The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 15

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

Day 15, 9/8 (Sunday)

The Final Day!

We were flying home today. We had prepacked most of our things before bed last night so we were able to stay in bed as late as possible before taking our luggage downstairs and checking out of the hotel. We left the bags there and headed over to Disney Springs. We just wanted to have one last Disney experience before we had to go home...

We started off at the same place we did last time - Earl of Sandwich. This time I knew better and only ate had my sandwich so it was not so crazy filling. Still delicious though! We went back through all the shops again (well, all the Disney ones anyway and a bunch of others) for a last browse. We realised that we had not bought any 50th anniversary merch, so I picked up a pin and a teeshirt and Bro also picked up a pin. Bro also picked up some cute ear for his travel agent as a thank you for her helping organise and book all his flights. Apparently once she received them she pit them straight up on display!

We toyed with the idea of buying more Gideon's cookies to take on the plane with us, however decided against it as the line was quite long. I did pick up another menu though so that I would have it for a souvenir.

We also headed over to the part that we hadn't explored yet, over near the Cirque du Soleil theatre. There was a Star Wars store and a Marvel one, where I finally succumbed to a mystery set of pins and actually managed to get the one I wanted! Very pleased about that. By this point it was raining quite a lot and didn't seem like stopping so we headed via yet another Uber to the hotel.

We checked the weight of our luggage and mine was just under, thank goodness. While I had that third bag, it seemed that I wouldn't need to use it - although my big suitcase was terribly heavy in the end! Then we headed off to the airport. We were very early but passed the time with one last browse in the Disney and Universal shops, one last meal together, and we even had time to share our favourite podcast before we had to say goodbye. We were headed off from opposite ends of the airport so we had one last hug before going through our opposite security checks and off to the gate.

My flight left at 8.40pm and I was lucky enough to not have anyone next to me for the flight home. I put some stuff on my chair, spread myself out and slept pretty much all the way! Then my lovely husband was kind enough to pick me up from the airport as it is a much faster drive than it is by train now that we are in Epsom (I flew in to Gatwick).

Home, and a bit sad about it.I now wear my merch as often as I can, use my Loungefly bags every day (my mickey ears one is my everyday handbag and my HP one my fancy bag!) and even had my favourite of the photos we took on the trip printed! Stickers to go on my work diary and fanfiction notebook, and actual photos for a frame I want to get for my sewing room wall. I even moved my furniture to make a space for it! Just need to put it up. 

What an amazing trip - we'll both remember it forever,

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 14

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

Day 14, 8/8 (Sunday)

Day 3 of Universal!

For our final day in Universal we had no express passes and no particular plans. We wanted to make sure that we had done all the things, so we started with a wander through the rest of the parks. We hadn't really done much with them as we were really only interested in the Harry Potter sections. We didn't do any other rides but enjoyed the vibes of the other lands and made sure we checked in every shop that we passed!

We also made sure on this day that we had things for the family - something for Mum, Dad, Grandad, the Husband, Bro's friends, mine... Either we got things at Universal or we made a list of what to get at Disney!

We did get back over to Diagon Alley to see the Tale of the Three Brothers show which was really awesome. They used puppets and told the story in a super imaginative way and the puppets were amazing! We also wanted to catch the Frog Choir but it rained in the afternoon so we didn't get to go and see it, sadly.

We had one final night left in the Aventura hotel which we whiled away after dinner packing and making sure everything would fit. I flew in premium economy which meant I could have 2 checked bags and had only used 1 on the way over, but I had packed an extra bag in my suitcase. However, I just managed to squeeze everything in, and we had plans to check our luggage weight the next morning before we head to the airport. Good thinking, for sure!

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 13

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

Day 13, 7/8 (Sunday)

Day 2 of Universal!

We had express passes again today but we accidentally hit snooze and slept in. We were feeling super worn out by this part of the trip - if I did it again, I'd like to have more park days, but with some breaks in between! In the end we got into the parks around 1pm ready for some rides. We headed straight to Diagon Alley and the Escape from Gringotts ride.

Bro had said that I could hack the Gringotts ride, so on I went. He is such a tolerant bro, reminding me that I can do it and I was so glad that I did. It was super! It was such a great mix of ride, which was almost too fast, then it would stop and there would be a screen section. I did take the 3D glasses off because that was a little much, but I really enjoyed the other aspects of the ride. Just enough adrenaline in the end!

After that I decided I wanted to do another ride before eating, so we jumped onto the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade again and gave the Flight of the Hippogriff ride a go. It was the most traditional roller coaster that we rode the entire time we were there, including Disney! It was fast and rather furious, going around and around in a circle and only going for a minute but that was plenty for me!

With those few rides done I felt comfortable eating and was hungry so we headed over to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. I had a fish and chips and a(nother) frozen Butterbeer, and the Bro had the pasties and salad. More very nice pub food!

After that we headed over to the stage to watch the Triwizard Spirit Rally which was very cool. I loved seeing the costumes up close and in movement and the Durmstrang boys were really fun to watch jumping and spinning around. After the show it was time for more wandering and making sure we were buying all the things we really wanted to buy. Had to make sure we saw absolutely everything and we had lists to make sure we didn't miss anything we had to have!

By the time it got to dinner time we had decided that we didn't really want any of the CityWalk options (we found generally that the Universal options were not as good as Disney), and we weren't super hungry after a late lunch. So we actually popped into the cinema on the way back to the bus and picked up a nice big popcorn and some slushies.

We headed back to our room, cosied up in our beds and tried to watch TV. However the channels were quite hard to negotiate, so we ended up watching most of the Spongebob Movie while we ate our popcorn. Only one day left and then a free day before heading home. We were definitely experiencing some fatigue but also already some post-trip sadness. Just a few days left to go!

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 12

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

Day 12, 6/8 (Saturday)

Day 1 of Universal!

