The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 4

This summer holidays, my Bro and I went on the trip of a lifetime! 2 weeks of amazing was on the Grand Bro Trip in Orlando, Florida.

Day 4, 29/7 (Friday)

Today was going to be a very exciting day! We had changed the timing of our trip from our original plans (end of the summer) to the beginning when we found out that there was an amazing conference on that, actually, I had always wanted to go to but had never though I could. And it was in my summer break, and in Orlando. LeakyCon is the Harry Potter conference which is run by Mischief, a company set up by the founder of the PotterCast podcast (which started in 2005). I have been a listener of the podcast since 2005, literally the founding year and both Bro and I are Hufflepuffs and HUGE HP fans. So we had to go!

We did have a little bit more of a sleep in in the morning and missed hotel breakfast but we were glad for the rest later in the day (we had a long one!) We headed over by Uber and got to the conference centre around half 10 to check in. We had general passes which covered all 3 days and got our lanyards and a badge to indicate how comfortable with interaction we were (green circle like we had for happy to chat, hug, whatever, yellow triangle for happy to chat, and red for 'leave me alone'). We made it right on time to the main stage for the welcome. Once the chair came onto stage and spoke, I realised it was Melissa Anelli, the founder or it all and PotterCast host and I got actually quite emotional and teary over the fact that I had actually managed to make it! Also in the welcome address were Chris Rankin (who played Percy Weasley in the films), and content creators Cherry Wallis and Chanel Williams. It was short but really hyped us up for the days ahead.

***IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE READING THIS AND YOU DO NOT WANT ANY HP SPOILERS, PLEASE DON'T READ THIS.***

Our first panel we chose (there were about 8 rooms with panels and meetups at any given time, plus the main stage) was called 'Harry Potter and Head Injuries'. It was hosted by an expert on trauma and detailed the 17 (!) probable traumatic brain injuries that Harry would have suffered throughout his 7 years at Hogwarts:

• Philosopher's Stone = 1 (at the end of the battle with Quirrell)
• Chamber of Secrets = 3 (from the Whomping Willow, and twice in the Chamber itself)
• Prisoner of Azkaban = 2 (at the Quidditch match, and from Sirius knocking him over)
• Goblet of Fire = 0 (seems surprising given the Triwizard Tournament was that year, but I guess?!)
• Order of the Phoenix = 3 (banging his head on the underside of the window sill, getting punched in the head by Dudley less than an hour later, during his occlumency lessons)
• Half-Blood Prince = 4 (hit by Goyle's trunk on the train, taking a bludger to the back of the head, taking a bludger to the face)
• Deathly Hallows = 3 (in the motorbike crash, Remus, in the explosion that kills Fred)

It also detailed the ongoing effects of these traumas and how they may have manifested, beginning in Harry's 3rd year as impulsivity and irritability, becoming more long term effects by his 5th year such as making his head pains worse, more irritability and apathy towards others. It was interesting to hear this from someone who was an expert and it was something I'd never considered past 'Harry does seem to get hurt alot!)

After that panel it was lunch time. We ate all our lunches from the food places set up for the con, as we didn't have the time to Uber anywhere else in the hour or so break (couldn't be wasting any precious HP time!). On this day I got orange chicken from the Chinese stand. After that we headed over to the Hufflepuff meetup. It was an awesome part of the day, as we had some lovely introductions and discussions of the Hufflepuff qualities and how they apply to us and affect how other people see us. We talked about how kindness and loyalty are underrated qualities, which houses we pair best with (many of us are paired either romantically or friendship wise with Slytherins, which makes a lot of sense and also applies to me!). I worked up the courage to introduce myself which was scary but everyone was super nice. We also discussed bravery as being a secondary Hufflepuff quality, as it takes bravery to be loyal and kind above other things even when that may be hard. We also learned during this panel about the ribbons. Many con-goers buy packs of ribbons (maybe to match their costumes or of crossovers or favourite quotes) and give, trade and share them over the weekend. We collected about a dozen each over the weekend to stick to our passes, and if I ever get the opportunity to attend another LeakyCon I would love to bring my own!

