We were fed! We were dry! We met this super fun CM and my niece gave him a Slytherin card. He was truly delighted - and then went and grabbed some kind of notebook and gave us front of the line passes to the ride of our choice! (Hint: Forbidden Journey, AKA The Best Ride, Ever)
After he posed with us, we saw the witch behind, photobombing! By far, this is my favorite photo of the trip.
We decided it was time to get niece's interactive wand, and we entered the Hogsmeade Ollivanders Wand Shop for the show. (Remember, I had missed the ceremony at the larger Ollivanders in Diagon Alley where my great nephew got his wand, so this was my first go.) It's hard to explain, but this little site and ceremony really, really got to me. I entered some kind of Harry Potter wormhole and was THERE. It was so REAL.
The wizard was an older guy, and he had amazing stage presence. There were only a few of us present in the small space, and he filled every inch of it, though he barely raised his voice above a whisper. In fact, his low register just added to the magic, as you had to really
listen to him.
To say I was enthralled is an understatement. I started softly crying, not noticeable to anyone but maybe little sister next to me. When it came time for him to choose a young wizard, the Ollivanders wizard slowly, slowly raised his hand and pointed to my niece. Well, the softly weeping went right out the window, because from then on I was all out sobbing.
There was a family with two little boys there, and I could tell the Mom was hella peeved that the two weren't picked. Well, they had Thing 1 and Thing 2 t-shirts on, and the three of us were kitted out in full Harry Potter drag. Of course, he was going to pick my niece. Somehow the sound of me crying didn't add to her joy.
The ceremony itself wasn't sad, and it was funny when the wrong wands did their thing. It was just that for a moment, I was truly IN Harry Potter's world, just by the force of this man's performance. There's a great book called "The Wilder Life" by Wendy McClure, about visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder homesites, and in one part, she's in Pepin Wisconsin, the home of the Big Woods of the first book. It's off season, the original cabin is long gone, and it's all a bit lame. But then she stands at the shore of Lake Pepin, and realizes it's the exact same time of year that the real Ingalls family crossed the lake in their covered wagon, and it hits her. She says "I didn't expect it to be this real". At that moment, in that theme park wand shop, I felt the exact same way.
My niece got her wand, my sister scooped the puddle shape I had assumed off the floor, and we exited. We sat outside for a moment as I gathered myself, and the wizard came out and spoke to my niece a bit more. He (still completely in character) stressed all the singular aspects of her wand: that it was a healing wand, that it was best for creative spells, etc.
Kudos to you, Universal employee. Your complete commitment to the character turned an efficient way of separating parents from $50 into a total joy. And yeah, the wand was fun, too.