Welcome to Hogwarts

In January, Clint & I went on a cruise, but before we visited the beautiful beaches of the Bahamas, we spent a couple days in Orlando at Universal Studios. I fulfilled my dream of drinking as much butter beer as I want, walking through Hogwarts and getting my very own wand (yeah, that happened).

Hogsmeade & Diagon Alley were both incredible. We went to The Leaky Cauldron, The Hogs Head and The Three Broomsticks, Ollivanders, Honeydukes, and a bunch of other little shops. The main attraction was obviously Hogwarts. There were projections of the characters, talking paintings and snow falling from the ceiling. I was definitely nerding out.

I’m sad that I didn’t get any photos of the food. We downed some delicious fish & chips for lunch. Clint got a cup of Pumpkin Juice that he wasn’t a huge fan of, but I thought it was dang good.

They have several different options for butter beer. Hot, cold and frozen. I tried the frozen & cold. Frozen was by far my favorite.

Some of the wands you could purchase were interactive. There’s a map of the park that has little markings where you can stand and make a certain “spell” that would make things in the windows move, rain fall, or pixies do naughty things.

The Hogwarts Express takes you from one park to the other.

Stan Shunpike and the Knight Bus outside of Diagon Alley.

Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.

The rest of our favorite parts of Islands of Adventure.

Stay tuned for some photos of the beautiful Bahamas trip.