The Last one out of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

What does my blog need.  More Harry Potter and/or theme park posts!  Of course!

So after an evening asking "students" in Hogwarts Castle everything about the attraction, from rider capacity (2000 per hour), ride vehicles (40) and riding it 11 times in one day I ended up being the last one out of Hogsmeade.

 I love being in a park alone.  It's just like being back at work in Disneyland.

 The park closed at 6 that evening as dusk was falling.  The photos came out beautifully.

 Honeydukes with no students.  It's so quiet!

Look Ma no tourists!

Until next time.  Sometimes it happens sooner than one thinks.  And hopefully it does!

Wizarding World Butterbeer Mug

Now what to do with your new souvenir from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Of course I can drink out of it but that is not really that fun.  Ok, it's kinda fun.  But I had a better idea.

It looks like Butterbeer is in there all the time.

What about using mine for a bookend.  Or a pen holder.  Or maybe just a fun thing to have around.

This is one of the easiest projects I've done of late.  But I also feel like it is one of my cleverest projects too.

All it takes are some vase fillers.  Some amber and opaque white.  Fill a little more than 3/4 with the amber stones and top it off with the white.  Wa la!  You have your own permanent Butterbeer!

Now don't get too tispy wizards, muggles or squibs!

The Attractions of the Wizarding World

Yes this does warrant it's own post.  

Lets start with the smallest attraction in the area.  The Flight of the Hippogriff is a nice little roller coaster for everyone.  My mom with her terrible motion sickness could probably go on this one.  Like everything in the area the theming is excellent.  Looks like Hagrid is in charge of everything here.  You walk by his house with very large pumpkins, and scarecrows to end up in his cabin.  Which just happens to have a roller coaster inside.

As you climb higher on the roller coaster look to the left and you will see Buckbeak sitting in his nest.  The best thing about this attraction are the views that you get of the area while you are riding.  Where else can you see the rooftops of Hogsmeade.

The other traditional roller coaster in this area is Dragon Challenge.  Again the themeing is fantastic.  Dargon Challenge is themed after the Goblet of Fire. When you first enter after dropping off you bags at the Train station you pass next to banners for the four champions.  The que climbs towards the challenge area which again gives you great views of the castle and the town.

  Outside Don't miss the Ford Anglia and Hagrids cabin before entering the training tent.  The egg clues are all there, along with the Goblet itself and a candle lit ceiling.

One of my favorite details about the area are the warning signs.  They are Ministry approved.
Anyways, once you get to the challege you must choose your opponent.  Would you choose the Hungarian Horntail or Chinese Fireball?  Either way its a good roller coaster.

Now the the piece de resistance.  Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is unlike any other ride I've ever been on.  It is the best attraction out there.  You start at the base of the castle, put your bag in the lockers, and off you go on an adventure before the adventure.

The first entrance into the castle leads you by the potions class room, the Mirror of Erised, and back outside into the greenhouse.  I can only imagine how long this wait would be if the entire place was full.

Then back inside the castle you go.  There is so much to see.  The hourglasses with the house points, Dumbledore's staircase, his gadgets, and the man himself in his office

 Then off to why you are really there.  Harry, Ron and Hermione have worked out, mostly by Hermione's work, how to sneak muggles onto the grounds.  Board an enchanted bench and hopefully it turns out alright. Once you leave the defense of the dark arts classroom you pass the Fat Lady, the Hogwarts founders talking about Hermione and her flying bench, and the sorting hat before boarding.

I don't think I can really give justice to this attraction by describing it since the experience is like no other.  It's just amazing.  I had to go 11 times in one day, I love it that much!  

I just wish there was a Disneyland and a Wizarding World in Kansas City.  One can dream. Or move...

Back to the Wizarding World!

Welcome to Hogsmeade!   I was so excited to be back!  I love this place.  I'm very excited when it comes to the coast that I visit more often all my dreams will come true.  Or when they build a Disneyland in Kansas City, then all all my dreams came true!

This time I came armed with both of my cameras ready to shoot.  Looking at my photos now I still wish I would have taken more photos.  It had only been 2 weeks since my trip to Europe and I was still suffering from photo fatigue.  

