A Celebration of Harry Potter
Universal Studios /
Islands of Adventure
January 24-26 2014
Cast that attended:
Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom)
James Phelps (Fred Weasley)
Oliver Phelps (George Weasley)
Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley)
Devon Murray (Seamus Finnigan)
Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)
We were set to go to Hogwarts. We arrived in Hogsmeade and headed to the Three Broomsticks for our breakfast reservation. They were serving warm butterbeer for the breakfast meal (one free breakfast and free butterbeer). It was delicious. A warm butterscotch deliciousness filled our mouths. We both had the pancake breakfast. Following breakfast we went on the Flight of the Hippogriff ride followed by the Forbidden Journey in Hogwarts. Then we journeyed to Universal Studios park and went on Men in Black, Twister and E.T. We walked around a bit, through the Simpsons section.
We headed back to Islands of Adventure and I convinced Ben to go on the Hulk rollercoaster, which was his first rollercoaster ever. He did great, although he didn't open his eyes very much. :)
We ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks again, he had the fish & chips and I had the Shepard's pie. Delicious. After lunch/dinner we explored the parks some more and bought scarves to match our robes, as it was getting cold and we were going to be outside for the film tribute later.
The film tribute was great. It was held at an outdoor stage area in Universal Studios. The moderator introduced the cast and showed a short tribute of the memorable moments from the 8 films. I'm not going to lie - there were tears in my eyes. Then the moderator asked the cast questions based on clips shown of their specific characters. This was about the time when I fully realized my crush on James Phelps. Which I guess that would mean I also have a crush on Oliver as well, but more so on James.
What did we learn from this:
1. If Oliver had to choose a patronus for himself it would be of a Panda Bear
2. Evanna Lynch is a huge fan of Harry Potter, and was even before she was cast
3. Mark Williams is awesome.
4. Kazu, the illustrator of the books that were just re-released with the new covers had been in some sort of accident where he was in a coma for a while and when he came out of it he had lost his short term memory. He had to re-teach himself how to draw, talk and walk again. This was before he re-designed and illustrated the new books, which are incredible!
Saturday we slept in a bit and then headed back to the parks. We went to the Toon Lagoon amphitheater for the 10am Q&A with the cast. It was a lot of fun. So many kids asked some great questions (which of course I don't remember anymore lol). One little boy, who was 10 asked if they had any advice for him because he wants to get into acting. He was ADORABLE.
The Q&A lasted about 45 minutes. Then we headed to lunch and back to universal studios to check out the Expo. The Expo was awesome! We got some free post cards and posters, signed the "What Harry Potter means to me" wall, saw some amazing prints from an artist that worked on the films, saw a replica of Gringotts from what they're building in Diagon Alley park. Ben & I took an epic 'wand duel' pic in there. We took a pic in front of a banner of the blue car flying.
We walked around a bit more, saw a sneak peek of the new park (the London side of Diagon Alley)
Then we headed back to Islands of Adventure for the Master Wand Class with the Choreographer: Wand Combat Paul Harris with special guest star Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley). That was GREAT! We learned how to properly use the wand in four different movements with their corresponding wand blocks. They had audience members come up to try and then had a wand battle...which was hilarious.
After the wand class we went back to the expo and waited in the line to get sorted into our houses by the sorting hat. Ben got Gryffindor and I got Slytherin (which it was obviously fixed by the woman pressing the button haha) but still so cool and a lot of fun.
Now, the private evening event was saturday night, which Ben and I were super excited about. And were hoping for a meet & greet, because if there was ever going to be one, it would be at the private evening event, which only those of us who had the special passes were able to go to. So after being basically herded like cattle to walk from the marvel section of the park to the wizarding world of harry potter we made it into hogsmeade. Ben and I grabbed a beer and then some delicious food. We were told by someone who works there that Ben knows to go to the stage area for something special. (We thought it was a meet & greet). But then all that happened was the cast came on the stage and stood there for thirty seconds while we all took pictures of them. And then they left. It was so awkward and VERY disappointing. I was happy Ben and I were right up front so we got some good pictures, but we were floored that we spent all this money on these special tickets and didn't even get to meet anybody.
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| L to R: Matthew Lewis (Neville), James Phelps (Fred), Oliver Phelps (George), Devon Murray (Seamus), Evanna Lynch (Luna), Mark Williams (Mr. Weasley) |
All in all though, I had the best time ever. I'm glad I went and experienced the magic. It's my favorite place on earth. :)
