Florida/Myrtle Beach 2010 - Day 2 (Hogwarts)

No rest for these travelers, we got in really late last night (around 1 am) so when morning came, everyone, especially Emily, was reluctant to drag out of bed to get the day started, but this was our day in Hogwarts so we couldn't sleep for long.

It's been 17 years since I set foot in Florida, so I had completely forgotten how hot and humid it gets, and Florida was quick to remind me. It didn't help that we arrived at Universal Studios at noon in the middle of summer, but we were here and nothing could spoil our excitement.

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure park is very large, and the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter world is at the far end, so in a tremendously surreal experience we walked through Seusville, and the Lost World en route to Hogwarts.

The entrance gate has a sign signifying your entrance into Hogsmeade, which makes up the bulk of the world. Just inside is the Hogwarts Express. There are also several snow capped London style buildings dotting the horizon. These house a couple of themed stores and a restaurant. The first store is the combined Zonkos joke shop and Honeydukes. The store there was really fun, but really small. The candy store sold all kinds of regular candy, mixed in with some guys licorice flavored hair, every flavored beans, and everyone's favorite chocolate frogs, which included motion cards. The only problem with the chocolate frogs is that with it being so stinking hot, they didn't live long. The store is small, so we had to wait for a while before we were allowed in.

Next in line is the Three Broomsticks restaurant, serving mostly fish and chips, but we didn't go in there. The attached bathroom, however, was really cool as Moaning Myrtle's voice could be heard intermittently.

Across the street is Olivander's Wand shop which was attached to Dervish and Banges. Having been warned this was the first thing we waited for, and wait we did. The line went on for about an hour, in the punishing sun, with no shade or fans in sight. We had an umbrella and some pocket battery fans, but they offered little relief. They were letting people into the shop about 20 at a time where they do a small wand selection show. Out of your group of 20 they choose one person for the selecting ceremony, and this time they picked Blake, the guy standing in for Olivander measured Blake with his tape measure and selected one wand for Blake to try, but instead of summonsing the ladder Blake caused a bunch of drawers to open and close. Another wand was chosen and this time Blake caused all the bells in the store to ring. Third wand tried was a charm, and no sooner had Blake picked it up but wind wind started blowing and Blake's face was illuminated (very similar to the scene from the Sorcerer's Stone movie). That was it for the show, and they told us we didn't have to buy the wand, but Emily couldn't resist, so $30 later Blake had an awesome wand that had selected him. The attached store was great, full of wands, post cards and quidditch supplies. Very fun, but also very crowded, shoulder to shoulder throughout.

At this point we were getting hungry, so we went to a restaurant in another land (and lemme tell you, I have never been more grateful for AC). A quick wander around the rest of the park and a goodbye to my mom and I was alone with Blake and Izzy. They rode a dinosaur ride, and we went on the Spider-Man ride, and then it was back to Hogsmede.

When we first looked at the line for the Hogwarts ride the wait was 120 minutes, now it was down to 75 minutes, so we figured we would take a chance. I gotta say this is one of the coolest rides I have ever been on. The castle looks fantastic externally, and the interior is even better, with replicas of movie props like the Mirror of Erised, the hunchback witch statue, house points counter, portrait rooms, Dumbledore's office, and classrooms. Waiting in line is half the fun of this ride. The ride itself is a moving car with large movie screen in front, it is actually quite unique, think a mix of Star Tours and the Haunted Mansion, all for a really cool effect. The ride finishes into another store, Filch's Emporium, which has the most and best all around Potter stuff. It was so much fun we had to do it twice. I highly recommend this to other hardcore Potter fans, it was a truelove amazing experience. Extremely exhausting, but totally unforgettable.