We were very excited to start the next (but sadly final) part of our trip - Universal Studios! We had 3 day, 2 park passes and express passes for both weekend days. As we learned at Disney we are not really rollercoaster people and Universal has many more rollercoasters and a lot with motion simulation, which really triggers me, so a lot of coasters were out. Luckily we didn't mind as we were intending on spending almost all our time at Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

We got up and ready, both put on our LeakyCon shirts, and headed over to Diagon Alley! We went in there first as we wanted to go on the Gringotts ride. We started with a very thorough inspection of every shop and store. There were so many awesome details in each and every shop, with immaculate theming, especially in one like Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Eeylops Owl Emporium. The things in the shop were also themed, with treats and tricks at WWW, and magical creatures in the owl emporium. Once we had very thoroughly checked every shop we joined the line for the gringotts ride.

For Escape from Gringotts, you line up through the bank itself, walking through the main hall and looking at vaults until the ride begins. I was really worried about my ability to, well, not be sick on the ride, so Bro and I stood together in the line (so I could have the experience) and then I bailed before he got onto the ride vehicle proper. I went and checked out the gift shop at the end of the ride while I waited for him. When he came out he said that I would have enjoyed it a lot, so I decided to go on it tomorrow. Sadly our express passes only allowed us to skip the line once but we could go again tomorrow! Then we stopped for lunch at the best place to eat in Diagon Alley - The Leaky Cauldron! It was basically a British pub and I got a chicken salad and a Butterbeer. I LOVED the Butterbeer, it was the same as at the studio tour and I had forgotten how delicious it is!

After lunch we wandered through the shops once more and picked up a few bits, then jumped on the Hogwarts Express. The train connects the 2 Universal parks, going from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade, and is a ride of a sort on it's own. There is a screen behind each window which chronicles the journey up to Scotland and the castle, seeing different familiar sights along the way.

Then you have arrived in Hogsmeade! We headed straight to the Hogwarts castle for the Forbidden Journey ride. This was another which I wanted to go on the line but not the ride. The line takes you through the castle and is an amazing experience in itself, and then again I bailed before Bro boarded the ride vehicle. This time though, he came out saying it was an excellent ride - but that it would probably make me feel sick! So I didn't go on it. After the ride we wandered some more shops (can you tell that we were enjoying the vibe of the place and making sure we saw absolutely everything?!) before heading back on the train (a slightly different ride going in the other direction) and heading back to CityWalk for dinner. We stopped back in at the main shops and I finally picked a Loungefly HP bag - I went with the Hogwarts castle one and it is absolutely gorgeous! I love it so much. I also a pin and a shirt and some other stuff, so had a big bag to carry back later!

We stopped for dinner at a bao place which was really good - I had some shrimp bao and pork bao which were really good. Then we went to the Cold Stone Ice Creamery, which is the same as cold rock back in Australia and got ice creams with mix ins. It was super delicious! Then it was definitely bedtime and so we headed back to bed.

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 11

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

Day 11, 5/8 (Friday)

Day 5 of Disney!

Today was our final day at Disney (sob!) and we were back at Magic Kingdom. We started our day by grabbing another LL for Jungle Cruise so that we could actually go on it! Then we got a little more snoozing in and then packed up. We did today our second Disneybound - Yzma and Kronk from the Emperor's New Groove. I wore all black and purple accessories, and Bro had an amazing outfit. We also quoted the film quite a lot throughout the day and someone did spot us which was super cool. We  had to pack up everything because we were checking out of the Poly today and moving over to the Aventura for the Universal part of our trip. We checked into the valet at the hotel and headed straight over to the Magic Kingdom!

Our first stop was Jungle Cruise because we knew that we knew that we wanted to go on 'The Rock's Tiny Tugboat'. It was a chill way to start the morning and a great way to start the day (although I'm not sure how they turned it into a film!). After that we headed back over to everyone's favourite ride - ours at least - Pirates! This was my 6th time in 5 days. Then we grabbed another LL for a ride that had had long queues all week but I wanted to experience, the Winnie the Pooh ride. It was really really sweet and gave us lots of nostalgia which we really enjoyed! For lunch we wanted something less huge than in previous days, and given we had had Casey's Corner twice we had a look on the app and found the Columbia Harbour House, where Bro had a fish burger, and I had an lobster roll. It was amazing and they also had lemonade slushies which were absolutely perfect!

The Harbour House was really close to the Haunted Mansion and so we popped in there again. Love it - and I should rewatch the movie. I then realised that there was a place that we hadn't been in which may have had a cool photo spot so we went looking for Gaston's Tavern. We didn't eat or drink anything becuase we had just had lunch but we got to see and sit in Gaston's chair. Sadly he wasn't there this time to reassure us how awesome he is. After that we wanted to catch a show so we went to Philharmagic show, which was kinda like an updated 3d film similar to Fantasia. That was what we were hoping for so it was exactly what we wanted!

Before we left the park mid-afternoon for the final time, we had to bookend our Disney Experience by finishing with the same as our first ride. So, Pirates of the Caribbean for the final time. I have to admit, I was quite disappointed to be leaving so soon. I can truly understand why people come every year, or more than once a year, and spend 2 weeks. It would allow you to eat as many treats and at as many restaurants as you want, ensure you catch the MK fireworks (which we did) and the Epcot fireworks (which we didn't get to), repeat your favourite experiences, and not burn out from trying to fit too many things into each day. I feel like we hit a great balance in these 5 days and we definitely did everything we really wanted to - and repeated some things! I am writing this less than 2 months later and I already would like to go back - or maybe to try California or Paris next!

We sadly took the monorail back to the Poly, collected our bags and got an Uber over to the Aventura. While we are at Universal we are going to use the bus service. It turns out that Universal CityWalk (the shopping area) actually leads to both parks, which are also linked at the back. Our room at the Aventura is many floors up and has a view over the carpark to the top of Volano Bay, the Universal waterpark! For dinner, we changed into more regular clothes and headed over on the bus to CityWalk.

