Hogwarts Express (WWoHP Part 5)

When we finished with what we wanted to do in Diagon Alley, we decided to ride the Hogwarts Express from London to Hogsmeade. Since Diagon Alley is in Universal Studios and Hogsmeade is in Islands of Adventure, you have to have a park-to-park pass in order to ride the train. It was a fun and convenient way to get from one park to the other.

At the King's Cross Station, you have to show your pass to the attendant, and then follow the lines that wind around to the platform. Once again, there weren't many people, so most of the line areas were empty, and we just got to walk straight through them. It made me grateful that we went at a slow time of year because there was A LOT of area available for a really long line. There were tons of things to see as we were walking to the platform. They had it all decorated with authentic London posters on the walls and real train routes on the electronic boards. Just before you arrive at the platform, you get to walk through the wall between platforms 9 and 10. That was a big thrill!

Once we were on Platform 9 3/4, we waited for the train to arrive. Soon, we heard it steaming into the station. Unfortunately, it backed up into the station, so we didn't get a good video of it arriving. Oh well! Then they opened the gate and assigned each group a train compartment. It was exactly like the movies, down to the fabric on the seats. As we started to pull out of the station, we began to see different scenes out the "window." We steamed through the streets of London, across the green, rolling hills of the English countryside, and finally into the Hogsmeade Station. Along the journey, we saw the shadows and heard the voices of Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the hall outside of the compartment. Later in the journey, a dementor appeared at the window and made it go icy. The effects were very well done. The only downfalls of the ride were that they used another voice for Hermione's, and it wasn't even close. Surely, the could have found a closer match... And, Ben left one of his wands on the train, and we never got it back :(

The ride from Hogsmeade back to King's Cross was completely different than going the other direction. You got to see the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid waving goodbye, and then Fred and George setting off fireworks along the way. We ended up going on the Hogwarts Express 4 times over the course of the two days. The ride itself was only about 5 minutes, but it was such a cool, unique experience.

Welcome to Hogsmeade!