Crushable’s Adventures At The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter: Red Carpet, Night Rides, And VIP Status

Hogwarts houses the park's signature ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, in which you're strapped to a crazily-twisting chair and moved through a series of IMAX-like screens (to simulate the Quidditch pitch) and actual sets (to recreate the Forbidden Forest).

I don't want to give away too much of the ride's mechanics, so let's talk about the queue...

I love how much the people who created the park made sure to include the moving and talking photos and portraits of the series. The photo's a little blurry since we were going through the queue indoors, but you can see various

It's a little difficult to tell, but those are two of the founders--and what's cool is that they're wearing/holding their respective Horcruxes. Rowena Ravenclaw is modeling the diadem, while that bright speck on Salazar Slytherin is his locket.

In the queue, we wandered through several set pieces (though I'm not sure if they're the real ones or replicas) including the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with supplies from The Prisoner of Azkaban, and Dumbledore's famous office. (The Pensieve was behind us.)

The ride used this "squenching" technology to make 2-D footage look 3-D, so that you can have Harry, Ron, and Hermione lead you through the introductory part of the ride, and Dumbledore here to chat with you in his office.

I had to get a shot of the famous globe.

Inexplicably, I packed a lot of blue. And yay for press badges, which let us skip the lines and enter through the park's exit.

Crushable on the red carpet--my first, actually.

Someone told me these were all families of Universal employees. At first the kids would scream on command for TV reporters who needed B-roll of cheering crowds, but as the actors started to make their way down the carpet, the kids' reactions became even more genuine: They chanted "Luna, Luna, Luna!" and eagerly held out books to be signed.

Rupert giving an interview to the person next to me, after I got a chance to chat with him. (Just one question, his handler said; you can see her glaring over his shoulder.) I got a derpier shot, but I didn't want to be mean.

I had wanted to buy one of these at Honeydukes, but I didn't have enough money. Good thing I waited, because we got a whole dessert spread absolutely free! (Plus my third butterbeer of the day, because how can you argue with free butterbeer?)

By this point, I was too full of chocolate trifle and treacle fudge to even consider the candy apples, but they did look good.

During the day, this place has a line five rows deep, but the staff were awesome enough to stay behind during the party so the press and VIP guests could poke through unhindered. Other reporters and I decided to pose with our wands.

(I blame my awful hair on the Dragon Challenge coaster, which we rode over a quiet park at 11:30 at night. Definitely a memory I won't soon forget.)

My souvenirs, spread out on my hotel room bed. I got me a ton of stuff, including...

- house scarves for the boyfriend (Hufflepuff) and myself (Gryffindor, even though I'm usually a Ravenclaw--I told you, I wear too much blue!)
- time turner and Deathly Hallows keychains
- the Marauders' Map
- commemorative butterbeer mugs
- Ravenclaw pennant for my old roomie
- Honeydukes candies
- house socks for my sister and me