We started with a wander through some of the shops. They have a Universal store as well as a Universal Heritage store. The regular store was about half HP merch and I oohed and ahhed over lots of things, and then saw the Loungefly bags! There were 3 to choose from - one Honeydukes themed, one Hedwig one, and a Hogwarts castle one. I love them all so took photos to ask my friends for advice and will sleep on it. Basically we made lists of things we liked like we did at Disney. I also appreciated some of the Heritage stuff like Jurassic Park and ET more than the Minions stuff if I'm honest.

We decided to eat sushi, but they didn't have any space so instead we went for pizza. I just had a margarita and then we grabbed some mini Cinnabons for the hotel room and headed back to eat them and get some sleep ahead of our journey to Hogwarts tomorrow!

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 10

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

Day 10, 4/8 (Thursday)

Day 4 of Disney!

We had another day booked for Hollywood Studios today - mostly to give us the best odds of getting on Rise of the Resistance. We woke up at 7 and managed to get our own Rise LL reservation this time for the early afternoon, as well as another regular LL reservation for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, hoping we'd actually get on it this time! We managed to get that for mid morning so got ready and headed straight to the bus. As soon as we arrived we headed straight in. I was told by CM and other reading I did that Runaway Railway was less dramatic as a ride then Rise, so I was pretty confident about my ability to ride it. It was another trackless coaster which I really enjoyed and I also liked the plotline behind it too! It was almost a shame we didn't get to ride it on Tuesday, as I would have gone again but the line got very long and you can only get one LL per attraction per day. We didn't want to stand in line for more than an hour ever! (And we never did for more than about 30 minutes in our 5 days).

After RR we wandered around and made sure to get to all the pin trading locations - as we didn't really like any of our original pins we wanted to trade them all away before we were done in our time at Disney. We finished our trading in Toy Story Land so stopped at Woody's Toy Box for lunch. They do grilled cheese sandwiches and tater tots there were was a nice change and really yummy! Also not too filling compared to some of our other lunches.

On our way back to Galaxy's Edge the Bro stopped in at Star Tours. It never had more than about a 10 minute wait and he really enjoyed it, but I waited in a shop for him to be done. He agreed it would have been awful for me as it was entirely motion simulation like Smugglers Run. But then we went back on Rise of the Resistance! Such a good ride. After that, Bro had booked in to build a lightsaber at Savi's workshop, and I was allowed to go along as his guest. It was a very cool experience. Before going in you choose what 'theme' your lightsaber is - Peace and Justice, Power and Control, Elemental Nature, or Protection and Defense - which narrows down your options to just a couple. Then when it's your turn you go into the workshop and it's a whole experience! They talk about the importance of what you're doing, you choose your Khyber crystal colour, you piece it together yourself from your options, and then you place it in a special spot. They say the words, and it crafts the blade of your saber which you then raise and light up very ceremonially. Yoda even speaks! It was very cool even to just watch and I took lots of photos and video to help the Bro remember it. 

After that we were ready for a show, so we ran over to make the LL entrance slot for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. It was very cool with explosions and proper stunt people and it was a cool show for sure. We decided before the show that we would have some pre dinner drinks, so after it finished, we headed back over to Oga's Cantina. We had a couple of cocktails (well, I had one and Bro had 2) and we even managed to get some coasters. I asked how we could get some to keep and the bartender asked, 'What can you offer in exchange?' I had no idea what/if we had anything good, so after I paused, she said 'You can have the ones you catch!' and started frisbee-ing them at us. Of course, we only caught a couple, but she made sure we ended up with a nice large stack to take home which was super nice. We stayed longer this time so enjoyed the theming, vibe and music even more than last time!

Then it was back to the Poly to change for dinner. This was our 1 meal we booked before the trip - Space 220 at Epcot. We wanted to have one fancy meal on the trip and this looked like the coolest one which wasn't a character dinner. After changing into our fancies we took the monorail back over to Epcot and headed in. The concept is really cool - you have to go up in a lift, which takes you '220 miles up into space'. You then eat your dinner while looking out of the space station towards the Earth below, and sometimes things float past the window. Very cool.

It was an absolutely gorgeous meal. You commit to 3 courses but it wasn't too much food, really, and we also got a few drinks. I started with the Neptune Tartare, which was tuna and delicious, and a Stratosphere Strawberry Lemonade (one of the alcoholic cocktails). For mains I had the space glazed duck breast which was really beautifully cooked, but for me the stand out was definitely dessert! I had a second drink (no alcohol this time as I'm a lightweight), which was the Moon Rocks drink. It was bright blue, tasted like candy floss, and came with not only a packet of Pop Rocks to put in it, but a collectible card to go with it! Super cool and I can imagine every kid drink it - it was perfectly sweet for dessert drinking. I also had the carrot cake, which was by far the best carrot cake I've ever eaten!!! When I told our server that, he told me that it is even vegan! I couldn't fathom how they got it so moist, and the cream cheese so accurate, without any dairy, which only made it more incredible in my eyes. We stretched out the whole meal, chatting and taking our time the one time we weren't in a rush, and we were one of the last tables to vacate and head back down to Earth.

We also took our sweet time walking back to the Monorail station, as it was still running for a while and Epcot looks really sweet at night (the ball and the Guardians ride especially). We couldn't do anything else on the way back though because the park had closed at 9pm and it was well after that already, so we headed back and went to bed. I was already starting to feel sad that we only had one day left, even though it was another Magic Kingdom day!

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 9

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

Day 9, 3/8 (Wednesday)

Day 3 of Disney!

Today was our middle day at Disney and we had decided on Epcot for today. We were planning on making it a more chill day, as we didn't really want to do any of the rides. This meant we didn't need to wake up at 7am for any LL reservations and we got a bit of a later start. We took the monorail over to Epcot which was very nice. We were also looking forward to trying some of the international foods - although with the heat we weren't that hungry on any of our days. We decided when we arrived to go around the world first, then go back to the bits near the entrance at the end. First we got the Guardians of the Galaxy Photopass photo (which was very cool and they put Groot in it!) then we headed around, starting with Canada. Our first stop was the Australia booth! It's part of the Food and Wine Festival that was running at the moment and had a stand selling Australian dishes and cocktails. I couldn't resist starting my day with a lamb chop and it was excellent! It was served with a salt and vinegar crisp coating and mint sauce, so good. They also had lamingtons, which I was tempted by but I decided to save my appetite.

