Wizarding World will appeal to Happy Potter fanatics

ORLANDO, Fla. - Professor Albus Dumbledore was talking to me and only me, a mere Muggle.

I knew this because no matter where I moved in the headmaster's office, he turned to peer my way. My 17-year-old daughter rolled her eyes at my squeals, but she was thrilled too.

And there you have a small but delightful hint of the vast magic at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Orlando Resort's brilliant (as Harry would say) enterprise to lure tourists away from that other theme park across town.

Dumbledore's office, complete with Pensieve and portraits of past headmasters, isn't even the main event. It's just a point of interest on the scenic route snaking through Hogwarts castle on the way to the big attraction, the Forbidden Journey.

With the imminent arrival Friday of the next movie, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," this mecca beckoned us last month. We had a short break from school and free round-trip airline vouchers - our tickets to bond over butterbeer.

The Potter paradise, built for a reported $265 million and unveiled last spring, is 20 acres tucked in the far corner of Islands of Adventure, the newer of Universal's two adjacent theme parks.

Enter Wizarding World through a stone archway and you are transported out of gaudy Orlando and into author J.K. Rowling's quaint old Britain. This is the village of Hogsmeade, with cobblestone streets, snow on slate roofs and the focal point - Universal's answer to Cinderella's castle - the towering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The best stores are all here: Honeydukes sweet shop, selling Peppermint Toads (delicious) and Chocolate Frogs (not so much), and Zonko's Joke Shop, brimming with Extendable Ears, Sneakoscopes and You-No-Poo.

At pubs and street stands, the legendary butterbeer flows. It's sort of a root beer float - no, a cream soda float - with a dash of butterscotch. Get it cold or as a frozen slushie. Delicious.

All of this Potter immersion makes up for the fact that Wizarding World contains just three rides. Two are roller coasters commandeered from a chunk of the Lost Continent area next door. Lost, indeed.

The former Dueling Dragons is now the Dragon Challenge, two intertwining coasters retrofitted as an homage to "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." (Warning: The Challenge is for the strong-of-stomach only.) Universal transfigured the Flying Unicorn into the Flight of the Hippogriff, a tame-by-comparison coaster that speeds past Hagrid's persnickety pet.

But the best part is the totally new Forbidden Journey - forbidden because Muggles aren't allowed anywhere near Hogwarts. The wait can approach two hours. But it's an entertaining wait.

You enter through Hogwarts' dungeons, stocked with the Mirror of Erised and other artifacts, and then wind your way among the exotic plants of Professor Sprout's greenhouse.

Inside the castle there are talking portraits, the chatty Sorting Hat, Dumbledore in his office and none other than Harry, Ron and Hermione, seemingly in the flesh. (OK, they're really just projections.) They offer to sneak you out of a dull History of Magic class and over to a Quidditch match.

It all builds to the spellbinding ride itself, a mix of animatronic creatures and high-def film that looks all too real as you swoop, soar and twist along. The once ballyhooed 3-D Spider-Man ride across the park seems dated by comparison. So '90s.

First, we were strapped into a four-person bench and whisked through the Floo Network, up to the Astronomy Tower and out over the Hogwarts grounds, with our BFF Harry leading the way aboard his broomstick.

We swerved to avoid a flying dragon but somehow got stuck in front of its fire-breathing face. We plunged into the Forbidden Forest, where giant spiders spit who-knows-what all over us. Maybe it's water. Maybe not.

We narrowly avoided the Whomping Willow, fled from Dementors, raced out of a crumbling cave and finally landed back inside the castle, as students and professors cheered our accomplishments.