It's no surprise how much I love Harry Potter, and I've only been talking about this trip for months. No big deal. Sunday was everything I hoped it would be and more. Entering Diagon Alley through a brick wall, starting the morning with a frozen butterbeer at 10 a.m., browsing Weasley's Wizard Weezes for fizzing wisbeys, shopping for our would-be school supplies (robes, quills, The Monster Book of Monsters and an owl to replace iMessage) followed by watching a wand choosing ceremony at Olivanders. And then there was the reenactment of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, complete with pretty bad knock-off British accents. 

We were off to platform 9 3/4 to journey to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts and lunch at The Three Broomsticks. Unfortunately the British atmosphere was thrown off my the excessive heat and humidity. The book and movie references were flowing more than pumpkin juice at the Great Feast. 

I thought they did a great job of recreating the park, down to all of the copies of the Daily Prophet lying around. On one of the many blogs I read before the trip, they talked about how the team had to write all of the headlines and lay out dozens of papers on top of creating countless items in the shops. It all lived up to my expectations.

On a side note, always ride in the single riders line. Especially when the newest ride breaks down multiple time while you are waiting in line. What was supposed to only be a 75 minute wait to venture to a secret vault in Gringotts turned into a 140 minute wait in the Florida sunshine.

In case you missed my Instagram overload, here is a glimpse of the trip in photos: 

But first, let me take a selfie...

Image via

My countdown may have started a long time ago, but I would like to point out that in just one month I will be at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. If this post is any indication, I'm a pretty big fan. Disney may be the happiest place on earth, but it doesn't have frozen butterbeer (or butterbeer ice cream...and yes I will be consuming all forms of butterbeer on that day YOLO).

Samantha is coming to visit for Labor Day for the occasion and I cannot wait to have someone to talk HP trivia with on the drive to Orlando. That's a sign of a true friend right there. 

I would like to point out that I am not usually a theme park person. Maybe it's because I've lived semi-close to Orlando my entire life, but my family has never taken a week off to traipse through a concrete jungle, wait in lines with wait times measured by the hour and eat overpriced food in a sea of strollers and screaming children. Call it cynical, but it's just not my idea of a good time.

However, this is the closest I will get to strolling through Diagon Alley and riding the Hogwarts Express so I think I will be able to suffer through it. I may not be an early adopter and had no desire to join the thousands waiting 7+ hours for the main attraction a few weeks ago, but I also don't know if I could have stood the suspense of waiting any longer than this to visit.

Forgive me if I come back shouting allohamora at my front door willing it to open. It's simply a matter of reliving my favorite childhood book. 

On a completely unrelated note speaking of books turned into movies turned into theme park attractions, somehow I don't think The Hunger Games will translate well into a family-friendly rollercoaster. Just throwing that idea out there.

Not going to lie, this weekend will mostly be spent on the couch in front of the TV switching back and forth between the Harry Potter marathon and the World Cup finals. Obviously this will give me an excuse to  make Quidditch references during the World Cup. If you have been living under a rock, ABC Family is FINALLY showing all eight Harry Potter movies this weekend! Coupled with the opening of Diagon Alley at Universal, Samantha booking her flight for Labor Day making our trip to the wizarding world official, you can imagine that I'm in full-on Harry Potter mode. Too bad it's a tad too warm to wear my Gryffindor scarf.

Now I'm reminiscing that one time that Harding had a Quidditch tournament and student publications was The Daily Prophet (see what we did there?). I rode my Swifter instead of a traditional broom and called it the Swift 3000. And this was the beginning and end of my athletic career.

So what if I've added the ingredients for frozen butterbeer to my grocery list tomorrow? It's necessary. 

And I may quite possibly be saving up to splurge on a wand at Universal so that I can cast spells throughout the park and unlock more secrets.

And can we talk about that 7.5 hour wait on Tuesday...I would like to consider myself a Harry Potter fan, but that is a little extreme even for me. In the time it took, they could have watched the first three movies before stepping onto the ride. It was definitely not for the faint of heart. Especially in the Florida humidity. That sounds like the worst.