Then we headed through the UK. It was pretty funny to wander through those gift shops, selling Tetley tea and Jammy Dodgers at an exorbitant price compared to what I spend at home! Then we wandered around a corner, and there was Mary Poppins! She had quite a short line so we joined it and got to meet her. She was very sweet - she complimented me on my dress and said that Bert would like it because his favourite colour is blue. I curtseyed to her and we got a lovely photo together, although she must have been HOT in the heat with so many layers on!

We continued wandering our way around the world and our next stop was Japan! We loved the Japanese shop, we picked up some fun Japanese knicknacks and I got some peach gummy sweets that were so yummy! Then we found a quick service place in a sweet Japanese garden and ate lunch. We had sushi and I treated myself to a plum wine which went down very nicely.

After lunch we kept going around the world through Mexico and Norway, and just outside we found a place selling Frozen Cokes. It might have been the best thing we drank the whole time we were at Disney though, because it was so cooling. Our next cold room break was going to be the Pixar short film room, but when we headed in, who did we see but the big cheese himself, Mickey! So of course we joined the (surprisingly short) line to meet Mickey. He complimented my ears and the Bro shook his hand, and we got some amazing photos of it too. My favourite is of me hugging Mickey, when we're mid-hug. Lovely.

After meeting Mickey and the short film festival (some of which we remembered and some of which we didn't, but they were all excellent), we headed over to the Nemo section. We were looking forward to Turtle Talk with Crush, particularly as I had seen clips of it online with funny results. It's a really cool show where you chat to Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo. The voice and animation is don live, with a real person behind the scenes talking to, and having questions with, the audience. It was really enjoyable. After that we had a quick look at the animals in the aquarium and then popped onto the Nemo and Friends ride. We were joking after Rise of the Resistance last night about it being a dramatic ride and had our hands up in the air, and the Cast Member heard us and told us to put on our seatbelts. I knew he was tricking but he totally got my Bro, who looked down to find the belt! Got him.

After that we headed back to the Connections area where the biggest shop is. I had seen on our first walk through that there were some cool short sleeve button up shirts in the shop and picked one up for Richard (white with rainbow colourful Marvel logos on - and it fits perfectly!). After we did our shopping I needed the bathroom, and who did we spot on our way over to the loos but one Winnie the Pooh, in the garden with his net for catching butterflies! He was in the grassy area so we couldn't actually go to him but we took a selfie and he did an adorable pose in the background, plus we waved and blew kisses. Best bathroom break of the trip!

After meeting Pooh Bear we decided to head back to the Poly for an afternoon chill. Tonight was the long night open at Magic Kingdom (open until 11pm for regular peeps and 1am for us fancy resort people) so we were planning on heading back into the park later. Tonight was also our only chance left to catch the MK fireworks, as Monday was rained out, Tuesday we were at Hollywood Studios (and it rained as well), and we were out for dinner Thursday, and heading to the next resort on Friday evening. So today it had to be! We made it on the last monorail back to the Transportation and Ticketing Centre, but then the resort monorail was closed due to the rain. So we waited it out (it was already easing) and walked the 5 minute walk back to the hotel. I think it may have even been faster that the monorail would have been! At the Poly we used our free dole whip voucher - delicious - and did some pin trading as they have several board just in the resort shops.

Then we headed back into Magic Kingdom. First, we went straight to Pirates again - my 4th time of the trip. It fast became my favourite ride! Then the line for some of the others we wanted to try was shorter, so we headed to It's A Small World. It's... A lot. I felt like we had to do it because it is iconic, but it is a strange ride and neither of us really understood why there was such a long line for it most of the time. After that we headed over to the Storybook area for a highlight of the trip - Dumbo!

When we were very small (5 and 3 respectively), our parents took us to Japan and we went to Tokyo Disney. Dumbo is my Bro's favourite, even then (he has always loved elephants), but the line was so long that he fell asleep and it's a family story that gets brought out a lot (there's even a photo of him asleep in the stroller!). So we had to ride it together, take photos of Bro pretending to sleep in the (much shorter) line. Luckily we are just the right size to ride it together in one elephant, although I made th mistake of giving Bro the controls to go up and down. I filmed the whole ride (like a minute and a half) on my phone for posterity and sent it to Mum and Dad to give them a laugh! It was a really fun 90 seconds and we loved the memories we made in it too.

Then, we headed over to pick up our dinner. We had thought we were being really clever, ordering our Casey's Corner (hot dogs again!) for just before 9pm thinking that we'd be able to get a table outside and watch the fireworks from there. But of course many other people have that same idea, so instead we ate our hotdogs while I stood on tiptoes and looked through the table umbrellas at the castle to watch the fireworks. Despite this, it was still magical, with the music and everything almost reducing me to tears several times. We also had a sweet moment when the Bro and I turned to each other at the same time and were like, 'This is great. We are great bros. Best siblings ever.' It was pretty magical.

After the fireworks it was clear a lot of people were leaving (many with kids I would imagine), but we were thinking THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO GET SHORT LINES! So even though we were feeling quite tired we hotfooted our way over to the Haunted Mansion again - figured it was the way to go for a spooky night time ride. And actually, we were stalled on it for about 15 minutes at one point! then we headed over to one of the night time photopass location to get pretty nighttime pictures with the Rapunzel lanterns (some of the best photos of the trip!)

There was just enough time to go through Pirates AGAIN before we headed to bed and tucked ourselves in just after midnight.

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 8

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 8, 2/8 (Tuesday)

Day 2 of Disney!

We had park reservations for Hollywood Studios for this day so we were up at 7 to get our Rise of the Resistance Individual LL reservation. When I got to the app I couldn't seem to get through! It said that I couldn't make that booking because I wasn't in the US... even though I was actually in the resort. After a few seconds thought, I jumped on the hotel room phone and hit the button for guest services. By this point I was worried that it was 7.10 and we wouldn't get a spot today. But luckily the lady in guest services managed to get us the spot for 5.25-6.25pm that day, and switched the address on my account to the Poly's address - I think that might have been the problem in the end. So we got it but not for ages - so we grabbed the regular LL booking too, rolled back over and grabbed another hour or so of sleep.

