I was not feeling at all sentimental on my first visit to the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Florida. I say first visit, because I had purchased four day pass to the park and ended up visiting several times during and after Leaky Con. On the day in question it was 7 am, I was still tired from dancing at a wizard rock concert until very late the previous night, and I was on a mission. I was attempting to beat the crowds to the 'Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey' ride, buy some merchandise and still make it back to conference for an event that started at 9 am.
All my well thought out plans of hot-footing it straight to the ride went to hell as soon as I rounded a corner, found myself standing in the main street of Hogsmeade and saw Hogwarts castle looming in the distance. By the time I heard the theme music from the Harry Potter movies playing I was a blubbering mess. I had expected to like the theme park a lot. I had not expected it to be such an immersive experience that it moved me to tears...but it did.
What really amazed me about the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter was not that they had managed to build the complete village of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts castle, but rather that they had managed to make you completely forget that you were in a theme park. The excellent architectural design of the buildings in the village meant that you couldn't see any of the other roller coasters from the Universal Islands of Adventure theme park that you knew were only a few hundred metres away. The quality of the design was astounding and I realised why Jo Rowling had only given permission for the park to go ahead if Stuart Craig (the production designer for the Harry Potter movies) was directly involved.
All of the details, from the steam billowing from the Hogwarts Express to the moving illustrations on the covers of the books in the window of Flourish and Blotts, were perfect. A trip to the ladies toilets included listening to the laments of Moaning Myrtle and the Hogsmeade Post Office was located right next door to a large owlery - to ensure that there were always enough owls to handle the large volume of mail that was sent from this part of Florida. In Ollivanders you could see that the wand did indeed choose the wizard and everything from Pigmy Puffs to Fanged Frisbees could be purchased from Zonko's. In Honeydukes the wooden shelves groaned under the weight of Ton Tongue Toffees, Every Flavour Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands and Lemon Sherbets. The enormous Chocolate Frogs came in ornamental boxes complete with wizard trading cards.
The three rides in the park cater to thrill seekers, children as well as hard core fans of the books. The Dragon Challenge ride, based on the Triwizard Tournament, was the one for the thrill seekers as it involved two "dragon" roller coasters twisting, looping and climbing around each other at alarming speeds. I usually avoid roller coasters like the plague (due to a debilitating medical condition I suffer from called "scardycatitis"). However there was no way I was going to miss out on any experience at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - so it was with some trepidation that I joined the queue and boarded the Chinese Fireball roller coaster.
I noticed in the queue that many people were holding onto their thongs to avoid having them fly off during the ride. I decided that I could just grip my thongs hard with my toes and, as it turned out, I had no problem holding onto my thongs. As we flew down the first heart-stopping drop everyone was screaming. But no one was screaming louder than me as my glasses flew right off my face!! I got a hand to them just before I completely lost them and spent the next two minutes fighting off both intense nausea as well as centrifugal forces as I struggled to keep one hand clamped to my face as we repeatedly hurtled upside down.
Luckily my glasses and I made it through the ordeal and I decided that the much tamer Flight of the Hippogriffride might be more my speed. Set around Hagrid's Hut and the Forbidden Forest, the child friendly ride gave me time to settle my stomach as I took in lovely views of Hogwarts Castle.
The real marquee attraction of the theme park is the 'Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey' ride as it caters to both thrill seekers and hard core book fans. For book fans the queue for this ride is just as much of a drawcard as the ride itself. The ride is part virtual reality/part live action and is set in and around Hogwarts castle. While queuing for the ride, fans get to take in the many rooms of Hogwarts castle, including a portrait gallery where the moving portraits of the four founders of Hogwarts engage in a heated debate about which house has the best quidditch team. Highlights of the queue for me included:
*Wandering through the herbology greenhouses.
*Walking past knights as well as a statue commemorating the architect of Hogwarts in the stone corridors of the castle.
*Getting to hear from Dumbledore and see the interior of his office. In various rooms, characters from the movies appeared and spoke to you. The technology involved is so good that, although you know that the designers have used some kind of projection, you would swear that the characters were right in front of you. Similarly the moving portraits did not look like screens, but rather real moving oil paintings.
