So back in 2006 I heard about plans of making a Harry Potter themed park in Universal Studios. You can say I was a bit excited. I read about the plans over and over again. This was like my dream come true to go there and be in the world that I have loved for so many years. (In case any of you didn't know I am obsessed with Harry Potter, you may find it weird but I don't care) The plans to open this park were about 4 years away. So I promised myself that when this park opened in 2010 I was going. So 2010 came, it opened in July, and I found myself reading about the opening week. It looked glorious. It was everything I had dreamed and hoped it would be. However it was so packed and crowded people were waiting 8 hours just to go on rides. That didn't sound super fun to me, so I decided we should wait a little bit before we went so we could actually enjoy ourselves. We started saving, and we were thinking of going in December, the week before Adam would take his finals, but things were just not working out. He had tons of projects due that week, and we weren't finding anyway around them. I was devastated. I wanted to go so bad, and not to mention Universal was offering a killer package deal that would save us a bunch of money if we went before the end of the year. So we decided to wait until the school year was over. We would have to pay more, but that also gave us more time to save. So we planned for the week after school got out. Then we found out Universal was extending their package deal and my heart skipped a beat. We would definitely be able to afford this trip. So in December we booked our trip for the first week of May. Those months could not have gone by any slower. I would probably be on Universal's website once a week, looking at the maps, and rides, and planning out what we were going to do each day. Finally the semester ended and we drove down to Vegas. (flying out of Vegas was soooo much cheaper than flying out of Salt Lake, weird huh?)
My mom took us to the airport at 4:30 in the morning, and our flight took off at 7:00 am. This was my second time riding in an airplane so I was pretty excited. We had a layover in Minneapolis, Minnesota for a few hours so we took some pics.
Our flight left from Minneapolis and we were heading to Orlando!! We arrived in Orlando a little after 7:00 pm. We had decided that we were going to rent a car, since it would be so much cheaper than taking a taxi everywhere. So we headed down to the rental area in the airport, and the guy told us that it would cost over $300 to rent a car for the days we were going to be there. That was way more than we were budgeting for. (They apparently charge you an arm and a leg if you are under 25, and Adam turns 25 in September, it was ridiculous) So we told them no thanks and looked else where. We found a place that was located off the airport, but they had a shuttle to get you and they charged a lot less. So we went down there and it was going to be a little over $200 which was a lot cheaper than the other place so we took it. Adam pulls out his credit card and it expired that month. The rental place would not take any other form of payment so we were pretty much screwed. The lady said she would call a couple other places to see if they took debit and they found one that would come pick us up. They pick us up we go over there and they are only going to charge us $180!! We were so excited. So we got our stuff and headed to our hotel. After a few wrong turns we finally made it. They had a TGIFridays in the hotel so we grabbed some dinner then went back to the room to sleep.
Day 1
We woke up and got ready. We headed down to wait for the shuttle that would take us to Universal Studios.
Us waiting for the shuttle
We got on the shuttle and headed out. They dropped us off and we were doing a very brisk walk cause we were so excited. We printed out our tickets and headed off into the park. (Universal Studios has two parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, and the Harry Potter park is in Islands of Adventure)This is the entrance to Islands of Adventure
Of course the Harry Potter part of the park was on the complete opposite end of the entrance so we kept walking til we caught a glimpse of the castle from Seuss Landing.
We turn a corner and there it was... the entrance into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I felt really bad for Adam cause I am sure I was jumping up and down and maybe even possibly hyperventilating out of excitement. We took picture after picture trying to capture everything we were seeing.
The Entrance into Harry Potter
The first thing they have when you walk in is the Hogwarts Express with the conductor standing by the train. He is a totally legit Brit, and had the accent to prove it.
This place was amazing. It was an exact replica of Hogsmeade. On the left you had Zonko's Joke Shop, Honeydukes, The Three Broomsticks, Hog's Head, and on the right you had the Owl Post, Dervish and Banges, Ollivanders, and Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. There were carts with Butterbeer being sold, Harry Potter music playing in the background, enough Brits to make you think that you were actually in England. (but seriously though I heard so many English accents I really felt like we were in England)Zonko's Joke Shop
Honeydukes
The Three Broomsticks
Hog's Head
Owl Post
Ollivander's
Carts selling Butterbeer
The first thing we wanted to do was ride the ride in the Castle. On the way up to the castle we saw all the flags of the different houses so of course we had to take pictures by them.Adam claims he is a Ravenclaw
And I am a true Gryffindor
After taking a few more pics we round another corner and there was Hogwarts Castle. It was beautiful and looked exactly like it should.
