Universal: Rides, Thrills, and Tears

Once we toured Harry Potter the first night, we had the rest of the week to explore Universal. There are two separate parks: Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Because we had a parkhopper pass, we were able to divide our time between the parks.

While I took numerous pictures and have so many great memories, here were a few that stood out to me:

1. Men in Black was my boys' favorite Universal ride. I literally dragged Evan on it while he cried and screamed, and then he loved it. They got to shoot aliens with laser guns, and the score accumulated. It was literally like living in a video game. Once we got them on the ride, I think they rode it at least 4-5 times. Fun!


2. Seuss Landing was a little more tame. For my boys who are (euphemism alert!) tentative about thrill rides, this was a welcome stop. And, Evan, who is merely five, loved the rides in this area.

This is the CaroSuessel. .. Clever.

This was a "thrilling" train ride that explored all the areas of Suessland. This ride was probably our longest and most uncomfortable wait of the whole trip, but Evan, was pumped, so I suppose it was worth it!

3. Jaws is one of the few rides that I remember from when I visited Universal many years ago. Again, I felt like the mean mom forcing my children on the ride-- Andrew actually never got on. He was too worried. Poor Ev, I just kept telling him that it was a boat ride, and nothing to be worried about. Then, the big scary shark jumped out at him a bunch of times. Oops! He was still too mad at me to get in the picture.

4. One of Andrew's favorite rides in Universal was the Shrek 4D show. I love those types of shows where you get splashed on when someone sneezes and you feel wind by your feet when spiders are supposed to creep by. This ride actually had seats that moved to simulate Shrek running. Super fun show!

5. This final picture was taken outside of the Poseidon's Rage ride. We walked into this completely blind, honestly having no idea what was going to happen. It turned out to be a show of sorts where a tour guide pretended we were trapped in a cave and had to reach out to Poseidon to help us get out. All I can say is that when the doors finally opened for us to leave, the kids sprinted out. They were all a bit scared.

Then, we took these awesome family pictures. My favorite part is my super cool fan hanging off my belt- It was so hot that day that I didn't want it to get too far away from me!

Our Journey

Our journey through the wizarding world began the night we arrived after a thunderstorm. We trooped the boys in, ignoring the lightning flashing over our heads and scurried to Harry Potter land.

After hearing horror stories of a two and a half hour wait to ride the main ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden journey, we immediately went to the castle and saw a mere 45 minute wait for it. We stowed our belongings (no carry on purses or bags were allowed) and got in line. In truth the line itself was an entertaining ride itself. We saw talking pictures that a camera could not adequately capture; they actually looked like portraits. We saw the Sorting Hat, spouting warnings to the riders. Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all made appearances and spoke to the crowd. Ron even made it snow over our heads.

When we got to the ride itself, we had no idea what to expect. You get on the ride and your feet are dangling. What follows is a 3-4 minute ride that whirls you around on the experiences that Harry had at Hogwarts: Quidditch, Death Eaters, Aragog, Tri Wizard Tournament, and so much more. You are tossed on your back, spit on by spiders, made queasy from the flying. We ended up riding more than once, which is good because I shut my eyes for part of the first time. . .

The first night we were also able to make a special trip to Ollivander's to get a wand. Groups of 20 or so are ushered into Ollivander's where Ollivander selects a boy from the crowd. In our group he chose Andrew! Then, the scene in the movie where Harry gets his wand was reenacted with Andrew.

Finally, the wand chose Andrew! Can you see the bright light on his face?

Hogsmeade at night was a truly magical experience in itself with all the lights blaring through the town. It was my favorite time there.

The next day we went back to Harry Potter and imbibed some butterbeer. (Some grown ups even chose the Hogsmeade brew which is made there and only sold there- no where else in the world!)

We ended up in the Hogshead as the wait to get into the Three Broomsticks took a considerable amount of time.

The hogs head on the wall periodically spoke! We could get our butterbeers either frozen or normal. The first day we all tried frozen and loved them. Brendan proclaimed them "life-changing!" We did try the normal type on a later date and savored the creamy butterscotch, cream soda like taste.

We also tried the Pumpkin Juice mentioned in the stories. I thought it tasted alot like apple juice with an additional pumkin-esque flavor.
This is the site where we drank our butterbeers both days. We had a great view of the castle.

We shopped at Honeydukes (chocolate frog shown below) and Zonko's. The boys all bought at least one wand from Ollivander's; Andrew even bought a quaffle to play with at home.
Harry Potter land was everything I had hoped for.

Andrew wishes there would have been a Quidditch pitch, but I do think the the land gave everyone just a little piece of magic.

From the first time I picked up a Harry Potter book, my imagination soared, creating fantastical mental images of what the magical places and objects featured in the stories must look like. Then, as I fell in love with the books, it was impossible not to wish that a place existed where this wondrous magic could actually exist. What IF Hogwarts was real? What IF I could really play Quidditch? What IF we could really use magic?

These thoughts propelled me to organize an incredible vacation around the idea of visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Florida. All year we continued to look at the website hoping for a quick peek to reveal how someone could actually bring this to life. I imagine that JK Rowling must have experienced a strange sensation as she stepped into the park to see her dreams realized in a theme park.

Hogwarts was now real. Hogsmeade with all of its snow-capped glory was real. The butterbeer that made readers salivate was real.

Even I, as I walked into the park, hung back a little from our group and teared up. (Yes, this is a confession from a literary geek. . .) The gigantic form of Hogwarts and the confirmation of how I thought it would look made me look in wonder. Amazing.

The only damper on this experience was that Harry Potter maniacs from all over the world were also reveling in the same experience. Our first night there we went right after/ during a thunderstorm so many, many people were not there. That night we were able to ride the main ride and see many shops in relative comfort without crazy crowds. The very next morning when we entered Universal, we could see that the line to even enter the Harry Potter section stretched through the entire Jurassic Park world --equivalent to maybe 1/2 mile? Navigating Harry Potter world during the day was like evacuating a nightclub on fire. Surging bodies, tremendous heat and no where to move.

Yet even this could not diminish the experience. I was honored to see magic come to life- something I did not believe possible. The visit to Harry Potter world is further confirmation to me of the power of words- this creation came from JK Rowling's mind. She envisioned Harry and the challenging life he would have, created Hogwarts and the wizarding world, and now, the rest of the world is reaping the benefit.

Truly, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a fantastic voyage of imagination turning to reality.