W.W. of H.P. Part 2

Fuck Travel Tuesdays. I can talk about traveling whenever I want!

So, two weekends ago we went to Universal Studios in Orlando to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We were celebrating our second anniversary, but we also just kind of needed a break. Since you can't go on rides when you're pregnant, going to Harry Potter world seemed like a great way to make the best of our situation.

Since it's supposed to be really crowded at the parks in July, I insisted that we needed to have tickets that gave us early entrance to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. That part of the park opens at 7 A.M. and lucky for us, the hotel we were staying at was first on the shuttle route so we were picked up at 6 in the morning. Not the best way to start a vacation, but it ended up being totally worth it. We didn't wait in any lines all morning! We got to go on all of the rides and see all of the shows all before the heat and crowds got ridiculous. We even beat the late afternoon Florida rain.

When we got there, we went straight to the Harry Potter section.

AHH! Hogwarts! The castle was really cool. You go through the entrance, walk through the greenhouses, and then head into the main part of the castle. This is where you're waiting in line to get on the Forbidden Journey ride. The line takes you through Dumbledore's office, a classroom, and the Gryffindor common room. It's pretty cool. In one room Ron makes it snow (foam) and you get to see the Fat Lady and the Sorting Hat. The ride itself was pretty cool too.

After that we went to see the show at Ollivander's wand shop. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, but this was pretty lame unless you have a kid AND your kid gets chosen to pick a wand. I wouldn't bother going to see that again. We also went on the Flight of the Hippogriff ride (a nice little kiddie coaster) and the Dragon Challenge roller coaster, which was fun but much more wild than I expected! Then we just spent some time walking around Hogsmeade looking at all of the shops and decorations.

Seth in Hogsmeade

Getting ready to board the Hogwarts Express (left) 

and outside of Hagrid's hut (right).

Seth ordering some Butterbeer at The Hog's Head pub. That place was

really cool. They had a really nice courtyard with a view of the castle.

Butterbeer

The frozen butterbeer was really good! I thought I wouldn't like it because I expected it to taste like butterscotch or cream soda, but it wasn't like that at all. I don't know what to compare it too - maybe like a caramel milkshake. I thought about getting the 'Butterbeer' mug but instead I bought a sweet glass Hogwarts beer mug.

I'm so glad that we got a chance to go. We're planning to leave Florida soon (hopefully within the next six months) so pregnant or not, we were running out of time to make this a quick and inexpensive trip. I would definitely love to go back someday. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you NEED to go!