Craft Hour at the Beach

I went to the beach this weekend with a few friends and I decided it would be nice to have a good wholesome girl bonding activity to do.  So I came up with craft hour.  It was actually supposed to be 'craft 20 minutes' where I showed everyone how to make an easy pair of earring.  For some people, making stuff was fun, while for others making stuff was hard.  Apparently not everyone is in to crafting.  I won't name names.

Beezus5 gets the gold star in crafting as she finished hers first and with the least help.  Plus they were pretty cute.  Hers are the big ones in the front.  (Everyone else did great too, for the most part.)

Even though some people had a little trouble (mostly with selecting the beads they wanted to use), everyone did end up with a pair of nice fashion earrings to wear out to dinner.  (Although B5 didn't put hers on until after the photo.)

The boys did not participate.

Would you be mad if your friend made you have craft time at the beach?

Playing Quidditch, Fighting Dragons and Riding a Hippogriff aka The Rides of Harry Potter Land

from http://harrypotter.wikia.com/

I didn't just eat and drink Butterbeer while I was at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  I also rode the rides.  There are three rides in Harry Potter Land; The Dragon Challenge, Flight of the Hippogriff and The Forbidden Journey.

We got up bright and early so we could get to the park near opening time.  When we entered the magical land of Harry Potter we noticed that the Dragon Challenge Roller Coasters only had a wait time of 5 minutes so we decided to go ahead and jump on that.  So apparently I'm a little afraid of the roller coasters that go upside down but hey, I knew I had to power through.  The line for the ride takes your through things related to Book 4 (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) which is about the Triwizard Tournament.  You also get to see the Ford Anglia.  (Side Note to Twilight fans, you do know that before he was a vampire, Robert Pattinson was Hogwart's student, Cedric Diggory?  You know that right?).  Anyways, you got to choose which roller coaster you went on.  Red or Blue?  We went with red the first time.  It's one of the ones where your feet hang off the bottom so I do not recommend wearing flip flops on this.  I noticed that some people took theirs off and sat on them.  During the ride you actually pass the other roller coaster and at times it looks like you are going to run into them.  When I got off the ride, I was dizzy.  I mean it was like 9:30 am and I'm a wuss.  But overall I would say it was fun and good for people who really like roller coasters.  We rode on the blue one the next day.  I thought that one was a little tamer.

We had a 30 minute wait for the Flight of the Hippogriff Ride.  I seriously think this was the worst line I had to wait in (even though it wasn't really long).  They had fans pointing at the line but they weren't turned on and you kept listening to Hagrid tell the same story over and over again.  I mean it was a good story but it got old.  The ride only lasted about 30 seconds (I think).  It was a family friendly roller coaster so it wasn't super exciting but it was decent for one ride.  I think the kids would like it.  You also got to see the outside of Hagrid's hut so that was cool.  Who doesn't love Hagger?

My favorite ride ever was The Forbidden Journey.  I loved it.  We went on in multiple times.  I won't say how many times but each time was a 40 minute wait.  It was just cool.  The waiting line goes through the castle, then back outside (where there is a beer purchasing station, just an FYI) through Herbology, and then back in to the castle.  You go through Dumbledore's office.  He comes out and welcomes you (well a digitalized version of him does).  Then you got to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom where Harry, Ron and Hermione plot to sneak you out of the lecture so you can go to a quidditch match.  It might even briefly snow on your while you're in that room.  You also get to see many moving pictures, the Fat Lady, the Sorting Hat, etc.  Once you are on the actual ride, it seems like you are flying through the air.  You get to fly through a quidditch match, face the Whomping Willow, and see the Great Hall.  Watch out for the Dementors though and those acromantula.  Eek.

While I was not riding rides and eating, I was shopping.  Harry Potter Land (as I prefer to call it) features several stores from the books including; Dervish and Banges, Honeydukes, Zonkos, Owl Post and Filch's Emporium.  I loved perusing Filch's Emporium every time I got off the Forbidden Journey Ride.  I had a minor freak out when I was in Dervish and Banges because of the eleventy billion other people that were also in there.  I walked around briefly and then left.  When I tried to go back in there was a line.  I did buy some postcards and have them stamped with Hogsmeade from the Owl Post.  I think my favorite stores were Honeydukes and Zonkos which were actually connected.  It was so cool to see all the things from the books...Extendable Ears, U-No-Poo (Beezus5's fave), Chocolate Frogs (which I purchased, it featured a Salazar Slytherin Card), Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, etc.   I also bought a cauldron cake which was very tasty.  The pumpkin tarts looked good as well.  They were behind a counter, along with fudge and a bunch of really tasty looking caramel apples.  At one point I was very happy that I did not have a kid with me because I heard multiple kids trying to con their parents in to buying them sets of $100 robes.  Some of them succeed.  Some did not.  I also saw a lot of people who bought wands.  The wand shop was always extremely crowded and had a line so I didn't ever go in there.  But apparently you have the chance to see if a wand will "pick you" like they do in the books.

