Adventures in Hogwarts

On Friday, all my dreams came true. Or at least most of them.

For LMU's fall break, the Program Assistants took 50 students to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Three friends and I were lucky members of this bus. 

Upon our arrival, we immediately bought Butterbeer. I enjoyed mine frozen in a collectable mug. (You can see the pure joy on my face in the photo above.) As I enjoyed my Butterbeer and the ensuing mustache, my friends and I took photos with the conductor of the Hogwarts Express.

We then explored the shops of Hogsmeade, planning our course of action for how we were going to spend all of our money. Since the park was relatively crowded, we made our way to the ride through Hogwarts, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The long line weaved through the corridors of Hogwarts, which distracted from the hour-plus wait for the ride. The ride itself combined 4D elements - wind, water, and 3D images blended to create a ride that made me feel as if I were riding a broom alongside all my favorite characters. 

After the ride was over, we took more pictures of the glorious replication of one of my favorite fictional places and managed to have another person capture the four of us in a picture. 

By this time, our first Butterbeer had worn off, so we went to lunch at the Three Broomsticks where I had fish and chips off the kid's menu and yet another Butterbeer (this time just cold). We then began an epic shopping spree in which I bought a timeturner and a Ravenclaw scarf, among other trinkets.

Then we rode the Flight of the Hippogriff, a seriously underwhelming ride that lasted less than 60 seconds. We were so disappointed we decided to buy chocolate frogs at Honeydukes to drown our sorrows.

We then rode both rides again for fun and realized we had spent nearly 6 hours just in the Harry Potter section of Universal. We left for an hour to ride Revenge of the Mummy, but quickly returned to Harry Potter to watch a live performance of the Triwizard Spirit Rally. The Beauxbatons danced and the Durmstrang stunned with their karate performance. We captured yet another picture of our joy.

After we returned back to LMU, we celebrated our day by watching the third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban. Ultimately, this day can be summed up by the picture below - pure, unadulterated, childhood joy.