Magic

Which is more magical: Disney or Harry Potter?

Or, more specifically, Disney World or the Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

I say, depends on your definition of magical.

Yeah, that was how my Winter Break started. Now I'm home but we'll get to that. As for degree of magical-ness...

Best ride: Forbidden Journey in the Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter. (The main ride that's gotten all the hullabaloo.) And all that hullabaloo is very well deserved. If you've ever been on the Busch Gardens Curse of DarKastle ride or the Spider-Man ride in Islands of Adventure, it's like that-ish. Basically, it's this virtual ride where it feels like you're actually flying, except the Forbidden Journey is better than those other rides because it's the live characters (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, etc.) and NO 3D GLASSES. And it honestly feels real. You run into a dragon, the large spiders, Dementors... I was screaming. It was fabulous. Despite the ridiculous wait, I went twice. SO. GOOD.

Best park: Magical Kingdom. Seriously, is there a contest? No. This is the third time I've been and I never get over it. Ever. Randomly meeting characters (yay for being a college student and still geeking out over meeting Disney Princesses), fabulous rides (yay Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain and Splash Mountain), beautiful park, classic Cinderella's castle, parades, nice and spaced out... I could go on.

Best employees: Magical Kingdom. And in this case, we don't call them employees. We call them cast members. That alone is a win. They know their park, they know their job, they're beyond friendly, they stay in character... We even gave one cast member a commendation! Danny from Indiana on the Jungle Cruise. He was hilarious. Mom, especially, was cracking up.

Best overall: Look above. Guess. Magical Kingdom. Honestly? The shop to ride ratio is better there (more rides as opposed to shops), it's less crowded, the employees/cast members are friendlier and know their stuff better, and there are characters that you've known since you were a wee one! Really, Islands of Adventure had the Spider-Man ride and Harry Potter world. Which was somewhat of a pain, actually...

First off, you couldn't just walk into Harry Potter world. You had to standby (shortest wait we saw for that was sixty minutes) or get a reservation time. Once you got in it was packed to the brim. Seriously. Everything and I mean everything had a wait time. To eat during lunch hour was twenty minute wait, shortest ride wait was fifteen minutes, to get into Ollivander's (the wand shop) or Dervish and Banges (everything else shop) ranged from forty-five to an hour and a half wait. TO GET INTO THE SHOP. Ridick.

It was fun, yes. I'd recommend it... A couple of years from now when the hype has died down. Forbidden Journey is one of the top three rides I've ever been on in my life. Frozen Butterbeer is EEEE-YUM-EEE. I got an official Slytherin scarf. (Yes, Slytherin. I'm Slytherin. Haters leave now. I'm proud to be evil.) I got an official Chocolate Frog (Rayona Ravenclaw card). I got my missionary friend/brother a Gryffindor tie. ...Yeah, see? Mostly shops. The Dragon Challenge was a good roller coaster, but compared to some other coasters I've been on it was meh.

Now I'm home. Went from seventy degree weather to... snow and frozen.

And there might be another post soon... A bit of a downer. Maybe. Just a warning.

Hugs And Kisses!