Folks if you think you’re getting a ton of tactile beautiful immersive sets and not green screen bullshit, I’ve got bad news
I have never read an HP book or watched a movie. My nephew turns 9 next week and — per his request — I will be spending Dec 6-8 at the Harry Potter world thing in Orlando (conference championship weekend ). Bout to watch Sorcerer’s Stone. Looking forward to becoming a wizard.
Splurge for Orlando Informer meetup tickets for the night of the 6th or 7th ..just trust me on this. It's so much better than going during the day. They shoo out the peasants at like 7pm and afterwards you'll walk onto rides without any wait and the food's free https://meetup.orlandoinformer.com/
Sorcerer’s Stone is very much a kids movie. The themes and tone become more adult as the movies go along and Harry et al age.
Prisoner of Azkaban is the best movie of the series. Tone gets more "adult" starting with that one, but it strikes the best balance of being darker and still fun
my near 8 year old is almost done with Sorcerer's stone. he has had a really good start to second grade with his reading level so I figured he was ready. I got the large illustrated versions a few years ago and would read them to him and his little sister occasionally but they always got bored. a week or so ago I read the first chapter to them before bed. then did another chapter the next night and he's taken off since then. I just checked and he just got to the part where hagrid births the dragon. I think I about got him hooked. looking forward to see how he does as the books progress.
I watched the first 20 minutes last night before going to bed and I absolutely hate the family Harry is living with.
They’re entertaining if you go in not expecting a cinematic masterpiece. My oldest (8) loves HP so we watch them every holiday season and they’re still a fun rewatch.
I used to get the books on release at midnight and speed read them like a goon. I wish the books were adapted to an hbo series like 5 years ago instead of movies 20 years ago
I can remember my dad waking me up at 1:30 in the morning with Deathly Hallows and reading it straight through in a sitting
I’m a big roller coaster guy and the internet tells me there’s a pretty sweet Jurassic Park ride there that Golden Ticket ranked as the second best in the US. I thought we only were doing HP shit but I guess not. I have no idea how Universal works.
Get park to park passes so you can go between the two parks instead of having to choose one per day. Velocicoaster is a blast and one of the smoothest coasters I’ve ever ridden. Hagrids is also fantastic. They’re 1a and 1b as far as best rides in the park. Also be sure to ride Hulk and The Mummy. The Mummy is one of the more underrated rides at Universal.
Hagrids is awesome and by far my favorite at universal. Also really like the Gringots ride. Whatever you do - do not ride the Fast and Furious ride.
It's terrible. Super short ride that's not fun. We don't even ride it on MeetUp nights when there's no line
None of the rides are like going to Cedar Point or Kings Island, but velociraptor and hagrids aren't bad Jimmy Fallon is fun. Skull Island is fun.
Velocicoaster is really good. I like Hagrids better, but you can make the case for either since they're a different style of coaster. IMO Univseral/IOA is a perfect 2 day park experience. There's a few ways you can do it. I'm sure the Disney thread or reddit can give you the perfect itinerary. Side note, if you're big on coasters, you should plan a day for Sea World. And if you're ever in Tampa, Bush Gardens has a lot of good ones.
Gryffindor wins the house cup thanks to some additional points and a bit of fuckery from Dumbledore. Neville Longbottom gets my vote for MVP. I shall now progress onward into a chamber of secrets.
Getting some unfortunate Jar Jar vibes from this Dobby fella but I reserve the right to change my mind.
harry potter world is awesome, and i went 2-3x (used to go to work things in orlando) before reading the books/watching the movies. you can enjoy it without knowing anything about it
I immediately noticed the dad has some stereotypical antagonist vibes and then I learned the actor also played the bad guy in The Patriot. Explains a lot.
Jason Isaacs had a pretty good bad guy run in the early 2000s. Perfect Lucius Malfoy. Honestly most of the adult actors completely nail the book characters (minus Dumbledore #2)
7 (almost 8) year old is 4 chapters into Chamber. He’s hooked. Waking up early each morning to read it. I have been quizzing him on basic plot stuff to ensure he’s not just mindlessly going through it to say he did and he does pretty good. I ordered Order of the Phoenix for Christmas but may have to give to him early. I am missing books 4-7 from my original collection so I’m hoping it’s somewhere at my parents houses. These illustrated books are expensive!
I think Goblet is where you really start to lose content from the books that make the movies less enjoyable. It obviously happens throughout but Goblet is where it’s most noticeable.