Krienke's Take on Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We 'dabbed' all over the place. 

Without a doubt this was our favorite day of our Florida trip.  

 

Why you ask? 

 

Well we have two super  Harry Potter fans, Anya and myself, and the rest of the family unanimously felt that it exceeded their expectations.  Its hard to know what to really expect but we were in awe from start to finish.  This was our longest day, we arrived just after 8 a.m. and we stayed until 7:30 p.m.  Our main goal was to do everything Harry Potter related in both of the parks and then if we saw anything else it would be bonus.

We started at Universal Studios and headed straight for Diagon Alley with a few photo stops along the way.

Family shot with the Magic Knight Bus.

"Mama, what's this?"

We were in luck to get our picture taken just as the fierce dragon was breathing fire from the top of Gringotts.  The lady said that people wait and wait and wait hoping to get that photo.

LUCKY US X 1 000 000. 

 

First stop was Ollivanders as Anya had been saving her allowance for a year and a half to buy a special wand.  We were the first in line for the"wand choosing" ceremony and GUESS WHAT?!?  Both of the girls were the "chosen" ones.  Deep down I had hoped one would be chosen, realistically I knew chances would be slim, but to have BOTH girls  chosen overwhelmed me with appreciation.  I actually had tears of pure joy in my eyes and a few might have ran down my cheeks.  

 

LUCK struck again as were went to pay for the wands, and one of the ladies we had chatted with in the line came up to Logan and told him she worked for the park and wanted to use her 40% discount on our girls wands!  We were so floored by the generosity.  

 

Rooms full of wands!

The wands work all over the two parks making different things move or do things.

The rides were great in both parks.  Harry Potter Escape from Gringotts, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, are both  3-D rides and totally appropriate for 5+ year old.  Flight of Hippogriff is a kids roller coaster that isn't scary, though Anya worked herself up but that was pretty standard for her. The  Hogwarts Express train is a really quick ride, nothing special but I am glad we paid for the park-to-park passes anyway.  If you are a roller coaster junkie, then hit up the Dragon Challenge roller coaster in Hogsmeade and you will not be disappointed; it will leave you unsteady on your feet and your tummy a little queasy.



Anya is not thrilled to be going on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Forest ride.

Ready for the Flight of the Hippogriff ride.

Anya is equally excited as you can tell.

A trip to the Wizarding World wouldn't be complete without Butter Beer, a visit to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, and an extensive pit stop at Honeydukes.

Hagrid's home behind Hogwarts.

Leaky Cauldron

Butter Beer is Gluten Free!!!!

 

Once we completed our time in the Harry Potter portion of the parks, around 3 p.m, we wandered around Adventure Island hitting up other favorites such as Jurassic Park, which my dad loved so much that we did it twice.  He was soaked but not as soaked as when we went on the river rapids ride (getting wet is far down on my dads list of favorite things).  Logan, my parents, and Halie also did the KONG ride, but Anya would have none of it so we just hung out.

 

The heat was pretty unbearable, +35C, so the kids sized every opportunity to play in the water throughout the day.

I leave you with the girls daily journal videos.