Happy Advent

Happy Advent season! ... A couple days early I know. The girls got their Advent presents tonight after putting the tree up. Ailey has been asking to put the tree up for a week now. We told her it had to wait until after Thanksgiving, so of course it went up today. Guess she's excited for Christmas!

For the past few years they have gotten Christmas pajamas on the first day of Advent ... or the day the tree goes up ... whichever comes first. This year it's nightgowns for the first time.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and - two days from now - Happy Advent! Enjoy the preparation for Christ's birthday!

Backyard sledding

Snow and cold has hit us here in Washington, causing TWO snow days from school already that will have to be made up in June. Ugh.

At least the snow covered hills around here are good for something, if not for driving these days!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I recently spent two days in the world of Harry Potter with my friend, Megan. Universal Studios Orlando has two parks (much like Disneyland and California Adventure in Anaheim). We spent one day at Universal, then two days at Islands of Adventure, where The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was one of the themed areas of the park.

If you know anything of Joanne Rowling, you know that she is a stickler for details beyond any stickler I know, and this theme park definitely had her stamp on it. She left nothing to the imagination - Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Honeydukes, Ollivanders, and the rest were right there in front of my face.

I remember hearing the movie cast members interviewed about the park, and that they said the park was far better than any of the movie sets they had worked on for years. All as authentic as possible.

There was no Pepsi, just Butterbeer, Hogshead beer, and pumpkin juice - all produced just for the theme park. There weren't roller-coasters, but instead a ride on a Hippogriff and two dueling dragons. The Three Broomsticks served the traditional English food that the house elves cooked for Hogwarts students.

And the Forbidden Journey ride ... was not just a ride. Harry Potter fan or not, anyone who experiences that part of the park will appreciate the effort and detail that went into it. The waiting line was all preparation for the story of the ride, including appearances by the movie characters, the Four Founders discussing muggles from their picture frames, and a walk through the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, among other things. The ride itself is apparently one of a kind, using technology never used in theme parks before. If you ever wanted to know what it was like to fly, you'll know after riding that ride.

Can you tell I thought my trip to Orlando was worth it? :) Apparently everyone else thinks so too, because visitors to Universal are apparently above and beyond what was ever expected. That was obvious in the crowds later in the day.

Here are just some of the pictures I took.

The entrance to Hogsmeade. Definitely worth it to get there during early park admission.

This is late in the afternoon - notice the difference in the crowd?

Store front of Zonko's Joke Shop

Honeydukes candy store

There were long lines for Butterbeer. It was a cream-soda-like drink with a butterscotch foam on top. Yum.

Entrance to the Three Broomsticks

A few random store-fronts. This one not actually a store, just part of the scene.

Owl Post

Ollivanders wand store

We waited in line for about an hour to go into Ollivanders and see a "wand chosing" presentation. It was much like the scene from the first movie when Harry gets his wand.

Village

Gladrags store-front.

Scrivenshafts store-front

Entrance to the Hogshead pub. They served a red ale - Hogshead brew - that was brewed just for the park.

Hogwarts Express

One of the store-front windows with Quiddich supplies

Some of Gilderoy Lockharts books

Sign for Dervish and Bangs, the one store. There was a line to get in.

And Hogwarts. Impressive.

Hogwarts is where the Forbidden Journey ride was. You walked through the castle to get there.

Part of the line was in the Herbology greenhouses.

The other entrance to Hogsmeade - this led to Jurasic Park section of Islands of Adventure.

Hogwarts by night