The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Hollywood)

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter // www.universalstudioshollywood.com // Universal Studios Hollywood

One week ago today, I was one of the many people that went to the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (or as I to call, it HP World).

It's difficult to know where to begin. Is it amazing? Yes. Is it worth it to go? YES. The thing that really made me fall in love with it was how thorough the experience was. They really thought of every little detail! It helps that I went on a day that was insanely overcast and cold, but I'm sure the effect is equally amazing on a sunny day.

There are only 2 rides, but there are a lot of shops. And the shops are what make you feel less like you're in a theme park, and more like you're in the world itself.

The first thing I did was go to the Hog's Head for some special Harry Potter beer. The Hog's Head certainly holds up to the name, with an animated hog head behind the bar that sleeps for most of the time, but occasionally wakes up and says what I took as "hello." For those of you that like beer as much as I do, there are 3 specialty HP beers: a stout, a lager, and a red ale. I had the red ale. I think it's already a given that I'm a nerd, considering that I used my last vacation day to go to opening day of HP World, but nerds come in many forms. As well as being a HP nerd, I am a beer nerd. And as such, I use the app Untappd to track beers, keep a wishlist, and earn as many badges as possible. The HP experience here was so thorough, that I could check in my special HP beer, with my location as the "Three Broomsticks." Not going to lie, that kind of made my day.

The Three Broomsticks is attached to the Hog's Head. I didn't have any of the food, but I have heard from others that it's good. It's typical Brit pub food... fish n chips, banger n mash... that kind of thing.

Beer in hand (yes, you can walk around the park with your alcoholic beverage), it was obvious my next stop had to be Olivander's. This was actually the only line I really had to wait in. The wait time was 40 min. They have a line because there's an "experience" before they let you into the shop. They also had lines at all the shops to make sure they didn't get too crowded inside.

The "experience" was pretty cute. You enter in through a secret door that really is completely concealed when it's closed. The person playing an Olivander-type character was really funny. He was sassy and sarcastic, which made how cheesy the whole thing was even better. One person in the crowd with you gets singled out and gets a wand chosen for them. Once their wand has selected them and they get surrounded in a magical beam of light, you move on to the shop itself.

This part took me FOREVER because it was so hard for me to chose just one wand! But luckily, they have many shop assistants to help you. One side of the shop had any and every character wand ever. The other side had wands of different woods. There are inscriptions to tell you what type of wood compliments what type of person. With the help of a shop assistant, I narrowed it down to 3: Reed, Ash, and Oak. Reed and Oak were selected for my personality, and Ash was selected because of my birthday. After much deliberation and trying these wands out, I settled on Ash. Or should I say, the Ash settled on me.

The view of the castle out Olivander's window. You can see some fancy wands on display.

Once you have your wand, you are given a map of where you can use it. Yes, your wand is not just a fancy stick - it can do magic! There are various places around the park where if you perform a certain spell, it activates an action in a window display.

I didn't get anything at Honeydukes, but I had to stop inside just to see all the crazy stuff they had.

There was also live entertainment, courtesy of the Frog Choir and the Triwizard Spirit Rally (or Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students). While the dancing from the Triwizard Spirit Rally was really awesome, I like the Frog Choir more. Basically, it was a wizard acapella groupe. And they were GOOD.

After my beer, I had to use the restroom. Now, when I say the experience is thorough, I really mean it. When I asked someone where the restrooms were, I was warned to watch out for Moaning Murtle. When I got the the bathrooms, I instantly found out what the guy had been talking about. Inside, you can hear Moaning Murtle do her thing. The bathrooms also looked like a bathroom inside of Hogwarts.

Hagrid's Hut

After I had my fill of shopping, I was more than ready for the rides. One of the rides, the Flight of the Hippogriff is a classic rollercoaster, I did have to wait for 10 minutes on this one, because there was no single rider line. It isn't too crazy, so it's a good ride to take people that are usually terrified of rollercoasters on. I think one of the coolest parts of this ride was actually the Hippogriff that was in the line area of the ride. It was just chilling in its nest and having a good time.

The floating candles looked like twinkling stars

The other ride, the Forbidden Journey is inside the castle. This is a really cool ride. There's a lot of things to look at when you're waiting in line, like the inside of Gryffindor's common room and a number of talking portraits. The sorting hat is there too, giving cryptic advice. Then you enter into a mirrored hall with floating candles and moving walkways to get to your set. The seats are similar to Soarin' Over California at California Adventure. A "student" gives you a pair of Quidditch googles, or 3D glasses, and then Hermione puts a spell on you that makes you able to fly and assist Harry Potter. The coolest part of this ride is how you move from a 3D screen to actual animatronics. And these get really close to you! The Whomping Willow feels like it's going to whack you and the Dementors are truly terrifying.

All in all, I am so happy I went. I was on a happy nerd high for the rest of my day. One word to the wise - I'm not sure if they were doing it because it was opening day, or if this is how the park is going to be for a while, but I needed a timed ticket to get into Harry Potter. You can get those inside Universal. Even though I got to the park at 12, my ticket wasn't for until 5pm. But it really did help control how crowded it was. So get there early to get a good time!

Albus Dumbledore said "In dreams, we enter a world that’s entirely our own." HP World made my own dream world a reality.