Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Remember when I admitted to crying on my eleventh birthday because I didn't get my Hogwarts letter? How I knew then that this magical world I clung to since I was nine couldn't be real because if it was I'd be a part of it?

My childhood wasn't the greatest and these books, this world, tethered me. Kept me sane. And when I didn't get my letter, the small bit of childhood I maintained despite circumstances, was crushed. But I never stopped believing in Harry Potter. For a long time it was the only thing I'd talk to Mom about - one of our only connections, aside from blood and all that. The books and world offered me glimpses of real happiness and these feelings the books inspired are a giant part of why I want to write my own novels.

So, to put it lightly, I had HIGH expectations. Honestly, I was terrified I'd be disappointed. While certain details aren't a hundred percent accurate to the books - most probably wouldn't notice but I've read them hundreds of times (no exaggeration!) and am crazy- they managed to capture the essence, the atmosphere.  Their attention to detail is astounding. The park may be new but it feels ancient, like thousands have walked the streets and halls for centuries.

A bubble encapsulates Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, a charged, magically infused dome fueled by dreams, belief and wonder. Stepping onto the street I froze, more positive emotions slammed into my chest then I've ever felt in my entire life. Instantaneously. No matter how happy I've been in the past, all the shadows have never been chased away, a little of my darkness always remained. Not then. There was nothing in me but light and positive emotions and they swept through me in a typhoon and I (the girl who refuses to cry anywhere but in private, who absolutely never cries in public) burst into tears.

Can you see the childhood I thought I lost slamming back into me? Can you see my dreams coming true?

For the next two hours as we went through Hogwarts and rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, walked around Hogsmeade and rode the Hungarian Horntail I alternated between trying to choke back tears and stopping myself from hyperventilating to the point I fainted (and I was close!), never mind the augmentation in my fidgeting - it was only so Ramona wouldn't notice my entire body shaking with emotion.

The Forbidden Journey is the best ride in all of Orlando. Hands down. And this isn't just coming from the Harry Potter nerd, Ramona - a future Disney animator - agrees wholeheartedly. We did this ride 15 times. It never got boring, there was always another smaller detail to notice. It is intricate and flows beautifully between Real3D (no glasses necessary) and live sets with mind-blowing, scream-inducing animatronics. I choked on a face full of Hungarian Horntail (dragon) flames, had spider webs wet my clothes (terrifying for someone who is deathly afraid of spiders), narrowly escaped the whomping willow, and I lost my soul (yes I'm certain, you will see when you do the ride for yourself).

Waiting is half the fun but there is also a leisurely walk-through of the castle. (Tip - if you don't mind being separating from your party go in the singles line, you can do the ride SO many more times even with other people waiting two hours - in slow season!)

Hanging over your head in the defense classroom, you get this pretty bone ensemble.

We drank butterbeer which is delicious - especially frozen - and somehow fills you up in the same way the novels says it does as well as pumpkin juice. We ate breakfast at the Three Broomsticks (How cool is this to say? I still can't believe I can and I lived this!)

There was a bloody brilliant school bullfrog choir (If you're on my facebook I'll be posting a sample video of them later today.) that played in the square.

There was also a spirit assembly where we got to witness the Durmstrang boys do amazing flips and battle with staffs. The girls of Beauxbatons performed breathily, gracefully twirling streamers. Ron would have fainted.

The Dragon Challenge offers you a viciously twisting coaster in the form of the Hungarian Horntail or a speed happy ride that leaves you a bit faint on the Chinese Fireball (which finds it slot as third best ride in all of Orlando). The two dragons almost collide. Twice. 

The Flight of the Hypogriff, supposedly a children's ride, is still fun and the animal's nest and Hagrid's hut are definitely worth seeing up close. 

Ollivanders wand experience. I had chills. Enough said. 

Portraits speak to you and each other. Each shop window has tiny, wonderful, details. Moaning Myrtle never shuts up when you go into the girls lavatory (which, when your trying to pee is actually a little uncomfortable). Gryffindor employees treated me with scorn for sporting my Slytherin pride with my shirt (that a lot of people wanted but I bought years ago) while my Slytherin peers never failed to high-five, salute and acknowledge me.

