The title is also the opening
line so please insert that here as well. Done? Good, now onto the content! This post
will have about 12 picture by the way (in case you were looking at this on your
mobile, both my blogs have been formatted for that- though I only know how it
looks for the iPhone, sorry!). I won’t bore you with the details of the
airports, flights or hotel (ours was directly across the street from the resort).
So, day one! Once we finally got
into the resort (there’s two gates you have to go through which was a bit
confusing the first day) I dragged my dad in the direction of the signs that were taunting me with what was to come. He
wanted to look at the other parks, but I was getting antsy because Hogwarts
castle is on a hill so you can see it looming over everything from the
entrance of that area. It was excruciating-we got lost twice and then dad
stopped to wander down this little promenade thing that was super close and cut across to the Jurassic
Park area so I had to content myself with looking at this-
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| patience paid off! |
But then we finally got there and I was greeted with these wonderfully
topsy turvy buildings! Hogsmeade! It was wonderful, even though I was sweating and the rooves, they had the soundtracks from the movies playing through Hogsmeade. As soon as you come through the gates you're greated with Hogwarts Express which would
make gentle whistle noises and even blow steam! Right from the start I was impressed with the attention to detail. You could even meet the conductor (which I did two times but I
have a better picture of that on day two)! Everything was wonderful, but all
that walking and sweating in the Florida heat (my Canadian acclimatised body
was freaking out, the type of heat we get is more humid and not so dry) made the
perfect excuse to get some Butterbeer! An excuse I used quite a lot now that I think about it...
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| Convinced my Dad to try some Pumpkin Juice- in the Three Broomsticks they also served Pumpkin Fizz (which we didn't get to try) |
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| It wouldn't capture on camera but they had a video an with effects it really did look like a moving poster of Sirius, same clip from the movie! |
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| There was a moving and screaming mandrake root in the shop window, I found it precious but others seemed to find it tiring |
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| Brought along Philospher's Stone, we went after the last movie came out so I thought it would be poetic- the beginning at the end. Ignore me and my sentimentality... |
I also saw some Pumpkin Juice in the cold compartment on the side of
booth and convinced dad to get some. I only wanted to try some but ended up
with the lot- he thought it was too sweet! This coming from someone who grew in
England spending his pocket money on sweets-for one of his birthdays I made him a full pie sized & extra deep Bakewell Tart with fairly sweet jam and he ate it in one sitting... My verdict of both- freaking
delicious, give me more! The Butterbeer was rather sweet (which I liked but others might not?), but also really
tasted of butterscotch AND THE FOAM ON TOP TASTED OF BUTTER WHICH SOUNDS KIND OF GROSS BUT AJOSHDKIZBDD HAPPINESS. Just to reiterate is was really quite delicious. The Pumpkin Juice I think would have tasted nicer warm (it was essentially apple cider with a bit more spice). They also had Pumpkin Fizz at the Three
Broomsticks, but I had already ordered some Butterbeer by the time I saw it on
the menu and couldn’t convince dad who went straight for lemonade. I imagine
that would taste nice, mainly because I liked the original flat version. I do
know someone that tried it and didn’t like it, but really enjoyed the
Butterbeer, so who knows what you might think of it…?
I also made my first proud purchase there! Being the lovely and generous
person I am I bought two postcards- one for a friend who has never been (all
our other friends have) and one for my cousin (who also hasn’t been). You can get
them stamped with a Hogsmeade insignia (you can also buy stamps and have them mailed) so I got both postcards done.
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| Forgive my stupidly tired face and lack of makeup, it rained everyday so I saw no point in putting any on |
I forgot to mention, when you get Butterbeer you can either get a
plastic cup or a stein that says Butterbeer. The stein was kind of expensive
(don’t remember because dad actually bought it for me) but they consider future
drinks ‘refills’ so there's a discount. Now that I'm home and unfortunately I have no Butterbeer to keep
it happy I thought I’d make a use for it and keep pencils in it on my desk.
While I didn’t go on any rides that day (the best ride lurking within
the depths of Hogwarts castle, the exquisite beauty that kept catching my eye),
we certainly made up for it the next day.
Till the next post!
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| My house's beautiful banner in the Triwizard Tournament area! |