Friday; Hogwarts and Hogsmeade

Here is the beginning of a three part-post on the adventure that the kids and I had at Universal over the past weekend. Please accept my humble apologies for the delays in posting...

After the delay of speaking and getting the kids moving from their hotel hideaway, we finally got on our way to our planned adventure. On our way, we changed our plans and decided to stay "on property," meaning that we decided to spend our hotel dollars at a hotel actually located at Universal. It was a decision we made to save time and money, especially for travel, and so that we could move to the front of the lines at various lines, which our natural impatience demanded!

After getting the bags to the room and being somewhat settled, we struck out to see what had lead us all to this place: Harry Potter. We rushed into the park, figured out how to get to the relevant part of Islands of Adventure, and nervously walked the final steps toward the arch into Hogsmeade. We were not at all disappointed.

The cobblestone streets, the buildings with their erratic chimneys and swaying lines, the snow laying along the eaves... it was as if someone had taken the images created while reading the books many years ago and actually transformed them into something real, three-dimensional and that could be experienced. Mary Kathryn and I just stood there transfixed for a long time, almost in disbelief. The medieval English village, with Hogwarts looming overhead, was... real.

We rode some rides, and experienced the phenomenon of virtual rollercoasters (using moving seats and visual aids to give you the sensation of flying while actually leaving you more stable than you could imagine). We walked into some of the shops and just enjoyed the moment.

After the park closed, we spent time with Durham friends whose trip to Universal unexpectedly but fortuitously coincided with our own, and shopped and ate. We shared dinner at Emeril's restaurant (a place where MK was dying to go when she was only five because she loved Emeril at the time, but was disappointed that he was not there to serve her dinner... BAM!) and loved the prix fixe menu -- even the girls shared one, expanding their adventure a little further. Drew loved his steak and the chance to just be the boy that he is, and we all laughed, and giggled and appreciated the day for what it was... amazing.