The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Orlando was pretty squee worthy, to say the least. I geeked out pretty hard, pretty effing hard.
Unfortunately, and also luckily, it was unseasonably cold in Florida while we were there. I packed for high 70s and humidity, but received mid 60s and chilly winds instead... which worked wonderfully for wearing my school robes, woot!!
Yes, I purchased a Ravenclaw robe, complete with wand pocket to stow my Luna Lovegood replica, from Dervish & Banges (no Madame Malkin's, we were at Hogsmead, not Diagon Alley... which makes sense to be near Hogwarts and they want to sell butterbeer, so keep it all in one geographic location, but Diagon Alley would have been so much cooler; especially if the entrance to the park was the wall at the back of The Leaky Cauldron and you have to know the code... *sigh*) which is a magical repair shop in Hogsmead, but it works, I suppose. I'm absolutely wearing it as a house robe, and to go get my mail every day, yupyupyup.
Ravenclaw? Luna Lovegood? Yes, she has always been my most favorite character... because she's totes the coolest, but also because I especially identify with her vast quantities of pertinent information that is often taboo or, shall we say, violently crass? mmmhm. I have reason to connect with Luna on an even better level now that I'm Jacques' girlfriend... *idiotic grin & mooney eyes*. He's always had an affinity for rabbits (both of us were born in the year of the rabbit, btw, more on rabbits some other time though) and Luna's patronus is a rabbit. Even though we're both Griffins from Gladstone Elementary, Ravenclaw, all the way. I'm sure, if the sorting hat were real, and I put it on my head, it would ponder whether to put me in Griffindor or Ravenclaw for a good while like it debated putting Harry in Slytherin over Griffindor...
Anyway! Butterbeer was exactly as I dreamed, though only when frozen in a slushie. The liquid version was too cream soda-ey, not butterscotch-ey. The foam on top was heavenly. Yes, there may or may not be some sort of animal product type shorting substance in it, and I asked about dairy and they said "it may contain traces of whey because of where it's made", but I couldn't get all the way to Harry Potter world and not have Butterbeer!!!
The Hogwarts ride was quite an experience. On rides at Disney, there are often motion sickness warnings posted at the entrance and when you get closer to actual boarding the ride... this ride had motion sickness warnings every 10 feet, seriously. I started to get worried, but decided it was worth the queeze for the experience. I had no idea that this ride was 75% Star Tours type video stimulation with accompanying chair motion and 25% Indiana Jones anamatronics with corresponding dips and dodges from the seat... see: worst ride for Laura to get on EVER!, also: Laura's personal barfy hell. Though still not as bad as actual flipping and turning on a roller coaster, because I can at least close my eyes for the visual parts, I was pretty green and clammy when I got off. I won't be getting on it again, but it was nice to have gone, especially all the cool stuff while you're waiting in line.
I earned 15 points for Ravenclaw for being cute. I saw Care of Magical Creatures snarling and chomping. I kissed a cute boy from Durmstrang (Jacques in his new HPW merch). I finally got to taste Butterbeer! and had a blast!!
No off to Aruba for some fun in the sun and humidity for realzz this time, hopefully.
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