The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Last week while I was in Florida for YNATS, one of the other swimmers and I went to see Harry Potter World after we were done at the meet (actually called "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter").  IT WAS SO COOL! Being a huge Harry Potter fan I probably would have found something to love even if it ended up being super lame, but it was fantastic.  After entering the park I had to take a quick detour through something to do with Dr. Suess, but once we entered the part of the park devoted to Harry Potter it was fantastic!  We walked through Hogsmeade to get to the first ride, Dueling Dragons, which was pretty good.  But the best part of the ride was probably the decorations they had along the way.  While we were walking up to where the line was supposed to begin there were flags that said things like "Go Fleur" and "Krum for Durmstrang", and other Triwizard Tournament related phrases.  Once we entered the indoor part of the wait (which was hardly anything, five minutes at most) the real cool stuff came.  We saw the Triwizard Cup and the Goblet of Fire, it was ridiculous.  And since there wasn't a big line, we could stand and enjoy the cool artifacts, and walk quickly past the inbetween spaces of the line.  So cool.

But the main attraction of the park was called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  The line for this line was much longer (75 minutes), but so worth it.  And the line for this ride was filled with adventure as well.  The line kept moving at a pretty steady pace, so we were walking slowly for almost the whole time as well.  The outside portion of the line began after a quick pass-by of the Mirror of Erised and a few other cool things from early books, like a site from Harry's battle with the Basilisk.  Once we were in the long stretch of line, there was less to look at, but we did pass by some Mandrakes and a few other Herbology Creatures.  And I found a guy wearing a Dunder Mifflin shirt, bringing a little of The Office into Harry Potter, a pretty nice combination.  The next indoor portion was by far the coolest, and obviously the most expensive.  The recreated a corridor with moving and talking portraits, and when we entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in there too, and eventually showed off a little by going under the invisibility cloak, a demonstration of video project on glass of some sort.  We walked past the Fat Lady and had another portrait tell us the safety guidelines for the ride as we passed by the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

The actual ride was ridiculous, in a good way of course.  It began when we got on this conveyor belt of sorts and strapped ourselves into seats that moved along.  As we neared the end of the track Hermione began talking and all of a sudden we were flying!  We witnessed Harry and Draco playing a Quidditch match and  ran from a dragon (who blew nasty smoke in my face).  We watched the spiders and the family of Aragog come dangerously close to eating us, close enough to spit on us, and flew through the Chamber of Secrets to see the decomposing Basilisk.  Perhaps the most terrifying part of the ride was the dementors, close enough for us to reach out and touch, and they could have sucked out our souls!  The ride was a combination of digital effects projected on a screen and actual figures coming at you in real time.  A true Harry Potter experience.

After our adventure, we passed through one of the many gift shops scattered throughout the relatively small park.  It was pretty impressively stocked.  There was everything from golden snitches to dolls of Voldemort to most t-shirts imaginable (although there was no shirt with Malfoy on the back to my disappointment).  You could even buy the Harry Potter books there, but I can't imagine why anybody would want to.  As we passed through the streets of Hogsmeade there were a few stands where you could buy Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice, it was all really authentic.  But then we saw a long line.  It was for the wand show!  We stood in this line for a good 45 minutes, but the show was so cool!  We entered the shop and Ollivander began talking, then all of a sudden picked someone out the the audience (who happened to be the sister of the girl on my relay) and she participated in the wand show.  He handed her wands and she pointed them at various things around the room, making it clear the wand was wrong for her.  When she tried to water a plant it died.  (We wanted her to try and hex him, and see what he would do, but she refused).  Then, when he finally handed her the wand she was best matched with, fans turned on and blew her hair back, and the room had a nice glow.  The wand had chosen her.  We were then directed into a gift shop where we could all buy our own wands, I obviously chose the Elder Wand, and then proceed back to the street.

The park also included other authentic attractions.  The restaurant, The Three Broomsticks and The Hogs Head, was stocked with things one might actually eat at Hogwarts, but were less than ideal for a day at an amusement park.  I wasn't exactly in the mood for real chicken or a roasted pig.  The candy shop, Honeydukes had quite a variety from Chocolate Frogs to Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans to Peppermint Toads and even more I can't remember.  It was attached to Zonko's Joke Shop, which really had Extendable Ears.  But everything was priced super high.  So we headed out to the final ride, something to do with a Hippogriff, promising to return for our Chocolate Frogs later.

The ride was pretty lame all around, it was described as a family ride, but we did get to see Hagrid's Hut and get a close up look at Buckbeak, and I felt slightly obligated to go on it.  I needed the true Harry Potter experience after all.  But by around noon we were ready to head out.  The park wasn't that big, although it was super cool.  We checked out the rest of Universal and came back later in the day for another ride on the Dueling Dragons and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  The park was great, and any Harry Potter fan would thoroughly enjoy everything from the Harry Potter soundtrack that can be heard throughout the park to the shops, although they were a combination of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, yes I did catch that mistake.  Nice job overall, Universal, although I was slightly disappointed there wasn't anyone dressed as Voldemort running around.  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was fantastic.