Florida Fun! - Part 2

We were only in Florida a few short days, because we were also visiting the two other grandparents in Illinois in the later part of the trip. (We're dubbing this the Grandparent Tour 2011.) So one of the days in Florida we knew we had to schedule time to see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. As I became a huge Harry Potter fan when I was pregnant with Cupcake...

There was a lot of anticipation in the morning, because none of us had seen the new Harry Potter World yet...

Cupcake at breakfast wondering what exciting things were in store for her today!

Once we got there, we headed straight back to the Harry Potter area (as did most people in the park), the scenery was fantastic, and my pictures just don't do it justice.

Hogsmeade entrance, "Mind the spell limits"

"Have you seen this Wizard?" moving poster from my all-time favorite HP movie!

Hogwarts Express

Hogwarts Castle and also the home of the Forbidden Journey ride

It was a fantastic day, and my camera battery was dieing after not being charged... so shamefully I took more pictures of the Harry Potter scenery than Cupcake. (Ha!) Luckily my father takes great pictures and made a point to get some good shots of Cupcake.

Cupcake enjoying the sights!

And a my favorite group picture (taken by my father) of me, hubby, and hubby's mom.

Love the Hogsmeade background in this one!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is definitely a must see if you liked the movies, and the rides are pretty good as well. 'The Dragon Challenge' ride has two intertwining roller coasters that already existed in the park (used to be called 'Dueling Dragons') and it is the best roller coaster I've ever been on. The two tracks wrap around each other and at points in the ride, the cars from each track go around loops coming towards each other - it's a great thrill. The entrance of the ride has been redone with Harry Potter themed decor and has a lot of items of visual interest when you're in line, like floating candles in a dark corridor.

'The Flight of the Hippogriff' also was a ride that existing in the park already and used to be a Jurassic Park themed ride. It's a tame roller coaster for children that don't meet the height requirement for the larger coasters to have a good time on.

'Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey' is the new ride and main attraction featured in the Hogwarts castle. Waiting in line may be the most extraordinary part of the ride though, seeing the details of the castle like walking through Dumbledore's office and the images of Harry, Hermoine, and Ron talk to you in a classroom. The detail inside of the castle is fantastic, right down to the talking portraits of Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw.

I think the Harry Potter Wizarding World is a great addition to the Islands of Adventure theme park and I can't wait to go back to Orlando soon!