After getting a small taste of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter I was instantly addicted. It was like a drug to me. That was the only day that we were able to get in early. The next time we got in was Friday morning for the actual grand opening, which was the craziest experience of my life! That morning Alaina and I woke up at 3 a.m. to get ready for one of the best days of our life! We walked over the Islands of Adventure, but we were not the only people who had the same idea. There was already a line of people waiting to be let into the park.
Everybody was getting anxious about the opening and people started to get antsy. Finally at 6 a.m they opened the gates and everybody bolted (or as fast as they could walk…if you ran they would kick you out) to the Harry Potter part. Luckily, Alaina and I made it to the bridge area connecting the Harry Potter section and the Jurassic Park section. We just made the cut off for entering the actual Harry Potter section when it opened…at 10 am.
We had to wait four more hours on that bridge listening to some pretty undeserving people; some people were just there to be there. They didn’t know anything about Harry Potter. That was annoying, but we didn’t know how lucky we were to be on that bridge.
While we waited on the bridge, we saw the back of J.K Rowling in a back area of The Three Broom Sticks. She was doing an interview with the Today Show. It was amazing. Hours later, they finally started letting people off of the bridge to go stand and see the cast and Rowling welcome everybody to the park. Alaina and I just made that cut as well, but we were far enough away that it was hard for even me (being 5’11) to see the stars on the stage. Luckily, there was a large T.V that showed us that. However, the day before while we were snooping, Alaina and I had a chance encounter seeing Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley). I was so close I could have touched him! It was awesome, but anyways back to the story.
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| Opening picture from Florida Sentinel |
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| Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) from Florida Sentinel |
We watched the cast in awe as they dropped the huge banner blocking the way and we were able to enter the park. We were extremely lucky to be in the first group allowed in the park. If we would have waited five more minutes to leave, we may have been stuck on the bridge for another few hours, or worse, stuck in this line. The line went all the way through Island's of Adventure through City Walk and out of the park.
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| Line from Wizarding World of Harry Potter from Florida Sentinel |
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| Line from Wizarding World of Harry Potter from Florida Sentinel |
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| Line from Wizarding World of Harry Potter from Florida Sentinel |
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These are pictures from the
Florida Sentinel of the THOUSANDS of people that showed up to the event. We heard rumors of the amount of people and the waiting times, but I couldn’t believe it until I saw the pictures for myself. Most of those people didn’t even get in. It was so crowded there were hour long lines for just the butter beer! Alaina and I are actually in two of the pictures from the site! The shops were a few hours and
The Forbidden Journey was ridiculous. Since we rode
The Forbidden Journey three times and did Ollivander’s experience twice before we didn’t even attempt it . We went to everything else.
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| Picture with Alaina in it from Florida Sentinel |
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| Picture of me from Florida Sentinel |
First off, Alaina and I tried a bit of stalking to find the cast members hoping we could meet them. Of course they were surrounded by media and guards, so we couldn’t get too close. We found them on The Flight of the Hippogriff with a bunch of lucky kindergardeners. This class won a contest and they got to meet the cast and ride the ride with them. KINDERGARDENERS! They probably don’t even understand the magnitude of that moment being the best moment they would ever have. It was extremely unfair. After the cast left the ride, we lost them and could never find them again, so we pushed onwards to new adventures in the park.
We were almost interviewed for TV Guide network, but they chose a group of younger girls. We watched the “Frog Choir” performers as they sang with animatronics frogs that originated from the third movie. They were fun and afterwards we got a picture with them. After that we went and rode The Dragon Challenge, which used to be Duelling Dragons. From what I understand, it is exactly the same ride, but with a Harry Potter vamped line filled with Triwizard champion props. That line was virtually empty. Next we went to Flight of the Hippogriff, which was fun, but it is a kiddy rollercoaster.
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Alaina and I with "Frog Choir" entertainers
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Alaina and I in front of Hagrid's Hut before Flight of Hippogriff
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After the rides and shows, we went straight for the Butter Beer! We couldn’t wait to taste it because we attempted to make it once on our own, but failed miserably. It tastes like a mix between cream soda and root beer with a bit of foam on the top. There is a frozen kind and a normal kind. Alaina and I wanted the frozen, but since it was so hot and so there were so many people, they ran out extremely quickly. The machine just couldn’t keep up!
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| Alaina and I drinking Buter Beer for the first time |
The last endeavor for us to conquer before we completed the park was the stores. This was the worst part just because it was so hot, the lines were so long and the stores are so tiny! They did not build those stores for a crowd. First we went into the Three Broom Sticks for lunch. That line was manageable and the food was ok. There was a mix of British and American cuisine. I honestly don’t remember what I got, but the design of the tavern was amazing! Everything I would have dreamed it would be.
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| Three Broom Sticks |
After eating and replenishing out systems we went for the actual stores. There is Zonko’s joke shop, Honeydukes candy shop and Dervish and Banges. We went to Zonko’s first. Zonko’s was my least favorite, only because the joke and gag gifts were not very entertaining. The only saving grace of Zonko’s, is it’s where the Pygme Puff’s are located. Pygme Puff’s are creature from the movie and in stuffed animal form are big pink puff balls. They are adorable. However, Everytime someone buys a ‘puff’ at Zonko’s the employees ring a giant bell and announce that so-and so (whatever you name it) is going home today. Hearing that hundreds of time before you can buy your own gets a tad bit annoying after a while if you can imagine. I named mine Jackson and Alaina named hers Carol.
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| Zonko's |
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| Pygme Puff |
Next on the list was Honeydukes! Honeydukes is located right next door and is way better. It is decorated with tons and tons of glass jars of candy. It is basically an awesome glorified candy store. The only candy we were interested in was the chocolate frogs. Don’t get me wrong they have a bunch of other awesome goodie. However, we just wanted the frogs because they came in authentic looking cases with a hologram card of one of the four founders of Hogwarts! Just like in the movies! The chocolate frog itself was ok. I mean it was chocolate. It is hard to mess that up, but the casing and card were so much better.
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| Honeydukes |
By that time, our tempers were high because it was so crowded, people were rude and cutting lines and we were hot and tired. Alaina almost got into a fight with some girl trying to cut us in line. It was extremely funny to see her get like that even though it should have been a serious situation. Our last stop was Dervish and Banges. This is the store for clothing such as t-shirts, Hogwarts scarves and robes and other stuffed animals. We wanted robes, but they were very expensive so we didn’t buy anything in that store.
By the time we saw everything there was to see in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it was approaching dinner time. We decided with so many people that we had seen enough and left. We never went back the rest of the weekend because it was so crowded, but we did it all. It is awesome that I was able to be part of its history in that way. It was one of the most fun and amazing times of my life and I will never forget it.
