Probably the highlight of Katelyn's summer... our trip to Universal Islands of Adventure to submerge ourselves in the world of Harry Potter. I have to admit it was quite magical... and for a die hard fan like my daughter, it was spellbinding to say the least! When you enter Hogsmeade, you feel like you've been placed into the movie! The town is a replica of the actual street in the movie... from the Owl Post to Honeydukes to the Three Broomsticks Cafe. Here is where we had Butterbeer, both regular and frozen - we preferred the frozen. (Hint: Don't wait in line at the Butterbeer carts - go into the back door of the Three Broomsticks to the Hog's Head bar area - no line!) We got a chocolate frog at Honeydukes (can't go wrong with chocolate!) as well as pumpkin juice to drink (it's like drinking pumpkin pie)!
The amount of people in this little section of the park is incredible. When the gates open there is a mad rush to the right as people head for this section of the park. But, of course, we were in the mix of the droves of Harry Potterites :) - you had to if you wanted to ride the Forbidden Journey and not have an hour and a half wait. The first time we were on was ok to wait - while waiting in line you are entertained by props and scenes from the movie. But after the first time you just want to get on the ride! What a ride it is... you really feel as if you are flying along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione! I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and I haven't even read all the books yet. It just feels so real. We ended up getting on it four times... never getting tired of it, yet two times the ride stopped in the middle (yes, stopped!). We just had to wait until it started up again - the first time we were in front of a steam breathing dragon that "steamed" us every 10 seconds. We were stopped so long they turned the lights on - it was pretty cool to see how the ride worked, but not cool to be harnessed in a seat suspended 12 feet in the air. The second time it was just Katelyn and me and the ride stopped just as our car was leaning back - thank goodness it wasn't quite upside down! No lights this time. Not sure what went wrong either time, but it didn't stop us from riding it one last time on our last day there!
The most enchanting part was when we went to the show in Olivander's Wand Shop and Katelyn got to be the "chosen one" She got to take part in the show - a wand actually "picked" her. She says it was similar to the scene in the first Harry Potter movie when the wand picked Harry. She wanted to buy a wand anyway, but now she could actually buy the wand that chose her! She was on cloud 9!
We had a great four days at Universal Islands of Adventure, returning to the Harry Potter section each day! I tried to think of a magical time in my childhood and what I remembered was when my parents took me to see John Schneider at the York Fair. At the time, The Dukes of Hazard was my favorite and I loved Bo Duke, so to see him in person (singing) was so exciting for me! :) I'm sure this will be one of those times Katelyn never forgets!
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