*Getting to hear from the Fat Lady as I entered Gryffindor common room.
*Getting advice from the sorting hat.
*Visiting the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and then getting invited to a quidditch match by Ron, Hermoine and Harry.
The premise of the ride itself is that Hermoine has enchanted a cupboard we are in to fly and we are following Harry and Ron (who are on broomsticks) in and around Hogwarts castle to the quidditch pitch. On the way we encounter giant spiders and get chased by a dragon as we hurtle up and around the towers of Hogwarts. The technology in the ride is gob-smakingly amazing, and it is such an immersive experience, that you really do feel like you are flying around Hogwarts at break neck speeds. I came dangerously close to throwing up several times on the ride, but it was worth walking back to the hotel covered in vomit (thankfully it didn't come to that) to get to experience Hogwarts in that way.
One of the ways that the creators of the park have succeeded in getting you to completely forget you are in a theme park is the catering on offer. You cannot purchase any food or drink in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter that is not either mentioned in the books, or traditional English fare. That means that there is no Coke or Pepsi on offer and patrons must instead purchase Butterbeer, Pumpkin juice, water or cider to quench their thirsts.
I was particularly keen to try the butterbeer and I now understand why the Weasley twins repeatedly stole bottles of it from the kitchens of Hogwarts. It is full of butterscotchy goodness and is topped by deliciously creamy froth that is enchanted (or chemically enhanced) not to go flat. The only concession to the Florida heat they have made is to also offer frozen butterbeer. This is like a butterscotchy slushy and also comes with the trademark froth. The pumpkin juice has a similar taste and consistency to mulled wine and whilst delicious, was not all that refreshing in the Florida heat.
My last visit to the theme park occurred on the day after Leaky Con had ended. After buying still more merchandise, I headed to The Three Broomsticks pub for lunch. Who knew that cornish pasties would taste even better when accompanied by frozen butterbeer? I sat in the Three Broomsticks for a couple of hours, drinking butterbeer and reading John Granger's thoeries on the links between the Potter saga and 17th century Florentine history. It was, quite simply, a perfect day.
All my well thought out plans of hot-footing it straight to the ride went to hell as soon as I rounded a corner, found myself standing in the main street of Hogsmeade and saw Hogwarts castle looming in the distance. By the time I heard the theme music from the Harry Potter movies playing I was a blubbering mess. I had expected to like the theme park a lot. I had not expected it to be such an immersive experience that it moved me to tears...but it did.
What really amazed me about the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter was not that they had managed to build the complete village of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts castle, but rather that they had managed to make you completely forget that you were in a theme park. The excellent architectural design of the buildings in the village meant that you couldn't see any of the other roller coasters from the Universal Islands of Adventure theme park that you knew were only a few hundred metres away. The quality of the design was astounding and I realised why Jo Rowling had only given permission for the park to go ahead if Stuart Craig (the production designer for the Harry Potter movies) was directly involved.
All of the details, from the steam billowing from the Hogwarts Express to the moving illustrations on the covers of the books in the window of Flourish and Blotts, were perfect. A trip to the ladies toilets included listening to the laments of Moaning Myrtle and the Hogsmeade Post Office was located right next door to a large owlery - to ensure that there were always enough owls to handle the large volume of mail that was sent from this part of Florida. In Ollivanders you could see that the wand did indeed choose the wizard and everything from Pigmy Puffs to Fanged Frisbees could be purchased from Zonko's. In Honeydukes the wooden shelves groaned under the weight of Ton Tongue Toffees, Every Flavour Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands and Lemon Sherbets. The enormous Chocolate Frogs came in ornamental boxes complete with wizard trading cards.
