Vacation Post 3: Harry Potter World at Universal
So here's my continuing posts on my vacation, albeit a bit late, LOL.
Harry Potter Woooorld!
It was all I had imagined and more @_@ Honestly, I don't think they could have done anything any better. The atmosphere was spot-on, the rides were pretty darn good, and every detail was just....wow. I know some people didn't like it but I was very happy with it!
We went there first when we got in the park and walked around, just to LOOK at everything. It looks like this when you first go in:
Obviously a big recreation of Diagon Alley. The snow was really cool-looking.
The Hogwarts Express:
My family looking into one of the shops. All the shops had a TON of things inside the window, even if they weren't really shops you could enter! Like this random shop:
And stuff of Lockhart's XD:
The zonko's was also AMAZING. It was a real joke shop, with cool (although waaaaay overpriced) stuff in it, and it turned into Honeydukes on the other end. Every time someone bought a pygmy puff, the shop clerk yelled "ATTENTION EVERYONE! This pygmy puff has been adopted by a caring muggle and is going to a good home!" and everyone clapped XD
So we approached the castle and the first ride we went on:
LENS FLAAAAARE
And thus, this was almost the coolest part of the whole thing! Now, I haven't been to Universal Studios ever, and apparently this is a thing on all their rides, but the attractions/entertainment BEFORE you get on the rides (while you're on line) are really neat!
For example, here's an animatronic Buckbeak before a teeny rollercoaster - the only one my mom tried out and then immediately regretted XD
Right by Hagrid's cabin:
And on all the other Harry Potter rides were VERY convincing props from the movies, like one room was the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom! Here's a dragon skeleton hanging from the ceiling:
And here's a shot from Dumbledore's office:
Herbology greenhouse:
House points counters:
Mirror of Erised:
The Pensieve:
Obviously I don't have pictures of the rides themselves, but they were very well thought out!
The first ride I can remember is Dragon Challenge/Dueling Dragons (don't remember the name anymore) which was fun. You got in either the Chinese Firebolt or the Hungarian Horntail and each time a different dragon would win. Your feet hang down like in the Batman ride, which was great. It was a hella fun rollercoaster, too, lots of turns and drops, and not too much discomfort or head-knocking.
The other important ride was one that took you through several of the movies up til now. It was kind of like the Haunted Mansion ride, except it moved you around a lot more and varied between imax-like screens for just your car, and actual props. I admit during the 2nd movie part (with the GIANT FREAKING SPIDERS) I screamed and had to close my eyes >.>;; A bit too real for me.... But this ride was also fun without actually moving you very far at all.
They also had quite a few of the talking portraits scattered around. I don't know how they did it, but they looked like perfect moving paintings. The sheen on them and the lighting of the subjects was JUST right.
We went to eat at the Three Broomsticks:
I wish I had more photos, because the rest of the interior was really cool too! The food was also tasty, although not as filling as we had wanted.
SPEAKING OF FOOD, we got to try the 2 drinks we had wanted to try (although these were RIDICULOUSLY priced, $6 per drink): Pumpkin juice and butterbeer! I didn't like either at first, but the taste is rather curious so you try it again, and eventually you just like it XD Pumpkin juice was kind of like a spiced cider with pumpkin overtones. Butterbeer was a butterscotch/root beer hybrid with a really good, thick foam on the top.
On the way out I took a picture of the chimneytops, because they looked cool:
Overall as an artist again, I was very impressed. They clearly designed and made this with the fans in mind.
Harry Potter Woooorld!
It was all I had imagined and more @_@ Honestly, I don't think they could have done anything any better. The atmosphere was spot-on, the rides were pretty darn good, and every detail was just....wow. I know some people didn't like it but I was very happy with it!
We went there first when we got in the park and walked around, just to LOOK at everything. It looks like this when you first go in:
Obviously a big recreation of Diagon Alley. The snow was really cool-looking.
The Hogwarts Express:
My family looking into one of the shops. All the shops had a TON of things inside the window, even if they weren't really shops you could enter! Like this random shop:
And stuff of Lockhart's XD:
The zonko's was also AMAZING. It was a real joke shop, with cool (although waaaaay overpriced) stuff in it, and it turned into Honeydukes on the other end. Every time someone bought a pygmy puff, the shop clerk yelled "ATTENTION EVERYONE! This pygmy puff has been adopted by a caring muggle and is going to a good home!" and everyone clapped XD
So we approached the castle and the first ride we went on:
LENS FLAAAAARE
And thus, this was almost the coolest part of the whole thing! Now, I haven't been to Universal Studios ever, and apparently this is a thing on all their rides, but the attractions/entertainment BEFORE you get on the rides (while you're on line) are really neat!
For example, here's an animatronic Buckbeak before a teeny rollercoaster - the only one my mom tried out and then immediately regretted XD
Right by Hagrid's cabin:
And on all the other Harry Potter rides were VERY convincing props from the movies, like one room was the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom! Here's a dragon skeleton hanging from the ceiling:
And here's a shot from Dumbledore's office:
Herbology greenhouse:
House points counters:
Mirror of Erised:
The Pensieve:
Obviously I don't have pictures of the rides themselves, but they were very well thought out!
The first ride I can remember is Dragon Challenge/Dueling Dragons (don't remember the name anymore) which was fun. You got in either the Chinese Firebolt or the Hungarian Horntail and each time a different dragon would win. Your feet hang down like in the Batman ride, which was great. It was a hella fun rollercoaster, too, lots of turns and drops, and not too much discomfort or head-knocking.
The other important ride was one that took you through several of the movies up til now. It was kind of like the Haunted Mansion ride, except it moved you around a lot more and varied between imax-like screens for just your car, and actual props. I admit during the 2nd movie part (with the GIANT FREAKING SPIDERS) I screamed and had to close my eyes >.>;; A bit too real for me.... But this ride was also fun without actually moving you very far at all.
They also had quite a few of the talking portraits scattered around. I don't know how they did it, but they looked like perfect moving paintings. The sheen on them and the lighting of the subjects was JUST right.
We went to eat at the Three Broomsticks:
I wish I had more photos, because the rest of the interior was really cool too! The food was also tasty, although not as filling as we had wanted.
SPEAKING OF FOOD, we got to try the 2 drinks we had wanted to try (although these were RIDICULOUSLY priced, $6 per drink): Pumpkin juice and butterbeer! I didn't like either at first, but the taste is rather curious so you try it again, and eventually you just like it XD Pumpkin juice was kind of like a spiced cider with pumpkin overtones. Butterbeer was a butterscotch/root beer hybrid with a really good, thick foam on the top.
On the way out I took a picture of the chimneytops, because they looked cool:
Overall as an artist again, I was very impressed. They clearly designed and made this with the fans in mind.