Once upon a time, my pizza-loving-man and I tried to plan a spring vacation. We wanted this vacation to be a lengthier international trip, a la our trip to Nicaragua last March. Alas, I had an un-missable (that’s a word, right?) work event smack dab in the middle of the break, so we had to get creative with a variety of local trips. In the end, it was well worth it and AWESOME!
To kick off a wonderful spring break, we visited the closest we could come to the magic of all of our 11-year-old dreams – Harry Potter World in Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. This place had special meaning to the two of us, more so than for your average two Harry Potter aficionados.
I had visited the original Hogsmeade Harry Potter World at Universal back in the spring of 2013 for a private after-hours Quidditch World Cup party. While there (and yes, it was as magical as it sounds), I took a picture in the gift shop with a stuffed spider on my head. I used this picture for my OKCupid profile when I created an account after moving to Florida. I wanted to scare off creepy shallow men and attract those who were more interesting and had more depth – it didn’t seem to scare away many creepy shallow men, but it did attract the one I wanted!
My man had never visited Harry Potter World before and was additionally intrigued to find the spot of this original meet-cute site. I was eager to share this experience with him, as well as check out the new Diagon Alley addition to the amusement park.
I very embarrassingly had to hold back tears (I can’t believe I’m admitting this) when walking through the entrance to Diagon Alley. You read about those crazy fans and think about how crazy they are… but then that’s me, apparently. It was absolutely breathtaking and was everything I had ever imagined after living in those books for so many years.
We drank up some wizardingly-themed beer, went on some exhilerating rides (skip the Flight of the Hippogriff and double up on one of the others – it is not exciting and it is super short, accompanied by the longest line during our visit), and quickly wandered through the very unimpressive rest of Universal Studios before relaxing in our hotel room with an absolutely delicious pizza.