I'm sorry this post is so long, there was just so much. Trust me I could gush for ages more... I was there and even after 17 hours (yes I counted. No I don't care that you think I'm psycho now :D ) I could hardly believe how they managed to exceed my expectations. An OWL of Outstanding, plus special notations in the Ministries record books, plus a plaque, plus statues, plus a monument, plus my soul - fifteen times over (Okay so the last one isn't really an option because they sort of just took it) is what I give to them.

These pictures fail to capture the magic. My words aren't enough. If you have any passing interest in Harry Potter I suggest you go. Heck, if you HATE Harry Potter (are you crazy?) it's still an amazing park and there will be something there for you. There's talk of them expanding the park in two-three years - if they are lacking for ideas I have at least a hundred rides/shops/things they could do. I'll be back again. Soon (as I can afford it).

My Grandparents made one of my childhood dreams come true. They got me to Hogwarts. Man, they are amazing. I can't get over it. Everyone, help me thank them and congratulate them on making it to their 55th wedding anniversary. Which was yesterday. (Pretty please?)

Do you have any dreams that have come true lately? That you are working towards? What's your biggest childhood wish? 


I'm posting the winner on Sunday because Monday's post really needs to stand alone. I will contact the winner (if they happen to miss it).

Sea World

Mom raised me with a healthy appreciation for animals. This means a place like Sea World (and Animal Kingdom) is sort of like giving me a blank cheque and telling me to go for it. Except instead of material stuff  and a wad of cash I get, the much more valuable (not to mention, long lasting - unless you have a memory like a cheese grater), experiences.

Aquatica - Sea World's water park - offers fantastic beaches, excellent rides and rapids. If you're feeling lazy you can grab a tube and float under an aquarium or catch a glimpse of the dolphin tank. If you're looking for something quicker you can take a speedy plunge - through a dolphin tank. Just don't close your eyes like Ramona and miss the underwater show!

Sea World's new ride Manta wins the second best ride of ALL of Orlando's rides. And I can say that because we did all the rides at Universal, Disney and Sea World. So if you're in the area, do it. It's a thrill. It's an especially exciting experience after you've pet a stingray.

Let a mushroom sit in water for two days, touch it and you'll get a replicated experience of touching a stingray for real. (Although, maybe don't hold me to this because I don't know how long you should leave the mushroom in water, but it should have a little give and be a little soggy. Also, I figure touching wet produce won't be as fun. And hopefully not as alive...)

Stingrays also give excellent high fives. Though they give them frequently it took me a while to get this shot - Ramona kept missing her cue.

I saw Cirque de Soleil years ago and it was an unforgettable experience. Sea World has a show, Allure, which is sort of like a half hour long unofficial version of the show with amazing acrobatics and will leave you slack jawed. I had enough presence to get one (unfortunately not in action) shot. This girl was dangling and doing tricks on this thin piece of cloth (How do they do that?!)

Blue Horizons - their dolphin show - incorporates live (and gorgeous) birds, acrobatics and dolphins. My favorite part of Sea World, for sure. It was awe-inspiring.

If the show wasn't enough we got to feed the dolphins shortly after. Please note my hand on its chin as well as the fish not quite in its mouth. Dolphins feel like rubber!

And look, a nursery! (There were also baby manatees but those aren't nearly as cute.)

And let's not forget about Shamu the famous Free Willy (who lived at the Vancouver Aquarium for most of his life..and this is obviously not him but I like calling all Killer Whales Shamu. It's a lot friendlier and makes them seem more approachable, don't you think?).

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the big Harry Potter reveal. (I know this is killing you Jen.) 

Also, don't forget about my contest!

See you then. 

Anyone else been to Sea World or another all Animal park they loved? Anyone actually get to SWIM with Dolphins (I'm SO jealous!)? Anyone who didn't appreciate stingrays now think they are awesome (I hated them before. Now I think they rock!)?