Random Observations/Comments-
-I think October is a pretty good time to go.  It was really crowded at times but I'm sure not near as crowded as it was in summer.  The longest we had to wait in line was 40 minutes for the Forbidden Journey but it wasn't bad since you were walking through the castle for half the time.  Also the weather was really nice while I was there.  It was a little hot at times but not too bad.
-If you have kids, they do have a thing called Child Swap where you can wait in line with your kids and then have one adult stay with the kid while the other adult rides and then switch.  All the rides recommended that you not ride though if you are pregnant.  The height requirement for most of the rides was 48 inches.
-The 3 Broomsticks restaurant is worth going to even if there is a line.  It is pretty efficient once you actually get inside. The food prices ranged from $5 for kid's food to $8-$14 for adult food and I thought the food was high quality.
-You are not allowed to take purses or any kind of bags on some of the rides but they have temporary lockers that are right by the rides that you can use for free for the duration of the ride.  They were pretty easy to use.
-Wear Tennis Shoes.  I wore my running shoes both days and I was really glad.
-Read up to the 4th Harry Potter book before you go if you haven't already.  I mean if you really don't have time or don't want to, you will probably still have a good time.  But you will understand everything that is there a lot better if you've read up to the 4th book.

PS-I'm sorry if I misspelled any Harry Potter words.  I tried my best but spellcheck is telling me that half the words in the post are not real words.  Weird eh?

So are you going to read Harry Potter now?
Do you want to go to Harry Potter land?
Have you been to HP land?  If so what was your favorite thing?

Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice and The Three Broomsticks aka The Food and Drinks of Harry Potter Land

What did I do at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?  Apparently I drank.  And guess what?  None of those drinks above had any alcohol in them.  I found two new things that I love; Pumpkin Juice and Frozen Butter Beer.  And it's a good thing that those drinks are only available in Harry Potter land because I'm guessing that a drink that tastes like frozen candy is not super healthy for you.

Frozen Butter Beer-If you read Harry Potter, you know all about butter beer.  It's served in bottles or at Hogsmeade (the magical wizarding world near Hogwarts) in steaming hot mugs.  However I don't think anything that comes in a steaming mug would be purchased in 90 degree weather in Orlando so I think having frozen butter beer was a great idea.  It tastes like a butterscotch candy milkshake type thing.  And if that description sounds gross, it is not.  It is delicious.  I wasn't even really excited about trying it until I tasted the one B had ordered.  My associate, B, describes it as "Frozen slushy Root Beer/Cream Soda with a butterscotch cream added to the top.  Butterscotch cream consistency is like a thicker whipped cream."  See that mug up there I'm drinking out of?  It was $11.50.  A little steep.  But you can actually get it in regular cup for $4 (or $3 if not frozen) so that's not too bad (you know, for a theme park and all).  I will keep my mug forever though.

Pumpkin Juice-I was also a little suspicious about this beverage but it was also really tasty and refreshing.  B describes it as "Cool apple cider mixed with pumpkin pie.  Hints of cinnamon."  That is pretty accurate.  You know what I don't like though?  I don't like when I'm at a theme park, enjoying a delicious beverage and a woman comes up to me and demands to know how many grams of sugar are in the delicious drink I'm drinking.  I told her.  But still...Woman, I'm on vacation at a theme park, not a health spa.  When I was looking up the grams of sugar I also noticed that it does actually contain juices and pumpkin puree so I'm assuming it's not the worst thing for you (health wise).

The Three Broomsticks-This is a restaurant that is featured in the Harry Potter books.  I was not expecting much from this restaurant.  I mean, it's at a theme park.  I was assuming it would be crowded and just greasy fish and chips.  I was wrong and I realized this when I walked in the door and saw people below me eating.  At this point I was super mad that there were only 2 of us because apparently there was a meal called the "feast for 4" which featured roasted chicken, ribs, fresh veggies, corn, and salad.  And it looked delightful.  They did have other options though such as fish and chips, Shepperd's pie, turkey leg, rotisserie chicken, ribs, and salads plus kid's meal options like mac and cheese. 

Yes, this restaurant was crowded but they did have an amazing system that actually worked really well.  You waited in a line where you could see menus and some of the actual items, then went up to a register, ordered, picked up your food, and then someone would lead you to a table.  It was actually very efficient.

On the other side of the restaurant was a bar (The Hog's Head Pub) featuring all the above drinks plus actual real beer (you know, the kind with alcohol.)  They even have their own draft brew.  Unfortunately the keg was out when we were there.

Now maybe you are wondering, how was I able to drink dessert drinks and eat chicken and ribs all day long without gaining 30 pounds?  We did a lot of walking.  Our hotel was about a mile from the Parks so we walked back and forth each day (and back and forth and back and forth one of the days).  And then we pretty much walked around the parks non stop while we were there.  Here is a photo of me outside of Universal Studio with the hotel in the background.

Come back tomorrow so you can learn about the Harry Potter rides and stores and then later on for everything else we did at Universal Studios.

Have you ever tasted Butter Beer?

What about pumpkin juice?

What's the coolest beverage you've ever tasted?

How to Keep Cool at the Beach....by special guest blogger, Hobie

Option 1-Lay on the AC vent...

Option 2-Get in your Water Bowl...