WWoHP, OMG OMG OMG
Took the day off Friday and the J's and I went to Universal. Waited in line for like an hour to get into the section known as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
It was Big J's 14th birthday, so as good a day as any to take off, and head to the park, and give everything a try.
The lines right now are horrendous, if you're thinking about heading for the park, and the staff say lines to even get into the section will be the norm during the early part of the days until the newness wears off.
So. We went right, into Hogsmeade, passing shops, the 'public conveniences', aka restrooms, where Myrtle lurks to moan and giggle at you. There's Ollivander's where they do some sort of show and choose a child from the group to have their wand choose them. They sell wands at another kiosk though, so unless you just want the experience, you can bypass it. Only 25 or so people get in at a time anyway. There's an Owl Post office, and you can buy postcards and have them 'owl sent', with special postmarks. We talked to a girl outside who was holding Hedwig. We knew she wasn't dead!
There's Honeydukes, full of nummy deliciousness, but man, stuff's high. About $10 for a chocolate frog, but it's heavy inside the box. $7 for Fudge Flies. $3 for an edible dark mark on a stick. Dervish and Banges was there somewhere. Zonko's was attached to Honeydukes, and equally crowded. You really could NOT move in the store. Hopefully as things settle, that will get better.
Three Broomsticks was very neat, lots of details inside that made us lol. The food was on par pricewise for Universal, about $14 per meal, and we had Butterbeer with lunch! You can get regular or frozen, and we thought about how to describe it. What we came up with was a cross between root beer and cream soda, with butterscotch whipped cream on top. Really really good. The frozen one gave me uber-brain-freeze right!now!omg! but a bite of yummy fish took care of that. Souvenir mugs were a must, and then you get cheaper refills through the day. Gotta have one anyway!
We rode Dragon Challenge, where you can choose to ride the Chinese Fireball or the Hungarian Horntail, (it's the redesigned Duelling Dragons, if you've been there) and took a turn on each. The passageways leading to it have flags and banners celebrating the champions, as well as tournamenty things inside, the bed for the champions, the golden eggs, the triwizard cups.
We also passed Hagrid's hut to the Flight of the Hippogriff, which used to be something about Unicorns, in its former life. Very short, very tame, but great for the kids.
We stopped for a pear cider (yum!) and a pumpkin juice (omg!delish!) to sip while we headed for the Forbidden Journey. Pumpkin juice (according to the label) has apple juice, pumpkin puree, and spices. Cloves, cinnamon, allspice, that sort of thing. Like drinking an icy cold pumpkin pie, and it came in a bottle with a pumpkin on top!
The longest wait was for the Forbidden Journey. (90 minutes! Were we nuts?) You enter the front door of Hogwarts, and pass through a corridor with some statues, the big tubes full of house gems... Gryffindor in first place, natch! Through the hall with hovering candles, into a chamber full of paintings, where the Founders talk discuss argue about Quidditch, the school, Muggles, and other things. Proceed into the Headmaster's office where Dumbledore addresses you. Through to the DADA classroom, complete with hovering skeleton, and assorted weird things around. Then on to the ride, cars that hold 4 people for a ride that's a combination moving ride/simulation thing, and the effects were really neat. Lots of hubbub on the net about the seats and their size. If you're busty or round-ish, I definitely recommend the sample seats before you get into line. You've got to be able to do three clicks or they won't let you ride.
I took pictures of some stuff, but not inside either ride because I didn't have pockets to secure my camera, so I left it in the lockers. But the pics are on my photobucket, link below, so feel free to check it! Some of the pics are of what we could see before the area opened, and there's some backside views of the Three B's.
It was definitely a good time, but if you're planning to visit and pay full price for admission, I recommend waiting a bit and letting the novelty wear off, let them get queue issues sorted, and let the weather cool a little. It was hot as balls, and there were lines lines lines...
But still, lots of fun.
