We went to the Harry Potter thing at Universal Studios today.
None of us liked it.
In my opinion....
It's overpriced crap.
I was surprised, because I've heard such fabulous things about it. Because we thought it would be so good, we bought two day passes. That second day of the pass is probably going to go to waste.
The sad thing about the park is that it's so expensive; the Weasley family wouldn't be able to afford it. I should stop complaining about that, though. It makes me sound cheap. I know. And Harry Potter has money. He'd probably pay for the Weasleys to spend a day there. Although, I think they'd all be better off if he took them on a second trip to Egypt. Or maybe they could all go to Australia. They could say hello to Hermione's parents.
While I was standing among the crowds and overpriced souvenirs, I thought about how I'd MUCH prefer sitting in my hotel room reading the actual Harry Potter novels. My only hope really is that Universal Studios hasn't ruined Harry Potter for me. We'll be reading a chapter tonight. Hopefully, it won't bring back bad park memories.
I will say the Harry Potter ride was pretty awesome. It was wild, scary, and fun. If it was up to me, I'd make the whole Harry Potter exhibit free. I mean I'd make the admission free. Then I'd have affordable food, and affordable junk to buy. For the ride, I'd charge $30. That way people of a variety of financial means could at least afford the EXPERIENCE. Although it really isn't that much of an experience. See, but if we didn't have to pay for the experience, it might have felt worth it. I mean going to our used bookstore is a fantastic experience for me. I love it. I love seeing all the books, and I love seeing all the other book nerds. But if I had to spend $82 to spend the day there, I'd be far from impressed.
Anyway, the Harry Potter ride is great. But I don't think it was THAT great. And it was too scary for Jack, so he didn't even go on. It really wasn't it worth it for us.
My biggest disappointment was the Butterbeer. From what I read in reviews online, it sounded almost magical. I thought it was going to be one of the best things I've ever tasted. What did it taste like? Cream soda with whip cream on it. We did the same thing at home for our Harry Potter party. And ours probably tasted better. Who cares about cream soda with whip cream?
We went to Zonkos, the joke shop and Honeydukes the candy shop. Blah, blah, blah. It's just typical American candy crap with new names. I understand that they can't truly make magical candy. But how about some authentic British candy? I think that would be cool.
Both stores had a very limited selection of merchandise. They pretty much have the same stuff on multiple shelves. They definitely need more variety.
We ate at the Three Broomsticks. Jack got fish and chips. It was so NOT chips. They were American steak fry things.
Now enough of the negative (for now). Besides the ride (which was good but not good enough to make up for the disappointing Butterbeer), there were two things I liked.
1. In the toilets, you could hear Moaning Myrtle talking. I thought that was cute.
2. Outside Harry Potter land, there's Dr. Seuss Land. They have another candy store there. In that candy store, they had this whole selection of hard candies. Each bag (except one) was named after an Australian city! I was so excited. I almost got emotional over the whole thing. And that candy kind of DOES make up for the bad Butterbeer and overpriced exploitation of JK Rowling's masterpiece. At least for me.
The hard candies remind me of these candies we saw in Sydney....in The Rocks. They're handmade. The bags of candy say they're made at Universal Studios, but I wonder if the company originated in Australia. It's so cool, though. Not only does the candy have the city names on it, but on the back there's information about each city.
I took a lot of photos.
I'll post a few.
Oh! I just found the website for the candy. It's called Candy by Sticky. I didn't buy any, because I didn't want to give any more money to Universal Studios. I'll buy some when we go to Sydney!
None of us liked it.
In my opinion....
It's overpriced crap.
I was surprised, because I've heard such fabulous things about it. Because we thought it would be so good, we bought two day passes. That second day of the pass is probably going to go to waste.
The sad thing about the park is that it's so expensive; the Weasley family wouldn't be able to afford it. I should stop complaining about that, though. It makes me sound cheap. I know. And Harry Potter has money. He'd probably pay for the Weasleys to spend a day there. Although, I think they'd all be better off if he took them on a second trip to Egypt. Or maybe they could all go to Australia. They could say hello to Hermione's parents.
While I was standing among the crowds and overpriced souvenirs, I thought about how I'd MUCH prefer sitting in my hotel room reading the actual Harry Potter novels. My only hope really is that Universal Studios hasn't ruined Harry Potter for me. We'll be reading a chapter tonight. Hopefully, it won't bring back bad park memories.
I will say the Harry Potter ride was pretty awesome. It was wild, scary, and fun. If it was up to me, I'd make the whole Harry Potter exhibit free. I mean I'd make the admission free. Then I'd have affordable food, and affordable junk to buy. For the ride, I'd charge $30. That way people of a variety of financial means could at least afford the EXPERIENCE. Although it really isn't that much of an experience. See, but if we didn't have to pay for the experience, it might have felt worth it. I mean going to our used bookstore is a fantastic experience for me. I love it. I love seeing all the books, and I love seeing all the other book nerds. But if I had to spend $82 to spend the day there, I'd be far from impressed.
Anyway, the Harry Potter ride is great. But I don't think it was THAT great. And it was too scary for Jack, so he didn't even go on. It really wasn't it worth it for us.
My biggest disappointment was the Butterbeer. From what I read in reviews online, it sounded almost magical. I thought it was going to be one of the best things I've ever tasted. What did it taste like? Cream soda with whip cream on it. We did the same thing at home for our Harry Potter party. And ours probably tasted better. Who cares about cream soda with whip cream?
We went to Zonkos, the joke shop and Honeydukes the candy shop. Blah, blah, blah. It's just typical American candy crap with new names. I understand that they can't truly make magical candy. But how about some authentic British candy? I think that would be cool.
Both stores had a very limited selection of merchandise. They pretty much have the same stuff on multiple shelves. They definitely need more variety.
We ate at the Three Broomsticks. Jack got fish and chips. It was so NOT chips. They were American steak fry things.
Now enough of the negative (for now). Besides the ride (which was good but not good enough to make up for the disappointing Butterbeer), there were two things I liked.
1. In the toilets, you could hear Moaning Myrtle talking. I thought that was cute.
2. Outside Harry Potter land, there's Dr. Seuss Land. They have another candy store there. In that candy store, they had this whole selection of hard candies. Each bag (except one) was named after an Australian city! I was so excited. I almost got emotional over the whole thing. And that candy kind of DOES make up for the bad Butterbeer and overpriced exploitation of JK Rowling's masterpiece. At least for me.
The hard candies remind me of these candies we saw in Sydney....in The Rocks. They're handmade. The bags of candy say they're made at Universal Studios, but I wonder if the company originated in Australia. It's so cool, though. Not only does the candy have the city names on it, but on the back there's information about each city.
I took a lot of photos.
I'll post a few.
Oh! I just found the website for the candy. It's called Candy by Sticky. I didn't buy any, because I didn't want to give any more money to Universal Studios. I'll buy some when we go to Sydney!
