the store a little more but my sanity was really suffering so I grabbed another thing I knew I wanted and then searched for the Marauders Map. I really wanted one but at an asking price of $50 there was no way. I stuck with what I already had and we checked out.
On our way back down through the village we caught a little bit of the Durmstrang boys and Beauxbatons girls putting on a show.
It was too crowded to do anything now and we were so cold that we decided it would be best to go do the one last area we had planned on doing in this park and head home.
We said goodbye to Harry's world with one last look.
We made our way to the front of the park stopping only at Suess Landing.
It was decorated very cute.
Abi and I left my mom and Doug with Maddy and went up to ride The High In The Sky Suess Trolley. This was the longest line. It took us at least a half an hour to get on this thing and we were freezing. You can see in the picture below that Abi had on her regular clothes, covered by a blue hoodie, a brown hoodie, and her winter coat. She also had gloves on. She was still cold.
We got harnessed in...
This was pretty fun. We just rode along a little track up high through a few buildings and around the park area. I liked this view of the castle...
It had a Sneeches theme...
After the trolley, Abi rode the Caro-Suessal with Doug...
Then we all rode the Cat in the Hat ride. This is the jerkiest ride ever. It was spinning all over the place and I was getting seriously dizzy. We had to hold on to Maddy really tight.
We were going to try to see the Grinch show but I heard it was outdoor and it was just too cold for that.
We rode one more ride: One fish, Two fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
Then we left the park.
On our way out Abi had to stop and get pictures on all the fun little props...
So, what were our thoughts?
Well, The Wizarding World was amazing.
The thing we all agreed on afterward is that the Universal parks have a totally different feel to them. Islands of Adventure doesn't feel like a 'family' park at all. I think it would be a fun place to go as a teenager with all your buddies but not as cool with little ones.
The tickets were expensive and their merchandise and food are way more expensive than at Disney.
If it weren't for Harry Potter world I am pretty sure I wouldn't bother going there ever again. But that ride was so cool I kind of want to go ride it again!
I think it is best to go before Disney parks so you aren't in that Disney spirit. This is a weird analogy for theme parks but it kind of felt like when you go to seminary and then back into the school building going from Disney to Universal.
I also hope that if we ever go again the crowds will have died down a little. If we hadn't got there right at opening we wouldn't have been able to do the things we did. We probably would have spent the entire day in line at the castle and wand shop.
It was a great experience though and I am so glad we went.
Plus I got to get these great things:
I got the gryffindor scarf, the house cups, and Hermione's wand.
