A Surprise Vacation for Charlotte: Harry Potter Edition

The last Harry Potter film was released in 2011. That year I asked one of my sophomore classes who thought the Harry Potter books would still be popular ten years from now? Only two students raised their hands. One cynic growled, "This will all go away after the movie closes. No one will care after that." Many students nodded in agreement.

Yeah, that didn't happen. I personally know one Hogwarts student in 2020 who cares about the book and move series. A lot.

She dressed as Harry at school,

at church,

and she dressed up to see him on the big screen. 

She also had a Harry Potter-themed birthday party. As an English teacher, I sure wasn't going to dissuade her from having fun with the books.

Daphne and I discussed it extensively in September, and we decided to take Charlotte to Universal Orlando to experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter during Christmas break. 

There were a few factors that helped us make this decision. One, we all enjoy the stories (I saw all of the movies in the theater with Daphne), so this would be a trip for everyone. Two, Char's only nine, and she still likes hanging out with her parents. Three, we had two whole weeks for the break, and we could go without missing any of our Christmas at home. Four, I can fondly remember events from when I was in 4th grade, and I think this trip will be etched in her memory, too.

We received this in the mail in the beginning of December.

There was a brief guide, three lanyards for park passes, and three luggage tags. We weren't sure how to surprise Char with the trip on Christmas morning, but this box solved our problem.

I shot three, short videos during the opening of Charlotte's big present. I'll be honest, I was hoping for more excitement. Char looked very disappointed when she opened the box and saw the lanyards and tags. She was sure the box held a Lego set... she didn't know what she was supposed to do with this stuff. 

Daphne explained it to her, and she warmed up to the idea.

Char really doesn't like to fly. That's why she asks in the above video.  Charlotte has no idea how lucky she is to get to travel by plane. I didn't get to fly until I was almost 21. All of our family trips were in the car, and it took forever to get anywhere.

Here she's reading a Harry Potter trivia book to clam her nerves.

She took this picture from her seat, and she was proud of it, "Will you put this on the blog, Dad?" Yup.

Daphne refused to watch any YouTube videos about the Wizarding World when we were planning this trip. She wanted to be as surprised as Char was going to be. With that in mind, I think I'll keep most of my spoiler pictures to myself.

The quickest way there is to take a water taxi from your hotel.

The Knight Bus marks where you can find Diagon Alley. If you stand in front of the bus, you can wait in line to talk to Stan Shunpike and the shrunken Dre Head. You can see inside the bus if you stand in the back.

I'll talk more about this later, but I can tell you that those Knight Bus beds look mighty inviting after a day in the parks.

Here's Char tasting the Butterbeer. She has one at Flix, but she assured us that this "official" drink is better. We walked into the Leaky Cauldron and had three drinks in our hands after a 15 minute wait. One mother told Daphne that her family had waited in line for three hours to buy Butterbeers from the street vendor. Yikes. I think a restaurant is the better way to get your Butterbeer fix . 

You can choose how you want your Butterbeer: cold, frozen, hot, in fudge or you can have Butterbeer ice cream. There is no bad choice.

You can listen to a message from the Ministry of Magic if you know what number to dial. 

Our hotel choice came with Express passes and the ability to enter the parks one hour before the general public was allowed in. It felt elitist walking by lines of people who were not in the Express lane, and you do have to endure dirty looks, but it sure sped up things. It also made us get up pretty early to take advantage of the early entry time.

We were out of the hotel at 6:15 a.m. on the first morning, and at 7:15 a.m. for the other three. Voodoo Doughnuts wasn't open at 6:30, and their chair was wet with dew, but the girls posed by it anyway.

Here's Hogwarts (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride) at sunrise. 

Charlotte loved the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. There was only a five minute wait at 7:15 a.m., and everyone practically ran through the twisting queue to get to the ride. It was only a 20 minute wait when we got back in the queue to ride it again at Char's request. The idea was that we could actually enjoy walking through the castle and looking at all the details the second time, but we felt pretty rushed the second time, too.

Char is posing with the Pensieve - just one of the many details from the books that is fun to see in person.

It was also cool to see the Mirror of Erised. When I looked into it, I saw myself back at the hotel taking a nap.

We had two scheduled breakfasts. One at the Three Broomsticks, and one at the Leaky Cauldron. I had the traditional English meal both times. It was our first time to try black pudding - pork sausage made with pig's blood. It's not bad, but I won't be putting in any requests at Hy-Vee.

Incidentally, "HP" stands for House of Parliament, not Harry Potter.

We all wore Hogwarts t-shirts on Monday. I would guess about half of the parks' visitors were also wearing Harry Potter-themed gear. About 1/3 of them were also outfitted with robes, ties, shirts, and scarves. So, if you want to wear your Hogwarts robes in public without judgment, this is the place to be. Surprisingly, we didn't see anyone wearing Harry's round, signature glasses. 

Not everyone was wearing Potter gear. I could describe the woman holding this gentleman's hand, but you already know what she looks like.

Speaking of gear, they sell interactive wands in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Using the included map, you look for markers in the ground. You wave your wand in the appropriate manner, and your spell can manipulate items in the shops' windows. This particular spell makes a small snowman glide across the surface of a cake in the bakery.

Here Char is doing the "Reparo!" spell on a small suit of armor.

The thing is, it is not easy to make the spell work. I watched many kids, including ours, get frustrated and walk away. You have to practice, and you have to know what the spell is going to do. Sometimes, Char did the spell correctly, but we looking in the wrong place, and we assumed she needed to try again.

Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade are in two, separate Universal parks - Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure. If you want to ride the Hogsworth Express train, then you have to have tickets for both parks. Pretty sneaky on Universal's part.

"9 3/4? Think you're being funny, do ya?"

Obligatory dragon video.

Char's favorite ride was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in Hogsmeade. We rode it three times. Daphne's favorite ride was Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts in Diagon Alley. We also rode this three times. Here's a view inside the "bank."

You have to wear 3D glasses on the ride. The special effects are alarmingly good.

I didn't have a favorite ride. What I really liked was the mornings in the parks. Getting in one hour early was the only way we would have be able to ride the gal's favorites so many times. The lines were short, and you had some breathing room for a bit. By 9:30 AM, the Wizarding Worlds were deep with shoulder-to-shoulder traffic.

Daphne preferred Hogsmeade. Since it is supposedly located above the snow line, it always looks like winter. It really lent itself to be decorated for Christmas. Here it is after the park had just opened.

Charlotte and I preferred Diagon Alley. I fired up the first film when we got home, and we all watched the scene when Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley for the first time. We wanted to see how close the Universal's Diagon Alley matched the one in the movie. They are almost identical. 

The park's entrance for Diagon Alley is mildly hidden behind a brick wall. You can hear the sounds of bricks rearranging themselves as you walk around the wall, and then you see the big reveal.

I really enjoyed watching the guests' expressions when they entered Diagon Alley for the first time. Smiles spread, jaws dropped, and often hands shot up to cover mouths. It didn't matter what language the guest spoke or the color of their skin. The reactions were always the same.

I think that might be the real magic of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It brings joy to anyone who wants to experience it.