The three rides in the park cater to thrill seekers, children as well as hard core fans of the books. The Dragon Challenge ride, based on the Triwizard Tournament, was the one for the thrill seekers as it involved two "dragon" roller coasters twisting, looping and climbing around each other at alarming speeds. I usually avoid roller coasters like the plague (due to a debilitating medical condition I suffer from called "scardycatitis"). However there was no way I was going to miss out on any experience at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - so it was with some trepidation that I joined the queue and boarded the Chinese Fireball roller coaster.
I noticed in the queue that many people were holding onto their thongs to avoid having them fly off during the ride. I decided that I could just grip my thongs hard with my toes and, as it turned out, I had no problem holding onto my thongs. As we flew down the first heart-stopping drop everyone was screaming. But no one was screaming louder than me as my glasses flew right off my face!! I got a hand to them just before I completely lost them and spent the next two minutes fighting off both intense nausea as well as centrifugal forces as I struggled to keep one hand clamped to my face as we repeatedly hurtled upside down.
Luckily my glasses and I made it through the ordeal and I decided that the much tamer Flight of the Hippogriffride might be more my speed. Set around Hagrid's Hut and the Forbidden Forest, the child friendly ride gave me time to settle my stomach as I took in lovely views of Hogwarts Castle.
The real marquee attraction of the theme park is the 'Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey' ride as it caters to both thrill seekers and hard core book fans. For book fans the queue for this ride is just as much of a drawcard as the ride itself. The ride is part virtual reality/part live action and is set in and around Hogwarts castle. While queuing for the ride, fans get to take in the many rooms of Hogwarts castle, including a portrait gallery where the moving portraits of the four founders of Hogwarts engage in a heated debate about which house has the best quidditch team. Highlights of the queue for me included:
*Wandering through the herbology greenhouses.
*Walking past knights as well as a statue commemorating the architect of Hogwarts in the stone corridors of the castle.
*Getting to hear from Dumbledore and see the interior of his office. In various rooms, characters from the movies appeared and spoke to you. The technology involved is so good that, although you know that the designers have used some kind of projection, you would swear that the characters were right in front of you. Similarly the moving portraits did not look like screens, but rather real moving oil paintings.
*Getting to hear from the Fat Lady as I entered Gryffindor common room.
*Getting advice from the sorting hat.
*Visiting the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and then getting invited to a quidditch match by Ron, Hermoine and Harry.
The premise of the ride itself is that Hermoine has enchanted a cupboard we are in to fly and we are following Harry and Ron (who are on broomsticks) in and around Hogwarts castle to the quidditch pitch. On the way we encounter giant spiders and get chased by a dragon as we hurtle up and around the towers of Hogwarts. The technology in the ride is gob-smakingly amazing, and it is such an immersive experience, that you really do feel like you are flying around Hogwarts at break neck speeds. I came dangerously close to throwing up several times on the ride, but it was worth walking back to the hotel covered in vomit (thankfully it didn't come to that) to get to experience Hogwarts in that way.
One of the ways that the creators of the park have succeeded in getting you to completely forget you are in a theme park is the catering on offer. You cannot purchase any food or drink in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter that is not either mentioned in the books, or traditional English fare. That means that there is no Coke or Pepsi on offer and patrons must instead purchase Butterbeer, Pumpkin juice, water or cider to quench their thirsts.
I was particularly keen to try the butterbeer and I now understand why the Weasley twins repeatedly stole bottles of it from the kitchens of Hogwarts. It is full of butterscotchy goodness and is topped by deliciously creamy froth that is enchanted (or chemically enhanced) not to go flat. The only concession to the Florida heat they have made is to also offer frozen butterbeer. This is like a butterscotchy slushy and also comes with the trademark froth. The pumpkin juice has a similar taste and consistency to mulled wine and whilst delicious, was not all that refreshing in the Florida heat.
My last visit to the theme park occurred on the day after Leaky Con had ended. After buying still more merchandise, I headed to The Three Broomsticks pub for lunch. Who knew that cornish pasties would taste even better when accompanied by frozen butterbeer? I sat in the Three Broomsticks for a couple of hours, drinking butterbeer and reading John Granger's thoeries on the links between the Potter saga and 17th century Florentine history. It was, quite simply, a perfect day.
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