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Well, we weren\u2019t exactly up before dawn to get to Universal, which was a good thing because it\u2019s off season (or it\u2019s supposed to be\u2026more on that later), and the park doesn\u2019t open until 9:00, while Amras and I are both dedicated theme park nuts and were chomping at the bit to be there when the gates open, we had to admit that aiming for 9:30 was a little more practical. Daytona is an hour drive from Orlando on a good day, and with it being Monday morning, we were prepared for traffic.<\/p>\n
We were still on the road before 9, well before.<\/p>\n
Amras put me in charge of the music on the way, which he probably regretted as soon as I remembered that XM radio has a Broadway station. MWAHAHAHAHA!!<\/p>\n
I digress.<\/p>\n
Universal Orlando is huge<\/em>. I thought I was prepared for the size, but I really wasn\u2019t. And our tickets were a single 3-park hopper, meaning we had at least two<\/em> full sized parks to cover in one day (we\u2019ll probably come back later in my time here, although we managed to pack almost everything into today\u2026which surprised me given the size of the park). We started in the main park and immediately grabbed our photopass (pays for itself after you\u2019ve had four photos taken, we had covered that before we even got in the gate!) and set about trying to figure out which ride to go on first.<\/p>\n It was the Mummy<\/em> that was in our path as we made our way down the main drive, and since that\u2019s a ride we both love from Singapore we zipped through that one first (yay express passes!) and then it was time for me to find our way to the reason I had so much wanted to come here.<\/p>\n A few blocks down the main road and the buildings turn to brick and start sporting signs to the UK Underground; and a huge blue towering triple decker bus is parked across the street next to the lake.<\/p>\n Ah! It\u2019s the Knight Bus! <\/em><\/p>\n The what?<\/em><\/p>\n The knight bus! They built the Knight Bus!<\/em><\/p>\n Cue the Harry Potter fangirl in me squealing to the surface.<\/p>\n But the Knight Bus is just the beginning. Making our way along the row I had a similar reaction to seeing the street plaquard for \u201cGrimmauld Place\u201d, which came complete with a grimy, dark-faced \u201c#12\u201d (though unlike the books, this one didn\u2019t disappear).<\/p>\n So the rest of it is around here somewhere\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n Where?<\/em><\/p>\n Don\u2019t know, if they built it true to the story it would be through the leaky cauldron, but I don\u2019t see the leaky cauldron..wait, this way!<\/em><\/p>\n And through the arched hole in the bricks we went, and on the other side I stopped dead and caught my breath as I found myself standing in the middle of Diagon Alley.<\/p>\n Oh my god\u2026oh my GOD! They\u2019ve got the\u2026and the\u2026and the\u2026and that too!<\/em><\/p>\n Meanwhile. I\u2019m sure Amras thought I was slightly off my rocker, and I was fine with that really.<\/p>\n I take it they did a good job?<\/em><\/p>\n They did an AMAZING job!<\/em><\/p>\n Where to start when describing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter<\/em> is impossible to say. There is too much. From the massive fire-breathing dragon that rests atop Gringott\u2019s bank, to the butterbeer (which tastes like butterscotch cream soda) to the interactive wands sold at Olivador\u2019s that let you cast spells all around the park (everything from turning lights on and off to starting water fountains to controlling dancing puppets). The place is incredible<\/em>. And there was always something new.<\/em> Just when I thought I\u2019d seen all of it something else would catch my eye.<\/p>\n Wait! This way!<\/em><\/p>\n Where?<\/em><\/p>\n This way!<\/em><\/p>\n What is this?<\/em><\/p>\n Knockturn Alley! For all your dark<\/u> wizarding needs. Ee! They actually built<\/u> Borgen and Burkes! Ah! I do not believe this!<\/em><\/p>\n There was indeed a whole separate area for Knockturn Alley, which features in only one story (though granted it\u2019s a very very important part of that one story). It was so beautifully done, even though it was a relatively bright Florida day outside inside Knockturn Alley looked like the deepest darkest night on record. There was even a skeleton that your wand let you dance with!<\/p>\n Yes, I now own a Hermione replica wand, this was never in question really\u2026it was between Hermione and Luna Lovegood, and Hermoine won in my head.<\/p>\n Though looking back I think I am more Ravenclaw than Griffindor.<\/p>\n Oh well..