The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios

As many of you know,  I jumped on the Hogwarts Express with KF and CY and traveled to sunny Orlando get a taste of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.  And I fell in love.

My deep love for Ron began with his awesome chess skills.  Oh Ron.

The decor, the atmosphere, the food, the shops, and the new ride all completely blew my expectations out of the water.  It even impressed my brother, which if you know him...impressing him can be difficult.

Biggest piece of advice to anyone going: GET THERE EARLY!  Get to the parks as soon as they open and make a beeline to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter....otherwise you'll be standing in line for hours just to get into to that section of the park.


Being a huge Harry Potter fan I decided that I did want to do some sort of review/description/mention of this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful trip: so here we go!!!

Rides:

Snow actually fell from the ceiling as
Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked to us

The Pensieve

 There's just one new ride for this section of the park and it's called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  It's utterly fantastic, Harry Potter fan or not-this ride is the shiznit.  In all honesty is the best ride at Islands of Adventure and a true original.  It's a mix between a roller coaster and visual effects ride; you are strapped into to a seat and tossed and turned while flying through air, interacting with characters, and fighting HUGE dementors (and the basilisk!) You will be waiting in line for quite some time for this ride though, but don't let that deter you.  Most of the wait is spent in the Herbology section outside the castle but once you enter the castle you are bombarded with numerous scenes and wonderful treasures from the movies and books and you just can't help but stop and look!

The other three rides are older ones that were renovated to fit the theme.  The flying Hippogriff is geared more towards younger kids (or people afraid of roller coasters) and the Dragon Challenge is the the old Dueling Dragon's ride-castle and all.  Of course, the two roller coasters on the Dragon Challenge are great as always :)

Food:

The food is not bad.  We ate at the Leaky Cauldron and I none of us were incredibly impressed with the food but eating in the Leaky Cauldron was fun :)

Plus they serve butterbeer

Of course you'll pay extra for the souvenir cup...
but it can be worth it depending
on if you'll use it again.  I personally drink chamomile tea
out of mine most nights

Now, something the must be mentioned is the Butterbeer.  Simply delicious.  It's served cold or frozen and it's a slice of heaven.  The frozen is said to be a bit too sweet but the cold is just right.  Of course butterbeer is supposed to be served warm but I'm going to let that slide in my criticism :)  The drink itself tastes of something similar to cream soda but not nearly as sweet and not bubbly like a soda.  It's a smooth taste that would take awhile to get sick of.  It's topped with a thick froth that is much sweeter than the drink and almost has a hint of marshmallow.  DO NOT leave the park without trying butterbeer.  Forget about the cost...just drink it.

They also serve pumpkin juice but I skipped out on this due to the price but the bottle was very cute :)

Shops and decor:

The Chimneys!

Wow. Just Wow.  Details, details, details.  Everything is so detailed down to the fact that every surface looked old and laden with years of history.  There were so many small details from the books and the movies everywhere that you completely forget that you aren't actually on the streets of Hogsmeade.  But what better way to tell you about than to show you pictures:

There were so many fun surprises around every corner.  Like the snowman dressed like a Hogwarts student with Hedwig on his arm, the butterbeer carts, the floating items in the shop windows, and even screeching mandrakes.

They also had every employee dressed the part...British accent and all.  Several of the shops were decoration only.  And the shops weren't just at street level, looking upwards you could see the second stories complete with the most detailed and fun window displays.  Each roof was covered with snow as well with made you feel even more immersed.

The clothes in these windows floated around :)

Now let's not forget the shops you can actually go in.  I kid you not when I say that I wanted to buy everything I saw.

Including this Voldemort doll.  Esp. for HM since I thought he would love it 

Every shop had different items to buy: Flich's Emporium (the largest selection of souvenirs-where you will find the Voldy doll), Dervish and Banges (mostly clothes and of course the Monster Book of Monsters) Ollivanders (wands of course), Owl Post (stuffed owls and letter writing supplies), Zonkos (Pygmy Puffs!), and Honeydukes (candy, candy, candy!)

Now I of course must give you a picture of the castle, which was by far the most stunning thing there...so here are some great shots of it:

 

There are so many more pictures I want to share but I will refrain (check my facebook for the rest).  

However I must mention the new roller coaster and Universal Studios:

 The Rockin Roller Coaster (or something like that), it has the biggest drop I've ever expereinced (and the steepest drop is actually the second one out of the five on the coaster).  This coaster lets you choose a song to listen to while your riding and it has some of the biggest thrills I've encountered.  And dare I say it? It. is. the. best. roller. roller. coaster. I've ever been on...and the scariest.

My "OMG I'm sill alive" face

Goodnight :)