Weddingbee Blog

The day after our wedding, we jetted off to our honeymoon. In case you need a refresher of where the Ponies honeymooned, here’s a clue:

Walt Disney World!

Sadly, we did not buy the bride and groom ears. We just couldn’t justify the cost.

The first day of our honeymoon is a complete blur to me. I did not sleep at all on our wedding night, and not for the good reasons. I simply could not shut off my brain. Due to time constraints, our honeymoon started the morning after our wedding and I was completely unprepared. I just couldn’t stop worrying about all the things I needed to get/pack/take care of before we left that I couldn’t sleep. I do not recommended this. Follow Mrs. Candy Apple’s advice and prepare ahead of time. Or, better yet, delegate the task of packing for your honeymoon to someone else you trust and has less to do, like your new spouse.

Anyway, that first day I was a hazy mess. I played it off as honeymoon bliss—not that anyone bought it. Needless to say, very few pictures exist from this day, but I did manage to get a picture of my creme brulee before devouring it and probably falling asleep at the table.

After a refreshing night of sleep, on the second day of our honeymoon we headed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios (!!!). I wanted to be damn sure we didn’t miss anything at Harry Potter, so we purposely scheduled this side trip early in the week in case we would need to go back. I may have been more excited about Harry Potter than anything else related to our honeymoon. Or wedding.

This makes my heart pound.

Down to the nitty gritty. My opinion on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Honestly? It was amazing. But, (you saw that coming, right?) I. wanted. more. Although they could have made the park the size of a small country and I would still want more.

Size notwithstanding, I really loved the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They did a great job bringing the books and movies to life.

Gratuitous shots from around the park.

General advice:

Get to the park early, like as soon as it opens. Because it’s such a small area (and because people flock to it because Harry Potter is awesome), it gets really busy really quickly. We hit the rides first and didn’t wait in line more than ten minutes for any of them, but lines were definitely longer when we left early in the afternoon.

If you’re visiting Harry Potter as a side trip from Disney like we did, you can either rent a car or take a cab. We chose to take a cab, which ran us about $35 each way from our hotel (which was one of the closer ones to Harry Potter). The cabs are plentiful at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and getting a cab at Disney just required a quick request at the front desk of the hotel.

The attractions:

There are three rides; a thrill seeking dragon ride, a partly simulated/part moving Quidditch ride, and a Hippogriff ride for the non-adrenaline seeking folk. The Quidditch ride was by far my favorite and we rode on it twice, which allowed us to see things we didn’t see the first time around. One thing we didn’t realize was that both the dragon and Quidditch rides have no bottom, so your feet and flip flops (if you’re like us) hang free. We just sat on our flip flops during those rides, but some forewarning would have been nice, especially since they caution against everything else imaginable before you get on the rides.

Even though I loved that we didn’t have to wait in line for the rides, I feel like we missed some things because of it. The Quidditch ride is set inside Hogwarts, and as you walk to get on the ride there are lots of neat artifacts to look at and absorb, but there are also people behind you in line chomping at the bit to start their broom lesson. So we didn’t really get to see many of these things inside the castle (not that you can see them that well anyway as they keep it dark as all get out in there).

I did manage to capture a few pictures of the things you can see in line at Hogwarts:

House points! Go Gryffindor!

The other main attraction is the show at Ollivander’s Wand Shop. I heard rumors that only children were chosen for the show. I told everyone that I would have the wand choose me on our honeymoon, no. matter. what. Well, after waiting in line for a good thirty minutes, we were shuffled into the tiny wand shop and without any chance to prove my magical roots, the wand choose some kid instead. Not cool Ollivander, not cool. Oh yeah, and your show was cheesy, so there.

I really wanted a wand, but I refused to spend $30 on a wand that (1) didn’t even choose me and (2) isn’t even made of real wood. Instead, I bought socks with the houses of Hogwarts on them. I’ll get much more use out of them and I like blaming my bad days on the Slytherin socks I’m wearing.

The rest of the park was mostly shops that contained every piece of Harry Potter memorabilia that has ever been produced for purchase. Like everywhere else in the Wizarding World, the shops were really small and filled up really quickly. Unless you are looking for something really specific, most of the goods from Harry Potter can be purchased in the larger, less crowded shops throughout Universal, or, you know, the airport (seriously). The shops at the Wizarding World definitely worth a once over to make sure there’s nothing you have to have and to check out some of the fun extras in them (like below), but after that, save your sanity and buy your souvenirs in an area you can breathe.

Food and drink:

Anyone visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter simply must try the butterbeer; although, it does not contain alcohol as the name would suggest. It’s basically cream soda, only better tasting because it’s called butterbeer.

We tried both the frozen and the regular—obviously.

Yum!

Both the frozen and regular were delicious. They are a little pricey (about $4 a drink), but they were definitely worth it, if only to say I’ve had a butterbeer.

We actually didn’t end up eating at the Wizarding World because we left early in the afternoon, but we enjoyed our butterbeers in the Three Broomsticks, where we observed many happy customers enjoying a casual lunch.

OK, since this is officially my longest post ever, I’ll follow up with more Disney talk in my next post.

Who else has gone or is planning to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? What was your favorite part? Who else is pumped for the movie release on Friday?