So we hurry to the entrance of the castle to get in line to ride the ride. You first have to go in and put any loose articles in a locker (luckily they were free) then we got in line. This most definitely had to have been the best experience in waiting in line for a ride. You first go through the Herbology greenhouses and there are the strangest/coolest plants hanging from the ceiling. There are also Mandrakes sitting in their pots. After the greenhouses you enter the castle. The first thing you see is a huge wizard with each of the house mascots on him. Then you get to see all of the moving pictures. Not all of the pictures are moving, but a lot of them are and it is pretty neat. They talk to you and the other portraits and you see some of them moving in and out of each other. Then you see the eagle that leads you up to Dumbledore's office, and you go inside his office and there is a hologram of Dumbledore by his desk talking to you. It is like an exact replica of his office, it was very very cool. Then you go into the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom, where the holograms of Harry, Ron, and Hermione are talking to you, and Ron tries to do a spell and makes it start snowing on us, it was actually huge bubbles falling out of the sky but it was awesome. You then go through and see the portrait of the fat lady who lets you into the Gryffindor Common Room. Then you finally see the sorting hat and you are at the ride. The ride was amazing. You are on a flying adventure with Harry and you are attacked by Dragons, Dementors, and Spiders, you play Quidditch and try to avoid being hit by the bludger. It was seriously the best ride I have ever been on. We get off and Adam got super motion sick. haha. Poor guy. The things he does because he loves me. (I got a good one that is for sure)
Gryffindor Common Room
Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom
Dumbledore's Office
Moving Pictures
We decide to take a break and grab some food, hoping that it will fix Adam's nausea. So we head to The Three Broomsticks. It was actually some of the better amusement park food I have had. I got roasted chicken with roasted potatoes and corn, and Adam got roasted chicken and ribs with potatoes and corn. And of course we each got our own Butterbeer. There are two kinds of Butterbeer, they have a carbonated kind that tastes a lot like cream soda with some extra delicious flavorings, and a frozen kind that is not carbonated but is like a slushee. Both are topped with a generous amount of Irish Creme and they are absolutely remarkable. So so so delicious.
After eating we head over to the line to get into Ollivander's wand shop. While Adam is waiting in line I run back to the castle and do single rider on the ride again. I pretty much was in and out in less than 15 minutes. Then I joined Adam back in line.
So for Ollivander's wand shop they let around 36 people in at a time, and do a little show. It is pretty much like Harry's first experience to Ollivander's in the first movie. So one person out of the 36 gets chosen to get their wand, and guess who gets chosen..... ADAM!! I was so excited cause this was probably the thing he was most excited for. So he gets picked to come up and test out different wands to find the one that will choose him. Ollivander starts handing him wands to test out. The first one he gives him he tells him to use Wingardium Leviosa on some boxes to try to make them fly. He is unsuccessful and all of the boxes just fall. So Ollivander cleans them up and hands him another wand. He tells him to use Aguamenti to water a pot of flowers. He tries the spell and all of the flowers die. Ollivander then restores the flowers, and tells him that is probably not his wand. Then Ollivander pulls out a third wand blows some dust off it, and says "Curious" Harry Potter music starts playing in the background, Ollivander holds out the wand and Adam takes it and a spotlight shines on Adam and wind starts blowing, and he knows he has the right wand. The wand chooses the wizard. It was such an awesome experience, and one that I don't think Adam will be forgetting anytime soon. So of course we buy the wand, how can you not when it chose him. Then I buy myself a wand and I get Dumbledore's. (because it is the Elder wand and the most powerful wand so of course I want that one)
Then we go and check out the other shops. Zonko's is so fun. There are trick toys everywhere. Too bad everything in there was super expensive or we would have got one of everything. Honeydukes was even better. Candy galore is all i can say. There were chocolate frogs, bertie botts, acid pops, candy floss, lollipops, chocolate, and then they had a bunch of homemade treats like pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, rock cakes, and all other types. So we get a chocolate frog, a package of bertie botts, a cauldron cake, and a rock cake.
