Feeling anxious as the page was loading, I thought there is no way that these tickets will sell out in under 10 minutes. Me and my roommates were messaging each other as our tickets were confirmed. I was fast... I was a ninja.... I got my Open at the Close ticket in 6 minutes.
Right before they sold out at 7 minutes.
I felt incredibly relieved and mostly shocked. The last time they held this event it sold out in a week. Admittedly Diagon Alley is new still. I felt so bad for those who didn't think it would sell out so soon and missed it.
I did dance around like a lunatic in my parent's kitchen though. (They let me come over to use their computer since their Internet is better then mine) It felt like I'd just won the world cup. Not only did I get to go to Florida for holidays, I would get to go to Universal's Harry Potter parks... at night... with other witches and wizards.
Later we found out that rides would shut down by the time our official park event was to start. While there were many compliants about this, I wasn't bothered. Rollarcosters aren't my thing to begin with. (If you've ever been to West Edmonton Mall, you will understand why) The only ones I was particularly interested in was Gringotts and Forbidden Journey. (If the lines weren't too long). I was mainly excited about exploring the shops and hidden bits of the parks.
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Orlando time
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I was at the convention centre early. I was meeting the awesome Rebecca who runs the Tumblr side of my LeakyCon Cosplay Community page to give her some of the page's cards to hand out. Registration wouldn't open till 11, but by 9:30 people were already beginning to show up. I figured I might as well stay and see how things went. The main LeakyCon banner was in the process of being put up still.
(Let's geek out)
Line Con officially started at 11. Registration was delayed till 12:30. I was about 10th in my line, so I lucked out quite a bit. I got my swag bag, tickets and pass. I was also able to make it to the Canadian Meetup.(and Canadian Enthusiasts)
(Not everyone in this photo is Canadian)
LineCon was still happening as we left the convention center around 3 to head back to our hotel to get ready for the park event. By this point they were asking people to please leave if they were not attending the Open at the Close event. It was imperative that those attendees got their ticket so that they could catch the bus to Universal. I know this was really frustrating for everyone involved, from the people that needed their tickets for the park event to those who has been waiting in line for ages to be told to come back tomorrow because they couldn't get through everyone that day.
We came back from our hotel dressed out in our school uniforms.
(Hufflepuffs rule)
We got to Universal around 4:30 and were let into the park for 5. We went straight to Diagon Alley. The Gringott's ride was a wait time of 3 hours, which we did not plan on spending there. So we wandered Diagon Alley and then went off to Hogsmeade to see what the line for Forbidden Journey was. That was only about an hour and a half. This is around when our group lost members and got split up. ( Somewhere between entering the park and Diagon Alley we lost Emma, and then we lost Emily and Abby to the rest of Universal - but at least we knew about that-)
Entering Diagon Alley was magical. I've never been to a theme park before in my life, but this was more then that I think.
(Lens Flare curtsey of JJ Abrams)
You walk through muggle London. You see the Knight Bus for the first time. (If you're me you freak out a little bit, because never in your life did you imagine you'd actually make it here). Walking through the wall to Diagon Alley was another magical moment. Hedwig's theme is playing, and you feel at home. It's just like the movie, but with more muggles wandering through. (Like a lot more... At one point around 9 I was feeling very overwhelmed. I hadn't eaten much, was feeling hot, and I was surrounded by people and crying children)
The park started making the muggles leave at 10, and the food was being set out at 10:30. We were hanging out at the back of the Three Broomsticks at this point since it was the quietest part of the park then. The Hogwarts Castle was lighting up and it was beautiful. Unfortunately my camera couldn't pick it up very well as we were farther away.
The real magic was about to begin. Everywhere you looked people were in robes, food carts lined the streets and the shops were light up. Every display was unique and most of them had some magic to them. From self stirring cauldrons to Mrs. Weasley's knitting, everywhere you looked was something new.
All the Universal crew were in character. There were a few instances were they came out of character with some prodding. One guy at Borgin and Burkes explained the 5 point questions he was asked in order to get a job at this park. (He couldn't name the 4 positions of quidditch, but was able to list dark curses... hence why he's working at Borgins). We had a lvoely conversation with one of the Hogwarts Express attendants. She normally works at Ollivanders, but extra staff were needed for the night.
By far my favourite crew member was the Knight Bus conductor. He was quirky and weird and the talking head was fantastic. I was expecting it to have set sayings or generalized ones. Then it commented that I have more ink on my leg then the Daily Prophet. (I have a TARDIS tattoo on my leg)
(Dat gurls got more ink on her leg dare then da Daily Prophet)
(We found Emma again by this point!)
As for the rides, I made it onto the Forbidden Journey before it closed. That was neat. It felt like I was riding on a broomstick, and while the ride got stuck twice (once in Aragog's nest and once in the Basilisk Chamber- BOTH which I am kind of afraid of) it was fantastic.
The Hogwarts Express was almost like a ride in itself. The first time I went on it, we were sitting with this muggle family and the kids were ruining the magic... They kept saying oh it's just a screen. They just recorded it. SHUSH children!
The second time back to Diagon Alley we got a compartment to ourselves. Nicole snapped a picture of me freaking out happily over everything.
(Don't mind me... I'm never leaving)
I have since proclaimed that the Hogwarts Express alone was worth $150.00 (seriously... I almost cried with happiness)
The food- I mainly stuck to the salad and dinner rolls that were offered. I dislike stew for the most part, and it was still hot out. The eggs were a bit odd, and Nicole said they weren't done correctly when we tried them. The desert trolly had various cakes which we tried. The line for Florian's Icecream parlour was too long in my opinion for dixie cup samples. We did get some frozen butterbeer, and a cold tea type drink. Frozen butterbeer is much better in my opinion then regular butterbeer. It's more like a slushie.
We finally left the park around 2am. Tired but happy.
UP NEXT- Day 2 - The convention begins!
All my photos from Open at the Close are here
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