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Monday, May 13, 2013

A Visit to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade


The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is equal parts wonderful and horrible. They really did re-create the castle and the village, it was perfect. The paintings talked and moved and looked very real, the butter beer was surprisingly delicious (hard to describe, but kind of a not-too-sweet butterscotch candy, only frozen and slushy), and we wanted to buy absolutely everything from pepper imps to sugar quills. The bad parts were the crowds, which supposedly were smaller than usual (if it had been even more crowded and hot summer, I think I would have hated Harry by the time I got done)--the shops are so small you can hardly turn around to begin with, then stuff that tiny space with too many cranky travellers, not good. Next was the ride---not one of the reviews I read said anything about how scary this ride is, and it was scary, a complete horror for someone with claustrophobia, which is me. First, the seats have a head rest that goes around the side of your face which started me right into panic---I sit down, it goes off, I'm repeating "Don't freak, don't freak", then a giant spider is suddenly right in my face spitting at me, followed by dementors and other things. Now it is not that the things were that frightening but that they were right in my face, something I just cannot stand. The idea of the ride was pretty great--Hermoine casts a spell on you so you can fly and you see Harry in front of you on his broom, taking you on a flight past Hagrid's dragon and the spiders and the dementors. They really need to change the too darn close imagery though. I had been certain we would go again and again like we do on the Indiana Jones ride at Disney, but not a one of us wanted to go back! Honestly, I'd do the Tower of Terror again before I'd go on that ride again. In case you don't know, the Tower of Terror puts you in an elevator and drops you about a million miles an hour about 5 times, total heart attack ride.

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