Welcome to part 2 of my thoughts on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - read part one here. This part will cover Hogsmeade, the second part of the Harry Potter universe at Universal Orlando.
I do want to start this post with an apology that I do not have any photographs of Hogsmeade village - I know I am appalled at myself - but the heat was beyond anything you can imagine and all I wanted to do was sit down in the shade with a frozen butter beer and attempt to stop melting alive. Do not fear though my father - who is a somewhat magnificent photographer has a few of the village and he has given me permission to use them in this post!
So without further ado, lets begin. The best place to start this post is at the beginning of the joinery into Hogsmeade itself. Entering Hogsmeade Village is a very surreal experience. You have just spent a short few minutes on a train in relative darkness seeing the 'world' outside the train window and then you enter into the Hogsmeade train station.
I have to say walking out of the station and round the corner to the village is such a shock to the senses. The sun was beating down on us yet the snowy covered rooftops made you feel like it should have been cold. The effect was excellent and you truly felt like you were a wizard or a witch coming off the train for the first time before you headed up to Hogwarts castle!
Wondering through the streets was incredible, there was very little that they hadn't thought of. The cart which we bought our frozen butter beer from even had special HP water - Gilly Water to be exact. These little touches just made it even more special for me and made the experience one that I wasn't likely to forget in a hurry.
The further through the village you travel looking at all the different shops there are to experience such as Honeydukes you will see the castle looming high above in the distance. Once you turn the corner and see her in all her wonderful glory it will take your breath away. It's spectacular to see and is everything you could possibly imagine. There are two rides to do round this part of the park - with a third due to open in 2019 - however the queues were far too long for me at this point but I do vow to go back the next time I am there - in 2020 I hope - and go on these rides!
My only negative about this part of the park is that when you cross the bridge behind Hogwarts you begin to see the entrance to Jurassic Park. I find it strange that I can see both worlds at the same time as it's not the completely immersive experience that I had hoped for.
I know it's not Universal's fault as they have very limited space to work with and they have done an unbelievable job with what they do have. I just prefer to keep my worlds separate especially when they are as different as Harry Potter and Jurassic Park.
Overall I enjoyed my time at Harry Potter and Universal more than I could have imagined. I would love to go back when the temperatures are a little less humid as it limited me personally to what I felt I could do. I think if it was slightly less humid I would have been happier to stand in the queues and go on every ride - although I have an issue about paying for lockers for nearly everything but this isn't the place for that!
If you are a Harry Potter fan in anyway you cannot take a trip to Florida and not experience this world. It really ignites the magic inside your soul and if you do not have a smile on your face there is definitely something wrong!!
Have you been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter?
What did you think?
I do want to start this post with an apology that I do not have any photographs of Hogsmeade village - I know I am appalled at myself - but the heat was beyond anything you can imagine and all I wanted to do was sit down in the shade with a frozen butter beer and attempt to stop melting alive. Do not fear though my father - who is a somewhat magnificent photographer has a few of the village and he has given me permission to use them in this post!
So without further ado, lets begin. The best place to start this post is at the beginning of the joinery into Hogsmeade itself. Entering Hogsmeade Village is a very surreal experience. You have just spent a short few minutes on a train in relative darkness seeing the 'world' outside the train window and then you enter into the Hogsmeade train station.
I have to say walking out of the station and round the corner to the village is such a shock to the senses. The sun was beating down on us yet the snowy covered rooftops made you feel like it should have been cold. The effect was excellent and you truly felt like you were a wizard or a witch coming off the train for the first time before you headed up to Hogwarts castle!
Wondering through the streets was incredible, there was very little that they hadn't thought of. The cart which we bought our frozen butter beer from even had special HP water - Gilly Water to be exact. These little touches just made it even more special for me and made the experience one that I wasn't likely to forget in a hurry.
The further through the village you travel looking at all the different shops there are to experience such as Honeydukes you will see the castle looming high above in the distance. Once you turn the corner and see her in all her wonderful glory it will take your breath away. It's spectacular to see and is everything you could possibly imagine. There are two rides to do round this part of the park - with a third due to open in 2019 - however the queues were far too long for me at this point but I do vow to go back the next time I am there - in 2020 I hope - and go on these rides!
My only negative about this part of the park is that when you cross the bridge behind Hogwarts you begin to see the entrance to Jurassic Park. I find it strange that I can see both worlds at the same time as it's not the completely immersive experience that I had hoped for.
I know it's not Universal's fault as they have very limited space to work with and they have done an unbelievable job with what they do have. I just prefer to keep my worlds separate especially when they are as different as Harry Potter and Jurassic Park.
Overall I enjoyed my time at Harry Potter and Universal more than I could have imagined. I would love to go back when the temperatures are a little less humid as it limited me personally to what I felt I could do. I think if it was slightly less humid I would have been happier to stand in the queues and go on every ride - although I have an issue about paying for lockers for nearly everything but this isn't the place for that!
If you are a Harry Potter fan in anyway you cannot take a trip to Florida and not experience this world. It really ignites the magic inside your soul and if you do not have a smile on your face there is definitely something wrong!!
Have you been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter?
What did you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment