I will make no apologies for being excited about this:

And by this, I mean a glimpse into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park they’re putting together in Orlando. Sure, it’s a theme park. Natania, you say, it’s not real! You can go to Europe to see real castles. You don’t need to go to a glitzy Orlando theme park to get your kicks.

Well, first I don’t live in Europe, and I certainly can’t afford a trip no matter how much I want to go. And the closest “castle” of any sort is the Biltmore which, while it looks magical, also is magically expensive (especially when there’s so many people going through you never get a chance to look at the Albrecht Dürer prints or admire the textiles or portraits… not that I’m bitter!).

I started reading the Harry Potter series well after the rest of the world, mostly because I was plain stubborn and considered such childish things quite beneath me (I was immersed in James Joyce at the time, to put it into perspective, morosely making my way through Ulysses, which I never actually finished). But during a particularly weak moment during finals the first semester of my junior year, something cracked, and I walked myself to the library and picked up the first volume. I was, dare I say, enchanted. I also stayed up far too late reading and ended up taking finals half-asleep. Oh, sure, it’s not high literature, but it’s a damned lot of fun. And from page one I wanted to be in that world.

So now, it looks like I can be (well, as soon as the lines die down… which will probably take until 2020). I mean, can you see the detail here? It’s staggering. I can’t wait to be sorted!

[via /Film]

Tags: books, harry potter, theme park, wizarding world of harry potter