My initial impressions of Hogsmeade: very nice ... And with very few people wandering the streets first thing in the morning, it had a very "authentic" feel to it.
There are a few shops (to which we shall return ...), a restuarant, and a Butterbeer stand ... But about 1/2 of the storefronts are just facades, with the "stores" closed and consisting only of window displays. So, unlike WDW where every "store" is a real store you can go into - about half of Hogsmeade is just "staging". Which was a disppointment, because some of those "stores" looked REALLY interesting ...
On to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ...
There was a 15 minute wait posted but that wasn't a real wait: it's basically how long it takes you to stroll through Hogwarts to the ride itself ...
The first thing you do is put all the stuff that could possibly go flying anywhere off your person into a free locker. Yes - a FREE locker ... and that should have been a warning about what was to come ...
We took our time walking through the castle: there's lots to see, including a short scene with Harry, Hermine (sp? - don't care ...

), and that Weasly kid, "living portraits", and a whole bunch of stuff that will have lots of meaning to you Harry Potter fans out there ...
At one point, there was a monitor hangling from the wall that apparently showed people on the ride ... which was a not so subtle second warning. Becasue, as I'm watching it, I thought - that's pretty good computer graphics: there's no way they could be doing that to those people !
But I was wrong ...
So we get strapped in - and usually on these types of rides I hold my DD's hand so she doesn't get too scared ... (at least, that's the excuse I use: I'm not a big fan of roller coasters, etc. - except for Big Thunder Mnt. RR ...) - but I couldn't reach over to her. Not that I would have the chance if I need to, because I was too busy holding on for dear life!!!
So half my attention was on how increadible and amazing the ride was, about 25% was worried my daughter was screaming her head off, and the other 25% was trying to keep myself from puking ...
I won't even try to decribe Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - you need to experinece it at least once. But not on a full stomach - or an empty stomach!!
The ride came to a most welcome end with my stomach still intact ... and the DD screams "Let's do that again!!!" So my worries about her were totally unfounded ...
However, the DW was not looking good, and her first words to me were "I'm feeling a little green ..." This from the woman who loves roller coasters and all those thrill rides ...
We took a look at the picture they take of you at a point on the ride: the DD has a big smile on her face, I'm looking at something in the ride - but the DW is obviously not very happy at all!!

Basically, she spent most of the ride trying to keep her tummy from exploding ...
Needless to say, we did not "do it again" (at that point in the day ...), but instead headed to the wand shop ...
(where I shall leave you, since the DW just came in - and I need to make pasta sauce for dinner ...)