A welcoming sign stating that you’re in the right place
The shuttle bus was full & the lines were as expected but the gloomy weather didn’t dampen my excitement. My first stop was Ollivander’s wand shop. The line wasn’t that bad & I only had to wait 30 minutes.
Inside Ollivander’s Wandshop
The wand that chose me was.., well no! The show & actor were clever & two kids that were chosen to have wands chosen for them did enhance the experience! I really wanted to be ‘the chosen kid’! My wand choice was either Prof Snape’s or Sirius’. I decided to buy Sirius Black’s as it was very ornate and handsomely pretty.
My treats
My next stop was The Castle. By now the lines were pretty long but the rain was heavier. The line was 2 hours long. So i decided to skip the castle & went straight for the single rider line for the MOST awesome ride.
The Forbidden Ride staircase. Wow. I was here. The ride was amazeballs. You were riding a broom chair; the effects were fantastic. You were taken on a journey through dragons attacking you with hot breath, spiders spraying you with their venom and Dementors trying to suck the life out of you. Luckily my spell of ‘expecto petronum” worked. The G force was fantastic; I did feel a bit queasy at the end from all of that broomstick riding through the Castle and escaping dragons down to the Quidditch oval! And I’m not a big girl when it comes to extreme rides! Note to self next time: DON’T have breakfast! And definitely not after you’ve had a butterbeer!
Magical writing on the column beckoning you into The Castle
I went back to the Castle line & it was deceiving. It took an hour through the back of the Castle. But going through the dungeons was great. Dumbledore‘s office was fantastic. A hologram of him spoke to you & it was fantastic. The next room was where Ron, Harry & Hermoine spoke to you in their normal banter wanting you to escape a boring Potions class. Ron did an incorrect spell & snow came out of the large wooden candelabra in the classroom. Everyone gasped! I was hoping Professor Snape would also appear (as I do have a soft spot for him). Their banter did change throughout the five minutes that I was in the classroom – which made it more interesting.
Hermoine informed us of the Forbidden chair ride & how she’d put a spell on the chair. The paintings spoke to you and of course it wouldn’t have been the same if the fat lady wasn’t there! The attention to detail was fantastic with The Mirror of Erised from the 1st book The Philosopher’s stone, lots of quidditch stuff including the Triwizard Cup, images of The Great Hall, the font from Dumbledore’s office, the four founders etc etc.
More to come!
A little bit of luck 