The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

This morning I woke up early and drove Blake and Debbie to the airport. They have to get back to real life. We were sad to see them go. We have had such a fun time hanging out in Florida. We have a couple of days left here and we wanted to make sure we took advantage of every minute.

Today we decided to go to Universal Studios to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. To prepare for this trip we watched all of the Harry Potter movies. It took a few weeks to get through them all, but it was well worth it. There is such amazing detail in the Harry Potter sections and we were able to enjoy all of it.

We got to the park early and headed right to the Islands of Adventure toward the Hogsmeade section. It was good we got there early because as soon as the park opened the Harry Potter areas got super busy. We headed straight toward the Hogwarts castle. It was an awesome sight.

We got in line for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. It is located inside the castle and is the busiest ride in the park. By getting there early we only had to wait in line for 45 minutes. The line winds through the Hogwarts castle. While we waited in line we saw many fun little details like the potions classroom, a bunch of mandrakes, Dumbledore's office, the Pensieve, the Gryffindor common room, and the sorting hat. They went all out in making the world of Harry Potter come to life and it did not disappoint. The talking pictures throughout the castle were incredible. They truly looked like they were painted. It was incredible. The ride was fun - it was a mix of 3D effects and a roller coaster. It told a fun story bringing in many elements from the books and movies. After the first ride, we got on the Flight of the Hippogriff. It is a small roller coaster and it was fun. While waiting in line we went by Hagrid's hut and an animatronic Buckbeak. 

Our next ride was the Dragon Challenge. This ride is based on the fourth Harry Potter movie. It is a pretty intense roller coaster. You choose your dragon and then you twist and turn while hanging underneath a track. On our way to the ride, there were some really cool views of the castle and the car from Harry Potter.

At this point, it was getting hot and we were thirsty. We headed over to the Three Broomsticks to get some frozen butterbeer. We had read that the butterbeer was amazing, but that would be an understatement. It was heavenly and it hit the spot on a hot Florida afternoon.

After our butterbeer, we finished exploring Hogsmeade. There were a lot of unique shops. In the restrooms, they even had recordings of moaning myrtle playing over the speakers. The attention to detail was unmatched. Once we were done with Hogsmeade we got on the Hogwarts express and headed over to platforms 9 and 3/4.

When you exit platform 9 3/4 it feels just like you walked onto a London street. This London street happens to be Grimmauld Place. I got a picture in front of 12 Grimmauld Place. We stood and watched the house for a minute and every so often Kreacher would peek out of one of the windows.

From the street, Diagon Alley is completely hidden. Once we walked through a brick wall we were right in the middle of it.

Dragon Alley is a cool place. It has tons of shops surrounding Gringotts Bank. We headed over to the bank to get on the last Harry Potter ride - Escape from Gringotts. This was the longest line we stood in all day. It was a little over an hour long. As with the other rides, there were lots of cool details. In the main area of the bank, there were a bunch of animatronic goblins that looked like they came right out of the movie. On top of the bank was the dragon from the movie and every once in a while it would blow fire out of its mouth. The wait was well worth it. The ride was an exciting escape from Gringotts.

At this point we were tired and it was hot. We had accomplished our goal of riding all the Harry Potter rides. We left the Harry Potter section of the park to get some lunch. We wanted to get out of the heat and off our feet so we went to one of our favorite places to eat on vacation - the Hard Rock Cafe. Apparently, the Hard Rock at Universal is the biggest one in the world. It was a great place to eat and get out of the heat.

After lunch, we walked through the other portions of both Universal parks. We were super impressed with their commitment to the theme of each area. They went all out and it was impressive. There were a few things that we didn't like - the lines to most of the rides were really long and it was pretty busy throughout the park. 

After this vacation, we really are going to need another vacation to recover.  

We rode a few more rides (we really liked the Revenge of the Mummy Ride) and toured through the Harry Potter areas one last time. Then we left the park. We really enjoyed the Harry Potter areas of the park and we would recommend spending a day there. The rest of Universal Studios was just okay, and we don't plan to go back anytime soon.

We came back to the hotel and hung out by the pool before heading to bed. It was so relaxing. This has been such a great trip.