Harry Potter Land

I grew up listening to Adventures in Odyssey, and the Imagination Station taught me that nothing is cooler than when imagination becomes reality and you get to live inside an awesome story.  I am now 23, and I have had the immense pleasure of entering one of my favorite stories:  the world of Harry Potter (thanks to Universal Theme Parks).

On Friday morning, my friends and I raced through Seuss Landing and the Lost Continent, then paused outside the pointed arched doorway that would lead us to Hogsmeade.  With a twirl of our hands, Stephanie and I shouted, "Floo powder power!" and yes, it worked.  We were transported to a street of crowded buildings covered in snow and icicles with leaning doorways and tilted chimneys only held up by magic.

We went into Zonkos, Honeydukes, and Ollivanders.  They sold actual Harry Potter pranks and candies and wands.  When we had to use the women's public convenience (aka bathroom), the walls were mottled stone, and Moaning Myrtle's whiny voice echoed throughout the stalls.  Even the stores that weren't open to the public had window displays of mandrakes or dress robes.  For lunch, I ate fish and chips and drank butterbear at the Three Broomsticks.

The place is magical.  For real.

And that's not even the best part.  At the end of Hogsmeade, sitting high on a mountain, is beautiful, fantastic Hogwarts.  By passing between two winged pig statures, you get in line to go on the best ride in the history of rides.  The line is half the fun, as it takes you through the dungeons (where you see the Potions door and a hidden Mirror of Erised), the Herbology greenhouses, the front hall with statues and the house points, Dumbledore's eagle staircase and then his office (where an incredibly realistic hologram Dumbledore tells you about how a young Voldemort stood where we were standing, and how the choices we make in life are what matter), a hallway of moving and talking portraits, the Fat Lady's portrait (who hurries you along), and the Sorting Hat.

Oh, and the best part of the best part.  When you're in the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, a door creaks open, and hologram Harry, Ron, and Hermione whip off the invisibility cloak to entice you to skip Professor Binn's lecture and go to a Quidditch match with them.  Ron accidentally waves his wand and it freaking snows on you!  Seriously, that was my favorite part of the whole weekend.  It was real snow that was cold and melted on the floor and in your hair, not fuzzy fake snow.  It felt, more than anything else, magical.  My life, I want it with wonder and awe.

That's all the line.  Not even the ride.  I know, the awesome was almost too much for me too.

So then the ride itself.  You sit four to a row, and Hermione says, "On three, say Observatory!" and throws magic dust on you.  AND THEN YOU FLY.  In the Observatory.  Harry swoops up on his broom, and off you go through the window, soaring over Hogwarts.  Let me say, the 3D is like, crazy fantastic.  No glasses, just complete immersion into the world.  Virtual reality is here, and I love it.

You get chased by a dragon that breathes hot vapor on you, spit on by spiders (my word, I screamed my head off), and nearly soul-sucked by dementors until Harry flies in at the last second and wards them off with a shouted "Expecto Patronum!"  At which point we all cheered and waved at Harry.  Also you get to fly through a Quidditch match where Draco slams into Harry.  Then you end by flying through the doors to the Great Hall and wave at a smiling group of your favorite characters from HP.

THE BEST.  The end.