We spent our second day at Hogwarts, prepared from our previous day's venture. We knew right away that we would head to Olivanader's Wand Shop. The line gets super long, so to hit it first thing in the morning, especially with our hour early entrance, was a must. It worked, too! We ended up getting cut and the first in the next show.
What a fantastic show! About 30 people are allowed in, and right away you see the walls piled with wands.
Olivander is there, and you wait for him to notice you. He begins by telling about the history of wands and how the wand chooses the wizard. He looks up, and notices a young boy, about 10 years old. The boy is Michael, and is given the opportunity to discover his wand. Olivander has Michael try out a wand by asking to wave down a box from way up high. Oops! That didn't work. A couple more tries, but to no avail. Olivander asks the boy when his birthday is. "Today," the boy responds. Oh! (tear up here) It's pretty obvious that everyone now agrees that Michael deserves this wand, even though we all wanted to be chosen. Too bad that wand didn't work! Finally, Michael tries another wand, and with a celestial glow, his wand has been discovered! He and his family are escorted through one door, the rest of us allowed to enter the shop.
Jason and I knew that you can either buy a character wand or a birthday that coincides with your birthday. Right away the birthday wands are what we check out (below).
Elisha's wand, ash for February, is pretty cool with ivy going around. Jason's, August, is shorter with a handle that looks like it's wrapped with leather strips and is wavy. But, hey! What about our anniversary? Can you see the wand on the left, in between the 2 blue boxes? That's for March: a cobra snake with a skeleton inside! Yikes! Um, I'll stick to my birthday wand, thanks. And that's exactly what we do.
There are also robes ($100) and scarves ($30) to buy, so we try them on for fun. Almost bought the scarf!
Whew! Why not get some butter beer? Cold or frozen? You pick.
The Tri-Wizard Cup
The Merauder's Map (feet frozen in time)
The wild car, stuck in a tree and revving.
Hey, it's the Hogwarts choir, complete with bull frogs. So fun! When they pose, the leader tells the others that we're muggles, so our photos don't move; they'll have to stand still. She goes so far as to say don't breath. One gentleman takes it to heart, and she has to remind him to breath again.
We also see the Ladies of Beauxbatons and the Brothers of Durmstrang.
Elisha meets 2 Deaf ladies from Maryland and also interprets the show. Within the hour she also speaks some Portuguese (not to mention half of Brasil was in the park!)
Oh, Moaning Myrtle's in the bathroom! She didn't want us to go since Harry hasn't visited for a long time.
We're going to head out into the rest of the park now.
Lunch time! Let's eat at Blondie's: Home of the Dagwood (cartoon area). MUST eat the Dagwood!
Betty Boop!
Seuss-land! Let's ride the Carou-seus-sel!
Playin' around
Jason was in a movie! The film studios "Disaster" chose him to be an actor, while Elisha was an extra. This is super fun attraction where people learn how clips and special effects are brought together.
There's Jason, on the far left in the orange. The director needed someone in closed toe shoes and pants. No one rose their hand. "Okay, who has clothes on?" Jason rose his hand, and was selected! What will they have him do?
Jason doing his part with a green screen and in a box of green balls. He was told to look terrified; he looked terrified when he was told his daughter was Lady Gaga. Who wouldn't?
The movie, starring The Rock
Let's get into some more trouble with Jaws!
There's no Back to Future ride, but the Doc was hanging out. Look! The car's flying right at us!
Out on the City Walk, enjoying the waves
Jason proposed to Elisha by creating a homecoming dance, and every year since has continued the tradition. The hard work and creativity he puts into this event every year does not go unnoticed.
