It was another Bestie Day today when Abbie and I would be heading to the park alone while the rest stayed back. We decided to dress alike, as we mostly do on vacations because half of the dresses in our wardrobes are doubles, and looked great. The only difference in our outfit today was that I had a half jacket pulled over on top and Abbie had Jack Skellington sleeved worn under the dress. Our dresses were finds from Hot Topic and had roses and skulls all over in shades of red, white, and a little bit of blue. With our tickets and cameras in place and our Hogwarts bags on our backs, we stepped outside the room all excited for our Potterhead day ahead of us!
Cabana's shuttle always excited Abbie and I because it was part of some our best Bestie Times that we'd had over the years. We stood on our way to the park but we didn't mind because Cabana is super close to Universal Orlando Resort. When we reached the place the familiar rush of excitement filled up inside me. Today, we had decided we'd be visiting Diagon Alley on the Universal Studios side of the resort. Before we walked all the way to Diagon Alley to see our favorite dragon we stopped to pose against the famous Universal globe. I always have a great time posing and this is one of my favorite photo spots. The sun was shining from all the wrong angles and I was worried Abbie would run out of patience. Thankfully she didn't and we were able to get some beautiful shots of me ... oh, I meant the globe ... ahem.
The dragon was perched on top of the crooked Gringotts Bank with a fierce expression that meant it was about to breathe fire any second. The Weasley twins' head produced a bunny out of its hat magically on our right and the classic Leaky Cauldron on our left spread a delicate smell of rich food in the air. We headed straight to ride The Escape from Gringotts because the lines were noticeably shorter again today. I guess we were really lucky and the stars had aligned, knowing how badly we'd needed a vacation, to give us this moment to enjoy!
The Escape from Gringotts gave us a great thrill. We got off the roller coaster with a kind of fast-forwarded feeling inside of us. When we came out of Gringotts and collected our bags from the locker our insides growled to indicate the dire need of ice cream. So we headed for Florean Fortescue's where we ordered our favorite flavor, The Salted Caramel Blondie, and tried the new Clotted Cream. I'd been craving the Blondie since last year and the instant it touched my tongue my senses transported me to ice-cream heaven. It was delicious beyond explanation, the chunks of caramel in every bite drove me crazy, and looking at Abbie by my side I knew she was going through similar, if not equally exaggerated, sentiments. The clotted cream tasted like the better and tolerable version of frozen yogurt. I am not a fan of frozen yogurt at all, but this flavor, although yogurty, did not taste bad at all.
By the time our ice creams finished it was time for one of the live shows to begin. Last year we'd loved the Deathly Hallows themed live show but hadn't had the time to check out Celestina Warbeck. This time we had a lot of time on our hands so we stayed back to watch her and her banshees. The show was great, Celestina was one full-of-herself lady and just as annoyingly awesome as she'd been in the books!
We stopped at Gringotts Money Exchange next where I fell in love with the chocolate coins. Had those sacks been a little more printed I'd have totally bought them, but maybe next time? Ahem. More importantly though, we spoke to the sulky goblin in there. I asked him why he was always sulking to which he had a rude reply ready for me. Before we left I asked him, "Can you smile for my camera?" He made an angry face at me and exclaimed, "No!" We left the exchange falling over each other laughing!
Before it was time to leave, Abbie and I wanted to go to Knockturn Alley where Abbie was hoping to find some cool merch. The dark alley always stirred up spooky excitement within me. Though the goth department is more Abbie's than mine, I love being in Knockturn Alley. The creepy products, Bellatrix's face looking at you from random places, and all the death eater stuff gives me a bad ass sense of awesomeness. Abbie and I made our way to Borgin and Burkes where we posed with the Vanishing Cabinet and drooled over the merchandise. I almost forced Abbie into buying a mug that had Voldemort's silhouette on it but she decided otherwise.
When we got off on the other end at Hogsmeade's station where a thestral invisibly pulled a carriage towards Hogwarts, it was almost time that we started walking back to the exit and the shuttle to Cabana Bay. We had dinner plans with the rest of the family and were planning to shower and change and then rest a bit before that happened. With a sad heart I asked Abbie if we could sit outside Hogsmeade and rest for a little bit before we began the long walk back to the City Walk. She agreed and suggested I check which card I'd picked up in the chocolate frog. Nervousness filled up inside me like helium fills up in a balloon when she mentioned that. I had three Helga Hufflepuffs from three separate purchases of the chocolate frogs back at home. I didn't mind collecting more Helgas because anything Harry Potter was okay with me. Still, it would be really great, I thought, if I could get any other card this time. Who knew when I'd next be able to buy a chocolate frog ... I BADLY wanted a different wizard card. Nervously I pulled out a pin from my scarf and began puncturing the wrapping on the frog as gently as I could so that the box wasn't scratched. The lid opened up and I peeked inside trying to get a glimpse of the card even before I'd picked up the chocolate frog off of it. When I couldn't see anything I reached forward and picked up the chocolate frog in my hand with my eyes closed and thoughts running frantic. Could it be? Could it be? Please please please? AH. Alas. Albus Dumbledore was staring back at me with his half moon spectacles perched on his crooked nose. Without any exaggeration, let me admit, I had tears in my eyes. Oh and just as usual, Abbie was staring at me as if she'd never seen a crazier stupid person in her life before. She still doesn't understand my overly active emotions sometimes ... laughs!
A lot of new traditions evolve when Bestie and I are enjoying at our favorite place in the world. This year too a new tradition began. Abbie bought us a warm soft pretzel which she topped with ketchup and some other relish kind of something and we shared it as a new Bestie tradition while sitting in the cave like seats outside the Mythos restaurant. Once we were eating and taking countless more pictures, we began walking towards the exit. It was always sad walking away from the Wizarding World. It always gave me the hollow feeling inside as if a large chunk of my body had broken off and fallen somewhere inside my stomach. On our way out though we passed Seuss' Landing and remembered how adorable Gubby had acted there yesterday. With Gubby's adorable face etched in our minds we made a detour, entered the shop again, and bought a Thing 1 plush toy for her which we'd seen and marked off as a gift for Gubby the other day. She'd love it, we knew!
Indeed, Gubby LOVED Thing 1 when she came to our room later that evening. She hugged it and shined her bright adorable smile at us which filled up our hearts with that auntie emotion I was still not completely used to experiencing. We headed out for dinner with the rest of the family that night to Kabab King where they had gone nuts and dumped the entire container of spices in all their dishes. When we ordered our food I insisted we get the Mirchi Fries (spicy fries) which turned out to be the least spicy of all the foods we ate at the restaurant. SIL really badly wanted the Bihari Kababs again and since we were ordering Biryani I decided another dose of my not-so-favorite bihari kababs won't be too much of a problem. After all, she wanted them so badly. Again, it wasn't like I didn't like the kababs, I just wouldn't prefer them as a first choice if I was asked to order from a list of delicious kababs. So the day concluded with an overly spicy dinner where the spices overpowered all, if any, tastes in all the dishes and all I was able to conclude when I left Kabab King was that I'd need some Gaviscon to calm the acidity attack the food had caused in my stomach.
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