My first trip to WWoHP
On Sunday I went to WWoHP for the first time (finally)! :happy:
Even though I live like 20 minutes away, due to a lack of funds, I hadn't been able to go until then. Having to wait so long, I couldn't resist reading everyone's reviews and descriptions, so I was unfortunately
thoroughly spoiled. I kind of wish I had been able to hold out and not look at spoilers, but oh well.
We (my mom and I) went to the Studios first, then Islands, (having been to neither of them in over a year:'() and stayed from open to close. So anyways, some of my thoughts on the day:
1.) Oh God the weather. I picked a pretty horrible day to go, weather wise. It was nice around park opening, but two hours later the sky turns dark, there is this horrible freezing rain and an arctic blast of cold air, which only continued
all day. So yeah, I think the weather was trying to ruin my day. :blank: But it turned out alright because everyone else pretty much gave up and left. The parks were the most deserted I've seen them. I rode FJ 3 times and even that was literally a walk-on every time. I was prepared to wait at least 45 minutes so I guess I actually lucked out.
2.) Universal really needs to clean things up. Having not been in so long I was unpleasantly surprised at how much looked worn out. The boat that you see sinking in JAWS was covered in algae and such. Because a boat that was just sunk by Jaws has time to grow algae. A lot of the different props in the lines looked like they hadn't been cleaned in years. The dinos in Jurassic Park had their skin almost hanging off and most of them were mute(?) that was really weird. I don't know I just noticed a lot of little things here and there that looked dirty or old. If it had been my first time to Universal I would have been unimpressed by that.
3.) My thoughts on WWoHP. Even though I'd seen it all in pictures before, nothing prepared me for seeing it in person. The level of detail is just incredible! The view as you are walking under the arch, with Hogsmeade winding in front of you and Hogwarts in the distance is
unreal. Being a fan of the Potter books from the beginning I was just blown away by it all. I loved all the little displays in the windows, the exteriors of the shops, the Sirius Black wanted posters. Especially
Hogwarts - when I got up close to it me and my mom just froze and we were gazing up at it in disbelief. I think this must be everyone's first reaction.
It looks so similar to the movies that part of my brain thought it was CGI or something! It did not even look
real. Just the exterior detail of the whole land and the castle
blows away everything in any of the other parks. It actually makes the rest of IoA look sub-par. It feels like an amusement park compared to Wizarding World.
4.) The shops and restaurant. Unfortunately due to a continuing lack of funds we were not able to do much shopping. :'( I did look around the stores and was further impressed with the detail and props. The Monster Book of Monsters was great and lunged at me when I wasn't expecting it. :rofl: We saw the little Ollivanders show - it was cool and all, and the detail was once again amazing, but I felt the show itself was a little "eh". It was probably the longest wait we had all day but the show is pretty short and there are only two effects. So I probably won't see it again, at least for quite a while.
What else...we had lunch at the Three Broomsticks. I had the fish and chips, which was great. Oh and I tried butterbeer for the first time (regular, never got to try frozen). At first I wasn't a
huge fan of it, but it really grew on me so that I was sorry to finish it. Didn't try pumpkin juice but I had a cauldron cake which was pretty good.
5.) Hippogriff and Dragon Challenge. Hippogriff is of course the same ride as before, but still a massive upgrade IMO just because of Hagrid's Hut and the wonderful Buckbeak animatronic. And the view of Hogsmeade from the top of the lift hill was amazing.
Dragon Challenge, not so much. I was really let down to see how they ruined the queue, which had been my favorite. The first few rooms were alright but what is with the
completely blank tunnels. It's like they just obliterated everything and replaced it with nothing. Ugh massive downgrade. Although the coaster itself is still great.
Hmm this post is so long already I think I'll save my thoughts on FJ for the review thread.
A few more random thoughts.
Overall Universal did a fantastic job with this addition and Disney
should be quaking in their boots. Fantasyland better be out of this world to compete.
Especially with merchandise - looks like Universal is making a killing with all the HP goods they're selling. We saw TONS of people wearing Gryffindor scarves all day. How are there any left. And leaving the park and going through CityWalk at night it seemed like every other person was carrying a Wizarding World bag.
Also we spent a long time in the land and even came back later but we never saw any of the street shows. How often do they normally come out? Or are they afraid of a little freezing rain? :-X
Oh sorry for the essay!