The big day is here.
It’s sunny, 21C and not a cloud to be seen, anywhere. After wearing my feet down to the nubs
yesterday, I wasn’t sure about doing one of the attractions today, but I have a
three park 5-day pass. The catch is,
that once it’s activated, I have 6 days in which to use it. I just don’t know if my feet and legs can
take that much walking.
When I went to the front counter in the hotel to activate
the pass, I got chatting with the fellow there and explained my plight re my
feet etc. I was wondering about renting
a cart but wasn’t sure about it. He
suggested to me that I upgrade to a yearly pass and I said that I’m only here
for three weeks and it would likely be a long time before I was back. He explained the upgrade was only $4.00 and
gave me unlimited access with no restrictions, so of course I tossed him the
cash. I’m set now, it enables me to do a
rest day tomorrow.
With my new pass in hand, I was off to see the wizards,
knowing that I could keep this a short visit today and save my feet. Little did I know. I went to the gate and in addition to showing
my pass, I had to show photo i.d. and then they took a scan of my thumbprint. I won’t need to show photo i.d. next
time. Then, I was in and off to the
races.
I had no idea where I was going, but I didn’t think it would
be hard to find a Harry Potter exhibit.
Wrong again. I was wandering through
the streets of old New York, remember that Universal Studios is an active movie
set, so all of these are permanent emplacements, so if they are filming
something in New York, they close the set unless they need extras walking
through the scene.
As I was walking, New York transitioned into San Francisco
and then into Amity, Long Island, the fictional town where Jaws took place, and
there he was, a giant shark hanging from a gantry. Across the bay, I saw Springfield, home of
The Simpsons. I didn’t make it all the
way over there though.
Because, I stumbled across the Knight Bus and figured I
couldn’t be far from Harry Potter. Right
near there was Grimald Place and I saw either Dobby or Kreacher peeking out
from behind the curtains. Couldn’t tell
which as I only got a quick glimpse.
I stepped back into the shade in order to take a shot of the
Knight Bus and there it was, an alcove leading into Diagon Alley. I had found it and in it went. Just after stepping in, my first view down
the road was of Gringotts Bank with the giant dragon sitting atop it. I was wondering if I would get a chance to
get a shot of it spewing fire. It
happens at random intervals and is prefaced by a rumbling roar.
Well, imagine my luck. About a minute in, the roaring started,
and I got my shots. There was Weezly’s
Wizarding Wheezes, Florian Fetiscues Ice Cream, Olivander’s Wand Shop, the Gringotts
cash exchange with an animatronic Goblin.
All the shops that you would expect from Diagon Alley. Now on to my next goal.
I didn’t go in to a lot of the shops because I really wasn’t
interested in shopping, just photographing.
I had thought about getting a wand from Olivander’s. These wands are sort of functional, in that
at various spots you can point the want, utter the spell and make things
happen. I saw this huge line of people, that
snaked all around the area. They were
all waiting to get into Olivander’s. I’m
told it was a 2.5-hour line, to purchase a wand for $48 US. I didn’t want one that badly.
So, instead I bought a Butterbeer from a little stand. They come in warm, cold and frozen. I opted for the frozen variety. They look great and they taste great,
however, very sweet. There’s no alcohol
in it and a poor description would be like a milkshake.
After finishing it, I continued wandering around and found
myself in a very dark passage, called Knockturn Alley. There was dark wizards and other creatures
and the shop Borgin & Bourques. I
didn’t want to use a flash for fear of ruining the ambience. I popped outside, just in time to catch the
dragon at Gringotts spewing fire again. I
heard someone behind me say that he got the shot that he had been trying for
over the course of two days. I didn’t
have the heart to tell him, that I had photographed it twice in less than an
hour. As if that wasn’t enough, I was lucky
enough to catch it a third time too.
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