To get from the Poly to Hollywood Studios we needed to take the bus and we managed to walk to the bus stop just outside right when the bus was pulling up. We wore our Disneybound outfits for this day - Bro wore all grey including some reflective sunnies to be Mando, and I wore an olive green dress and brown shorts with my hair in pigtails to be his Grogu. I don't think that anyone recognised us for what we are but we really liked being dressed up! We headed straight to Batuu when we arrived, and wandered through. Our first stop for the day was our LL reservation - Smugglers Run. It's a motion simulation spaceship ride where 6 people share a ship and have jobs in pairs (2 pilots, 2 gunners, and 2 engineers). It had interactive elements where depending on your role - Bro and I were both engineers, and as we bumped our way through the ride (our pilot must have been about 10), we had to hit buttons that lit up to fix the ship. We were smuggling something, although I can't remember what, but you didn't actually move. It just tilted and shook but stayed still, and I honestly really really struggled on the ride. The motion simulation really got to me, after the first 30 seconds or so I couldn't even look at the screen with the ride on it. I kept my eyes firmly on the buttons so I got a really good score for my engineer skills at least. I had to even take a sit down afterwards, but the Bro really liked it! After that we wandered around more of Batuu and got some of the photopass photo location. It was really cool and got the best angles in Batuu, plus added cool effects as well.

Then for some lunch, we managed to get a last minute spot at the coolest place in Batuu, Oga's Cantina! This is a really cool themed bar with so many amazing Star Wars themed cocktails! I went non-alcoholic with a Hyperdrive (Punch It!), which had berry powerade and black cherry puree. It was awesome! The Bro got a Blue Bantha - at this point we hadn't seen any of the blue or green milk yet and this was the blue milk served with a Bantha-themed sugar cookie. We also got the Happabore Sampler to share, which is the galaxies version of a meat and cheese platter. It was great!

Then we popped into the shops around Batuu (I got my Ewok ears!) and wandered out into the rest of Hollywood Studios. We had a LL reservation mid-afternoon for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway which got cancelled as the ride was down (that actually happened a bunch while we were in the park over our few days) and we got a free credit. We were melting and needed an inside thing, so headed over to the MuppetVision 3D show... except we forget to pick up our 3D glasses! We didn't realise until we were seated and the doors closed. Oops. the how was still good and I do enjoy the Muppets! After the show was finished we wandered all around to all the pin trading locations and got some good ones - better than we had at Magic Kingdom the previous day. We had a LL reservation for Runaway Railway at 4.15-5.15 but were running out of clothes, so we headed back to the Poly to take a mid-afternoon rest and get some washing done at the laundromat. Then we hung all our clothes around the room, left it on 'do not disturb' and headed back in for the end of the LL slot- although Runway Railway got cancelled AGAIN so we decided to leave it for today.

Then it was time for Rise of the Resistance. I was nervous about this ride as it had lots of warnings for fast motion, sharp turns, backwards motion and a sudden drop at the end. But it's by far the most popular ride in this park (and tied with the Guardians ride for total most popular) and it's Star Wars so there was no way we were missing it. Bro was so sweet - I got really nervous waiting in line and he took my hand and was like 'you can do it Bro!' It was the total experience!!! It is in multiple parts, involved several different ride types, does go backwards a bunch and has some iconic characters in it (HI Domhnall Gleeson). It was totally thrilling, takes about 17 minutes in total and it was INCREDIBLE. I got off it and was like WOAH - THAT WAS A LOT BUT I LIKE IT AND I WANT TO DO IT AGAIN. The rooms and atmosphere were a total vibe - the sets were incredible and totally believable. The drop was the part I was the most worried about but actually I saw it coming (it was an escape pod drop) and it was over so fast I didn't even have a chance to feel bad about it. Bro was totally hilarious as well - at one point you see Kylo Ren and when he looked at us he waved and said out loud 'Hi, I love your work!' So cringe but hilarious.

After the ride, we headed over to one of the Galaxy's Edge quick service locations, Docking Bay 7. I had heard about the Ronto Wrap before coming to the park and really wanted to try it but hadn't at lunch and you can get it for dinner here. It's a pita-style bread with a slice of roast pork, pork sausage and coleslaw. It was excellent! We also had some alcoholic drinkies - I had the Surley Sarlacc (with grapefruit and rose vodka in it), and Bro the Takodana Quencher (with dragon berry rum). We really enjoyed sharing over our trip with food and drinks and I really rated the food - even if we didn't eat as many snacks as I had anticipated. It was looking like rain, and had started bucketing down right after we got into the Docking Bay so we drank and ate slowly to wait out the rain. Then we headed back to the Poly on the bus, and given it wasn't super late we shared some of our Gideon's cookies from Disney Springs and watched the Emperors New Groove before heading to sleep.

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 7

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 7, 1/8 (Monday)

Day 1 of Disney!

We were up pretty early this morning ready to hit Disney! We had Magic Kingdom passes for this day so we woke up at 7 to get our first Lightning Lane reservations. We had the LL for every day of our trip and it was really helpful in minimising our wait time in lines! We got a reservation for our first choice nice and early, got ready to hit the park (lots of sunscreen!) and checked our bags so that we could switch to a room with twin beds later in the day. We jumped on the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom, and honestly, it was pretty magical walking down Main Street towards the castle. We detoured into the Starbucks on Main St for breakfast, where David got one of the 50th anniversary cinnamon roll, which is of course shaped like Mickey ears! I stole some and it was delish.

Our Lightning Lane and first ride of all, was what turned out to be one of our favourites - Pirates of the Caribbean! It makes sense we like this ride a lot because we love the film and the music which is in the ride as well. I do wonder if they completely redesigned the ride after the film came out (I imagine so). I really liked the ride, the fact it was a water ride. And I didn't know about the drop the first time and it took me by surprise - I screamed! I did go WOO the other times though.

