In April, Harry Potter World opened at Universal Studios in Southern California.  That coincided with Grace’s school break, so we felt we had to go and visit…for Halloween research purposes.

We donned costumes (Grace – Hermione, Michelle – Quidditch Fan, Eric – “traveling” Harry/Epilogue Harry/old Harry)

…and entered into the immersive theme park.

We tried to do everything—we rode the rides, shopped in shops, ate at the Three Broomsticks and sampled butter beer.

In Olivander’s wand shop Grace chose a wand (or rather the wand chose her).

We marveled at the attention to detail—from the amazing portraits within Hogwarts…

…down to the simulated lichen around the castle entrance.

As we hoped to create an immersive Harry Potter experience for our guests at Halloween, we took lots of pictures of what we saw.

We also located some special treasures which we wanted to incorporate into the house theme.

You may notice that some of the things we saw made their way into the plan for the house.

Overall, it was magically inspirational adventure!