Passing my O.W.Ls (Ostentatious Wizarding Lunacy)

I promised to post this blog weeks ago but better late than never! Now, if you’re a potterhead, we both know the title’s a pun but it sums up my experience quite right.

We took a trip to USJ’s Harry Potter world last month for our honeymoon trip and went to Ollivanders shop to get a wand.

We also watched a wand selection ceremony in Japanese and English which, I thought, was pretty cool.

There were two kinds of wands being sold there, one was an overpriced stick and the other one was interactive. In order to pass my O.W.L. I had to get the interactive wand which they labeled as magical wands.

It comes with a map of the wizarding world and the spells I had to perform around the area.

At this point, one would think that a wand is enough to get out there and perform spells. Not for a potterhead like me, I had to get a robe and a Gryffindor scarf to hide my muggle clothes. I also wore my time turner to make sure I pass my O.W.L and get me to N.E.W.Ts

The first two spells flopped, the third one was unimpressive,

fourth spell worked the first try, during the fifth spell I figured out the trick and on my sixth spell I got the crowd cheering!

Now that I figured out the trick to this OWL, I used my time-turner to perform the spells I flopped. In the end, both me and my husband passed our OWLs. I got an O for “Overwhelming enthusiasm” while he got himself an A which stands for an “Acceptable tolerance”

After that we rode the flight of the hippogriff and ventured onto the forbidden journey. One short rollercoaster ride and a 4D experience – What was the trick you asked?

Why, I passed the OWLs because I was able to spot the sensors of course! Once you see them you’ll know where to point the tip of the wand. Judging its size and range, you’ll know how big or small your movements should be.

Back to Hogsmeade, my husband was actually unimpressed with the Three Broomsticks not until I showed him the scene at the three broomsticks in the movie itself. There, the Three Broomsticks is an actual restaurant where you order food at the counter and once in a while catch a glimpse of an elf’s shadow working inside the kitchen.

You can also order butterbeer which, in my opinion, tastes like a cup of brown sugar with little amount of water. I’m not a fan of that drink ever since that day when my friend got the recipe for the Harry Potter drink.  Anyway, they also have an actual beer that my husband ordered which includes a souvenir cup. He said it tasted like any other decent beer.

There’s really so much to mention of what you can see and experience in the little wizarding world of Harry Potter in USJ. But it’s not enough for you to feel it’s magic. The magic comes when you remember that day, you dreamed of something you thought impossible yet there you are, enjoying its reality.

Since then I started dreaming of going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios Hollywood! We’ll probably have our own kids with us if we get to afford a trip there but who cares? This universe has it’s own way of making your thoughts into reality.