Orlando Stop 4: HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!!!!!!

By Avery Merrill

The length of our vacation had started to wear on us as we got out of bed on June 14, 2016.  Since our day at the beach, we were all "french fries," as Dad said, and we had been on the hot, humid East Coast for the whole month.  We didn't know it, but this was to be the hottest day of the trip yet.

But today was the day we had looked forward to for years: it was the day we would visit HARRY POTTER WORLD!  YAY!!!  WOOO-HOOOH!!!

I feel strangely unaccompanied in my applause.  Maybe because I'm writing this and not reading it out loud.

But seriously, it was AWESOME!!!  While hot, it was really fun to be in the Harry Potter World in Universal Studios and Universal's Islands of Adventure.  The rides were awesome, the food was great (although a bit slippery), the drinks were delicious, and everything was worth the heat of the day- literally!

The only downer was that since we were all crispy from the beach, the Flight of the Hippogriff "normal" roller coaster (I'll explain why I say "normal" when I get around to the other rides' pictures) was painful because of constantly being tossed around, and we were too daunted to try the less tame Dragon's Challenge.

And now for the camera roll:

The Knight Bus.

Pointing at No. 12, Grimmauld Place.

Chase outside Quality Quidditch Supplies.

Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes!

Here, we got an Extendable Ear, a Love Potion, and a Wizarding deck of cards.

Diagon Alley.  I spy a dragon on Gringotts.

The Leaky Cauldron (as proclaimed on the sign).

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor (or Parlour if you're English).  Fortescue was a more obscure character, but he gave Harry free ice cream while he was at the Leaky Cauldron in Book 3.

Aah! A dragon!

A side street in Diagon Alley.

Has anyone else ever noticed that Gringotts has tippy columns?

 This was possibly the most surprising part of the day!  The dragon really does breathe fire!  And it's HOT!

Inside Ollivander's Wand shop.  They did a super cool (although rather deja vu) wand demonstration in a dramatically lit room.

Wand shelves at Ollivander's.

When we were passing by this bookstore, what did we see other than the Monster Book of Monsters?  My reflection.

As Harry Potter World is split between the two Universal theme parks, we had to go to Platform 9 3/4 to travel to Islands of Adventure.  Later, we took the train back to Universal Studios to wrap up the day.

The Hogwarts Express!

Trey wielding a wand in our compartment in the Hogwarts Express.  Instead of normal glass, our windows comprised a movie starring Harry, Ron and Hermione in the hall and views of the wizarding world and London out the window. 

There we are in front of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

At Ollivanders, we bought a pair of interactive wands that allowed us to do various bits of "magic" throughout Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley.  Here is Chase casting a spell.

Courtney doing magic.  The two wands we bought were Harry's and Dumbledore's wand.  Chase was using Harry's, as will Trey in the next picture, but Courtney and I shared the elder wand. 

Trey doing magic.  He had a bit of trouble figuring out the motions, but he got the hang of it!

Dad in front of Honeydukes.

One of the biggest attractions of the day was ice-cold butterbeer!  We tried normal and frozen varieties and loved them both! Here is Dad clearly enjoying some normal butterbeer.

Chase and Mom in line for the Gringotts ride.

Chase and me waiting in line and enjoying our frozen butterbeers.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I was obviously in great discomfort because of the heat or my sunburns in this picture.  Behind us was an advertisement for a Gringotts vault.

At this point, I'm finally going to explain why the Flight of the Hippogriff and the Dragon Challenge  were both "normal" rides.  The other two rides, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, both had clever story lines and were as much visual as thrill.  These two used even the long waits to enhance the ride.  Here's how:

As you wait in line for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, you meet an elf searching an office for keys to a vault.  This elf has been assigned to take you on a tour of the vaults of Gringotts, "the safest place on Earth."  During his search, Bill enters the office and reveals that it is his office.  He helps the elf find the keys and decides to come on the tour with you.

This tour happens to coincide with Harry's escape from Gringotts in Book 7, and you are separated from Bill and the elf before being caught as Voldemort and Bellatrix try to torture the whereabouts of Harry Potter out of you and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Bill try to help you.  The elf has mysteriously vanished.

As you enter the line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, you wander through Hogwarts, winding up in Dumbledore's office and the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom.  Harry, Ron and Hermione slip out from underneath the Invisibility cloak.  They inform you that the notoriously boring ghost Professor Binns will soon be giving a lecture in the classroom.  They tell you to meet with Hermione in the Room of Requirement, where she will take you to the Quidditch pitch, where a game is currently in progress.

Shortly after the ride begins and you begin to make your way towards the Quidditch pitch, Hagrid appears and tells you that a dragon has escaped.  You fly right past it, barely avoiding getting singed.

You arrive on the Quidditch pitch, and follow Harry in an incredible illusion of aeronautics.  However, not all is well, and you must soon flee from dementors that appear on the pitch, ultimately passing even through the Chamber of Secrets.  Finally, though, you escape just in time to see a Gryffindor victory.

A vault we saw while in line for Gringotts.

The Hand of Glory!  A candle in its wrinkled grasp gives light only to the holder.

The Hogwarts Express, soon to leave Platform 9 3/4.

Outside King's Cross station.  The line featured a realistic illusion that others ahead were walking straight through a wall onto platform 9 3/4!

Us in front of the Hogwarts Express.

And a collage including a couple of my favorite pictures, including two I hadn't shown yet: Hogwarts and Trey with a butterbeer mustache.

Lunch was at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, where we ate a replica of what the Great Feast at Hogwarts might have been like.  Everything was delicious, including the pumpkin juice (which tasted like pumpkin pie).

This was an AWESOME experience, filled with lots of fun, good food, magic, and adventure.  It did, in fact, feel like we were at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

After this, it was finally time to head home.  The next day, we played cards with the deck we got at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, packed our bags, and headed for the airport.  The next day, we drove out to our final stop: Park City!