All aboard the Hogwarts Express!
Hogsmeade Village
I love the Crooked Chimneys
Dervish & Banges - where you can buy all your wizard supplies. They had Omnioculars, sneakoskopes, monster book of monsters & quidditch supplies, broomsticks, quaffels, clothing etc. Seriously crazy store. There were people walking out of here with broomsticks and everything.
Butterbeer = Yummy! The butterbeer was so good and fun to try. It's basically cream soda with a butterscotch whip cream on top. They had 2 kinds of butterbeer frozen or regular... We tried the regular (Soda) first, then got a frozen (Slurpee) one in the afternoon. I liked the frozen best and Chris like the regular/soda kind. It was a fun treat but pricey! $4.50 each! Our friends got a pumpkin juice to try as well. They said it was like apple juice with a pumpkin spice mixed in.
The Owl Post - here you could buy stuffed owls and postcards with a Hogsmeade address stamped on it.
Hogwarts Castle
The Hogwarts Green Houses - This is where the line started for Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey. We had about an hour wait as we were here around 11am at it's busiest. The wait in line took you through the Green Houses, the Castle, Dumbledore's office, History of Magic classroom and stairways before getting on the ride. It was nice as they had a baby swap room so we could both ride it and not have to go through the line again.
The ride was a simulated flying journey where your riding a broomstick through the grounds, castle and a quidditch match. It was pretty cool from a scenery perspective but halfway through the ride I wanted off, I got so sick! After getting off and picking up Sophie from Chris in the baby waiting room, I quickly exited outside to get some fresh air. I just about lost my breakfast. Our friends were smart and took some dramamine before the ride, but even with that we were all a little woozy after the ride for the rest of the day. Another fun thing (which I'll post here as I was frantically looking for the bathroom in case I had to puke) the bathrooms have Moaning Myrtle talking to you as you do your business. Funny!
Entering the castle
The entrance to Dumbledores office
Dumbledore's office - Dumbledore was also being projected in 3-D and talking
The Sorting Hat
History of Magic classroom - they had Harry, Ron & Hermione talking to you while you waited in line. It was pretty cool they must have used some sort of 3-D projection of the actors.
The stairways - all of the portraits moved and talked as well again probably with some sort of rear projection
Olivander's Wand Shop - While Chris went with our friends to ride the Hulk roller coaster in another part of the park, Sophie and I got in line to see the Wand show. They took us in groups of about 20 into the wand shop and Olivander came out and chose a kid from the group to come up and choose a wand. (they seemed to be going for the 11-12 year olds) The kid tried several wands and various magical things would happen or not happen until he found his wand. It was a fun little demonstration, after which they send you off to the wand shop to buy your own wands which people were snatching up for $30-$50 a piece!
HoneyDukes Sweet Shop - I wandered around in here twice. They had so many fun sweets all from the books, chocolate wands, chocolate frogs, lemon sherbets, cauldren cakes, you name it. I picked up a chocolate wand and box of chocolate toads for my souvenirs. Next door was a Zonkos Joke shop as well.
My Honeydukes souvenirs (I don't know if I'll ever eat the chocolate wand, it's just too fun to eat)
Flight of the Hippogriff Ride - Sophie was barely big enough to go on this little roller coaster and she loved it. There was never more then a 10-15 min wait to get on and by the end of the day they went over and over again with no lines, they probably rode this thing 10-12 times.
Hagrids Hut
The Flying Ford Anglia
During the day they had several shows going on. I happened to catch the end of the Hogwarts Students and Frogs singing.
We pretty much stayed in Harry Potter Land the whole day. We did take Sophie over to the Dr. Seuss land for a bit (I'll post pictures from there later) and did a few rides there but I never saw the rest of the park, which was fine as I had a lot of fun just wondering around at Harry Potter. There are so many fun details. I thought they did a great job on the park. Wish they would open one in California.
2 comments:
That place looks cool - maybe we will make it there someday!
Great post! As I was looking at your pics I realized I barely took any! Not sure why since I totally loved it. Guess I will just have to go back and take more pics! And there was no way I could talk my kids into not eating their wands. I think Henry had his eaten within 45 seconds after leaving the shop!
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