Harry Potter Extravaganza - The Harry Potter Bits

Here's all the Harry Potter parts of my epic adventure with my mom to Universal Studios.

THE RIDES

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - This was the first thing we rode.  The basic storyline is that you're supposed to attend a History of Magic lecture with Professor Binns, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione help sneak you out of Hogwarts to fly on the quidditch pitch instead.  I have to admit, I missed a lot of this ride due to keeping my eyes closed.  It wasn't even that scary, it was more the fact that I was so nauseous by the motion of the ride that I was afraid I'd be ill.  Even so I was a bit wobbly on my feet after the fact.  The part at the beginning where you walk through Hogwarts was cool though.

The castle was very impressive

See how we are all smiles? This was before the ride...

Part of the line winds through the Hogwarts greenhouses

Luckily we didn't have to wait in the overflow line

The Mandrakes!

The entrance to Dumbledore's office

The sorting hat

Some of the portraits actually moved and would chat with you and each other

Dumbledore talked to us from his office

Harry, Ron, and Hermione explaining how they are going to sneak us out
of the castle

The Fat Lady portrait.  Who actually talked!

Newspapers with moving images also lined the walls

Ollivander's Wand Shop - This wasn't a ride so much as an experience.  A group of people all went inside Ollivanders and then an associate chose someone who got to test out what wand would choose them.  Lights flashed and other various things happened when the person chose their right or wrong wands.  It was pretty cute.

The outside of the wand shop

So many wands!

The Hogwarts Express - This is how you can easily get between the two parks and the ride is different each way!  It's set up as a little video that makes it seem like you're heading through the countryside of England on your way.  It's a little hard to explain but was quite cute with a lot of Harry Potter references that was fun to see.

Hogsmeade Station

The train platform at Hogsmeade

In the train carriage

The Diagon Alley side is set up as King's Cross Station

It was funny because I've been to the real one!

Platform 9 3/4

Yes - Hedwig moved

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts - This was probably the ride I had the most fun on.  I even convinced my mom to go on it twice!  (I went on it three times).  In this one you're supposed to be opening up an account at Gringotts, however it also takes place during the 7th book when Harry and company are stealing the horcrux.  You get caught in the middle.  This one was part 3D movie and part roller coaster.  I thought it was just enough of each to be fun and thrilling but not nauseating.  Plus it had a cute story!

Gringotts

To get on the ride you have to walk through the lobby
of Gringotts - full of animatronic Goblins

Flying with Buckbeak - This was a kiddie coaster where you fly around with Buckbeak through Hagrid's yard.  It was fun!

Hagrid's hut

The coaster

THE AMBIENCE

One of the best things about the parks was how detailed all of the shop windows and other parts of the Harry Potter world was.  It was so immersive and I loved it!

The Knight Bus

Entrance to Diagon Alley

You can see Kreacher peeking out of the window

THE EXPO

Part of the fun was all of the expo activities.  There was a stage where they had various demonstrations and played some of the movies. And then there was a huge expo hall where there were various Harry Potter groups with tables set up and fun things like photo ops.

Inside the expo hall