Back from Florida
Jul. 24th, 2010 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrwhere we had a simply splendiforous time. The girls were extremely satisfied and we count it as an entirely successful vacation.
Infinitus was held at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. I moderated the luncheon panel on Friday, about fanfiction. I was able to relax and enjoy the conference more once that obligation was over. The panelists all seemed to think it went quite well. There were papers delivered about the books, but a large part of the draw, of course, was the newly opened park. On Friday night, there was a special event held privately for about 1500 of the conference attendees who were fortunate enough to score tickets: a private party, just for us, held in Hogsmeade, between 10:00 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. (well, actually about 2:00 a.m., when they turned out all the lights in order to convince us to go home). We went through the shops and did the tour of the castle, which culminated in the signature ride: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The queue for the line snaked through the castle itself, which was great fun: you got to see Dumbledore's office, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, the Mirror of Erised, the Gryffindor Common Room, etc. There were amazingly convincing moving talking portraits on the walls, occasionally squabbling with each other. It was just so much fun, and then the ride was worth the wait. You actually felt as if you were really flying!
Fiona and I went on the ride that night, but Delia and Rob didn't get a chance to do so before they shut down for the night. At the end of the evening, we got into a conversation with the Sales Manager for Orlando, who was in charge of keeping our group happy. She offered to take my family on a private VIP tour of the park the next day (!!!!).
So the next day, Saturday, that's what she did. She couldn't have been nicer. The daytime crowds were much bigger, but with her accompanying us, we simply walked to the head of all the lines. She gave us her employee discount in all the shops, too, so we happily explored Honeydukes and Zonko's, and each bought souvenirs to take away with us. We had lunch in the Three Broomsticks. She gave us complimentary Chocolate Frogs when she dropped us off at the hotel again. It was a truly incredible day.
Besides the papers at the conference, there were Wizard Rock performances, and the video premiere of A Very Potter Sequel. Which was hilarious! Fiona and I also saw the musical performance of The Final Battle, which was composed by Lena Gabrielle of The Butterbeer Experience.
The girls had a great time in the vendors room. They'd been saving for awhile, and we gave them some money, too. Fiona finally settled on her house--she's a Slytherin--and got a set of robes. Both girls got posters for A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel and got the cast to sign them. Fiona also got a wand (Sirius Black's, very striking). Delia's wand was sold out in the park (she wanted the Elder wand) but she plans to get it later.
It was wonderful to see so many friends at the conference. The girls, of course, had people greeting them everywhere, as they were recognized from my Livejournal. A real highlight of the week was finally meeting![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aome for the first time.
Sadly, we had to leave eventually. We drove back to Minneapolis, stopping to do college visits at Beloit College, Lawrence University and Eau Claire University (of Wisconsin) along the way.
I have to go back to work tomorrow. Wah.
Best. Vacation. Evah. Sincere thanks to HPEF, which did so much to enable our family to go.
Infinitus was held at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. I moderated the luncheon panel on Friday, about fanfiction. I was able to relax and enjoy the conference more once that obligation was over. The panelists all seemed to think it went quite well. There were papers delivered about the books, but a large part of the draw, of course, was the newly opened park. On Friday night, there was a special event held privately for about 1500 of the conference attendees who were fortunate enough to score tickets: a private party, just for us, held in Hogsmeade, between 10:00 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. (well, actually about 2:00 a.m., when they turned out all the lights in order to convince us to go home). We went through the shops and did the tour of the castle, which culminated in the signature ride: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The queue for the line snaked through the castle itself, which was great fun: you got to see Dumbledore's office, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, the Mirror of Erised, the Gryffindor Common Room, etc. There were amazingly convincing moving talking portraits on the walls, occasionally squabbling with each other. It was just so much fun, and then the ride was worth the wait. You actually felt as if you were really flying!
Fiona and I went on the ride that night, but Delia and Rob didn't get a chance to do so before they shut down for the night. At the end of the evening, we got into a conversation with the Sales Manager for Orlando, who was in charge of keeping our group happy. She offered to take my family on a private VIP tour of the park the next day (!!!!).
So the next day, Saturday, that's what she did. She couldn't have been nicer. The daytime crowds were much bigger, but with her accompanying us, we simply walked to the head of all the lines. She gave us her employee discount in all the shops, too, so we happily explored Honeydukes and Zonko's, and each bought souvenirs to take away with us. We had lunch in the Three Broomsticks. She gave us complimentary Chocolate Frogs when she dropped us off at the hotel again. It was a truly incredible day.
Besides the papers at the conference, there were Wizard Rock performances, and the video premiere of A Very Potter Sequel. Which was hilarious! Fiona and I also saw the musical performance of The Final Battle, which was composed by Lena Gabrielle of The Butterbeer Experience.
The girls had a great time in the vendors room. They'd been saving for awhile, and we gave them some money, too. Fiona finally settled on her house--she's a Slytherin--and got a set of robes. Both girls got posters for A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel and got the cast to sign them. Fiona also got a wand (Sirius Black's, very striking). Delia's wand was sold out in the park (she wanted the Elder wand) but she plans to get it later.
It was wonderful to see so many friends at the conference. The girls, of course, had people greeting them everywhere, as they were recognized from my Livejournal. A real highlight of the week was finally meeting
aome for the first time.Sadly, we had to leave eventually. We drove back to Minneapolis, stopping to do college visits at Beloit College, Lawrence University and Eau Claire University (of Wisconsin) along the way.
I have to go back to work tomorrow. Wah.
Best. Vacation. Evah. Sincere thanks to HPEF, which did so much to enable our family to go.
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