Hello Harry!

For all of you want-a-be wizards, but are just plain old muggles out there, it will not be too surprising to learn that our family had the time of our lives visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.  We hopped on The Hogwarts Express and and literally got carried away into a new world!

It really did live up to our expectations and it was fun to pretend for a day that we were at Hogsmeade.  The shops were super fun and delightful to the young (Emmett and Lilly LOVED Honeydukes),

the teens (can you say Zonkos?) and the "old" (Dervishes and Banges provided some very nice pillows for the basement, thank you very much).  But the true magic was to be found on the rides.  Flight of the Hippogriff 
 and Dragon Challenge rides were great,

but NOTHING could compare with the  FORBIDDEN JOURNEY!  It was a masterpiece of special effects that could make the most skeptical a believer!  Lilly even rode it twice knowing she would come face to face with a Dementor and a Dragon!

All in all, we LOVED living out our Harry Potter fantasies and spending a few magical moments riding dragons, hippogriffs and enchanted benches!