After that we wandered around for a bit while we waited for the next LL reservation and I made my first in park purchase - a cute mint green Thumper tee. I picked it up from the shop near Mickey's PhilharMagic, I had seen it at Disney Springs and I couldn't get it out of my head. Then ride number 2 was the Haunted Mansion! I had forgotten a lot of the movie but the ride was really fun, plus nice and cool and we obviously shared a doom buggy so were able to chat about it a little without feeling too guilty for disturbing others.

After that we decided to head over to Tomorrowland for a walk, but decided to stop in the next show of the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. It was about to start and was a fun show which had the characters from the franchise telling jokes, some of which were sent in by audience members, and some of which made fun of audience members. The premise was that you have to laugh enough to open the doors enough to get out at the end! When we came out we could hear music so we walked over to Main St again just in time to see the (first of quiet a few) Festival of Fantasy parade! There are lots of characters in the parade and it was fun to wave to them and see who would wave back!

We had a lunch at Casey's Corner on Main St, which serves great hot dogs and fries before going back through every Main St store in a nice methodical manner. We were still making lists of the things which we were planning on purchasing, as they aren't currently sending things back to your hotel room and that means you have to carry everything yourself! List acquired, we headed around to a few different shops for some pin trading. Pin trading is a very cool thing in Disney - they make a lot of different pins, which you can obviously purchase, but you can also go to specific stores where they have boards with pins and you can trade. The rules is that they have to be real Disney pins, and that you can only trade 2 pins per board per day. There are also Cast Members in some places with pins on their lanyards you can trade. David and I had bought some on Ebay which we split, purely for trading purchases, and it was a really nice thing to do during the days and encouraged us to visit all the shops!

We then headed over to our next Lightning Lane, which was Peter Pan's Flight. It was short but I did enjoy it a lot, particularly when we were flying over London. Never seen that before...! Then we decided to head back to the Poly for a rest before coming back in the evening. We went back to those spots we had bookmarked on Main St as we were headed out, and I made my most exciting purchases. I got a pair of ears, blue gingham and white eyelet. Not super 'Disney', but very me! I had also promised myself I would buy 2 of the gorgeous Loungefly mini backpacks at the parks (one was for at Universal, I was hoping there would be a HP one). The bag I chose was themed for the Mat Tea Party ride, is bright purple and green, and has the ears of course! I adore it and I've used it loads since I brought it home. On our way back to the monorail we saw Winnie the Pooh and all his friends above the entrance dancing and waving, and we waved back to Pooh and Tigger before jumping onto the monorail.

After our rest, David decided that he was too tired to go back into the park, but we had a LL reservation for later and I didn't want to spend the evening in a hotel room watching TV on my phone (I can do that anywhere!), so we grabbed a quick dinner at Capt Cook's, once of the food places in the Poly resort proper, and David headed back to bed while I headed back alone to Magic Kingdom. As the light started to fade it was really lovely.

I started with the Peoplemover over in Tomorrowland, which was a lovely tour of that part of the park. I meant to go back again with David again but we didn't have time. My favourite part was definitely going through the part where you could hear people screaming on Space Mountain! Then, using the app to monitor ride lines, I realised that Pirates had a 10 minutes wait, so I did it - twice more in a row!!! I learned that you tend to get wetter in the back row than the front, and that you get on quicker when you are travelling solo also. It was a grand time (and that's 3 times on that one ride in one day already!)

Then it was time for our last LL of the day - 'The Rock's Tiny Tugboat' (Jungle Cruise). The weather had clouded over and just when I was right near the front of the line, it stopped moving. Boats were arriving, people were disembarking and nobody was getting on. They then made an announcement that there was a storm warning and that all outside rides were now closed. I asked about how this works, they said that just rain is fine (the boats are covered and it apparently does go in the rain), but once there's lightning with 10 miles, they have to pause all outside rides until it is far enough away again. I waited in the line a log time because I was hoping it would pass, and after about 45 minutes in line I gave up. I figured we could get another LL for it later in the week and it was getting close to 9pm. I asked at the ride and they said that the fireworks (at 9:30pm) would be at least delayed tonight, if not cancelled, because of the nearby storm. So I decided to cut my losses and go back to the Poly. I left the line of Jungle Cruise, quickly dodged the crowds as I overtook them down Main St. I popped into the confectioners to get a Mickey ears rice krispie treat (with M&Ms) to take back to the room, and hot-fotted it over to the monorail to grab it back before the storm hit. Unfortunately, my timing wasn't so good... I got on the first monorail to be held at the station! They do not run in lightning either and it started raining as soon as I got into the station! So I sat on the monorail for about an hour, eating my dessert, while it bucketed sideways cats and dogs, and lightning flashed and loud thunder rumbled. I messaged David to say I was dry and safe but stuck waiting (he slept through the massive storm which I was surprised by). After the full hour of waiting, I went to ask about other transport. The boats were still running, but that didn't seem like a wise idea to me, so instead I ran through the pouring rain and joined a rather long line for the bus instead.

In the end it took me 90 minutes to get from the exit of Magic Kingdom to the Polynesian Resort... I could have walked much much faster than that if I hadn't minded drowning. But I made it back only partly wet in the end and tucked myself into bed sometime just after 11pm. I knew we needed to be up for 7 again the next day as we were going to Hollywood Studios for Galaxy's Edge!

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 6

 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 6, 31/7 (Sunday)

Today was Day 3 of LeakyCon - and Harry Potter's birthday!

Bro was feeling better today so we headed in together in time for the first panel - Potter Online. It was the Goblet of Wine podcast hosts (Charlie and Hannah), Cherry Wallis and Chanel Williams, and they talked about the impact of being online. It was interesting because I learned that Warner Brothers is upset with Chanel about her McGonagall impression because of copyright reasons, although it's clearly satire. They also talked about how it was hard because of romance and relationships - there is a lot that any potential friend or partner can learn about these girls before they've even met by listening to podcasts and watching the Youtube videos and that's super one sided and puts them at a disadvantage, which seems fair. Cherry in particular did feature a previous relationship in her videos and now regrets it because people ask intrusive questions, and it just makes everything more complicated and 'ruins' the content. They discussed their chosen platforms (youtube, podcasts, tiktok) and the advantages of podcasting for women. Charlie and Hannah explained that it's better because they actually listen to what people are saying instead of judging by looks.