Check it! http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j54/mrs_bowtruckle/Harry%20Potter%20at%20Universal/
It was Big J's 14th birthday, so as good a day as any to take off, and head to the park, and give everything a try.
The lines right now are horrendous, if you're thinking about heading for the park, and the staff say lines to even get into the section will be the norm during the early part of the days until the newness wears off.
So. We went right, into Hogsmeade, passing shops, the 'public conveniences', aka restrooms, where Myrtle lurks to moan and giggle at you. There's Ollivander's where they do some sort of show and choose a child from the group to have their wand choose them. They sell wands at another kiosk though, so unless you just want the experience, you can bypass it. Only 25 or so people get in at a time anyway. There's an Owl Post office, and you can buy postcards and have them 'owl sent', with special postmarks. We talked to a girl outside who was holding Hedwig. We knew she wasn't dead!
There's Honeydukes, full of nummy deliciousness, but man, stuff's high. About $10 for a chocolate frog, but it's heavy inside the box. $7 for Fudge Flies. $3 for an edible dark mark on a stick. Dervish and Banges was there somewhere. Zonko's was attached to Honeydukes, and equally crowded. You really could NOT move in the store. Hopefully as things settle, that will get better.
Three Broomsticks was very neat, lots of details inside that made us lol. The food was on par pricewise for Universal, about $14 per meal, and we had Butterbeer with lunch! You can get regular or frozen, and we thought about how to describe it. What we came up with was a cross between root beer and cream soda, with butterscotch whipped cream on top. Really really good. The frozen one gave me uber-brain-freeze right!now!omg! but a bite of yummy fish took care of that. Souvenir mugs were a must, and then you get cheaper refills through the day. Gotta have one anyway!
We rode Dragon Challenge, where you can choose to ride the Chinese Fireball or the Hungarian Horntail, (it's the redesigned Duelling Dragons, if you've been there) and took a turn on each. The passageways leading to it have flags and banners celebrating the champions, as well as tournamenty things inside, the bed for the champions, the golden eggs, the triwizard cups.
We also passed Hagrid's hut to the Flight of the Hippogriff, which used to be something about Unicorns, in its former life. Very short, very tame, but great for the kids.
We stopped for a pear cider (yum!) and a pumpkin juice (omg!delish!) to sip while we headed for the Forbidden Journey. Pumpkin juice (according to the label) has apple juice, pumpkin puree, and spices. Cloves, cinnamon, allspice, that sort of thing. Like drinking an icy cold pumpkin pie, and it came in a bottle with a pumpkin on top!
The longest wait was for the Forbidden Journey. (90 minutes! Were we nuts?) You enter the front door of Hogwarts, and pass through a corridor with some statues, the big tubes full of house gems... Gryffindor in first place, natch! Through the hall with hovering candles, into a chamber full of paintings, where the Founders talk discuss argue about Quidditch, the school, Muggles, and other things. Proceed into the Headmaster's office where Dumbledore addresses you. Through to the DADA classroom, complete with hovering skeleton, and assorted weird things around. Then on to the ride, cars that hold 4 people for a ride that's a combination moving ride/simulation thing, and the effects were really neat. Lots of hubbub on the net about the seats and their size. If you're busty or round-ish, I definitely recommend the sample seats before you get into line. You've got to be able to do three clicks or they won't let you ride.
I took pictures of some stuff, but not inside either ride because I didn't have pockets to secure my camera, so I left it in the lockers. But the pics are on my photobucket, link below, so feel free to check it! Some of the pics are of what we could see before the area opened, and there's some backside views of the Three B's.
It was definitely a good time, but if you're planning to visit and pay full price for admission, I recommend waiting a bit and letting the novelty wear off, let them get queue issues sorted, and let the weather cool a little. It was hot as balls, and there were lines lines lines...
But still, lots of fun.
Check it! http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j54/mrs_bowtruckle/Harry%20Potter%20at%20Universal/