“Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome  you home.” -J.K. Rowling

As the weather starts to change in September, I do think of Salem and Hocus Pocus, but I also usually experience a sincere urge to go back to Hogwarts.

I was 10 years old when one of my sixth grade classmates returned from a family trip to England with a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.  Rebecca raved about it, her copy got passed around the grade, and I, stubbornly, refused to read it.  Not too long afterwards, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was published here in the States, and the mania began, feeding my obdurate desire to keep well away.  I refused to buy into the hype.  I have my mother to thank for finally pushing me into the wizarding world.

Even in my tender primary school years, I was inclined to get up early and linger over my breakfast with something to read.  It was usually the funny papers, and I distinctly remember peeking through the mail slot on our front door morning after morning, peering into the dark to see if our paper had been delivered on time.  One morning I woke to no paper, and even after I had dressed and fixed my breakfast, it had failed to appear.  I sat down with my cereal, thinking I would peruse one of the magazines that usually sat in the dining room to get me through my meal, but all I found on the table that morning was a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  After wrestling with myself for a moment or two, I decided against risking soggy cereal to go fetch something else to read, and resigned myself to having the first few pages of this long-avoided book as my breakfast companion for one morning only.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” 

Done, hooked, that’s all it took to make yet another life-long Harry Potter fan.

To this day, my mother denies clearing the table and leaving that book for me.  But history is told by those who write it down, so here my version prevails.  I gobbled up the three books that had already been published, and, having received for Christmas a broomstick and a “Hogwarts Quidditch Team Gryffindor” shirt (that I still wear, incidentally-proud Gryffindor here), I waited impatiently for the fourth book to come out.  I preordered it, to be delivered in an owl covered box at my door the moment it was available.  And then we went on vacation to California.  I had been content to wait until we got home to dive into The Goblet of Fire, until I found myself outside a bookshop in Calistoga staring through the window at a huge green display of the fourth chapter in Harry’s story.  My mother refused to let me get a second copy.  Looking back on it now, of course she was right, I would have missed the rest of the trip, locked in the hotel room reading, but at the time I was quite miffed.

I don’t remember when it was I discovered Harry Potter on audiobook.  Living in Houston with grandparents in Dallas, I grew up making the drive back and forth, pleasantly dozing to the audiobooks my mother used to stay awake while driving.  Having discovered the delicious soporific quality of being read to, I turned to audiobooks as a regular sleep-aide.  Perhaps, then, it made perfect sense for me to latch onto Jim Dale when he became available as my go-to bedtime story teller.  And I can’t say how many snippets of all the books have lulled my restless mind into magical dreams.  In college, I got to go hear Jim Dale do a reading from Deathly Hallows which was just being released on CD.  I was giddy and thrilled and he certainly did not disappoint.  How strange and wonderful it was to finally hear in person this voice I knew almost better than my own.

Thanks to Mr. Dale, I don’t know that I have actually ever re ‘read’ the Harry Potter books (though I have all of them in their beautiful hard-cover finery sitting on my shelf), but I know bits of them almost off by heart having listened to them so often over the years.  I think it is thanks to Jim Dale as well that I have never quite taken to the movies.  Granted I was able to latch on at last when Rupert Grint grew up in Deathly Hallows, but other than that, the world as read to me seemed so much more vivid than the one on the screen, and, having taken such firm root in my mind, so much more right.

Perhaps it was the same wariness that has mostly kept me from the movies that kept me so long from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando.  I finally went for the first time New Years of 2015, and then went back this past January.  Needless to say, I enjoyed it very much.  I will go back again.*

First note on the theme park- DO NOT GO THE WEEK BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS!!!  The same warning applies to Disney.  You will not be able to move down the streets.  By the time my friend and I got to Hogsmeade, we couldn’t see in the shops, couldn’t get more butterbeer, and waited three hours (the longest wait of our entire trip) to ride the Hogwarts castle ride.  Don’t do it.  Go the last week in January.  It is not hot and nobody is there. Get the fast pass and you can ride any ride you want on an endless loop while taking ample breaks for butterbeer in between.  If you are planning a longer trip, I would also suggest staying at Disney and taking a day trip over to Universal Studios. If you go in that slow season, one day should be ample time to explore.  When I went back this year, we got the Harry Potter package and had four days at Universal which was a bit too much- there’s much more to do at Disney!