Then we headed over to the main stage for a love recording of the Potterless podcast. We hadn't listened to it before but it's a podcast hosted by a guy who is reading HP for the very first time as a 20-something and discussing it with others who are already fans. A cool concept. The live podcast was a little bit different, as he had Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley) and Chanel Williams (who is known for her spot on McGonagall impressions) on to discuss what they would do if the roles were reversed. It turns out that Percy would be a lot like McGonagall, but McGonagall is much cooler than Percy! It's very funny because Chris clearly understands the reason people don't like Percy so much and leans into it, which only makes it funnier! I've added the podcast to my feed and am slowly catching up on the episodes now.

Our final panel for the day was 'The Role of Books in the Harry Potter Universe', which again I'd never really considered. We were reminded that what happens when the trio need to find out something is that they go to the library, whereas the bad characters go to interrogate actual people. It was summed up as the good guys read, but the bad guys talk - and that you could then judge the motivation of a character based on their actions in relation to books.

We stayed at the conference centre for dinner - but we weren't super hungry after a big lunch so we split a cheese pizza. We then had about an hour to kill before the evening show, but given we were about half an hour by Uber away from our hotel, we didn't want to leave. We just found some quiet comfy chairs to relax in, and there were others doing the same, before we headed back to the main stage for 7pm. Half the chairs had been cleared away and it was time for the WROCK SHOW! Wizard Rock is the amazing genre of music which is written about, or usually from the perspective of, someone from the Wizarding World. There were 4 bands that played - all of which were new to me. The first was 'How Airplanes Fly' (real name Avery Marshall), who played a lovely acoustic set including the brilliant song 'Forget the Girl' which I loved. Then we got into the harder rock with Hawthorn and Holly, who were clearly well known by the crowd. It was at this point that we got up into the dance area and boogied along - ignoring our self-consciousness (there weren't many people dancing at that stage). They had some good songs, but after that was Lauren Fairweather, who was amazing. She sang some HP songs and some of her newer songs, which were about other fandoms, but were really good and performed really well. The final set was my favourite though. Tonks and the Aurors (HUFFLEPUFFS REPRESENT!). She was incredible! Performed beautifully, had great songs which we could catch up really quick so that we could join in with ('Harry Potter's Alive', 'Yes All Witches' and '1991 (Charlie Weasley)' were real favourites! Bro and I partied hard joined in the singing and had a really great dance. It was an incredible night.

Towards the end of it, I realised that Melissa was quite close to us, talking and hanging out with other Michief staff and some of the guests. I got really nervous but with some pep talking from the Bro I gathered up the courage to say hi and thank her for... well, everything. I missed my chance the first time but as the show was wrapping up and people started leaving I was able to introduce myself. I thanked her for all the years and tries to explain how important PotterCast was to me in my teenage years and how much it meant to me to be here, and I think I butchered it, but I was able to say that I was a listening since the beginning on myspace and she seemed amused by that! She actually thanked me for sticking with the podcast still (which of course I will!) and she was super super sweet. I also got a photo (and photos of us chatting too, thanks Bro!) and then I walked away shaking and had a little cry. It was one of the most special moments in my life, I think.

And then we headed back to the hotel and collapsed into bed, ready for Day 2!

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 3

This summer holidays, my Bro and I went on the trip of a lifetime! 2 weeks of amazing was on the Grand Bro Trip in Orlando, Florida.

Day 3, 28/7 (Thursday)

Today was our only chill day of the trip and we planned to spend it shopping! So we had a little bit of a sleep in before catching the end of our hotel breakfast. It was very strange, in that almost everything was wrapped in plastic (everything except the hot food) which seemed very wasteful but I guess it's more Covid safe?

