I did not want to come home.
The trip to Florida was pretty damn awesome this time. Not that the other times were bad in any way…. But this time we stayed the week and did far more.
Though It started off a bit shaky. with all of us going to fly out on a Thurs…. Instead Paige and I flew out Friday morning. That same week she had her fifth grade camp. I couldn’t let her miss that. So I made sure she could go, picked her up Thursday night, right after their Bonfire event. Then off we went.
Then, as we hit the airport, I realized I left out conformation tickets at home. Not much of a problem, we were early, and I could print another set there…. Only I couldn’t remember the code they gave us. After a brief panic, I remembered I had a post it note in my book with said number…. Everything else went pretty smooth. Till we hit Texas, there was a storm going on so we circled a bit before landing, meaning we had to run to our next gate…. From one god damn far end of the airport to the farthest gate on the other side. Only to find out that plane was delayed an hour due to some mechanical thing.
We made it to Florida…. Like 6 or 7 at night…. It was still bloody 90 degrees. That sucked…. But, for three nights we had a lot of heat lightning. That was pretty awesome. Sitting on the back patio of the condo and watching the show…. I miss that a great deal.
Cheer went well. Embers team came in fifth of 26 the first day, so were invited back for the second. They ended Third place out of ten. They were a bit disappointed, but still…. Quite proud of their accomplishments.
After that it was all fun and games…. Went to Disney world on Monday….. That was the best time I’ve ever had there. It was still hot, like high 80s… but it was….. What? Drizzly….. maybe. People down there were in heavy coats and or plastic parkas. It was hilarious. So with a slight rain, off season, and school day….. there were almost no lines at all. The worst wait time we hit for a ride was fifteen minutes, and that’s only because it takes about ten to walk from the entrance to the ride itself. Though, a real thunderstorm did come through later in the day, so they closed Disney down 2 hours early. The lightning was spectacular, and people were running in a near panic to get to the tram, to get to the parking lot to leave. We Sat just outside the gates to give people time to clear out before we left. No reason to be in that lemming run. It was just some heavy…ish rain. Hell, the rain was warmer than most showers I take. People are funny.
The rest of the week we spent at Universal. This was the first time I was there in Florida. That place is fucking cool. Though we did spend most our time at the Harry Potter world…. It’s set up beautifully. You have a London section on one side of the park. Where you have things like the night bus, Where you can talk to and get your picture with the driver and shrunken head. Who when he found out my daughter was named Paige, had her turn to look left, then turn to look right…. Told her he was a real Paige turner…. It was funny….. Though she was not amused. There’s Grimmauld place if you know where you look, or keep looking when you find it. Though Paige seemed to be able to use her want there. And even Diagon Alley, complete with Knockturn Alley.
Here’s where we found Olivanders wand shop. Took Paige through. The first time we went through, she was chosen by Olivander and got to get try out wands, only to find she was the chosen one…. It was pretty damn cool. Later when I took ember through, she wasn’t chosen, but…. The tasks changed. It made it that much better. After another dozen tries through the course of the day, Ember was finally chosen.
Obviously we had to buy the wands that chose the girls…. The best part is with these wands though, was through the two areas…. The wands can be used to perform minor magics. Only minor magics, After all, they are just wizards in training.
Then when you wish to move on you can jump on the Hogwarts express. Now I missed it the first time… One of the girls caught it later. We stopped to take a pic of then in front something… when she saw it. If you’re standing in the right place you can watch people walk through the wall to get onto platform 9 3/4s It was so cool.
Then you enter the Hogsmeade area….. everything is there… Honeyduke, Weasly’s wheezes, Gringots bank…. It’s awesome. There’s a Dragon on top of Gringots, There is a offshoot area bank where you can trade muggle money for ….. almost, wizard money. Not Nuts, Sicles, or Gallions though, it’s a paper money usable at both areas. In there is a Goblin that will talk back to you. A place you can buy (stuffed) familiars. More places to use your wand magic. You can even buy your house robes and gear. This whole fucking thing was brilliant.
I think the only thing that made me truly sad, was no Hagrid walking around. The rest of the group might be awesome…. But he was the best. I would’ve loved to have seen him. Also, it’s cool every day the sorting hat moves to a new location, and you can take a pic with it. But it sucks you don’t get to try it on and get sorted. I mean I understand, probably, why they don’t do that…. Lice and such…. But still, I would’ve thought maybe where ever it moved there’d be an interactive stand where you touched a pad next to the hat, and it would come alive and sort you then. Or something like that.
