On April 7th the Wizard World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios Hollywood is set to finally open. I was fortunate enough to have a preview and my friends and I of course dressed up. We all represented each house and one of my friends dressed up as Professor Umbridge. I decided to do a disney mashup doing Elsa/Ravenclaw. I always felt if Elsa was sent to Hogwarts she would have learned to have mastered her powers.
Walking through the gates is a magical experience.
The minute you walk into you see part of the train station and of course the Hogwarts express. Here is a photo of all of us with the train conductor.
Walking through Hogsmead is amazing. It really feels like you’re in the movie. All the shops are perfectly depicted.
Of course you can’t forget the butter beer. Don’t worry kids it’s non alcoholic so you can definitely have some and the adults will enjoy it too. As for the adults there is some great beers and cocktails served in the park. Three beers are exclusively sold at the park.
One of the cool experiences in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is checking out Ollivander’s wand shop. If you are lucky a special wand may choose you. My friend Kaitlyn got chosen.
It was a cool experience to say the least. With all this exploring of Hogsmeade one does get pretty hungry and we definitely satisfied our hunger at the Three Broom Sticks. The food is very good. So many different options, from fish and chips, bangers and mash, and sunday roast. I went with the Sunday Roast.
After lunch we checked out the 3D Harry Potter Forbidden Journey ride. Walking through the line is like walking through Hogwarts. It’s so cool.
I loved the ride, it is intense. You fly around with Harry and have to fight off dementors and whomping willows. Some people may feel nauseated after it, just a fair warning. I wasn’t. I felt fine.
We also went on the flight of the Hippogriff ride. You get to see Hagrid’s cottage as you walk through line. This ride is very short, I almost wish the small roller coaster would go around twice to make it worth while. It’s a small coaster and perfect for little kids.
We did more walking, checked out some singing , and did some magic. The cool thing if you buy one of the interactive wands you can do some magic at the different stores.
Everyone was friendly and loved our outfits. The employees were all so helpful and super nice. We spent time talking to them about the parks and our costumes. They loved how we were in character the whole time.
At one point in the day we had fun playing students and following Professor Umbridge around like little ducks following their mama. Though mama wasn’t always happy with us. We had fun taking photos where Umbridge was scolding us as only Umbridge could do so well.
But then we also had fun making fun of her too.
It really was an awesome time and we had to capture the moment.
I can’t wait to go back. It was a wonderful experience and having friends to dress up with was what made the experience even more magical. In truth that’s the real message of Harry Potter, that friendships is what gets you through the darkest times and that’s the real magic after all.
Thanks for reading. I hope you get to experience this wonderful place at some point or if not, hope you pick up one of the books or movies and find some magic in your life. Have a magical day.
geekydisneyrunner 