After that we went to the Hufflepuff Pride and talked some more about how great it is to be a Hufflepuff! We talked about how Hufflepuff is about inclusion - aggressive inclusion to make sure that EVERYONE IS INCLUDED. We all agreed that Newt Scamander is amazing for the representation of Hufflepuffs, and representation in general (as he is portrayed by Eddie Redmayne as being ASD), and recapped how many of us have Slytherin relationships and how that is a win win for both parties.

After lunch (I forgot to write what we had but it was in the convention centre still - we didn't want to miss a second of the talks!) we headed to the Flamel Room to a talk about corruption within the Ministry of Magic. It was run by some people who were in charge of an organisation supporting marginalised people and exposing people in power who abuse it, and made some good links to real situations. They talked about how the Ministry is so concerned about protecting the Official Secrecy Act that they let other bad behaviours slide. Also how corrupt Cornelius Fudge was - not intentionally bad but lazy and that that was causing bad things to happen. He was to blame for gaining power, and it took Voldemort coming back for him to finally realise that he was wrong and to step down. It was interesting but very heavy.

We were planning on going next to a talk on leadership, but after such a heavy topic we decided we needed something lighter. There was a live podcast going on then at the same time and so we headed over there. We had been exposed to the hosts on another panel and thought they were a bit funny. It was Fanatical Fics and Where to Find Them (Live), a podcast where the hosts Sequoia Simone and Kim take turns to read each other fanfiction and laugh about it. They did a story each and before each get the name, genre, and when it was written in relation to the rest of the books so that everyone can guess. You get points for every correct guess, but they find the craziest stuff! One story was an AU fic in which a girl was at a rock concert (Good Charlotte, obviously) and got called up on stage with a boy - who turned out to be Draco Malfoy. It seems hilariously promising but also ended on a cliffhanger and was only one chapter! We both thought it was hilarious and are now subscribed and thankfully there are almost 150 episodes for us to catch up on. I have been addicted and listen to an episode a day on average, it's so funny I laugh out loud every time. And now Bro and I quote it to each other on the regular.

The last thing on the schedule was PotterCast Live. It's a tradition to close out the Con now with the live recording and I always wanted to be around for one! It was full of fun and games hosted by Melissa with the Goblet of Wine girls again, Chris Rankin and Mike of the Potterless podcast. It was really fun, they also included audience members, giving out tees and having a ribbon contest (I definitely didn't win!) The Con as a whole was absolutely amazing. I had imagined it but not even close. There were fun and silly things, serious things, deep things and personal things to choose from. We struggled a couple of times over what to choose for some sessions but that's the best problem to have! I would absolutely love to go again - there is one in Denver in October but I am hoping they will announce 2023 in a nice location soon so that I can see if I can make it work. If they keep it around Harry's birthday then it will be in my summer holidays so I should always be able to make it.

We also bought some cool merch over the days, going around to the stands multiple times to make sure we got all the coolest stuff we wanted. I got the LeakyCon tee, some really beautiful common room prints (Hufflepuff for me, Ravenclaw for some friends, and Slytherin for the Husband), a couple of pins from a few different stands. I was sorely tempted by the section that was tattoo artists doing live HP tattoos all weekend long, but the Bro (probably sensibly) talked me out of it. Also, I do already have a badger tattooed on me!

After the con ended, we (very sadly), headed back to the hotel in another Uber. We had checked out that morning, so gathered our bags and headed over to hotel #2 and the second part of our trip - DISNEY!

We were staying in the Polynesian hotel so checked in, getting our 1st Visit badges and leis to wear. The lady who checked us in was super nice and gave us a voucher for free dole whip (special ice cream) to use while we were staying there! We headed to the room, but quickly learned that they had given us one double bed rather than 2 singles. We spoke to guest services and they lined us up for a change to a different room the next day (the Bro was a super gentleman and took the couch on this first night, thanks for that!). We had dinner booked at the Grand Floridian cafe, but Bro wasn't hungry and needed the sleep so he went to bed and I went on my own on the resort monorail to the Grand Floridian. I got a chance to explore, bumped into a cast member who gave me good advice to keep an eye for the characters on the floor, and it was gorgeous! I even saw the castle for the first time from afar!!!

Dinner was fab - I took my phone to read my fanfiction (one recommended by the panel at LeakyCon I had started) while I ate and I got great service due to my badge and being on my own. Bob, my server, checked in on me a bunch. I had a delicious cocktail with a shiny ice cube (it lit up!) and some really lovely miso salmon which was very appreciated after the convention centre food! I even had another server stop by on her way past to wish me a happy first visit and to have a little chat about how it was going so far. I asked the Cast Members about what rides and snacks they recommended to start some ideas going. I took the resort monorail the long way round to get back which was very cool - going past the Magic Kingdom entrance, the Transportation and Ticketing Centre (not so exciting though) and through the Contemporary (which was our first pick to stay in but was booked out by the time we got to it). When I got back I wanted to chat to someone so I called Mum and Dad for a little bit while I wandered around the resort and then I snuck back into the room to go to bed! I even managed to not disturb my Bro.

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 5

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 5, 30/7 (Saturday)

Today was Day 2 of LeakyCon!

We were so ready for Day 2 of LeakyCon! We started our day with a panel called 'Nature vs. Nurture', which discussed Tom Riddle's early life and how he really never stood a chance! He was born with inter-generational family trauma, because of Merope's home life and family trauma which was passed onto him. Inbreeding created Marvolo Gaunt's violence and abuse, which was passed on to Tom through Merope. It has been proved (I believe) that trauma can actually change DNA so Tom, as a child of rape and coercion began life already in a bad place. It suggested that if Merope had lived that Tom might have been okay, but he actually suffered every version of early trauma as an infant. The speaker showed footage of orphanages in the 1950s and how children were affected by their environment. When they got up to questions, I asked if being sorted into another Hogwarts house would have helped Tom at all, but my answer was that by the time he was 11, Tom had suffered too much and was probably too far gone to come back. Creating the horcruxes was a kind of self-inflicted trauma, which only served to bring him further from healing and  being able to have healthy relationships.