Then we took an Uber to a local outlet centre. There seemed to be several choices but we picked this one because it had a discovery outlet store we wanted to visit at some point. We started with a wander, and I  found a cute blue gingham dress in Brooks Brothers when it was on sale - very fitting in my current wardrobe, super cute, and quite cute! The main reason I wanted to go shopping was to visit Bath and Body Works, who sell amazing candles which I love. I have been saving my other ones so they didn't run out but I guess I can burn them now I have more haha (I have so many candles do this ous a bit silly of me!). Bro was an excellent help, sniffing all the things with me and helping me choose. In the end I picked 4 candles: 2 new ones and 2 of my faves. New ones I got were Caramel Pumpkin Swirl (gorgeous autumnal smell) and Sugared Lemon Zest (fresh and zesty, so refreshing). Then I picked up 2 faves - Black Cherry Merlot (rich and warm), and Bro even managed to reach to the top shelf to get me the last Peach Bellini (fruity and sweet - my all time favourite!!!)

Other than that, we really just wandered through the shops. Bro did pick up a cheap pair of sunglasses from Old Navy for one of his Disneybound outfits. Unfortunately we didn’t find abutting we liked in the Disney warehouse store, so we jumped into another Uber and decided to head over to Disney Springs aura of our move onto property at the end of the week.

We decided to have lunch there when we arrived so stopped in at Earl of Sandwich, which had the best frozen lemonade I may have ever had (might have something to do with the weather too though!), although the sandwich was very large and I couldn’t finish it! While we wandered the shops at Disney Springs we didn’t buy anything today. Mostly we were making lists of what we were shortlisting for the next week, knowing that most everything would also be in the parks. I had a few “must-buys” on my list - particularly pins, ears and a Loungefly mini bag.

One of the shops at Disney Springs I was really excited for was GIDEONS. It is an almost cult level bakery known for is half pound cookies, seasonal and exclusive flavours, and gothic cute decor. Even though it was hot there was a line, although we made friends with the host and another guy in the queue thanks to the cool sort the Bro was wearing. It moves fast and we were only waiting less than 10 minutes before we got in. It’s incredible inside and I got a pin (to have a souvenir we wouldn’t eat!) and we got 3 cookies to share - chocolate chip, cookies and cream, and the monthly special orange pecan chocolate chip. Such peak decor and they took us days to get through because they were so big!

By that point it was like half 4 and we were ready to sit for a while, so we headed to a Disney place I’d seen online. Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar is a really cool place, based around Indiana Jones’ pilot. It’s set up just like a hangar! We chilled there for a few hours, having drinks (alcoholic and non) and also shared a few appetisers to be our dinner. We didn’t have much to eat because we seemed to lose our appetite in the heat throughout the trip. That was our first Disney service experience too - we had a super server who we asked for ride advice and shared that it was our first time! He was super helpful. Our second round of drink’s, Bro ordered one he didn’t like and the server noticed when we asked for the bill that he hasn’t drunk it. He was in the bathroom at the time so I explained to the server that it wasn’t really to his taste - and the server took it off the bill!!! Love that service and we gave him a Cast Compliment for it.

We Ubered back to the hotel (via a Walmart for some washing powder, as I already knew we’d need it later on and we were hitting the busy days ahead!) and gave our parents a call before bed to catch up with them and celebrate being together in less places than usual!

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 2

This summer holidays, my Bro and I went on the trip of a lifetime! 2 weeks of amazing was on the Grand Bro Trip in Orlando, Florida.

Day 2, 27/7 (Wednesday)

Today was Space Day! We had a bus tour to the Kennedy Space Centre booked today, which left from a restaurant called Senor Frogs at 8:30. We got an Uber there just in time! The bus trip took about an hour, then we had admission already paid for and until 5:30pm to explore!

We started at the Gateway building, with the rockets (4 of which had actually been into space!) and the adventure videos. There weroices  and we picked the Red Explorer one - it went to Mars! We actually used the Observation Deck though to watch it, as it was the same video but without the motion sickness inducing movement. The next building we headed over to was the Journey to Mars. There we explored that boards and listened to a talk abour Mars being the next planet to explore. Then we headed to the Universe Taste to meet an astronaut! On this day it was Steve Smith. He talked about what it was like to do space walks and how it changes your perspective on life.

