I want you to think back. Remember being five on Christmas morning? You sat on the edge of your bed, maybe watching the sun rise, knowing that if you were to make a running leap into your parents’ bed at that hour you’d be in trouble. So there you sat, your excitement barely controlled because you knew you had to wait just that much longer for what awaited you in the living room – a tree laden with presents just for you.

This is almost exactly what standing at Universal Studios feels like, clutching your ticket for “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” and waiting for the gates to open.

They open, and you rush to the back of the park, and your heart catches in your chest as you catch sight of the towers of Hogwarts jutting into the sky. You hurry faster. The iron gates of Hogsmeade greet you, and you’re suddenly that five year old again… and you’ve gotten to the tree, and the gifts underneath are more amazing than you could’ve dreamed.

If you’re smart, you were one of the ones there before the park opened. And if I may offer advice for those planning to go – skip Hogsmeade. It will be there later. Run for Hogwarts like it’s about to disappear; while it certainly won’t, it’s most likely your only chance for the entire day to get inside and on the “Flight of Harry Potter” without a three-hour (or longer) wait.

J.K. Rowling was always, to me, one of those writers particularly blessed in the department of description. While reading the Harry Potter series, you could see the Great Hall; feel the curtains that surrounded Harry’s four-poster bed; hear Uncle Vernon bellow or even the slow sneer of Snape’s disgust in Potions or Occlumency classes.

This fake Hogwarts, this theme park attraction, brings everything to life in a way you never thought possible. It would have been so easy for Universal to have cheaped out on it. Yeah, yeah, mock up the castle; if you build it, they’ll come from all corners of the world, and they’ll bring their money with them. Give ‘em a little taste. It’s enough.

I can say with all certainty that Universal did not take this direction in any way. Every detail was painstakingly constructed, from the aged look in the stone walls to the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. Every turn in line shows you a new marvel; in one room, you’re surrounded by portraits. That they move and talk is no surprise. What is amazing is that you never know which one is about to address you; they all have such a still, matte appearance to them that you’re genuinely surprised when the subject of a painting starts moving.

As you wind deeper into the increasingly amazing castle, Harry, Ron, and Hermione start to show up, as does Dumbledore. The cast – and as you learn at the end of the ride, the entire cast – filmed spots for the beginning of the ride, the ride itself, and the end.

The ride itself is a marvel. You’re to meet Harry and friends on the Quidditch pitch, but there are… difficulties. You race behind Harry and company in a seat that allows your legs to dangle, as wind whips past your face and a well-crafted movie screen wraps you in a high-definition experience that feels as real as anything of this Muggle world is going to approximate.

Simply put, for however many minutes that the ride lasts, you ARE on a broom. You ARE Harry Potter’s “friend”. You ARE zooming along, coming inches within being a Dementor’s lunch, a victim of the basilisk, or swarmed by acromantulas.

Oh, yeah, and you have to bother with Draco Malfoy, but Harry handles him. (Tom Felton fans, rejoice; he’s in there, and he has fun with it.)

As you disembark, thrilled and addled, Dumbledore appears and praises your bravery, and then you see the entire cast applauding you as well. Everyone’s there – well, everyone who isn’t a Slytherin, that is. (No way is Draco going to clap for you; you just made him look a fool on the Quidditch field.) But you look up, and there’s Harry and Ron and Hermione and Neville and Ginny, and… Heck. Flitwick’s probably bouncing around in there somewhere, but I’d need several more runs to see if that’s true.

You exit, grinning like a fool and bouncing like a five year old who just met Cinderella, and you enter Hogsmeade again. And everything (except Knockturn Alley) is there! Ollivander’s is there, where you get to see two lucky audience participants get to experience the same magic that Harry did when his wand chose him. You can, of course, buy a wand there. You’re offered either a replication of your favorite character’s wand, or you can choose from a line of wands designed around the Celtic calendar. (Snape’s wand is surprisingly beautiful, and Draco Malfoy’s is attractively simple and elegant. I bought Hermione Granger’s wand. That’s right, folks, I’m armed.)

I could go on and on – butterbeer, the Hog’s Head, the candy shop, it’s all there – but I’d be repeating myself. The most important point that I can make about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is that so much love was so obviously put into it, that you know that the craftsmen and planners involved were just as much fans as we are. I still haven’t been able to shake the feeling of absolute wonder and marvel that I got in my few hours at that park. It was like stepping into my dreams; like stepping straight into the movies themselves… and by extension, the books.

Man, I’m glad I went.

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LamoreVincera

LamoreVincera has been a geek chick since the third grade, when she discovered Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, and a penchant for blond-haired farm boys. She has a lifetime-long love of fantasy, sci-fi, history, and medicine, and is currently working on achieving her dream of becoming a midwife, as well as working on a novel. She can be contacted at LamoreVincera @ hotmail . com and followed on Twitter at the link below.

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