Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Our entire vacation was planned around the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Abby feel in love with reading with the Harry Potter books so it definitely holds a special place in our heart. The World of Harry Potter is loved by Abby and Owen...and Matt likes it too. I could take it or leave it and didn't really get into it until I played the Lego Harry Potter game. I watched the first three movies and had enough knowledge to understand the Universal version of Hogsmeade Village and Hogwart Castle.

I did a little research and knew we needed to get up early and be in the park as early as possible to wait in line to GET IN to the world of Harry Potter. We waited in line for 35 minutes until the World opened for us. Our first plan was to wait in line for Olivander's Wand Shop. We waited an hour in line to experience Olivanders. 25 people are allowed in the wand shop per show...if you have seen the movies, the wand experience is very similar to what Harry goes through to get his wand. The shop is definitely a replica of the Olivanders in the movie. Out of the 25 people, the wand guy picks ONE person to get his/her wand chosen for them. Abby wanted to be that person so badly. She wasn't chosen, but thankfully, neither was Owen. It was a cool experience. The village is really cool and looks exactly like the movie...minus the hundreds of FL tourists! After the wand shop, we bought wands for the kids, got some butter beer ( I guess it's a HP thing ?? ), then headed off to ride the Forbidden Journey.
The line of the Forbidden Journey is rather long....but constantly moves. The castle part of the line is really neat ....looks just like Hogwarts! The ride was amazing....felt just like you were on a Nimbus 2000. It was a little scary with dementors (sp?), the creepy spiders, and that snake. Since I did the research, I knew where to sit to not get wet by the spit of the spider. Abby and Matt got spit on...hehe.

We rode the flight of the hippogriff...kind of a lame ride....checked out Honeydukes...then ate lunch at three broomsticks.

Of course we took tons of pictures...which will follow....

2 comments:

Kimberly said...

Well of course I am interested in your blog, I have one too!!! I don't post much, but a little. I loved looking at your photos and looks like you had an awesome time!!! I will ck back to see more updates.

Kimberly said...

Of course I am interested in your blog, I have one too!! I don't post much, but a little.

I so enjoyed all your photos and sounds like you had an amazing time. Will check back to see if you post more. Thanks for sharing!!