Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Hogwarts

We had a great visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter located inside the Universal Orlando theme in Orlando, Florida. It's a beautifully themed land with great rides. From the Hogwarts Express to Zonko's, the attention to detail is fabulous and it all tracks back to J.K. Rowling's story. 


My favorite ride is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. You fly through various places in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry including, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the portrait gallery and Dumbledore's office. There are videos of the cast in the ride. Not sure how they will hold up in twenty years, but for now it's really fun. 




Zonko's joke shop was full of practical jokes and magic tricks. Honey Dukes was full of candy much of it -- like Fizzing Whisbies and Chocolate Frogs, just like in the book. 



The Three Broomsticks was the perfect place to take a rest. They serve Butterbeer outside, which near as I can tell is cream soda frozen slushy style. It was delicious but so sweet, I never could have had two of them. This didn't stop my friend, Kim, however. The Three Broomsticks serves themed food and non-themed alcohol. We had a very comfortable booth. 



In Ollivander's wand shop you can actually be chosen by a wand for purchase. The wands are seen below and are modeled after the wands owned by the characters in the books. 





I really enjoyed our visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and we spent a morning there. The rest of the Universal Orlando park wasn't really my thing - less imaginative theming and more traditional carney atmosphere.  Next time I think I'd plan a half a day for Harry Potter and then high-tail it back to Walt Disney World for the rest of the day.  There's just too much to do at WDW... 





3 comments:

  1. Hey, I know this place. It was so cool there. Frozen butterbeer. Still have the mug!

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  2. HP is the only thing that tempts me to go back to Florida...nothing else appeals, but I would really like to see the wizarding world.

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    1. Laura - It takes about half a day and the attention to detail is amazing. I was not disappointed.

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