Riddikulus Fun

KELLY BERTRAND GOES POTTY FOR HARRY AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

You know those moments of sheer, unadulterated, complete joy? When the worries of the real world fall away because you’re just so darn delightfully happy? My happy place is here at Universal Studios.

I’m striding up the streets of Hogsmeade on a glorious early summer LA day, an icy cold Butterbeer in one hand and a magic wand in the other as I mingle with hundreds of excited robe-clad visitors popping in and out of shops with names such as Zonko’s Joke Shop, Honeydukes, and The Three Broomsticks. And there, looming in the distance, sits Hogwarts Castle.

Entering The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a street designed to look exactly like J.K. Rowling’s fantasy world right down to the tiniest detail, has been on my bucket list since rumours began in the early 2000s of an HPthemed wing at the park. But really, I’ve dreamed about entering Harry’s world since I picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1998.

In case you haven’t cottoned on, yes, I’m rather a fan of the books. (I may or may not belong to an HP Pub Quiz team dubbed That’s So Ravenclaw.) So embracing my inner geek along with thousands of like-minded people – and my friend Lucy, who at best has read half the books but was very enthusiastic that I was enthusiastic – was the stuff that dreams are made of.