My favorite fake place in the world became a real place for me. Our very first amusement park was Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios. That might be the real name, but all I call it is Harry Potter World. Sure, we did the Jurassic Park River Ride and the Marvel Super Hero Island, but those were just nice side dishes.
I obsessed over Harry Potter world (actually called the Wizarding World of Harry Potter) for weeks leading up to this vacation. I giggled with my friends about it and talked my poor husband’s ear off. He’s as big of a nerd as I am, but he just doesn’t get fired up and giggly about things like I do. We got to the park before most human beings and were near the front of the line. I knew everyone was heading to the same part of the park as we were – mostly because everyone in line had an awesome British accent. I was super jealous that they could walk through Hogsmeade and it would seem so natural – let’s be serious, I was jealous of the accent.
When the gates opened, I made my husband run so that we could do all the rides before the lines got too long. That is the ticket – GET THERE EARLY. By 11:00 AM, the lines were hours long and the sun is hot. It was everything I wanted it to be.
The same area of Hogsmeade shown in the photo above was filled with people no more than 30 minutes later. Literally, people were shoulder to shoulder. We didn’t make it into Ollivander’s because the line was crazy when we got there. We did the rides first and I’m glad. The Hogwart’s castle is a ride and you get to walk through the castle while you are waiting in line. The Dragon Ride is modeled after the Tri-Wizard Tournament and there are two different dragons to choose from. We only got to do one, so there’s still a whole new ride next time I go back. That was my favorite ride of the day. We rode the Hippogriff too. That is definitely more of a ride for the kids, but it was cool that we were able to check out Hagrid’s cottage while cruising on the coaster.
Here were the rest of our pictures from that section of the park.
Yes, Justin loved Butterbeer. It was a little too sweet for me.
I don’t mean to totally discount the rest of the park. Jurassic Park was really cool and it was the only water ride we were able to go on the whole weekend (all of the others were closed.) That is one of J’s favorite movies, so he loved it. We had some super cheesy fun in Toon Town and Seuss Landing. We wrapped up our day at the Superhero Island. The Spiderman ride was in 3D and was so cool. The Hulk rollar coaster was pretty awesome, except that it did some damage to my neck and the guy next to me had sweaty arms that were touching me. Worst ride picture ever. No – you will never see it. Other people’s sweat touching me is not a good look on me. Here are the rest of our photos:
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| Not the best quality with lighting – but it’s awesome. |
They should seriously make an entire Harry Potter theme park, so I can actually get excited about the other awesome places that were part of Universal Studios. It was just so amazing by comparison. We had a blast. The park itself doesn’t take long to get through. We hit all the things we wanted to and we were gone to the next park before noon. I would go back a million times and still have a freaking blast. I love this quote… except now you can add IN REAL LIFE.
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Please tell me you are lucky enough to have been to this magical place…
Orlando on Dwellable
