We chose a cool day for the visit and, despite the outlandish cost of admission, it was a memorable day. We first piled onto the Flight of the Hippogriff, a ride that was close to terrifying to me. It was a case of holding on for dear life while we were catapulted at ridiculous speeds through the air over the rooftops of Hogsmeade, where Hogwarts is located in the fantasy world of all things Potter. I was shaking when we disembarked and wondered if my back could really take the stresses. But this was just the beginning.
The main Potter ride, "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" was a corker.
It's VERY popular, of course, and the line zigged and zagged back and forth with about 500 people ahead of us. This gave us ample opportunity to read the numerous warning signs that we should not attempt the Potter ride is we had bad backs, heart conditions, high blood pressure...and a hundred other issues. At the very end of the long list, we were finally warned to remove any prosthetic device for fear of losing it as we hurtled through the darkness. Clearly this had occurred in the past and they decided when someone lost his wooden or plastic leg that this should be added to the warnings.
Anyway, we had no arms or legs that needed removal. Jo was mesmerized by the pictures that talked to us and to each other in Hogwarts. But this was merely to keep us entertained while we awaited the main event - the ride.
We were strapped in and warned to remove anything loose. And off we went. We flew and swooped through Hogwarts, with Harry Potter on his broomstick, showing us the way through the death-defying swirls and double-dips. We were upside down and downside up. We were confronted with all the evil that Harry had to fight off. And we came out the other side, gasping in amazement and with adrenalin pumping. What an incredible ride!
After a lunch of fish and chips, we were ready for more. Trisha laboriously studied each piece of treasured merchandise and decided what to purchase, then we wandered out of Potter land and headed for Jurassic Park. We stopped an attendant and asked where the River Adventure was located. We looked us over and said, "You do know this is a wet ride?" Yes. We were game, we told him. He suggested we try to sit at the rear of the river boat and showed us the way.
We were a little intimidated by seeing smart young things walking ahead of us, all of them wearing cheap plastic ponchos. We were placed in the second row from the rear in the boat but we noticed the seats were soaking wet - not an especially encouraging sign. I sat on my hat and we floated away downstream. It was a pretty pleasant ride, passing dozens of animated dinosaurs that had escaped from Jurassic Park and which were on the rampage.
The climax came as we climbed toward a waterfall, where a gigantic T-Rex reared its head and stared us down. We ducked under his throat but immediately were enveloped in darkness - always a sign that things are going from bad to worse. Our boat tipped downward and we picked up speed to a screaming crescendo in which we exited from the darkness in what felt like a free-fall into a lagoon. It was wet. Lord, it was truly wet. But great fun.
