The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

So, let me just begin by saying I love Disney-- I feel loyal to them and the work they do; nobody, and I mean nobody, does it quite like Disney! Their attention to detail, their level of creativity and their dedication to pushing the boundaries of imagination are hard to top. Consequently my theme-park standards are pretty darn high. Add that to the fact that I'm a pretty ardent Harry Potter fan. I mean, I've read the entire series (all seven books) at least five or six times. Indeed, if I have another son some day, I've already decided we're naming him Harry!

Enter the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios! I wasn't sure what to expect, but let me tell you, every one of those high expectations were either met or exceeded! I was SO glad we got to check it out!

Our sweet little Lucy is also a devoted HP fan, and has read the first five books all by herself. This was the definition of a dream come true! We got there literally as the park was opening and headed straight for Hogsmeade! The window displays all along the street were SO much fun to look at! We could have window shopped all day, finding new things we hadn't noticed before. It was just like the pages from the book had come alive! Here are the chocolate frogs from Honeyduke's.

Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!

Spell books in front of Olivander's Wand Shop.

Tasting butter beer for the very first time (which was absolutely delicious!). Buttery, rich, and caramel-y. Mmmm. This girl was in HEAVEN! Love the foam on her upper lip.

You can see how empty it was since we were there right at opening-- we literally had the streets to ourselves for about an hour. It was perfect. 

After window shopping for a bit we headed straight for the Hogwart's castle-- which was so amazing! There is a really neat ride inside that takes you on a broomstick ride with Harry Potter throughout scenes from the book. The castle was really cool inside too-- the line went through the Herbology classroom, the Great Hall, Dumbledore's office, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom (where the naughty pixies make it snow), all while there are portraits talking to you along the walls!  

We checked out Filch's Emporium right after the ride, and Lucy was ready to hop onto her very own quidditch broom.

Hagrid's "monster book" from his Care of Magical Creatures class-- Lucy even remembered you were supposed to pet along its spine to put him to sleep! 

Picking out which of the four Houses' accessories they would buy!

Miss Lucy's early birthday present-- an authentic Harry Potter Gryffindor robe! Wohoo!

From the moment we got there I'd been dying to check out the goodies from Honeyduke's, and they didn't disappoint! I think Jon was a little bit scared when he saw the manic look in my eyes-- I could have tried one of everything!

We started with the treacle fudge (kinda weird, but Harry's favorite), pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, and chocolate frogs. I snuck a few extras in while Lucy wasn't looking for some future stocking stuffers, but shhh! Don't tell her...

It was so fun to taste and try so many of the goodies featured in the books that we'd read about-- Luce and I didn't want to leave!

Family picture in front of the Hogwart's Express-- the real train connects Hogsmeade to the new park at Diagon Alley, but unfortunately we didn't buy tickets to that part. Next time!

As lunch time drew near, we decided to eat at the Three Broomsticks-- a local business owned by Madam Rosmerta as the story goes, and got to choose from a menu of British pub foods and authentic pumpkin juice, as they didn't serve soda since it was deemed "muggle" food.

Leah noshed on mac and cheese (not sure if that's a local delicacy), but she was sure happy!

Jon and I got the fish and chips-- which were delish, and made all the better because of the setting we got to eat them in. After lunch we decided we'd better take a peek at the other areas of the park like Dr. Seussland, and the Marvel Comic Land-- which were both very cool, but honestly, we came for Harry Potter, and it didn't take us long to head right back!

As you can see Hogsmeade just got busier and busier as the day wore on, but we wanted to spend as much time as possible pretending to be residents of the wizarding world!

They, of course, featured wands you could buy-- and again, for the Harry Potter freak like Lucy and I, we loved looking at every character's individual wand. Lucy received Hermione's as her very own, and Zach decided someday he'd like Harry Potter's.

And that was it! Poor Leah, who'd been dragged through park after park all week long eventually reached her limit, and I think we were all happy to finish before dark this time. We'd seen and done just about as much as we could handle-- and with many, many souvenirs in hand, officially finished our fantastic Florida vacation. Miss Lucy couldn't have been happier to end on such a high note-- and went to sleep that night with dreams of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. And maybe, just maybe, she'll get her very own Owl Post inviting her to arrive at Platform 9 3/4 to be the next Hogwart's student in 2015!