<\/p>\n Escape from Gringotts<\/em> was down whilst we were walking around, and when it did open back up the line for the lockers was insane (the only critique I have of this whole area is that the locker system for the HP rides is foolish, enclosed and no nearly enough space for the amount of people, plus no attendants to enforce the \u201cone person per party\u201d requirement. So we made our way out of Diagon Alley and over to the rest of the park.<\/p>\n There is so much<\/em> to see, that I didn\u2019t even know where to start. I\u2019ve never been to Orlando, so I have no grounding and no mental map. We basically flipped a mental coin and went for Men in Black<\/em>, which led to me actually winning<\/em> a shooting ride against Amras which never<\/em> happens. 195,000 points ! Ha! Take that alien bugs!!<\/p>\n Not that I\u2019m competitive or anything.<\/p>\n And then I made the mistake of going on the Rock-It Coaster. Now, I am a rollercoaster fan, I may be a little bit terrified when I\u2019m standing in line, but usually when I get off<\/em> a rollercoaster Im\u2019 the first one to want to zip back into line and ride it again, but this one? It goes straight up for the launch, literally, it goes vertical, and then it drops what feels like straight down. I honestly felt like I was going to pass out, the only thing I found myself thinking was \u201cI need to not be here right now\u201d. So, that\u2019s one ride I will not be going on again. We bought the ride video afterwards, and you can see in it that the only thing I\u2019m saying is \u201coh my god!!! I\u2019m going to die!!!\u201d yeah, didn\u2019t know there was a camera there!<\/p>\n After lunch we finally did get onto Escape from Gringotts<\/em>, which, while disappointingly short, was awesome<\/em>. Take a dark coaster, combine it with a sim-ride and then combine that with a \u201cRoger Rabbit\u201d spin style ride. A-maz-ing. And the queue for the ride is<\/em> Gringott\u2019s! With Goblins! Real goblins! And vaults and keys and\u2026yeah I\u2019m a bit of a nerd, so what?<\/p>\n After Gringott\u2019s we headed for King\u2019s Cross and Platform 9 \u00be to board the Hogwart\u2019s Express to the second park Island\u2019s of Adventure.<\/em> What I wasn\u2019t really prepared for was for the Express to actually be a ride in it\u2019s own right, taking us on a clacking rattling train journey through the british country-side \u2013 complete with a dementor attack \u2013 arriving at Hogsmeade station at the foot of Hogwart\u2019s Castle. It is still winter in Hogsmeade and the snow coats the high peaks of the Three Broomsticks and Honeyduke\u2019s Sweet Shop. And as we turned our way down the crowded street I once again stopped dead and stared up\u2026and up\u2026<\/p>\n They really built Hogwart\u2019s<\/u> aaaaah!!!<\/em><\/p>\n The Flight Through Hogwart\u2019s<\/em> was a Harry Potter fan\u2019s dream, including everything from the books and movies from quidditch to Arragog (okay, maybe I wasn\u2019t so pleased about seeing Aragog) \u2013 if the line hadn\u2019t been so insanely long I would have ridden it again and again\u2026<\/p>\n As it was, there was no way we could brave over an hour in line (our express passes only gave us one trip to the front of each line after that we would be back with the standard line).<\/p>\n With Harry Potter safely visited, we started making our way through the rest of Islands of Adventure<\/em>, which is mostly stunt and special effects shows. We just kept ambling and eventually found ourselves in WhoVille! That\u2019s right, they\u2019ve built and entire section of the park that\u2019s dedicated to Dr. Suess. Although there aren\u2019t any rides there we could go on (Definitely geared towards littler people than us!) it definitely brought a smile to our faces to wander through trufulia trees and wonky brightly coloured buildings. They have even trained the real palm trees to grow crooked!<\/p>\n As we made our way from Suess-land to Marvel Island (home of the superheros) the twilight was starting to gather around us. There is something magical about a theme park at night, and as we made our way through the last sections of the park, posing with classic comic book speech bubbles and window shopping for the perfect souvenirs, I found myself feeling overwhelmingly content\u2026<\/p>\n My life seems to be filling up with days that are too brilliant for even a writer to describe properly\u2026<\/p>\n And that\u2019s a really awesome thing\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, we weren\u2019t exactly up before dawn to get to Universal, which was a good thing because it\u2019s off season (or it\u2019s supposed to be\u2026more on that later), and the park doesn\u2019t open until 9:00, while Amras and I are … Continue reading