Anyone who has been to Universal Studios in Florida will know that it is just one of the coolest and most fun places in the world.
We were lucky enough to get to travel there and it was definitely one of our favourite places we have been so far. We had the most amazing holiday ever, which was made even more amazing by the fact that we got engaged at Harry Potter World!
It happened right outside of the Harry Potter castle at Universal Studios and anyone that knows us will know we’re both mega Harry Potter geeks, so there couldn’t have been anywhere more special for the special moment.
Our day started with leaving the Caribbean Beach Resort in Disney World which is where we were staying and catching an Uber to Universal Studios. We were so excited! Although we absolutely loved being in Disney, we were both looking forward to getting out and being somewhere different, especially with all the incredible things we’d seen and heard when researching Universal Studios beforehand.
If you’re a Harry Potter fan (I’m guessing you are if you’re here!) then you may want to check out our blog post where we tell you all about how we found Dobby’s grave in Wales! – Dobby’s Grave At Freshwater West Beach 2022- Harry Potter)
When we made it into the park, we made our way straight to Diagon Alley. If you didn’t know it was there, you could completely miss it. It’s hidden behind a wall which makes it even more mind-blowing when you find what’s behind it.
With all of the Harry Potter favourites such as Olivander’s, Honey Dukes, Flourish and Blotts, and so much more you could just spend hours wondering around there. The Gringotts Bank ride was possibly the best ride of the whole trip!
The detail, creativity and imagination that goes into every little thing are what made it by far the best day for us.
Next, we found ourselves feeling pretty close to home walking into Kings Cross Station to catch the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade over at Islands of Adventure (Yes, you actually get to ride the Hogwarts Express!!)
The plan for Ryan to make that unbreakable vow
The plan for the engagement had been in place for around 6 months and very nearly all unfolded when we boarded the plane! Ryan had hidden the ring in his headphones case in his hand luggage as he wanted to keep the ring close to him so that it wouldn’t get lost.
Once we boarded the plane and took off Ryan got up and went to the bathroom and I decided to relax and watch a film. I went into his bag and got out some headphones. The look on Ryans face was a sight when I told him I’d been into his bag to get them out!
I did think this was strange but luckily, we had two sets and by chance, I managed to pick out the ones that didn’t have the ring in! Somehow, I managed to completely miss the ring, so the secret was still in place.
We were wondering around Harry Potter world, and he was so calm I would never have known what was about to happen. We arrived at Hogsmeade, and Ryan left me to wonder around while he went to the bathroom.
He later told me that he went in there to prepare himself. He got the ring prepared in the Golden Snitch and placed it in his pocket. He said he knew all those months ago exactly where and how he wanted it to happen.
We walked up to Hogwarts Castle and decided we wanted a photo in front of it with the amazing castle in the background. Ryan found two people passing by and asked one of them to take a photo, but strangely he asked his friend to record also on the Go Pro.
I couldn’t hear the exact conversation he had with them but did think it was strange that he handed them both devices, I just thought he was really eager to get a picture of us with the castle!
He then walked over and got down on one knee! I was so in shock I couldn’t speak or do anything for what felt like forever, I just burst into tears. I was just so unaware that anything like this was going to happen, but it really was one of the most magical and amazing moments of our lives and I can’t thank Ryan enough for putting so much thought and effort into it and making it so perfect.
One of our favourite moments was the cute worker who you can see in the background of the video and photos looking super happy came up to us and offered us some free fast passes for all the rides, so we quickly jumped onto the ride inside the castle – Straight after the engagement!
The experience of getting engaged at Harry Potter World will stay with us forever! And we are so happy we have the moment caught on camera so that we can watch it back in years to come and show our children and grandchildren.
If you’re lucky enough to visit Harry Potter world in Universal Studios we hope you have as much of an incredible time as we did, this blog only shows a tiny section of what they have on offer! (We’ll be doing a further blog all about everything else we got up to at Universal Studios)
Thank you for taking the time to read our post, it’s much appreciated, and we hope you’ll enjoy reading some of our others. x
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I love everything about travel, from seeing new places, learning about new cultures and trying new foods! I believe that travel is one of the best forms of education you can get, I have learnt so much about myself and about the world from travelling all over. Travel is something I feel so passionately about, and I love the fact that we are now lucky enough to have this opportunity to do what we love as much as we can, it’s a dream come true.
Before we started travelling, I worked in local government in administration. I had been in this job for several years and had reached a complete brick wall where I was so fed up, but didn’t know what else to do. The only thing I knew that I wanted to do was to travel, and had wanted to do that for many years.
There were hundreds and hundreds of places on my wishlist that I wanted to go to, and I knew that going on a weeks holiday maybe twice a year if we were lucky wasn’t going to cut it.
After being in lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, and working from home staring at the same 4 walls every day, 2021 seemed like the perfect time for us to take the risk to finally do what we had dreamed of for so long.
It was a hard decision to completely change our lives, but so far it has been the best decision we have ever made!
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