Disney World

Disney World offers people of all ages so many opportunities. 

You can travel the world at Epcot. 

See mexico,

Italy, 

Japan, 

and the United Kingdom. (Where they totally had an entire shelf dedicated to the Harry Potter!)

You can jet into space, see the future, explore the old frontier and fantasy at Magic Kingdom. And let me tell you, no one does story rides like Disney. The imagineers know how to capture the essence of classic Disney stories and retell them with music, visuals and the occasional voice over. Phillar Magic is an awesome 3D show featuring the hilarious Donald Duck and showcasing some of Disney's best songs.Magic Kingdom is also home to one of my three favorite Disney attractions - Space Mountain. 

You can go on the Rock 'n' Roller coaster featuring Aerosmith at Hollywood Studios - an excellent ride (one of my top three at all Disney parks). 

You can also see the infamous stone table from Narnia. (That's Ramona, also she's representing her (wishful) Ravenclaw pride if you note the lanyard around her neck. She REALLY wishes she wasn't a Hufflepuff!)

You can watch animators create before your very eyes or participate in your very own drawing lesson. 

Hollywood studios also features Fantasmic every Thursday  night. This isn't a show I'd miss, if your in the area. A brilliant usage of water and video projection, actors, music and fireworks. Seriously, awesome. 

And I'd say the other 8000 people in the stands agreed with me - if the cheering was anything to go by. 

Also, they set the entire lake on fire. I knew then they were after my (pyromaniac) heart.

Animal Kingdom, though, is my favorite park. You can see baby gorillas (clinging to their mothers), baby elephants (rampaging around the watering hole with a branch wrapped in their trunk), baby warthogs (annoying their mother, I think, with their frolicking) and baby giraffes:

Animal Kingdom is home to the third of my three favorite rides - Expedition Everest where an encounter with the ancient Yeti will send your troop backwards down a rickety coaster!

If that isn't enough, you can watch gorgeous birds perform and swoop over your head (one nearly nicked Ramona's ear), you can explore ancient ruins in Asia and go on an African safari. Throughout your adventures you'll encounter numerous species, here's a SMALL sample:

Owls, 

Tigers, 

and Lions (who have a striking resemblance to my pretty kitty....okay just kidding, but she's got presence too.)

All in all, Disney World was Fantasmic! (haha, get it?.... Okay, I know that was lame but...you could be kind and give me points for effort.)

After leaving, I have a vicious desire to watch all my favorite Disney movies. As soon as I get settled in at school you know what'll be occupying my free time (after I catch up on reading Mockingjay, Clockwork Angel and Paranormalcy, of course!).

Have any of you been to either Disney Land or Disney World? What was your favorite park? Favorite rides? Best or Worst experience?

Also, don't forget to enter my contest! 

Guess What?

I'm back! Miss me? (I missed you!)

Look how excited I am to be home.

 Actually, this is me, right after we entered Islands of Adventure...right before I started running to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. But, you'll agree that's totally beside the point, won't you?

Anyways, as I said before I signed off I want to share some of the awesome of Harry Potter with all of you. So I'm having my first ever contest.

The winner gets an "I Must Not Tell Lies" lanyard and a jar of U-No-Poo (candy covered milk-chocolate). U-No-Poo (for those of you who either don't recall or haven't read the books) is one of the creations of the infamous Weasley twins. The say it best with their slogan for the product:

Why are you worrying about You-Know Who? 

You should be worrying about U-No-Poo - the Constipation Sensation that's gripping the nation!*

The contest is open to any and all of my followers who reside somewhere in North America. 

Here's how you enter.

+1 for leaving a comment.

+1 new follower.

+2 old follower.

+3 for a sidebar link.

+5 for a post that mentions the contest.

Just leave all necessary links and your points in the comments on this post and the winner will be chosen over the weekend and announced on Monday!

The rest of this week you'll get a mini photo diary of my vacation. Disney World on Wednesday, Sea World on Thursday and the big (and may I say, totally awesome) reveal of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on Friday. 

