Last Friday I went to the public opening for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure. It was awesome. Except for all the lines. There was a lot of waiting. Like, 3 hours of it. And that is considering the fact that I skipped a shitload of people in the line inside of the park after the line to get into the park to get into the Harry Potter part of the park. I may have single-handedly been the person to skip the most people that day. Maybe in the history of the world. Maybe.
But oh man, when we got inside. It was incredible. The snow-covered rooftops of Hogsmeade hung over my heads and blocked out any sights from the rest of the park. It was jaw-dropping. They had the Hogwarts Express popping out of a tunnel and billowing smoke. I was so excited, I had to start doing stuff!
First, I went inside of Zonkos and Honeydukes which is to your immediate left when you enter the area. It was pretty cool, the decorations were awesome but nothing really caught my eye in that I had to stop everything to buy it. So we left. Then we saw the new entrance to what used to be Dueling Dragons, now called Dragon Challenge. The line was only a 5 minute wait, so we sprung at the opportunity. The ride was exactly the same but holy crap the stuff in the line leading up to the ride. Support Potter signs galore! The Goblet of Fire, the Triwizard cup, those egg things you have to, listen to underwater! Even the resting quarters for the Triwizard champion before their big event! I was in heaven. The ride was as awesome as always. When we got out we knew we had to do all the rides immediately.
Then there it was, hanging over the park, it was Hogwarts. We ran to the entrance and started making the line. It was about an hour but it seemed like nothing. We were inside Hogwarts! Moving staircases! Talking portraits! Dumbledores office! And the ride! Oh man, the ride... It is now and will forever be my favorite ride ever. Pretty much you're flying around the school with Harry and getting into wacky adventures. I don't want to give anything away, but the ride was scary as shit. I had so much fun the entire way through. It mixes real sets with animatronics and then moves onto huge screens to simulate flying. It was simply incredible.
Then we made an hour and a half wait to get into Ollivanders where the wand chooses you! Some lucky chick was the one chosen to have the store-keep choose her wand personally. Everyone else went into the next room and told them their birthday and was given a wand. Mine has a skull on it! The store with all the wands in it was the Owl Post. That store is directly connected to Dervish and Banges which is stuffed with clothes. I bought a tie, Gryffindor robes and a quibbler. Ran me quite a pretty penny. We couldn't wait after that. We had to eat. So off the Three Broomsticks we were! I had a huge turkey leg. I felt manly. After that we went home. I was tired from not sleeping for over 24 hours. I did miss out on the chance, however, to buy the marauders map. Ah well, next time.
As we left, Hedwig's theme danced over our heads and I felt so complete. It was the most magical experience I've had in a while.
P.S. The Butterbeer was good.
No comments:
Post a Comment