Harry Potter Wizarding World at Universal Orlando

Last week I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios park in Orlando, Florida. Being that I am an enormous fan of the Harry Potter books and films, there was a significant level of excitement on my part in anticipation of visiting the park.

As I entered the park, I first saw the famous 'Hogwarts Express' steam train that dutifully brings students from London's King's Cross station, platform 9 & 3/4 to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was a nice way to start the experience, just as the kids do in each film. Of course, I couldn't miss the opportunity for a photo op with the train conductor...

 

The park is very well designed, with wonderfully authentic architecture, right down to street signs such as these, calling out the way to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Look to the right of the sign post- you can just see the snow-capped roof. The entire park has snow covered roofs, an interesting sensation, considering it was in the mid 80's in Orlando.

This view of Hogwart's castle is quite awe-inspiring. Scores of kids gasp, and shriek with delight as this comes into view as they 'round a corner walking in the park. Unlike other structures at theme parks, this park looks very "old England", complete with old, worn roofs and chimneys. Interspersed throughout are the five rides, such as this one above, to the right of the castle.

Hagrid's House

A nice stone arch, covered in snow...

It truly has a village atmosphere to it.

Lockers provide safe storage during the rides.

See what I mean about the slanted chimneys?

...and these banners throughout make it feel like a school area

The Dragon Challenge has two rides, both are pretty scary.

Inside the castle- complete with "talking" paintings

The Sorting Hat- it speaks when you walk past

The Book of Monsters is safely locked up.

The Three Broomsticks serves English Pub Grub

Nothing quite like a cold Butter Beer to take the edge off.

Honeydukes sweet shop!

Zonkos jokes shop had cool stuff too

Wizard's chess

The Owl Post

Inside Olivander's Wand Shop

Flight of the Hippogriff is a family ride

This is the Weasley's flying car

Before I left, I had the opportunity to scrawl out a few postcards, conveniently available at the many gift shops throughout the park. The cool part is they had their own post box, so if you mail them from inside the park, they will be post-marked as mailed from Hogwarts (or so I was told). So I borrowed a quill pen and hastily wrote out a few post cards. I had an absolute blast at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Like most theme parks, it can be expensive for a family, but any Potter fan worth their salt will gladly fork out the dough for the experience. EXPECTO PATRONUM!

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Rick's Roadshow: Orlando in August, Day 2

Welcome back to Rick's Roadshow: Orlando in August, Day 2. After spending Sunday exploring the Gaylord Palms Resort, Monday brought work obligations that needed tending to. As this is a personal blog, I rarely write about work, so I shall skip over what I did- but suffice to say I worked! I did have a few moments to snap these photos, once again within the Gaylord Palms property. For those of you unfamilar with this resort, they have live, lush tropical gardens inside the biodome of the hotel. Palm trees, tropical foliage, flowers, rocks, ponds, flowing rivers and waterfalls too. But perhaps the most captivating  attraction is "Gator Springs". Yep, you guessed it. Gator as in alligators. And so I present, photos from Gator Springs, direct from the Gaylord Palms in Orlando:

above: The Gator Springs sign post welcomes visitors to the exhibit.

above: As you gaze through the cascading waterfalls, you get a sense of what awaits...

above: a deeper look within the Springs reveals a rock island in the center of the water...it seems like the surface of the rock is moving...

above: at closer examination you see the myriad of baby alligators!

above: I zoomed in a bit. There are turtles lounging among the alligators- who knew anything could get along with an alligator?

above: This one baby alligator swam up to me to say hi...or was it to see if he could get a bite? Either way I wasn't about to find out. I kept my distance and hurried on my way to my next meeting. That was just about the right amount of exposure to Gator Springs that I wanted for a lifetime, thank you very much! Well that's all for today's installment. I'm in Orlando all day today, and then fly out to Chicago late tonight, so Rick's Roadshow continues....

-Rick Rockhill