The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

So while we were in Florida we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and stayed at the Portofino Bay Hotel for our wedding anniversary.

We have been to Islands of Adventures many times so our main focus was Harry Potter. When we got there we waited in a very long line. It was probably over an hour of walking in a long line at a slow pace. We eventually got in and there were so many people in that part of the park that you couldn't hardly walk! No one was leaving because they had waited so long to get in. There were lines of an hour just to get into the shops let alone the rides. So we left.

This was one of the "open" areas. This is a shot of Olivander's wand shop, where you can select your wand. I hear that some wands will work for you while others will not, so it is important that you get help selecting the right one. The line for this was at least 2 hours at the shortest we heard.

This is us in front of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Later in the evening we went on a tour of the castle and did the ride. It was a good ride, but I think the tour of the castle was just as good. It was a very detailed representation.

We also got some frozen butter beers at the Hogshead Tavern. They seemed to be slushy cream soda with ice cream on top. Yumm! Also the Tavern had a large hogs head that would move and snort on occasion!

We also stopped in to Zonko's Joke shop, which had some cute things, but nothing as great as the books describe. Honeydukes was a good candy shop. We picked up a few things including a chocolate frog, waiting for my Mom to tell me how she liked it.

We also found Mr. Weasley's flying car! It appears to have landed itself by what used to be Dueling Dragons, that was after it got beat up by the Womping Willow. Well, its still pretty beat and honks at people as they go by. Dueling Dragons is still a great roller coaster, but now it is called Dragon Challenge, to reflect the dragons that the contestants faced in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.











We have quite a few more pictures of this section, it was just plain amazing so I only picked a few. I would be happy to share if anyone is interested. Next time I post I should have some shots from the road. We are currently in New Mexico, and plan to be at the Grand Canyon tomorrow. I can't wait to show you the pictured we will take there!