Adam eating his Cauldron Cake
Me opening my Chocolate Frog
Inside Honeydukes
Inside Zonko's
The other rides they had in the Harry Potter park were The Flight of the Hippogriff and Dueling Dragons. The flight of the hippogriff was just a small family friendly roller coaster. On the trail up you got to walk by Hagrid's Hut, which was a very realistic copy of the one from the movie. Too bad we couldn't go in. The ride was pretty much riding on a Hippogriff, pretty fun.
The other roller coaster was Dueling Dragons. The line up to it was like the first task to the Triwizard Tournament. It is two roller coasters in one. You can either pick the blue side (Hungarian Horntail), or the red side (Chinese Fireball). Each roller coaster goes at the same time and you interweave between each other. There is one part where you are coming straight at each other and at the last minute, just when you think you are going to crash into each other, you get pulled up into a loop. It is awesome. This ride we seriously walked onto every time, unless we decided to do the front row (cause the front row was the best place to sit on this ride) then it was like a 10 minute wait.
After a while we decided to go explore the rest of the park. We went to the Jurassic Park area and rode a really fun water ride with a huge drop at the end.
Then we went to Toon Lagoon, where they had more water rides that we got completely soaked on, and I mean completely soaked, we were ringing water out of every article of clothing we were wearing.
Then we checked out Seuss Landing which had a bunch of rides themed after stories from Dr. Seuss.
So after a long day of walking and standing and riding fun rides, we called it a day and headed back to the hotel. Then we came back to the City Walk area and had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. It was very expensive, but also very delicious. We walked around for a bit than headed back to the Hotel and slept. What an exhausting day.
Day 2
We woke up early so we could use our Early Park Admission pass, which put us in the park a hour early than everyone else. We also had our free breakfast at the Three Broomsticks. I had a traditional American breakfast which included eggs, bacon, sausage, croissant, and roasted potatoes. Adam got a traditional English breakfast which included tomato, black pudding, beans, croissant, ham, and eggs. It did not look very good, but Adam enjoyed it. He also got some pumpkin juice and it was disgusting, not good at all. Luckily I stuck with the delicious Butterbeer.
After breakfast we went on all the rides in Harry Potter world again. We checked out some of the other areas of the park we didn't go on the first day and rode those rides. Headed back to the Three Broomsticks for lunch where Adam had some not so good Cornish Pasties, and I had an enormous Turkey Leg.
Second Time with Ollivander, sadly I did not get picked
By 2 o'clock we were dead. So we decided to call it an early day and we walked back to our hotel. We relaxed at the hotel pool, laid out in the sun, and took a much needed nap. We decided we wanted to go drive around Disneyworld, sadly you can't really see any of the parks cause they are surrounded by trees, so we headed to Downtown Disney and walked around, checked out some shops, and ate some delicious fish n' chips.
Day 3
Our last day at Universal. We got up that morning planning on going to Universal Studios instead of Islands of Adventure, but as soon as we got to the entrance of the park I decided there was no way I could not go to Harry Potter World one more time so we did our last day in Islands of Adventure. Of course the first place we go is to Harry Potter. We just walked around and enjoyed the magic.
After sitting in our favorite nook by Hog's Head, and doing some people watching, it was finally time to say goodbye to the park. It was such a magical experience and we were super bummed to leave. But alas all great things must come to an end.
Our Farewell to Harry Potter
Our last day in Florida we decided we were going to the beach. The weather said it was going to be cloudy and rainy, but we didn't care, we we're not going to let a little rain prevent us from seeing the Atlantic Ocean. So we drove about a hour to Daytona Beach, and it was horrible. We stopped at a little convenience store to grab some beach towels, then we walked out to the beach. It was cloudy, it was rainy, it was windy, and it was cold. So it was a horrible time at the beach. We stayed for maybe 20 minutes. Just enough time to take a few pictures and decided we would just drive down the coast for a bit.
We headed back to Orlando where of course the sun was shining, and it was beautiful out. We decided to hit up the outlet mall, and scored some pretty sweet deals. Then we headed back to the car rental place to take back our car, they took us to the airport and we boarded our flight back to Vegas.
This was the best trip of my life. Holy cow was Wizarding World everything I hoped for and more. I am definitely looking forward to the day that we will be going back, and hopefully with some little adams and nicoles to help share the experience.
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