The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Well, I’ve returned from the high temperature hell that is home to the Universal Islands of Adventure theme park. Orlando was H-O-T. Did I mention it was hot?
Not only was it hot, but also the park was teeming with scores of kids on their summer vacation. I’d definitely only entertain visiting again if it was winter and school was in session.
The Wizarding World itself was gorgeous. The buildings are laid out to perfectly give you the illusion that you’re in a town — without the rest of the park intruding. Even the vegetation is accurate. They planted a small pine forest. (It’s across from Jurassic Park, so you have the odd sight of pines on one side of the creek with bamboo and lush rain forest-like foliage on the other.) The buildings have snow and icicles hanging from them, but that does nothing to mitigate the Orlando heat.
Slideshow and more after the jump.
There’s also a higher degree of detail than seen elsewhere in the park. The shop windows (whether open or not) are chock full of magical details. A quill writes in the window of one shop, while Hermione’s yule ball gown subtly levitates in the window of Gladrags. There were tons of automata as well, from the puking pastilles girl to an animated chess match. Sadly, a lot of the items in the stores were behind wire bars that made it difficult to photograph. Worse, they were high up on the store shelves where you could barely see them.
All the shops had long lines (even with us getting in an hour and a half early). With the exception of perishable goods, none of the shop items are park-exclusive. However, the replica movie wands were a bit cheaper though, they lacked the typical Noble Collection box treatment and instead were in thin cardboard boxes.
Ollivander’s / Dervish and Bangs was by far the most packed store. Even the staff had problems navigating the aisles. This was due to the store being the destination after the Ollivander’s wand show. The wand show was cute, but entirely pointless. As has been mentioned in other reviews, only one person is chosen (usually a child) to re-enact the wand chooses the wizard scene in the Sorcerer’s Stone. However, Ollivander’s is gorgeous inside. It’s exactly what you’d expect to see. The actor was subtly in character when being asked to pose for photos (apparently this is the first time muggles have been allowed to visit the area).
Dervish and Bangs is next door to the owlry which contains a few more windows of delicious automaton eye candy and a cart where you can purchase stationary, stamps, and get your mail postmarked with an owl post mark. The owlry is also filled with animatronic owls complete with owl poo stains on the wood. We kept waiting for the owls to drop water down on the hot and exhausted crowd, but it never happened. The owlry is also next to the Hogwarts Express (a unique way to provide lockers for folks). The train looks extremely fake, but there is an accurately-costumed conductor available for photos.
The Forbidden Journey ride is worth it even if you don’t want to ride the coaster. You pass through tunnels, the greenhouse, and eventually a couple of classrooms and even Dumbledore’s office. The moving paintings are FANTASTIC. We were fooled several times by paintings we thought were just static props. I came away with a perfect way to create my own, and I can’t wait to do it.
The actor projections look good, and when the room snowed, the queue collectively gasped. The ride dumps into Filch’s Emporium where there are several neat props in glass cases. The coolest effect in the store was a marauder’s map with randomly projected footprints and moving students. There were definitely a lot of display ideas to be had.
There are two shows in the park: The students of Beaubatons and Durmstrang, and the singings frog choir. Both shows are about 15 minutes long and after the shows you can queue to pose with the students for pictures. This is the only time you’ll see “characters” in the park. Apparently they are not allowed to have walk-arounds, so the only costumes you see (besides Ollivander, the conductor, and the shows) are the store employees and the “house elves” in the Three Broomsticks’ kitchen. Most of the folks don’t attempt an accent, which could be seen as a bit of a blessing.
The Three Broomsticks served British-esque food (shepherd’s pie, chicken and corn on the cob, pasties, etc.) and wasn’t a bad deal for $10. Adjacent to the Three Broomsticks is the Hog’s Head Pub. There’s an animatronic hog’s head that snorts and grunts randomly. The back of the bar is filled odd bottles and brews (that aren’t available for purchase). There are several beers on tap, including non-alcoholic butter beer and alcoholic Hog’s Head ale (a micro-brew unique to the park) both came in souvenir plastic mugs. The butter beer has been getting a lot of attention. The foam is added after the “beer” is poured, and tastes a bit like butterscotch and whipped cream (although it’s non-dairy). The ale was golden and very hoppy. Pumpkin juice and pear cider are also available throughout Hogsmeade. I thought it had a heavier apple cinnamon flavor than pumpkin. The pear cider tasted like it had aspartame in it, and I didn’t like it at all.
I spent a good bit of time just hanging out in the Hog’s Head. We returned to the park after dark (and a rainstorm) and there was much less traffic. It was great just to sit in the pub and soak up the atmosphere. With the air-conditioning going full blast, it wasn’t hard to imagine it being at least a little bit wintry.
Oh, and a note for those wanting to go in costume. I saw a lot of kids running around in robes (in 90 degree heat!) but apparently Universal does not allow full-on costuming. My friends attended a costume-friendly event, but were mobbed by folks wanting to take their photographs. They were unable to stay in costume for long, as the park was so hot poor Hagrid’s beard was melting off. Apparently, it took him almost an hour to leave the park there were so many kids wanting to pose with him.