Dena B: Mommy: Back from Harry Potter World!!!

So the vacation has come and gone!!! We had SUCH a great time at Islands of Adventure / The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!! So staying at a hotel on site meant we got entrance to Harry Potter 1 hour before it opened, so we were waiting at the gates at 7am. They let people come in at 6:50ish, and they had this guide walking the huge massive crowd in the direction of HPW. Well, we got brave and decided to try and cut everyone off by taking (what we hoped) was a short-cut! Well, we walked through our path and when we were back on the main road, the huge massive cluster-f*** of people were like 50 yards behind us!!! So we kinda kicked it into high gear and went (in the direction we hoped was) towards HPW! And voila! We were at the HPW entrance before anyone else!!! We made a mad dash towards Ollivanders (again, I was super lucky that every route I took was actually in the right direction b/c 1 wrong turn would have put us behind a huge crowd).

I got to the door and was the FIRST person in line!!! We were talking with the employee at the door and asked how to get chosen for the wand, and she said, "stand by the stairs and smile big!" So I did just that! Entered and walked straight towards the stairs and smiled (it really wasn't hard to smile I was SO excited to be there and the place looked amazing!). Then sure enough he asked me my name and I got to go through a line-up of wands before we found the one that "chose" me! haha. It was a 12" Reed wand with a unicorn hair core!!! So I got what I wanted and it definitely set the day off to a perfect start!!!

And the rest of the day was amazing as well!!! Drank tons of butterbeer (frozen was much better than regular IMO!-- and the cream on top! OMG! Delish!!!). We ate breakfast AND lunch at the 3 Broomsticks!!! I had a large pancake breakfast and a turkey leg lunch!!! Loved the atmosphere in the 3 Broomsticks!!! So quaint and really felt like I was there!! Rode all the rides except the Flight of the Hippogriff- which looked like it was mostly for smaller children. Bought many sweets from Honeydukes! Got a box of Bertie Bots every flavor beans, a chocolate frog, and (my favorite) some fizzing whizbees!!! It's like a chocolate bee that has pop-rocks in it! So yummy!!!

Davie did well at NanaPops!!! He got to go swimming and visit with some of his Melbourne family! It was a relief to see that he had fun as I was so worried about him!!! I swear I did not sleep more than 2-3 hours EACH NIGHT on vacation!!! So much for leaving the baby and sleeping in!! lol.

So the rest of this week I am dedicating to watching EACH and every Harry Potter movie so I'm refreshed before the LAST movie comes out Friday!!! I probably won't be able to go watch it until Saturday due to Jumpy's work and the crowds, but I will probably be there first thing on Saturday!!! I re-read the last book in December (after I watched Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows) so I feel pretty refreshed already on the book side of the story!! I cannot believe this will be the LAST Harry Potter movie ever to look forward to!!! Super sad but also excited to finally see the end!!! Closure at last! lol.