That said, having had the experience of staying in one of Disney’s budget hotels and then staying at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, I will definitely be choosing a slightly more expensive Disney hotel the next time I visit.  The breakfast at the Disney economy hotels is like camp food- really bad camp food, and they have NO HOT TEA.  Seriously, I’ll dedicate an entire post to my obsession with tea at some point, but it was because of my 2015 trip to Disney that I now always travel with my own tea.  Also, Cabana Bay does have a park shuttle, as do the Disney Economy hotels, but they also have a beautiful walking path that will take you a mere 15 minutes door to door (as do the more ‘up-scale’ Disney hotels).  I think the proximity and having the choice to walk to the parks (plus the knowledge of a good breakfast) is well worth a little extra per night.

But, logistics aside, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is truly magical for someone who has grown up dreaming of Hogwarts.  Start in the Universal Studios park and wind your way all the way to the back (stop to ride the Mummy ride a few times on the way 🙂 ).  In a nondescript corner of the park you’ll find King’s Cross station, sitting next to a nondescript bookstore and a row of nondescript town houses (one of which is number 12, walk up to the door and then look up to the windows, you may see Kreacher glowering down at you).  You’ll probably notice a giant purple bus standing in the square.  Go have your photo taken with Stan and the shrunken head, and then turn your attention back to the wall between King’s Cross and Grimmauld Place.  Walk right on through, and there you are in Diagon Alley!  Go right to Olivander’s, if there’s a short line, wait in it, and they’ll escort you through to the back where Olivander himself will help a wand choose a wizard.  Then you can head right up to the front of the shop and select your very own wand (yes, wands do fit in ride lockers, don’t worry!).  Then you can cross the street to Madam Malkin’s and stock up on your house gear and you’re ready to go!  Check out all the windows and nooks and crannies.  If you know the books well, there are countless surprises to find.

You also can’t miss Gringot’s- stand there long enough and the dragon up top will breath fire down to the street below.  If you happen to go on a crowded day, take the single rider line into the bank- you’ll get on the ride faster.  If you have followed my instructions, though, and are there when it is slow, go through the regular line!  You get to experience so much more of the bank that way!  (The same rule applies to Hogwarts castle in Hogsmeade!)

After you exit the bank, go for a pick-me-up butterbeer and fish and chips at the Leaky Cauldron, and when you’re done, don’t forget to venture round the back to Knockturn Alley and a visit to Borgin and Burkes!  (It took me till my second visit to find that- it was so crowded the first time I was there!) I’d also suggest experiencing some of the live stage shows.  We watched an amazing puppet performance of “The Fountain of Fair Fortune” and a fantastic set by Celestina Warbeck.  Truly, the actors we met there were top notch, the true fan won’t be disappointed!

Once you’re done in Diagon Alley (if you ever truly can be), head back out through the wall to King’s Cross.  Now you do have to have a park hopper pass to get on the train- know this in advance, very clever marketing ploy on the part of Universal Studios- but once you’ve checked in with the ticket agent, you’re free to wind your way through the station, up the stairs, through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 (yes really!  the line will get backed up here, get your camera ready, you’ll see where to take the picture!) and onto Platform 9 3/4 where the scarlet Hogwart’s Express waits to take you to Hogsmeade!

The train ride itself is a treat.  And yes, it is different if you ride the train back to Diagon Alley from Hogsmeade, so do that too.

Hogsmeade is on a much smaller scale than Diagon Alley, the highlights are definitely the castle itself, the Three Broomsticks, and the ladies toilets where Moaning Myrtle can be heard.  (I really wanted her to pop up in the mirrors, but they haven’t put that feature in).

All in all, The Wizarding World is a must visit for the Harry Potter fan in us all.  (The staff in the rest of the park is well trained too- we wandered out of the Wizarding World still decked out in our House gear, and I got 10 points for Gryffindor for filling out a park experience survey…which oddly made me feel better about the survey- clever folks).  I am also trying to figure out a good opportunity to go do the Studio Tour in London- and I suppose they have Harry Potter walking and bus tours around the city now too, which I will definitely need to do at some point as well.

But even when one is unable to pick up and head off to one of the destinations to play, there are always the books.  In the past two months I have listened again to the first five in their entirety, and, as with any favorites reread again, I am finding more in them to love upon each revisiting.  I am also looking forward to Christmas when I will get to unwrap the new illustrated Chamber of Secrets and dive into Jim Kay’s delicious watercolors.  If you haven’t yet explored the illustrated Sorcerer’s Stone, go get a copy now, brew up some butterbeer, and savor it in all its magical detail.

Though I raged against it at first, I count myself lucky to be a member of that generation who grew up alongside Harry.  Those of us who remember waiting for the books and then the movies and then the parks, and who will forever count ourselves at home at Hogwarts.

Always.

 

*Since writing and publishing this post, I have indeed returned to the Wizarding World…as my mother had never been, I used that as an excuse for another trip, and I turned 30 in high Gryffindor fashion with Harry.