Day 21: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

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We got up reallllyyy early, determined to be the first ones into the theme park, but getting there 5minutes after it opened (at 8am) we realised that just about everyone else had the same idea too. The Harry Potter area is a section of Universal Studios 'Islands of Adventure' which also includes sections on Jurassic Park, cartoon characters etc, so although we'd been worried there wouldn't be enough to fill a day we found there was actually plenty.

You enter the Harry Potter 'island' via Hogsmede, a full-sized reconstruction of the magical village which is actually very life-like, although I'm sure most of the 'stone' is plastic. Here you can buy butterbeer and pumpkin juice at extortionate prices, and the queues to the gift shops are almost longer than those to the rides themselves (anyone want a wand? at $30? realllyyy?). I think the best ride was probably in Hogwarts castle itself, which was a mixture of a simulator (flying over the quidditch pitch, lake etc.) and actual rollercoaster with dementors jumping out at you (I screamed. A Lot). It was even fun to queue, as the paintings moved and talked and holograms of the actors talked too. There was also a great ride where two dragons 'duelled': two separate rollercoasters go really close together, and it's v scary, especially when you're in the front row (which we nearly always were). The queues for the rides were amazingly short, since I think most of the visitors were families with little kids who were too short to go on the big rides.

Once we were HP-ed out we went on some of the other rides in the park: two log flumes in quick succession, various rollercoasters and generally milled about eating popcorn (it was the cheapest food).

When we got back we were served Pimm's before another three course meal with champagne. We ate South American sweet potatos (subtly different from northern ones, or so I'm told) and chicken with curry source. He also gave is some jambalaya mix (what we had the night before) to take home so we can replicate it!

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Photos

Honeydukes
Vastly overpriced, of course

Hogwarts
There was a rollercoaster inside the castle

After the first log flume
(We were even more wet after the second one)

Fear of heights
This was outside a hideous ride which pulled you up and down in an apparent attempt to make your stomach jump out your mouth