The Ho and I went to Harry Potter Land at Universal Studios today and had a grand ole time. We went EARLY because they’re doing a “preview” for season pass holders…of which we are among now, since we bought special tickets to see Potter land that automatically bumped us into season passes…
The early arrival was TOTALLY worth it. It was so crowded by the time we were getting ready to leave. It was perfect. Almost nobody there for the first, like, two full hours we were there. We ate breakfast at the three broomsticks…Liz got a wand that was interactive with all the spell spots around Hogsmeade, which means that you stood on these medallion-type thing set in the cobblestone, faced where they said to face, and then waved the wand like the medallion showed you to, and that made something in the shop-window move like magic. Super fun.
My favorite place, for sure, was Olivander’s, which is the wand shop. It looks so much like it does in the movies, with angled shelves and box upon box of wands. And the boxes were super nice. The wands themselves ranged in terms of quality, and the interactive wands where actually a little cheaper looking and feeling than just the straight prop-replica kind…but having an interactive wand to do spells around the park was *totally* worth it. Liz had gone in thinking she’d probably pick up one of the character wands, like Hermione’s or Fleur’s, but she ended up with just a Hazel wood wand (they didn’t also sort them by cores, for any fellow nerds out there, just by the wood) because it looked and felt the best.
I made a little purchase of my own, too; I bought a travel mug, a Hogwart’s Express travel mug for when I sit in my chair and write in the mornings and drink tea. Super excited about that. I’d wanted a SciFi one, but this is perfect. It’ll always remind me of good storytelling, and how it’s the little details, the fun little ideas in world-building like having the kids take a train out to their wizarding school that can really make a story come alive.
Then we came home and walked the pups together. It was a suuuuper weird day in LA weather-wise. It was cold, high 50s and partly cloudy all day. Walked the pups, and then we all laid down and took a nap together. Got up, I ate some food, did some narrating, took the pups on a nice long walk, did some more narrations, and then poof, it was 10pm and I needed to eat dinner. Made dinner, and then the Ho came home from acting class, and the day was over. ‘Twas a long one, for sure, but a wonderful one. Genuinely, I always have such a good day when I get to spend it with my wife. Love you bear 😉
Tomorrow it’s a smattering of work, and then I think I’m going to kick up the heels and watch some baseball. Have, HAVE to get my tax documents put together. Maybe I can do that while watching the game. We’ll see. Narrations also need to happen. It’s the end of the month, and there’s always a deluge of lessons to record, and I don’t like letting the queue get too full of waiting lessons to be narrated. Don’t want the up-and-ups to think they need anyone else, you know? ‘Course you do, you savvy fuckers.
That’s all I got tonight, yo. Twas a good day indeed. Good night!