Fun with David, Kelly, Phoebe, and Zabar: Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade

Phoebe took her first plane ride last month--to Florida for our trip to Universal Studios in Orlando. She mostly enjoyed the plane--no issues--but I let her sit by the window for a bit coming home, and she did not care for that! She decided she was happy in the middle.

First Flight

Universal was pretty cool. We went primarily for the Harry potter sections, but we walked through both parks in their entirety. Technically, there are two parks: Universal Studios and Island of Adventure. Hogsmeade, which has the village of the same name and Hogwarts Castle, is in IoA, and Diagon Alley is in US. Connecting the two is the Hogwarts Express, the train that Harry and friends take back and forth to school.

We stayed in one of the park hotels--the Cabana Bay Resort. There are currently four park hotels of varying price points, and this is the budget one. But it was still fun. It is designed to look like it came out of the 1950s or 60s, with bright colors and a "Space Age" design. The food court showed old commercials on their TV screens.

Hotel Lobby

One of the Pools

Phoebe Poolside

Hogwarts in the Distance

We got to the hotel way before we could check in, so we left our bags and went out to the pool. Phoebe managed to swim every day we were there. David and I mostly enjoyed the umbrella tables. The weather was pretty good for May. It didn't start to get really humid until Saturday, but, even then, it wasn't horrible. I don't think I would like it later in the summer though!

Because we stayed in one of the park hotels, we could go to Hogsmeade an hour before the park opened to the general public. That was a huge plus. Granted, all the park hotels offered the same thing, but it was still a smaller group of people. And the hotel has a shuttle that goes back and forth to the park, so it was really convenient. Grab a drink a Starbucks, hop on the bus, and you're there a few minutes later.

The first day in the park we did the Forbidden Journey ride, which is inside Hogwarts castle. Part of the "ride" is walking through the castle, and that was cool. The attention to detail throughout the HP sections was impressive--Moaning Myrtle could even be heard in the Hogsmeade restrooms!

The ride was pretty intense--you sit in this thing that sort of resembles a ski lift, and it flings you around like you are flying on a broom with Harry and co. You fly on the Quidditch pitch and through the Forbidden Forest. There are Dementors and some of Aragog's kin out to get you. It is a combination of props and movie screens. I intentionally didn't tell Phoebe much about it, and that was maybe a bad idea. The giant spiders and Dementors freaked her out a bit. I kept asking her to go back and ride it again, but she would have none of it.

There is also a small roller coaster in this section that incorporates Hagrid's hut and Buckbeak the hippogriff. Phoebe did like that ride, and we did it twice--both times we had the whole ride to ourselves.

Although the "real" Ollivander's is in Diagon Alley, there is a store in Hogsmeade as well, and Phoebe was chosen for the "experience," where Ollivander choose a child to go through the wand selection process like Harry did in the first film. He takes all sorts of measurements and gives her several wands to try spells with. The first two had rather unfortunate results--she created a thunderstorm with one and killed a potted plant with the other. But the third wand was the charm, as they say, and there were lights and music to accompany the positive spellwork.

Of course, we had to get the wand that was chosen for her, which interacts with various spots in Hogmeade and Diagon Alley, so you can "do" spells. I ended up getting an interactive Prof. McGonagall wand, so I could do some spells too--and a Sirius Black wand simply because it was cool.

Phoebe got some new robes--Ravenclaw ones since that is her (and my) House in the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup on Ravelry. They were much better made than the ones she got for Halloween! We also had butterbeer (tastes like cream soda with an undertone of caramel) at the Hog's Head--we preferred the cold to the frozen, got some candy at Honeydukes, and sent postcards from the Owl Post. They actually had a Hogsmeade postmark, which was cool.

New Robes and a Butterbeer

Hogsmeade Village

Hogwarts Castle

The Castle Gates

Hagrid's Hut

Hagrid's Pumpkin Patch

Buckbeak

Hermione's Yule Ball Dress

Other than Hogsmeade, there are also sections in IoA for Jurassic Park, Dr. Suess, Marvel Superheroes, and Greek mythology. Phoebe and I watched Juraissic Park before the trip, so that section was cool--with animatronic baby dinosaurs and the like. The only other section we did rides was Dr. Seuss. Phoebe and I rode the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride where the fish "flew" and you could get squirted with water, and a train ride that went through the whole Dr. Seuss section. The Greek mythology section was cool, with a restaurant the looked built into a mountain and replicas of ancient statues. The entrance to the park had the Pharos lighthouse.