UNIVERSAL STUDIOS (Day 5 - part 2)
We first headed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which opened in 2016. The set includes the village of Hogsmeade (the only place in Great Britain inhabited solely by wizards, witches and other magical beings) and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (a boarding school of magic for students 11 to 18). This world comes from the books (and subsequent movies based thereon) by J. K. Rowling.
The Hogwarts Express was the train that ran between London and Hogsmeade.
Leaving Hogsmeade and heading towards the medieval castle of Hogwarts School
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a "scenic, motion-based, dark ride" (dark just meaning that it's indoors) that uses robocoaster technology, which allows the seats to pivot while being held to a track by a robotic arm. Again we were presented with a story as we made our way through the castle.
Many of the paintings talked to (and argued with) each other... not just by audio but as tiny movies within the picutre frames! Wonderfully done!
In the Headmaster's office, Professor Albus Dumbledore extends us a warm welcome.
A dragon skeleton
Eventually Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley tell us to meet them later in another room, where we will join them on a flight.
We settled into individual seats in our own small "pod" (which was suspended from above) and locked in with over-the-shoulder bars. A moment later, we are whisked up, leaving our feet to dangle. It then "flew" us around very quickly... swiveling, turning, spinning, dropping, tipping forward, even lying us flat on our backs. Meanwhile, the visuals were incredible! Again they were a mixture of real sets, animatronics and wrap-around projection screens, all so well blended together that it was impossible to distinguish much of anything. The whole experience was so immersive that it felt completely real! We followed Harry and Ron on their brooms as we zipped around Hogwarts castle, got chased by a dragon, ended up in the middle of a Quidditch match, were surrounded by spiders, and got attacked by Dementors (soulless phantoms).
Halfway through the ride, however, everything came to a stop, and we hung in our chair, angled slightly forward. Eventually an announcement came on that there was a problem, but a few minutes later, we were on our way again. We did the ride a second time at the end of the day with no technical problems.
The wands actually worked in the store windows! Kids (following written directions) could get various objects to move.
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