Yer a Wizard Coco, Henry, and Rapha!

Mid winter break 2019 was magical, emphasis on magical. We planned a surprise trip for the kids to Orlando to do Disney and Universal Studios. Our kids are super in to Harry Potter, so a trip to The Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter was a must. 

They are obsessed. We have read books 1-3 with them, watched the movies, and Cosette is reading book 4 on her own. They got Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone audio book for Christmas and listen to it every night. Henry comes out in the morning singing the Hogwarts school song, "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts, teach us something please....". Makes my heart burst with joy. They are so cute. They have parts of it memorized and will go around saying the spells. It is everything my Harry Potter loving self could dream of. 

Harry Potter was day one of the trip. Lyndon and I kept it tight lipped. They knew we were going to Florida, but they did not know what was in Florida. We did tell them when we got there we would be going to an amusement park, so bits of knowledge did sneak out, but not the main events. When we got to Universal Studios they had no idea what was in store. 

We had early admission to the park and trailed it over to Diagon Alley. When we walked in, they were in utter shock. When we walked in to Olivander's to get their wands the excitement kicked in. Henry said to Lyndon, "I can't believe we met the real Olivander!". Magical! They each got to pick out a wand. Henry picked Harry Potter's, because it is Voldemort's. Rapha picked Snape's, because he loves snape in the Potter Puppet Pal's Mysterious Ticking sketch. Cosette took a while to pick hers out. She was still in shock. In the end she choose Hermione's wand. I figured that is what she would pick, but I am so glad we allowed her to take her time and really thing about it. We got the interactive wands, which at different spots around Harry Potter World you can do magical spells. 

Next we were off to Madam Malkin's for our robe fittings. We have two Ravenclaws (C and H), and one little Slytherin (who renounced his placement in Giffindor in favor of Slytherin). Since we were there early hardly anyone was in the shop. It was so magical. Madam Malkin came over and helped each kid put on their robe, and show them the secret wand compartment in their robe. The kids wore their robes practically the rest of the day. Them getting their wands and their robes made the entire trip for me. If everything else turned out horrible it would not have mattered. 

Diagon Alley was just as you could have pictured it in the books. Weasley Wizard Wheezes, Florian Fortesque's ice cream, the Three Broomsticks, Gringotts. It was all there. The Gringott's dragon would periodically blow fire. It was awesome! 

We tried a lot of treats. Butter Beer, Dark Mark sucker, chocolate frog, and my favorite, You Know Poo. Why be afraid of you know who. You should be afraid of you know poo, the constipation sensation hat is gripping the nation. Henry picked that out. Are you surprised? It was only green m&m's. Cosette had been talking for several weeks about wanting to try a chocolate frog. That was her treat. The wizard card inside was Helga Hufflepuff. She was excited because it was the one Ron Weasley did not have in book 1. Butter Beer was okay. It tastes like butterscotch with a ton of vanilla. Of course you get it in giant cups, so we shared several. I wish they would sells shots of it, but I am not a soda person. 

We rode all the Harry Potter themed rides: Escape from Gringotts, The Forbidden Journey through Hogwarts (my favorite), Flight of the Hippogriff, and the Hogwarts Express. The Forbidden Journey is in the Hogwarts Castle. I felt like I was flying with Harry through a Quidditch match, soaring over Hogwarts away from a dragon, being chased by Voldy. It was all my Harry Potter fantasies lived in real life. 

The Hogwarts Express was awesome! Universal did such a good job making you feel like you were living the books. There were dementors, shadows of Harry, Ron, Hermione passing our compartment, the English countryside passing our window, nearly having a run in with Malfoy, Crabe, and Goyle. It was perfect. 

The Hogwarts express dropped us off in Hogsmeade. All the buildings are made to look like they are covered in snow. Cosette was excited to see Honeydukes. There was a plant shop with a mandrake in the window. A lot of the shops were similar to Diagon Alley, but smaller. The main attraction is Hogwarts Castle. We walked through it on our way to ride the Forbidden Journey. Amazing! We took our time in the portrait room. All the pictures were moving and talking! Ah! I loved it! 

The boys do not like fast rides. They skipped Escape from Gringotts and the Forbidden Journey. We were able to do kid swap, where one adult goes with some kids, then when they are done with the ride the other adult can go. Universal did a good job with that. There a nice room with benches and clips from the Harry Potter movies playing. The boys thoroughly enjoyed that. 

The rest of the day we spent in Universal Island of Adventure. We meandered through Dr. Seuss World, the Marvel section for Spiderman, and visited their Jurassic Park area. 

Grandma Emily joined us on our Florida adventure. It was so fun having her with us. 

Grimald Place.

Monster Book of Monsters. 

We got to meet Spiderman. Rapha loves him. It was the best! Spiderman was so nice. He signed the box of Rapha's Spiderman toy, invited him to go out fighting bad guys that night, a high five, and a hug at the end. It was the best! 

It was a lot of walking. We ended up renting a stroller before the day was through. The kids even with city legs needed a break. 

Cosette said Harry Potter world was the best surprise ever! Our parental mission was accomplished!