Have you ever had a chance in your adult life to revisit the feelings of being a kid once again? If you have you will know that feeling that runs through your veins when you remember that special moment. Today, I caught a glimpse of what it was like to feel that excitement once again. Adam and I took a slight bee-line out of our direct route West to stop in Orlando and visit the wonderful world of Harry Potter, the newest exhibit at Universal Studios Island of Adventure. It was the anticipation that brought on the nostalgia for being a kid once again. Remembering the first time I went to Disney World and thought I was really meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse in real life, putting together that they were much larger in person than I ever imagined a mouse could be. Thinking that was really their home and they were actually standing in front of me! I pretended for a moment that I didn't know better and made myself believe I was actually visiting the real village of Hogsmead and the magical castle school of Hogwarts and once again the kid in me got that exuberant feeling. They set the tone on the approach to the village gates with the music blaring in the background. The crowds were massive and slow-paced but still did not slow enough to take it all in. There was a train conductor to welcome us as we entered the exhibit just as if we got off the train at the school. Character/actors wondered all over the village sporadicly putting on shows introducing us to more characters from the book. We headed to the castle at the top of the hill as our first stop. This place was to give us a tour of the school with an adventure ride on a broomstick with Harry as if we were playing quidich. 
Preparing for a very long day of walking and waiting we brought Adam made good use of his wheelchair. It was like a magical ticket for us too. Similar to Disney and Adam's experience when taking sick kids there in LA, people in wheelchairs who are unable to stand in the regular line are allowed a special pass to gain assistance. In effect, we bypassed all the lines. Most often we went in the exits and missed the crowds entirely. In the case of Harry Potter, we had a special tour guide who gave us a time to meet him at the ride and he personally escorted us through the exhibit (in character). They even had a special entrance to the ride in this case. People would normally enter on a moving platform and since Adam would have been unsteady and potentially slower than the ride would allow they built a special standing platform with its own car on which we could enter. We felt very special and as it turned out there was a VIP package you can also purchase prior to entering the park and we were put with those people. So, we really were getting the VIP treatment.
The ride lived up to the hype including moving pictures in the castle, life-sized holographic characters of Dumbledore, Potter and friends welcoming us, and even the sorting hat. As we wandered through the village we found Moaning Mertle in the bathroom, screaming mandrakes in a store window, and more details than I probably even caught. The nice thing was it wasn't too childlike that even adults could enjoy it. Butter Beer was very tasty too as well as the traditional English food served in the pub.
That was the highlight of the day for me, but Adam was determined to ride every roller-coaster he could. With his special "get out of lines free" pass he zoomed right in and out as he wanted. I lasted about three roller-coasters before I had to stop. Getting older does not help motion sickness and every ride seemed to have massive warnings that you might get sick. I figured I would quit just as I started to feel queasy. This park also had a large water park component. We saw people who brought their swimsuits and a change of clothes with them before they entered those rides. That was a sure sign we would get soaked. So, we elected to avoid those rides this go round. It was a lot of fun to revisit fond childhood memories of make-believe lands such as this one and nice to know we each still have a small child inside of us.
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