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Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Oh. Em. Gee.

First, one should realize that we can't be sensible and grown-up all the time and at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter I was anything but sensible.

Anyway...best day ever! Seriously, I felt like I had just drank and entire bottle of Felix Felicis. I don't know that I've been more excited about anything in my life. For those interested, I will now run you through a brief overview of my experience - so if you don't want to know anything about the park, stop reading!

Okay so, we get to the park and I made a beeline for the Harry Potter park. Steven had to work to keep up, but I was on a mission. We finally get near the Harry Potter area....and there's a line just to get in! I was sad:

Yes, that is my Ravenclaw House sweater. And yes, I know I'm a nerd.

But the line really didn't seem that long, and we got into the park fairly quickly. It was incredible, I seriously cannot stress how amazing the park looks. I really felt like I was in Hogsmeade! Plus, it was pretty cold, so the snow on the rooftops seemed entirely plausible! First things first, we got a couple of butterbeers (in souvenir mugs of course!) and I was happy:


Then, to kick things off right, we got in line for Ollivander's right away. We ended up waiting about an hour and a half, but it was so worth it, because I got picked for the re-enactment!! It was so magical, the script was almost word-for-word out of the book, I got to try wands and make things go wrong AND when I found the right wand there was music and lights and wind blowing - it was very incredible. 

Next we went to ride The Forbidden Journey, the new ride for the park. Steven got very sick but I loved it!! You flew around Hogwarts on an enchanted bench, got chased by a dragon, hit the Whomping Willow and flew around the Quidditch pitch and attacked by dementors! It was a pretty crazy ride, but very fun.

After that ride, the part got really crowded, so we decided to leave and get a return ticket for later. I was able to snap a sweet photo, so you too can see how incredible the area looks:


Later, we returned to walk through Honeyduke's, Zonko's, The Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head. They did a really great job with the interiors of these too, but I wish there were less people so I could walk around more (and that Bertie Bott's every flavour beans weren't $10 a pop) and enjoy it. But I suppose on a Hogsmeade weekend at Hogwarts the shops would get pretty crowded too.

I really cannot wait to go back. And if you cannot wait to get to the park either, here are a few tips from yours truly:

  • Get to the park early and hit Harry Potter first. Even though they were regulating the amount of people to get into the area, it still got a lot busier after noon.
  • Go to Olivander's first, we waited for about an hour and a half, but later in the afternoon the line can get much longer.
  • Don't go through the single rider's line. It doesn't end up being much shorter, and you miss a lot of the line attractions.
  • There's a high possibility that you will get sick on The Forbidden Journey. Of all the people I talked to, just me and one other person didn't get deathly nauseous.

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