Midnight on Friday is also when I will stop accepting entries to the contest.

*Copyright belongs to JK Rowling and Warner Brothers and all other people involved with Harry Potter. 

Wizards and Mickey

So if you haven’t noticed my little countdown in the sidebar, I’m going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Disney World on Tuesday. I’m leaving my house exactly 24 hours after this post goes online.

I thought I wasn’t excited. I thought I wasn’t anxious.

I was in a state of amazing calm.

My only problem? I haven’t been able to focus the last (if I’m honest) two weeks. My mind couldn’t hold a thought, the world was a slippery slope and things just whizzed by – like Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

I had plans to finish my MS. I was going to work my but off and package pretty stacks of paper to send off to my beta readers. Instead, Mom is reading the first third in a purple duotang while I’m gone. I’m disappointed I didn’t finish – awfully so. But, I am really happy with the direction the rewrite is taking and we’ll see how Mom feels when she’s finished. (Also, when I say Mom is reading, do not assume she will think it’s awesome just cause I’m her daughter. She doesn’t care. To her, it’s a book, like any other and she’ll give it the same treatment. Mom never lies. Serious. Plus, she knows lying about my book would only harm me (not that she lies anyways!).)

And then, last night, at my family birthday dinner when I was opening presents geared towards my trip my emotions spiked. It became real, in a way it hasn’t been. Mom made a valid observation (as moms so often do): three months ago I was seriously excited, my body readjusted, accommodating that level of excitement so I got used to it, expected it – when my excitement spiked, I could suddenly feel it again.

Ramona drew me a card of Draco Malfoy in watercolor! Thought I'd share the awesome.

Now I’m dying. And my goodness, let me tell you, it is an absolutely wondrous way to go.

Needless to say I will be missing in blogger action the next two weeks (also, sorry for not really visiting this week. As stated earlier I’ve been a little...lost lately). I’ll be back by the 5^th of September with pictures and stories and awesome galore!

Before I sign off, I need to say something:

I’m overwhelmed by the generosity and thoughtfulness and love and support of my family. (And no, this doesn’t really have anything to do with my trip – well except the generosity part but that transcends the trip.) My uncle, cousin, mom and grandparents all read this blog so I want to say I Love You. Period.

Excuse me fellow bloggers as I get sappy and give an extra special shout out to Grandparents:

You are making the little girl in me – that girl who waited on her eleventh birthday for her Hogwarts Owl and cried when it didn’t come (for weeks) – unbearably happy. You are making one of my childhood dreams come true. No one else has Grandparents this awesome.

Pay Attention Again.

Because my family continually teaches me about generosity and thoughtfulness, when I return, I’m going to hold my first ever contest and share a little bit of the magic I am ridiculously lucky to be experiencing.

See you in the fall!

Word Of The Day: Galvanize - inspire; stimulate

Ministry Decree Number 001

So, what I didn't include in the last blog - and if you haven't read that one (which I understand cause I'm posting one after the other.) please do so first, here.

Have you read it?

No really, you have to read that first.

I'm trusting you....

So, what I didn't include in the last blog is the fact that I am combining my trip with Ramona's graduation trip.

For seven nights we're going to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure(home of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts!), Sea World, and Aquatica (Sea World's Waterpark). The first morning, when we're miserable and jetlagged, we're having breakfast at the Three Broomsticks (That feels amazing to say, amazing) and we'll sip on Butterbeer until it fades. It'll be an amazing beginning to our (extended) Week Of Awesome.

The seventh morning, we're switching hotels and going to stay closer to DisneyWorld for Ramona's graduation vacation. She, unlike me, has our days planned (with custom order maps coming in the mail) down to ride locations.

It's ten days of Florida sun and rides and things we both love. I can't imagine anything greater....well if Hogwarts was FOR REAL, that would be greater but Mugggles can't be choosers.... To countdown to our Week Of Awesome we plan to combine our artistic talents and add new features to both our blog's. For the next three months (starting next week) we're going to have comic/short stories coming out every friday. There will be 13 episodes.