Still it was awesome, we spent three days there, and with the minor rain, it really helped keep the crouds down. I would love to go back and do and see far more. Someday…..
Though It started off a bit shaky. with all of us going to fly out on a Thurs…. Instead Paige and I flew out Friday morning. That same week she had her fifth grade camp. I couldn’t let her miss that. So I made sure she could go, picked her up Thursday night, right after their Bonfire event. Then off we went.
Then, as we hit the airport, I realized I left out conformation tickets at home. Not much of a problem, we were early, and I could print another set there…. Only I couldn’t remember the code they gave us. After a brief panic, I remembered I had a post it note in my book with said number…. Everything else went pretty smooth. Till we hit Texas, there was a storm going on so we circled a bit before landing, meaning we had to run to our next gate…. From one god damn far end of the airport to the farthest gate on the other side. Only to find out that plane was delayed an hour due to some mechanical thing.
We made it to Florida…. Like 6 or 7 at night…. It was still bloody 90 degrees. That sucked…. But, for three nights we had a lot of heat lightning. That was pretty awesome. Sitting on the back patio of the condo and watching the show…. I miss that a great deal.
Cheer went well. Embers team came in fifth of 26 the first day, so were invited back for the second. They ended Third place out of ten. They were a bit disappointed, but still…. Quite proud of their accomplishments.
After that it was all fun and games…. Went to Disney world on Monday….. That was the best time I’ve ever had there. It was still hot, like high 80s… but it was….. What? Drizzly….. maybe. People down there were in heavy coats and or plastic parkas. It was hilarious. So with a slight rain, off season, and school day….. there were almost no lines at all. The worst wait time we hit for a ride was fifteen minutes, and that’s only because it takes about ten to walk from the entrance to the ride itself. Though, a real thunderstorm did come through later in the day, so they closed Disney down 2 hours early. The lightning was spectacular, and people were running in a near panic to get to the tram, to get to the parking lot to leave. We Sat just outside the gates to give people time to clear out before we left. No reason to be in that lemming run. It was just some heavy…ish rain. Hell, the rain was warmer than most showers I take. People are funny.
The rest of the week we spent at Universal. This was the first time I was there in Florida. That place is fucking cool. Though we did spend most our time at the Harry Potter world…. It’s set up beautifully. You have a London section on one side of the park. Where you have things like the night bus, Where you can talk to and get your picture with the driver and shrunken head. Who when he found out my daughter was named Paige, had her turn to look left, then turn to look right…. Told her he was a real Paige turner…. It was funny….. Though she was not amused. There’s Grimmauld place if you know where you look, or keep looking when you find it. Though Paige seemed to be able to use her want there. And even Diagon Alley, complete with Knockturn Alley.
Here’s where we found Olivanders wand shop. Took Paige through. The first time we went through, she was chosen by Olivander and got to get try out wands, only to find she was the chosen one…. It was pretty damn cool. Later when I took ember through, she wasn’t chosen, but…. The tasks changed. It made it that much better. After another dozen tries through the course of the day, Ember was finally chosen.
Obviously we had to buy the wands that chose the girls…. The best part is with these wands though, was through the two areas…. The wands can be used to perform minor magics. Only minor magics, After all, they are just wizards in training.
Then when you wish to move on you can jump on the Hogwarts express. Now I missed it the first time… One of the girls caught it later. We stopped to take a pic of then in front something… when she saw it. If you’re standing in the right place you can watch people walk through the wall to get onto platform 9 3/4s It was so cool.
Then you enter the Hogsmeade area….. everything is there… Honeyduke, Weasly’s wheezes, Gringots bank…. It’s awesome. There’s a Dragon on top of Gringots, There is a offshoot area bank where you can trade muggle money for ….. almost, wizard money. Not Nuts, Sicles, or Gallions though, it’s a paper money usable at both areas. In there is a Goblin that will talk back to you. A place you can buy (stuffed) familiars. More places to use your wand magic. You can even buy your house robes and gear. This whole fucking thing was brilliant.
I think the only thing that made me truly sad, was no Hagrid walking around. The rest of the group might be awesome…. But he was the best. I would’ve loved to have seen him. Also, it’s cool every day the sorting hat moves to a new location, and you can take a pic with it. But it sucks you don’t get to try it on and get sorted. I mean I understand, probably, why they don’t do that…. Lice and such…. But still, I would’ve thought maybe where ever it moved there’d be an interactive stand where you touched a pad next to the hat, and it would come alive and sort you then. Or something like that.
Still it was awesome, we spent three days there, and with the minor rain, it really helped keep the crouds down. I would love to go back and do and see far more. Someday…..