After the talk we jumped into the bus to the other  building, the Apollo/Saturn V Centre. Once we got there there were somw shows on the way in about the  history of the Saturn ships and the Apollo missions before we entered. There was a whole ship having from the ceiling! It was very impressive. We had hot dogs for lunch next to the ticket before heading into the memorial room for Apollo 1 - where all 3 astronauts died. It was a very interesting room, as I didn't know anything about the mission. It was such a tragedy. We then wanted a break - a common theme of our Florida trip was that the aircon was too aggressive but outdoor was so humid! So we wanted to go outside for a little bit to warm up. We headed outside to see over from the viewing area to the launch pads. You couldn't see any rockets on then when we were there but the structures to hooks then in place were all there. Once we were sufficiently warmed up we headed back to the bus and the main centre.

Back there we checked out the Atlantis building. It had the real shuttle that had done 33 missions (wow!) and details about each one and how the shuttle returned and left again. Then we decided it was time to go to the gift shop finally! I spent a long time deliberating but got a tee and shot glass for the Husband, and a cropped jumper and pin for myself. We were almost out of tune and wanted somewhere nice and chill, so headed to the Nature + Technology building. It talked about the natural area and biodiversity around NASA (which they share the management with the relevant Florida authorities) and hour they look out for both the plants and animals around. It was interesting and they obviously take a lot of care.

Our last stop was the Heroes + Legends building. I appreciated that it didn't just focus on the astronauts as heroes, but otter people as heroes and the heroes of the astronauts. Part of the videos and multimedia aksk included 'flying' which had a manufactured breeze which we liked!

Then it was time to head back to the bus. We had saved a podcast that Bro and I both listen to which we shared on the way back to Senor Frogs. On the way we also picked a place to eat. It turned out that Senor Frogs is in a good/club are so we find a cool looking nearby place called Dave & Busters for food. It was an arcade and food place together, and we enjoyed the vibe although we didn't play any games ourselves. U had a southern cobb salad (which was delicious but HUGE!) and a really yummy black cherry cocktail. Then it was back to the hotel for bedtime.

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 1

This summer holidays, my Bro and I went on the trip of a lifetime! 2 weeks of amazing was on the Grand Bro Trip in Orlando, Florida.

Day 1, 26/7 (Tuesday)

I was off quite early today! For an 11am flight I was dropped at Gatwick around 8am to give time to start work for the Husband and to give me lots of time to check in. I had plenty of time to set and call Mum and Dad, eat, and made it all a very smooth process.

I was so pleased I was in premium economy - more space and better food! I booked it because it was close enough in price to economy but I’ve got a bigger luggage allowance for the return journey so I can buy more souvenirs!!! In the end we took off about 20 minutes late due to paperwork being delayed, but we made up time on the actual flight time so still landed on time. On the plane I watched some movies I knew weren’t going to be that good but I kind of wanted to watch anyway. Morbius was pretty much an episode of TV stretched to a film and Matt Smith was clearly the best part about it. Space Jam 2 was actually worse, I even fell asleep near the end! There were hints about the previous one but it was just worse. We had lunch wild u was watching this (chicken pie which was quite yummy), and then after that I took a nap got a few hours. When I woke up I watched The Suicide Squad which was the best of the three. Margot Robbie is excellent!

On landing, the customs queue was quite long and took about an hour to coat, but I had no issues and I read my book while I waited. Once I got to the other side by bag was going right in front of me! So I grabbed it quickly and headed downstairs to meet the Bro where he was waiting for me. We took an Uber to the hotel where I hashed over the gifts I had brought for Mum and Dad, then I had a shower. Disappointingly, a lot of the purple seemed to come out of my hair, but I did kind of expect that as it was the first time I'd washed it.

After I was all presentable, we walked down the road to get some dinner. Orlando is set out quite strangely, in that it has lots of interstate-type roads with 3/4 lanes, exits, ramps and most areas look like industrial areas. So we are going to Uber basically everywhere! The first night we walked to a Wendy's where we had chicken burgers and fries. Better than KFC. We Assisi adopted by the Pulse nightclub, where there had been a mass shooting a few years ago. We hadn't realised we were near there, and is still set up as a memorial and never reopened.

On the way home we picked up slushies from 7-11 for dessert and watched done TV before tucking  ourselves into bed.