For this Christmas, I had the pleasure of going down to Florida and visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It has been the place that I have wanted to visit since it's opening last spring. And with my younger sister finally becoming interested in the whole Potter saga, my family thought it would be fun to go down there.
First of all, even though we were in the sunny state, it was still cold. It was windy and I think it was around 38 degrees. Not the best temperature to go venturing in a theme park for several hours. And plus, I was wearing a thin coat which wasn't suited for cold weather.
Heading down there, I was under the impression that the Harry Potter world was located in it's own park which included seperate tickets to get in there. But I was wrong when I found out that it was actually located inside the Universal Islands of Adventure park. It was like the same parks called Suess World and Jerassic Park Land. I was disappointed because I felt the Harry Potter story deserved it's own park.
After getting into the Islands park, we set out towards the Harry Potter Section. We figured that we could walk right through into the park. Think again. This may sound strange to the people who haven't been yet, but there was actually a wait to get into that section of the park. For us, it was a 90 minute wait. I thought that was crazy, but I knew the line would only get longer. So we waited. It was close to 2 before we got in.
When we did get in, it was magical. We were instantly greeted by the Hogwarts Express. And alot of the shops were right by. It looked just like you imagined it, and saw in the movies. But the weird thing was that not every shop was open. They were just for looks. And the ones that were open had hour lines. I know Zonko's and Honeydukes were croweded. The one shop that we did make it into was the Olivander Wand Shop. That was close to an hour wait as well.
We get in, and we enjoy a quick moment in the wand shop. The bad thing was I thought we each would get to have that wand experience where the wand chooses. But no, it was just one person. After that, everybody else would be taken to the next room, which had wands for guests to choose from. You were run over, or you were the person doing the running over in there. I'm not sure which one I was doing. But I got a wand. The Harry Potter one, since I was there for the Harry Potter park. My sister got Herminone's and my other sister got Snapes. All of them was way over priced, but I guess it was worth it.
We then get in line for the rides. Of course, long lines. But when we got to the castle, it said it was a 45 minute wait. Heck, that was the shortest line I was gonna be in for the day I thought. Wrong again, it eventually dragged out to over an hour probably, if not two. But the ride was good. Alot more intense than I thought, but so worth the trip.
But after the 30 minute wait for the Hippogriff ride, I was ready to go. I really wasn't in the mood for the dragon challenge. I even wasn't in the mood for the Three Broomsticks and Boar's Head for dinner. I was just ready to get out of there. 20,000 people stepping on you in the same area was just too much for me. Some of my friends said for me to stop complaining, for I was in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. But you didn't see Harry Potter getting trampled in Diagon Alley did you? All the people just ruined the experience I felt.
Later on, after we returned to Islands, I found out that going there for the 90 minute wait was actually the best decision. Because when we went back, the line was 150 minutes from the standard line, and then a two hour line after that. It was so crazy.
So even thought it wasn't the prized experience that I was hoping for, it was still a pretty good park. I just hope the park realizes that they have a real problem when the whole group of 250,000 people in the park are there just for the Harry Potter section. So let me ask you, have you been? Will you go back after your experience? And from what you have heard, will you continue to make plans to go?
-Tyler
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