FINALLY! I had the chance to visit Sarah and (drumroll please) go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando! I have been wanting to visit since the day it opened in 2010, 5 years later I was fortunate enough to go.
I was given a few days off of work this week, so I considered visiting Sarah, it wasn’t until I went on to Spirit Airlines website that I found a roundtrip flight to Tampa, FL for 65$. I HAD to buy it. I have been wanting to visit Sarah from the moment she moved away and now I could! I flew out of O’Hare airport around noon on Tuesday, and after a two hour flight I arrived in Tampa. (It was supposed to be two and a half but I have realized most of my Spirit flights are shorter than I am told). Sarah picked me up and we drove back to her home in Englewood, Florida. We had dinner at one of Sarah’s favorite restaurants, Sharkie’s, which is located in Venice, I had the fish and chips which I would highly recommend.
The following morning we woke up around six-thirty and drove the two hours to Orlando so that we could go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal. We bought our tickets in advance which is always a good idea, and make sure to buy the dual-park pass for both Islands of Adventures and Universal so that you can take the Hogwarts Express between parks! I would definitely recommend visiting on a weekday, we did on a Wednesday and the longest wait time for a ride was fifteen minutes. Overall, the experience was MAGICAL 😉 no, but really. I was so happy to visit with Sarah also because not only did we both live in London together but we also went to the Warner Brother’s Studio Tour of Harry Potter together.
We walked thru Islands of Adventure at first before heading to Hogsmeade, we mainly wanted to focus on the Harry Potter part of the amusement park because I had never been – and because Sarah and I are obsessed with harry potter. The first ride we went on (and my new favorite ride ever) was The Forbidden Journey, I wouldn’t eat anything before it because you do get a little dizzy, but basically it’s like you are riding a broom around with Harry. Afterwards we stopped in all of the shops like Honeyduke’s and Ollivander’s wand shop. We had a butter beer while walking around then another one with our lunch (at the three broomsticks) I had Chicken and Sarah had Mac’n’cheese, sadly, as if with all amusement park food it was not the best especially for the price. Sarah and I both tried all of the butter beer – hot, cold, and frozen! It tastes like a cream soda but better. I could only drink half of each because I found them too sweet but Sarah impressed the wizarding world by having four, she loves butter beer – guess I’m a muggle.
We then hopped on the Hogwart’s Express and rode it to Diagon Alley. There we rode the Gringotts Bank ride, which is kind of like a roller coaster but is really fun. Unfortunately for Sarah we did not ride the two dragon roller coasters because I think I would sooner jump out of a plane – sorry scarah! High roller coasters just have never won me over. I enjoyed the Gringotts ride and the Forbidden Journey or whatever because they engage your imagination. We then had a REAL beer, types that you can only get at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – they were great until they got warm. ich. We explored Diagon Alley and Knockturn alley, Fred and George’s shop and walked around with Sarah’s interactive wand. If you point it at shapes on the ground certain cool little tricks happen. (Like one water fountain automatically squirts water) We then walked around Universal and went on some rides.
I think that they should get rid of some of the other exhibits and add on to Harry Potter. (Believe me this is hard to say, I grew up going here since I was two until I was 12, but some of the rides are outdated) I think they should expand the HP park and add Hagrid’s Hut, or the Forbidden Forest and The Burrow. Just a thought.
Before leaving Sarah had one last butter beer and we bought some treats from Honeydukes. We walked around Island of Adventure to see the Jurrasic Park part but it was raining, so we grabbed dinner at Magartiaville. I had tacos, they were really good, service was great too, and then we headed back towards Sarah’s home.
*WEAR COMFY SHOES!!!!!
*sunscreen?
*Drink a lot of water
*Eat before or prepare to pay a lot for ehh food and 3-4$ water
Runaway Blond 