A little Taste of Heaven

Today I feel as though I got a glimpse of what heaven must look like, to me anyways. I got to see The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter, to some of you me saying that it was like looking at heaven might sound weird but to those who know me know its not that weird at all. I am a Harry Potter Freak! and proud of it!!! I am a wiz at HP trivia, so much so that people don't even want to play me anymore. And today I fulfilled one of my greatest desires, to actually go to Hogwarts. As an avid reader I often find myself transported into new worlds (one of the best things about reading in my opinion) and longing for the chance to step into that world myself. At the Wizarding World of Harry Potter I got to do just that, and it was amazing.

Walking around the corner and coming upon this was simply breathtaking. The buildings look so real and you can even go in some of them like;

and

I bought some sweets from Honeydukes (a chocolate frog and some treacle fudge!) as well as enjoyed a butterbeer!

The best part of this part of Universal Studios was the ride that resided inside Hogwarts Castle. The line to get to the ride wound through parts of the castle and the grounds. You got to step into the greenhouses, the defense against the dark arts classroom, and into dumbledores office, all while waiting to get onto this super awesome ride. Called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, this ride is part roller coaster and part simulated ride, which takes you along with Harry and Ron on a wild race away from a dragon, spiders, a whomping Willow, across a quidditch pitch, and finally to escape some dementors. It was truly thrilling, so much so that I rode three times (one of the great things about being a nanny is that you get to partake in the child swap which means I got to ride with both parents and Kathryn too!). The other rides include a mini roller coaster (called flight of the hippogriff) and a top notch coaster called Dragon Challenge, which I found fun but not as great as that first ride. Finally after spending most of the morning in this part of the park they had to drag me away to ride other rides. Universal park itself is wonderful and full of great things to do but the BEST thing is the Harry Potter stuff. I cant wait to go back and see what else I find there!