30 should be celebrated over and over and apparently over again...with a trip to Orlando!

Bonus trip!!!!!!!!!

Unexpectedly, flights were booked, hotels confirmed, tickets held at will call.

It was finally happening.

We were finally going!

HARRY POTTER WORLD, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

I don't even know where to begin this adventure. Is it when I finally caved my junior year of high school and decided to try out the extraordinarily popular series that everyone was talking about? Should I take a step back and talk about my constant love of fantasy and young adult books? Or a step forward when I tore through books one through three in a matter of minutes and then forced book one on my best friend, Silva?

Too many options. Too many possibilities so let's just start.

Silva and I were going to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure to celebrate our ever-present, never fading love of Harry Potter and everything about it. And we were pumped. Add in her friend, Eileen, a fellow lover of HP lore, and we couldn't be more ready. With cooler temps propelling us forward (lucky!) we arrived early Friday morning in Orlando ready to rock. Sadly, while Silva and I explored Universal all day, Eileen was spending the day, literally, flying across the entire continental United States (coast to coast!) but sacrifices must be made for the greater good.

Friends for twenty years. Thirty and thriving!

Her first stop for her first trip to Universal! Formerly known as the Back to the Future ride, this one's a doozy. I may have forgotten how MUCH of a doozy beforehand to where Silva screamed, "I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" in the middle of the ride. Sorry, Silv!

Best. Picture. Ever. Immortalized forever.

We've loved The Simpsons longer than HP.

It was ringing! (Crazy white girl...)

We made it through the park, riding nearly everything before calling it a day and heading back to the hotel to meet up with Eileen. A few hour's of chatting about how excited we were for the next day, our full Harry Potter day (because Silva and I refused to cheat in any way, shape or form, and avoided nearly all things HP!), and we were asleep. It truly felt like the night before Christmas, but when we were like eight years old and you could barely sleep at all you were so thrilled!

IHOP. Coffee. Walk.

Gasp. Cry. Giddy-fy.

Brilliant minds at work. The people involved in creating this world were brilliant. Clever in their nuances, capturing such an essence as to make you feel like pages of the book were prancing around in front and around you. A picture will never do justice to the first moment you walk through that brick entrance and look down Diagon Alley. It will never capture that flutter in your heart, the skip in your step, the hearkening back to the first time you read the book and all the magic that came with that. Incredible is one word to describe this experience. Fulfilled, another.

We tried butterbeer...

Not for those with gluten sensitivity/celiac disease!

Nor those with a reduced desire for abundant sugary things. Root beer, really. 

We rode the Gringott's ride and I screamed and caterwauled like a champ throughout. Look, Aragog is scary.

So much joy.

We visited Olivander's and I bought a wand!

This was really difficult! So I just bought Hermione's replica because it had vines on it and it was pretty. I'm probably Hawthorne though if I were to choose from these!

After exhausting ourselves buying goodies, having an eye-ganza, and generally being extra giddy we decided to take the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade (located in Islands of Adventure).

We passed through the barrier!

Did I mention they were brilliant?

Magic. Truthfully, this place felt like magic. It didn't matter that I was surrounded by 10,000 other people or that this was a man-made place. It didn't matter that the facade was plastic and not stone nor that the food didn't appear from the floors below, made by house elves (S.P.E.W.). The three of us could not stop these feelings of wonder and amazement. This trip was truly a gift to our younger selves as much as for our 30 year old aging bodies.

Just like Harry!

We walked through the village, marveling at the snow-covered buildings and gasping at the Three Broomsticks. We stopped and ate there and the entire time we couldn't stop the magic. Nothing could spoil the mood.

With one last turn as we wound our way through, we were greeted by the rise of spires and gates...Hogwarts!

The dragon flew through that in the movie! Not in the book, I want to be clear.

The Hogwarts ride was incredible. Creative minds designed the pathway up through Hogwarts as you waited so that you could see Dumbledore's office, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and even the Hall of Portraits! And they moved and talked! Even the Fat Lady portrait was waiting to greet you as you passed by. Not to mention the ride itself. We rode it TWICE. Yeah, that's how good it was.

Our hearts and minds were full and we rode the train back to Diagon Alley (a MUST because the images you see going back are different!) and walked back to our hotel; we had date plans with my friend, Carrie! Freshly showered and waiting, Carrie FINALLY arrived...only kidding, Cares, she was desperately trying to survive the ridiculous driving that exists in Florida. The roadways are stupid and people are numskulls.

We had a really fun night eating Tapas and having drinks and meeting a local artist and watching people get their fortunes read at a table near by...this was sooooome kinda restaurant.

She's absolutely one of the best humans I know and she's COMING BACK TO TEXAS! YEEHAW!

Sunday had arrived and our last full day to enjoy the parks. We IHOP'd again...not many options in the ol' F-L, and meandered to the park. SO grateful the weather was on our side because we didn't need cabs at all! Except this night because we were all just hella tired.

Because Silva and I had explored Universal on Friday, we decided to start at Islands of Adventure first. Ooooh boy, if Silva wasn't already excited for HP she was about to go bonkers for Marvel's area!

Just making it up as I go along.

A first for all of us! Guess which one I am? Guess!!

Imagine that, we ended up back in Hogsmeade...to be fair, Islands of Adventure has more kid rides than adult rides!

I hope we never grow out of this. See you in 60, Popeye!

Exhausted, we were. Hungry, we became. Movie watching, we did!

Jamaiican food just before a showing of Crimson Peak.

To round out the weekend, we acted like all 12 year old girls out there and went to the movies! As if our parents had dropped us off at the park for the day, we wandered around the City Walk area, chock FULL of restaurants and shops, and then went to the theater. Crimson Peak was beautifully shot but ended up not being nearly as scary as expected, thank goodness. Also, I wish they had done more with the talented cast but c'est la vie!

I will see you in 2017, Universal, when Hulk reopens and you unveil the incredible looking King Kong ride. It'll be a doozy, I have no doubt.

In conclusion, I would just like to say that this post in no way, shape or form truly brings to life how life-changing this trip was. No pictures, no words, nothing can describe the feelings that have lasted even two months past. I will never forget this trip even without the aid of this post. LOVE YOU, HP!