Gunner Blog About It

I've said it before and I'll say it again. There is only one thing that is socially acceptable for my generation to nerd out about. And no, Joey, it's not WoW.

I would like to take this time to thank my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Woods, for introducing me to the wizarding world. But Mrs. Woods, you're also the worst because you made me realize all I will ever be is a muggle. A bloody muggle.

I waited and waited for my Hogwarts letter to come, and it just never did.

#mugglestruggles

This week though, I got to pretend I was part of the magical world. I finally understand why people love things like the Star Tours ride at Disneyland and Comic Con.

Because this week I nerded out. I nerded out HARD.

Long story short, my friends Maddy, Liz, and I decided we had waited long enough to get to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I mean, it's been open since 2010!

I could go all out and let everyone realize what a dumb little Harry Potter fangirl I am and write a whole heck of a lot about my infatuation with The Chosen One, but I'll try to keep the obsessing in this post to a minimum.

But I will warn you, at the end of all this you might say:

That being said, let's get the boring non-HP pics of the trip out of the way first, and then we can move on to more exciting ventures.

^^ Is it weird that I love JP too?

^^ I owe this affinity to my brother Kellen and his obsession with dinosaurs. #90skid

^^ Jaws - I will forever blame you for my irrational

fear of sharks ~~sometimes~~ at all times when I am in the ocean.

^^ Animal Kingdom was cool too, but that's not what I'm here to talk about.

^^ We tried so hard to see a gator the whole time

we were in Florida, but this was the closest we got.

^^ Expedition Everest - We rode this ride like 15 times.

Ok, now for the REAL STUFF.

Some people might go a little cray cray when they first walk into Hogsmeade.

^^ But like, we kept our cool.

^^ No we didn't. We really didn't. We couldn't.

^^ Things really were like this the whole day. No cool to be kept here.

^^ It's. So. Beautiful.

^^ Lunch at the Three Broomsticks, because, obviously.

Is that a young Hagrid I see? Perhaps.

^^ Inside the Three Broomsticks. Everything was literally perfect.

^^ BUTTERBEER.

Ok guys, so I have to take the time to explain butterbeer to you. They offer cold, frozen, and hot butterbeer. So naturally, we each got a different one so we could try all three. We were really hesitant about the hot one because it just sounds weird, but the house elf told us we could bring it back and get something else if we didn't like it.

Buckle up, ladies and gentlemen because hot butterbeer is literally the nectar of the gods. I mean, for real... It's heaven in liquid form. It's like the butterscotch version of hot chocolate. And I don't even usually like butterscotch. But this stuff was TASTY.

If any of you go visit soon, skip the normal butterbeer and go for the hot (if it's cold outside) or frozen (if it's hot outside). I promise you won't regret it.

We may or may not have had butterbeer four times in the two days we were there. Oops.

We continued to shop around Hogsmeade and visited some old favorites.

^^ The Hog's Head - remember Dumbledore's Army?

^^ Good old Gilderoy

^^ QUIDDITCH

^^ The Monster Book of Monsters

^^ More excitement

^^ Some selfies

^^ More butterbeer

^^ More excitement

The ride in the castle is called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and it is the COOLEST.

And they keep you entertained while you are in line because there are tons of cool statues and portraits, just like in the books/movies.

^^ The pensieve!

^^ Told em I was a squib and they let me in.

Then it was time to hop on the Hogwarts Express and head to London.

^^ On the train! It was PERFECT!

^^ My first glimpse at Diagon Alley.

I might venture to say it was even more magical than Hogsmeade!

^^ Gringotts!

Do you ever wonder how many times you show up in full-fledged Bigfoot stance in the background of some stranger's pictures? Because, like, that blonde girl nailed it.