Florida - Islands of Adventure

Dork that I am, what I was most excited about was going to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, the home of Harry Potter World!!!!  It was neat walking through many of the props used in the movies and seeing how they designed all the buildings.

You first walk into Hogsmeade the only town for just magical people in the Harry Potter books.

The buildings are so cute.

But the castle was crazy realistic.  Definitely smaller than I pictured Hogwarts to be but it looked the way in real life that I would have pictured it.

 

 

Inside had so many memories from the books and movies.  A classroom with Ron, Hermione and Harry.

Dumbledore's Office.

The moving paintings.

The sorting hat.

And of course the "Fat Lady."

In the village they even had the Hogwarts Express! 

I'm fairly certain this visit is what prompted me to spend the last few months re-reading all of the books back to back.  I just finished on Friday and I have to say I'm sad to be done with them.