When first entering the park, visitors walk into the town of Hogsmeade, which includes shops such as Olivanders (a wand shop), Honeydukes (sweets shop), Zonkos (a joke shop), The Three Broomsticks and the Hogshead (both pubs/restaurants). Aside from Zonkos, each shop created an amazing experience for visitors and made me really feel like part of the wizarding world. Though Zonkos still stayed true to the series in looks, its merchandise left much to be desired. Instead of having whimsical pranks such as Dung Bombs and Prank Wands, it just had old “Muggle” pranks and uninteresting toys. But even with that, everything contained the essence of Harry Potter and with all of the iconic music from the movies playing in the background, the atmosphere felt exceptionally realistic.
The next section of the park is a life size replica of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school is built around a 4D roller coaster ride, The Forbidden Journey, where visitors join Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they face some of the famous magical creatures and challenges from the series. This ride takes you through a thrilling and believable journey and is one of the best roller coaster rides I have ever ridden. Aside from the ride, visitors also get the absolute pleasure of visiting Dumbledore’s office, the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom, the Herbology green houses, and Hogwarts hallways which include real talking and moving portraits. All of this was exceptionally well-done and well worth the wait in line.
The third and final portion of the park is based upon the Triwizard tournament from the fourth movie/book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” It features a roller coaster called Dueling Dragons and several famous places and objects from the series. On the way to get in line for the coaster, you get to visit Hagrid’s Hut, see the Triwizard cup, and other things like the four golden egg clues from the movie. Also, like in the movie the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang students introduce (dance and all) themselves to an audience outside of the ride entrance. All of this was just as amazing as I imagined it would be. Another ride called the Flight of the Hippogriff is mainly for little children.
The day I had the privilege of visiting Universal Studios it was unusually packed and busy, mainly because there were huge groups from Brazil that came to see the park. As a result of this, the lines for the rides lasted two to three hours. It was ridiculous, but definitely worth it. Every part of the park is close enough together to walk to each section, although this isn’t easy to do when it is so packed but it is still a good aspect. Gift shops scattered throughout the entire theme park sell a large amounts of merchandise. Although I did expect a better selection of merchandise than they provided, I was still pretty impressed overall. for a future reference, be prepared to spend your life savings if you plan on buying more than one souvenir. That is if you have any money left after paying for the tickets into the park. The ticket prices differ depending on the number of days visitors wish to attend the park. Adult tickets range from $82.00 for one day to $139.99 for four days. Children’s tickets range from $74.00 for one day to $122.99 for four days.
Overall my experience at the World of Harry Potter made my favorite memories list, and I would definitely say it should make everybody’s bucket list.