Into Hogsmeade I went to have my Muggle adventures.  What's not to love as you enter Hogsmeade to be greeted by the Hogwarts express.  And a butterbeer cart!  

As you walk into the land further you pass by Zonkos, Honeydukes, and Three Broomsticks.  The detail in the windows are so well done.  I just wish that all the store fronts I could walk inside.

One place you can walk inside is the Three Broomsticks.  I ate here twice during my visit.  

One of my favorite details about this restaurant are the drink choices.  Pear cider, apple cider, pumpkin juice, pumpkin fizz, and lemonde are your choices.  Of course Butterbeer too!  No coke here, or anywhere in the land!  So cool!  

Situated right next door is Hogs Head Pub.  I indulged here with a hard cider.  I spent many an hour sitting on this patio writing letters while enjoying pear, apple, hard cider and the occasional butterbeer.   

I love finding a quiet area to sit and relax in the middle of a busy theme park.

Now back into Hogsmeade.  If  you look close enough you can find Gilderoy Lockheart's books in a window display.  So many details all around it never ceases to amaze me!

You never know what you are going to see around the area.  Wizard's chess, no feeding winged creatures, flying snitches and Moaning Murtle in the bathroom.  What will I stumble upon next.

Cats made from measuring tape, floating dresses, measuring tape that seems to work on its own, and instruments that play themselves.  It's magic.

 At the other end of the alley is Hogwarts castle.  I wish I could go there for real.

And view looking back into the Hogs Head patio and the Castle.  What's not to love about an area that outdid Disney.

And a picture of me with the Triwizard school participants for good measure!

I'm back at the Islands of Adventure, Florida

This trip actually happened in September.  Wow, that was a while ago.  But I wanted to go through all of my travels from 2012 in the order that they actually happened.  So here we are in March recapping September. I'll get back to the actual date sooner or later!

The first day I was there was with Rachel.  After starting at Universal Studios park we ventured over to Islands of Adventure.  I had visited the park with my mom in February but only had a day.  This time I had a 3 day park hopper so I got on everything.
After entering the park the first land to the right is Seuss Landing.  All of the rides inside are geared towards children more than adults.   The Cat in the Hat is a classic dark ride with the addition of whiplash.  One Fish Two Fish is Dumbo with the threat of getting wet.  The strangest ride is the Seuss Trolley Train.  It looks like fun but the soundtrack is very disconnected from the themeing of the ride.  Should be fun but it really isn't.

Off to the next land of the Lost Continent.  No rides in this land but two shows.  Poseidon’s Fury is a special effects show that was good fun.  The first three scenes were great but the final one seems a bit dated.  The other attraction is Sinbad's stunt show.  Entertaining to see once, don't really need to see it again.

Ahhh Harry Potter, the real reason to visit.  I'll spend a couple more posts on this land so I'll pass for now.

It was a pretty nice day so Rachel and I hit all the water rides in one day.  We started with the one that we thought we would get the most wet on.  That totally didn't happen.  We got soaked more and more on each ride we went on.  Jurassic Park was the first.  We barely got wet.  I went again on another day and only got hit by one water droplet.

The other ride in Jurassic Park is one that you must be a child or be riding with a child so that one was a no go for us.  Pteranodon Flyers is for kids, but what about kids at heart!?

Toon Lagoon is aptly named.  It is home to the other two water rides.  Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls is a log flume ride where it looks like you would get completely soaked.  We got moderately soaked.  I just wish I could remember more from the cartoons that I watched as a kid.
The other ride in the area is Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges.  This was the last one we hit and it hit us with tons of water.  Wow we were soaked.  Now I know why Universal has people dryers.

We followed the circle around to Marvel Super Hero Island.  Now owned by Disney but featured in Universal.  Rachel and I went on everything in the area.  Spiderman is a fantastic 3-D motion simulator ride.  You take on a job at the Daily Beagle and run into Spiderman along the way with villains there to thwart him.  I've been told it's similar to Transformers in Universal Hollywood which is also being built in Orlando.  Very cool ride.

Dr. Doom is a detonator/maliboomer style ride which the only difference that you load underground.  The Hulk is a great roller coaster with a surprise start, and Storm Force Accelatron are the fastest tea cups known to man kind.  