Today, you just get the title page. Next friday you get episode 1, so on and so forth.

A Whale Eats Mickey Mouse And A Bloody Nougat:

the premeditated adventures of Melissa & Ramona.

If you couldn't tell, I'm the evil looking one with the snake who bears a striking resemblance to Voldemort. Ramona is decked out in everything Disney (and is so lame she gave herself a wand....when really, I should be the only magical one.)

And yes, my unmitigated genius came up with the title for our comic.

Word Of The Day (Part II): Transport - to carry away by strong emotion; enrapture.

Bloody Nougats And Puking Pastilles Are Only In Skiving Snackboxes

The statement, of course, is prefaced with rationalization: twenty-one is a big birthday; you’re working so hard in school; we’re so proud of you. It’s a good thing they said this first, since my brain stopped working all together after:

“We’re thinking of sending you to Harry Potter World.” My grandma keeps talking, grandfather sitting stoic by her side, but I’ve had one of those The-Bicycle-You’re-On-Has-Stopped-Suddenly-And-Your-Body-Can’t-Stop-It’s-Momentum-So-You-Fly-Over-The-Handles,-Hit-The-Ground-And-The-Wind-Gets-Knocked-From-Your-Lungs-So-Now-You-Can’t-Breathe moments.

She talks and talks but I’m still, staring at the glass table in front of me, hearing nothing but the rhythm of her voice.

My grandpa breaks the spell, “Why do you look so sad?”

I try speaking, but getting myself to process his statement is about the extent to which my brain can function. Talking back isn’t a viable option. Not at the moment.

Fortunately, my mom comes to the rescue, “Dad she’s not sad, I think she’s overwhelmed.”

I nod. After all, I can do that (thankfully).

“Well if I had known something like this is all it would take to make you stop talking...” Grandpa says, it’s one of those rare statements he utters where we all laugh with him.

My laugh is a little weak and dies quickly. My mind is stuck in an incessant loop of shock and disbelief.

It takes several days to wear off. I’m still sort of shocked, but I have random moments of extreme excitement and my already speedy way of speaking blurs into incoherent words with varying pitches.

Yeah, I’m a little ecstatic. I couldn’t even write about anything else (my minds been on a one-track road lately) and didn’t want to write about this until everything was booked. And as of today, it is!

My only problem now? How am I supposed to wait three months for this vacation? Okay, I lied, I have two problems. The second: how can I ever express my gratitude?

You see, this is so much more than a vacation for being in school and working hard or my twenty first birthday. My grandparents are making a dream come true for me.

I grew up with Harry Potter; I started the series when I was nine years old. Every fibre of my being believed the world was real, and there was nothing I wanted more than to be a part of it.

On my eleventh birthday I waited all day for an owl.

The letter never came. I cried myself to sleep that night.

I can’t express how wretched my eleven year old self felt. I was devastated, crushed and, internally, inconsolable. For a very long time.

I never told my mom, or anyone else, how upset I was (back then I was very against showing any sort of weakness). But that didn’t make the hurt any less poignant.

Obviously, I moved on.

I realized the Wizarding World really was fiction (I mean if it wouldn’t take me, there’s no way it can be real.).

When I found out they were building a theme park like eight years ago, I begged my mom to take me to the opening. I periodically brought it up, desperately wanting to go. I thought I would have to wait years (being a student seriously affects the amount of available cash I have).... 

My grandparents are making my dream of going to Hogwarts come true.  Exactly ten years later.

And how can you ever thank someone for something like that?

In sake of avoiding a rhetorical question (for once), you can’t. You can’t adequately thank someone for making your dreams come true. It just isn’t possible.

But I may squeeze them to death on occasion to try an even the score. Grandparents are suckers for things like that.

Word Of The Day: Rhapsody - an ecstatic expression of feeling or enthusiasm.

PS. Bloody nougats and puking pastilles are only in skiving snackboxes....and I'm going to buy twenty. Well, not really, but I'm going to buy some, at least.