Then we headed back over to the main stage for a discussion panel called 'Flawed Favourites'. It featured 3 of the actors from the films discussing their characters in more detail than the books gave and their potential flaws. It featured Chris Rankin again (Percy Weasley), Stan Yanevski (Viktor Krum) and Afshan Azad (Padma Patil) and was interesting to hear the perspectives of the actors themselves.

After that panel it was time for lunch, so I ate some fries but Bro wasn't feeling well and we were due to have the Ball that evening, so he Ubered back to the hotel to rest up. I was excited for an afternoon of fanfiction content! I actually used to write HP fanfiction back in the day - mostly canon pairings and day in the life type content. I enjoyed it a lot and got some good reviews back in the day but was kind of surprised that it is still going! The first panel I went to was actually just a discussion about why fanfiction is cool, how important it is to pop culture, and also provided a list of recommendations! We of course talked about some stories from back in the day that many people read (like 'My Immortal', the most famous HP fanfiction which must be an intentional parody because it's too crazy not to be!), but also I walked away with a great long list of fanfictions to read. I have actually already started reading a 7 book AU story where Harry has a twin who is the boy who lived, he is sorted into Slytherin, and Snape becomes his guardian. It's actually amazing writing and I have many more on the list to read at some point! They also talked about other cross over stories, like Kingsman/Doctor Who or Harry Potter/Ouran High School Host Club! Very cool and just my kind of nerdy.

After that I went over to another room for a discussion called 'Pairings That Should', which talked about peoples favourite character pairings which didn't actually exist in the books. This include Harry/Luna, WolfStar (Sirius/Remus), Oliver/Percy, Blaise/Ginny, Dean/Seamus, Ginny/Luna, Harry/Ron, Gin&Tonic (Draco/Ginny). Interesting to note, which was pointed out, is that any Draco ship in fanfiction needs the characterisation of Draco to be changed or completely rewritten in order for him to be compatible with anyone we know. He's just the worst in stories!

Then it was back to the main stage for the LeakyCon game show! It had Chris as the host, and panellists Sean Biggerstaff (played Oliver Wood), Josh Herdman (Gregory Goyle) and Afshan Azad. They were tested on their HP knowledge through trivia. Chris was a great, if chaotic host, and Josh admitted that he has only read 3 books! He was asked a fan question and got owned: "What does the Crucio curse do? You were in the room when it was explained and Moody even did a demonstration..." Luckily he did get it right!

My last panel for the day was the Crafters Meetup. We talked about what we make (mostly other crafted rather than sewed clothes), how it makes us feel, noticed that most of us were Hufflepuffs which we thought was quite interesting, and took turn sharing our experiences and some makes. I showed off the shorts I was wearing (Lander shorts which I had made with Hufflepuff fabric pockets and an embroidered badger on the back pocket) and got so many compliments. I even got new Instagram followers and someone who I was chatting with afterwards called me "inspiring"! It was such a rush!

The Ball didn't start until 8pm and Bro was still at the hotel so I went back to check on him. Turns out he was really not well, and was definitely not up to attending the Ball. He was so poorly that I didn't go either, instead I went out to a chemist and got him some meds, some plain food - and the local McDonalds for me. I didn't mind because I started the physical diary for the trip, watched some tv and headed to bed at a reasonable time. I was also glad that I went to McDonalds because I could get a frozen coke! I do love them.

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.

Birthday Treat - Dinner @ Hestons

I recently celebrated my 30th birthday (gosh, I'm old!), and to celebrate, we went to a very fancy restaurant. Dinner @ Hestons is inside the Mandarin Oriental restaurant in Knightsbridge. It's a very fancy hotel (we actually Googled it and rooms go for from £800 a night at least!) and therefore a very fancy restaurant!

The theme of the restaurant is historical. They have taken recipes from historical sources and updated the recipes or added modern ingredients. They describe it as "Our menu offers modern dishes, inspired by historic British gastronomy." The whole dinner is an experience. Everything is synchronised - all of the dishes in each course arrive at the same time around the table (delivered by a team of people), you get up and go to the bathroom and they fold your napkin while you're gone!

We started our evening with drinks. I started with a gin and tonic, of course (I can't remember which gin, though) and looking at the menu. I love the historical aspect of it. For entree, I chose the Earl Grey Tea Cured Salmon, which came with pickled lemon salad, gentlemen's relish and sorrel. Mum had the same, and the three boys had the Plum Meat Fruit. This is a chicken liver pate that is presented to look like a plum, and it really does! The salmon is really delicate and delicious and the other bits complement it perfectly. The salmon is from a cookbook circa 1730.

For main, I couldn't have chosen what I had last time again, because it's off the menu now! I picked the same as my brother, the Duck and Turnip with buttered black turnip, turnip cream, truffle and civet of duck. This meant a little fillet of duck and really well coordinated turnip related sides. It was a recipe from ad. 79, the oldest in the whole menu! I found that appealing too, that I was eating something that had such solid and defined historical roots. I also had my second G&T with this course!



And for dessert, I had already ordered. It is a repeat from last time after the deliciousness it caused!!! A recipe from circa 1810, and the most delicious thing I've ever eaten... Tipsy cake! Served with spit roast pineapple, it's a brioche cooked fresh to order (you have to order it when you order entree so that they can make it in time!) in a alcoholic custard sauce, with a hunk of caramelised roasted pineapple on the side. Honestly... Everyone deserves this in their lives. It's truly the best.



I also had the recommended dessert wine with it, which was perfect to go with it, of course. And truthfully, this is the best place for a special dinner. (If you have the budget.)