I just happened to be there on another day when all of the meet and greet Super Heroes came out on motorcycles.  Of course I met all of them.  With the exception of Spiderman who I ran across at the top of a merchandise display in the entry shop.

I suspect that over the years the park will get even better.  Jurassic Park will have a smaller footprint in the future, Marvel will leave the park, Toon Lagoon gets news comics and rethemed rides?  Who knows what will happen next.

All and all I really enjoyed my adventures in Islands of Adventure.  Of course Harry Potter is the biggest draw but there is a lot to do in the parks.  

Wizarding World of Harry Potter!... and Universal

So the real highlight of my mom and my trip to Florida was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  The rest of the park was fine but all I really cared about visiting was Harry Potter.  We went on a very overcast day.  It felt like a day in London, not that I would know, but some sprinkles in the air all day.

We got to the park super early.  Shuttles from our hotel ran every hour so we went on the bus an hour and a half before park opening.  Again we got to our location about an hour early.  We sat around the front of the park for a good while but they did let everyone in about 15 minutes before their scheduled opening.

We made a B-line for Harry Potter, bypassing everything along our way.  It was empty, score!

Nobody by the Hogwarts Express!

It seemed pretty slow that day.  The longest line was only 20 minutes.

As you step into all the shops you are really transported into the magic.

Zonko's joke shop was at the entrance of Hogsmeade.

Loved the window display of Puking pestules

Inside Zonko's you never know what you will find to buy or see.

Next to Zonko was Honeydukes. 

 It was full of Candy and beautiful displays.  I could not get over all the hidden details in the whole area.  They really out Disneyed Disney.  Amazing!

Flying brooms on the wall inside Dervish and Bangs.

Check the wizardware shop for Hermione's Yule Ball dress.  Too bad you can't go inside.

What size cauldron do you need?  Also a facade.  Oh well

In Hogshead bar watch the hog.  He is a little talkative.

One of the little gems inside of the Wizarding World was Olivander's wand shop.  That was the longest wait on the day at about 25 minutes

The shop felt like it was taken straight out the movies.  If only I were about 11 and could be chosen for the wand selection.  The show we saw had two different children choose their wands.  

I didn't get a wand.  Someone told me, just remember it's a stick and I could never get that out of my mind!

Now to a very important thing.  Butterbeer.

You can get butterbeer at the carts in the area or inside the 3 Broomsticks bar.  

There are two kinds, frozen and regular.  The frozen is like a frozen margarita in texture and the regular is lightly carbonated.

I had to get the souvenir cup.  It was important.  Between the two both my mom and I liked the regular better.  Now if they would just sell it at Target I would get it all the time!

I also tried the pumpkin fizz.  I love anything pumpkin.  It was basically a pumpkin soda, very good.

From the food and shops to the main attraction.  Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey amazing.  I have never been on any ride like it.  And that is coming from a theme park employee.

We booked it the the main attraction and there was no one there!

A little bit of magic outside.

My poor mom could not ride most everything in Universal.  But she still enjoyed herself inside the Wizarding World.

I tried saying Lemon Drop but nothing happened.

Inside Dumbordor's office, lots to tinker with including his pensive.

Up on the balcony Harry, Ron, and Hermione are there to entertain you as you wait.

Many of the portraits talk including all the founders of the school.

That ride was just amazing.  I went on it 7 times, lucky 7 I suppose.  I could have easily gone 20!  After a couple rides I figured out how it worked and it still blew my mind!  Looking forward to visiting when the next one opens in Hollywood.

There were other attractions in the area.  Dragon Challenge was a re-themed roller coaster from what was in the Harry Potter area before.  They did a great job making it Harry Potter.

As you walk along the que you will find the car driven in the Chamber of Secrets.  I guess the Forbidden Forest must be near by.  Hagrid's hut was just off to the left.

As you got to the front of the line you could choose which dragon you wanted to face.

We did walk the entire park going on a couple rides but nothing compared to what was in the Wizarding World.  We spent about 6 hours inside that part of the park.  Would I go again?  Yes but it was very spendy!  It was totally worth the cost of admission.